While some of the characters who appear in this book are based on historical figures, and while many of theareas described—such as the Gilf Kebir and its surrounding desert—exist, and were explored in the 19305, it isimportant to stress that this story is a fiction and that the portraits of the characters who appear in it are fictional,as are some of the events and journeys.

I would like to thank the Royal Geographical Society, London, for allowing me to read archival material and toglean from their Geographical Journals the world of explorers and their journeys—often beautifully recorded bytheir writers. I have quoted a passage from Hassanein Bey’s article “Through Kufra to Darfur” (1924),describing sandstorms, and I have drawn from him and other explorers to evoke the desert of the 19305. I wouldlike to acknowledge information drawn from Dr. Richard A. Hermann’s “Historical Problems of the LibyanDesert” (1934) and R. A. Bagnold’s review of Almasy’s monograph on his explorations in the desert.

Many books were important to me in my research. Unexploded Bomb by Major A. B. Hartley was especiallyuseful in re-creating the construction of bombs and in describing the British bomb disposal units at the start ofWorld War II. I have quoted directly from his book (the italicized lines in the “In Situ” section) and have basedsome of Kirpal Singh s methods of defusing on actual techniques that Hartley records. Information found in thepatient’s notebook on the nature of certain winds is drawn from Lyall Watson’s wonderful book Heavens Breath,direct quotes appearing in quotation marks.............