Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Alison Leonard for allowing me to use her name to build a symbol for all that is good in adulthood, and to Craig Franklin and Rosie La Puma who were invaluable beta readers as always. I would like to thank my parents for their unwavering encouragement, Zaq for his unconditional love, and absolutely everyone else who supported me while they watched the sausage being made with this book (most notably Kyle Eschen). Finally, I would like to thank Claire Hanser for 1) dragging me off to learn the fine art of writing in bars when I was too mopey for coffee shops, 2) providing the impetus for a profound spiritual experience on Mardi Gras, and 3) our running gag with characters named Leonard.