Jane (49 page)

As I strove to finish the manuscript, I developed a temporary problem with my vision that made reading and writing nearly impossible. I was saved from disaster by my own hero—Max—who became not only my eyes but also my story partner and first editor. Himself an athlete (a yoga master), he helped me work out in the middle of our living room floor the feasibility of many of the physical stunts that Jane and Tarzan executed in the book. When the first draft was completed Max performed a wonderful reading of the entire novel for me.

My literary agents at InkWell Management, David Forrer and Kimberly Witherspoon, were incredibly supportive. David in particular became instantly excited about
Jane
and encouraged—without hesitation—my decision to jump genres from historical fiction to commercial fiction. Also at InkWell, Lyndsey Blessing, Alexis Hurley, Patricia Burke, Charlie Olsen, and Nathaniel Jacks kept my project at the top of their pile and briskly moving in the right direction. At ERB, Inc., the staff was top-notch. Cathy Wilbanks and her mother, Janet Mann, saw me through a tough, complicated Tarzan and Jane proposal with amazing grace. Willie Jones and Tyler Wilbanks kept all communication running smoothly.

I cannot say enough about Katharine Critchlow,
Jane
’s editor at Tor Books. Right from the beginning she loved the project. More important, she got it, and her editorial notes were spot-on. When Katharine left Tor, I was blessed with an equally smart and enthusiastic editor, Steph Flanders, who seamlessly took up the ball and ran with it. Together with art director Irene Gallo and cover artist Mark Summers, everyone at Tor worked tirelessly to ensure that each detail of
Jane
’s publication was top of the line and worthy of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s legacy. Cynthia Merman did a heroic job copyediting a manuscript jammed with Mangani language (created by ERB) and Waziri dialogue (a pastiche of Bantu and fantasy words that I dreamed up). Bethany Reis lent much-needed support on the electronic copyedit, a technology that we old-school authors are still learning.

When Joe McNeely of Brilliance Audiobook acquired the audio rights to
Jane,
our tribe gained a stupendous cheerleader. Not only did his enthusiasm know no bounds, but he rounded out the effort by engaging yet another Tarzan fanatic and recording engineer, Bob Deyan, to record it, and the wonderful British actress (and my dear friend) Suzan Crowley to perform it.

Illustrator extraordinaire, friend of the ERB estate, and Tarzan expert Thomas Yeates indulged me during the writing process with hours-long raves about our hero and inspired me with dozens of his brilliant illustrations of Tarzan and Jane. Bill Hillman, editor and webmaster of the extraordinary ten-thousand page ERBzine.com website, supplied me with fabulous images and information on every aspect of the Tarzan universe. Filmmakers Dave Miller and James A. Sullos were late but great additions to what was clearly becoming a labor of love.

My trusted first readers, Max, Billie Morton, Iris Zweben, Ginny Higgins, Gregory Michaels, Cat Kovach, and Thomas Ellis (who did the first proofreading of the book) gave me much-needed encouragement and amazing insights.

My West Coast team—Web designer Linda LaZar, publicist Tasya Herskovits, and
The Sun Runner
magazine publisher Steve Brown—were simply the best.

When all is said and done, however, my greatest debt of gratitude is owed to the incomparable Edgar Rice Burroughs. His iconic characterization of Tarzan and the story of the young English lord’s feral upbringing at the hands of a loving “anthropoid ape” named Kala is one I never, in all my wildest fantasies, could have conceived.

In October 1912,
All Story
magazine printed Burroughs’s
Tarzan of the Apes
in its entirety. The next year it was published in book form, and twenty-four novels followed. They have been translated into more than thirty-five languages, including Braille and Esperanto, and adapted into movies, musicals, comic books, comic strips, and video games. It is believed that two million people have read and watched the adventures of Tarzan, perhaps the most recognizable character in the history of literature.

Being granted permission to write my version of this classic love story was one of the greatest honors of my life. I can only hope that Mr. Burroughs would have approved.

Robin Maxwell

March 2012

THE NOVELS OF ROBIN MAXWELL

O, Juliet

Signora da Vinci

Mademoiselle Boleyn

To the Tower Born

The Wild Irish

The Virgin Elizabeth

The Queen’s Bastard

The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn

About the Author

Robin Maxwell is the national bestselling author of eight historical fiction novels featuring powerful women, including
Signora da Vinci
and the award-winning
Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn
, now in its twenty-fourth printing. She lives in the high desert of California with her husband, yogi Max Thomas.

Robin also hosts Book Club Weekend Getaways at High Desert Eden, a private retreat near Joshua Tree National Park. Visit her online at
www.robinmaxwell.com
or
www.highdeserteden.com
.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

JANE: THE WOMAN WHO LOVED TARZAN

Tarzan™ and Tarzan and Jane™ owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., and used by permission.

Interior Tarzan and Jane art by Zden
ě
k Burian. Used by permission obtained by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Maxwell, Robin, 1948–

Jane : the woman who loved Tarzan / Robin Maxwell. — 1st ed.