Other homages: to the Percys, Confederate authoresses from whose lives and works I have borrowed liberally — if not necessarily faithfully (I’ve turned them into the Henrys). To the popular narrative poem Los Comanches from which I drew characters and lines of poetry. To Martin Fierro and its author, José Hernández. To the stories of captives from the Far North. To Camargo, Matamoros, and Brownsville (Matasánchez and Bruneville are created in their shadows). The Great Theft also invokes characters from the works of Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and several films. It would be impossible to cite every reference, quote, homage — the master Jerry D. Thompson and his biography of Nepomuceno, as well as Nicolás Kanellos’ rich works, these compilations and publications were indispensable; the work of Josefina Zoraida Vázquez as well as her generous assistance; the writings of Bertram Wyatt-Brown on the Percys …
To Juan Aura, whose verses about the sound of a dead horse’s hooves I borrowed.
Finally, I wrote this novel with a grant from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes, as a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores.
To everyone, thank you.