No book is created in a void, even though at times it may feel like it. Countless people have helped shape the world of Runebinder, and I’ll try to hit them all. But Runebreaker isn’t your average book, so I’m not going to do the average list of thank-you’s.
Yes, I want to thank my amazing agent, Laurie McLean of Fuse Literary. And my endless gratitude goes to the team at Harlequin TEEN/Inkyard Press, with special kudos to my editor, T.S. Ferguson, for stepping up to bat, and Mark O’Brien for making this book sing. My thanks as well go to the friends and editors who have supported this series from the very beginning: Patricia, Asja, Michael, David, Bea and Will.
But mostly, I want to thank the people who probably don’t even know this book exists.
Aidan has been called “difficult” more times than I can count. Unlikable. Narcissistic. Anger-driven. Over a decade ago, when Runebinder first came to light, I poured a great deal of my own emotions onto the page. As I struggled with what it meant to be gay, as I yearned for a world where I didn’t have to constantly explain myself, a world where I could be heroic, so was Tenn born of fear, of sadness and of the great desire to be normal. To be important to someone. And to something.
Aidan is more than the opposite end of that spectrum. Aidan is the next step in the narrative.
In that vein, my thanks go to the countless beautiful creatures who allowed themselves to feel and further the burning passion to overcome, to overturn. The revolutionaries who knew that being queer didn’t pigeonhole our narrative, who knew that we could be so much more than a foil or fodder. We weren’t put here to become normalized, to hide away, to be ashamed or snuffed out.
We were put here to burn.
This book is for the many who have lit the way, both for me personally and for the world at large. For those who—every day—fight to show that we have a place in history, and it is as glorious and beautiful as we are. For those who show that it is okay to be angry, that it is okay to be driven, that it is okay to be fierce and ferocious and yes, most definitely yes: fabulous. We must always temper that flame, lest we become what we fight against, but we must never, ever let our spark wink out due to fear.
Which means, dear reader, that my deepest thanks go to you. Not only for falling in love with this world of magic and monsters, but for carrying the torch inside of you, for being the change and the hope we so desperately need.
You are the light in our current darkness. You are the flame that will burn evil away.
Resist the urge to sink into despair.
Resist. Forever Resist.