ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to Anne Tibbets, Luisa Smith, Otto Penzler, Charles Perry, Will Luckman, and the entire team at Scarlet and Mysterious Press. From first draft madness to finished product, this book wouldn’t have been possible without your hard work and tireless support. You pushed me to be the best writer I could be, and I am incredibly proud of what we accomplished together.

To Sean, Mackenzie, and Jack, always. Never get too old or too cool to ask me animal facts, challenge me to superhero “Who’s Better” competitions, break it down for The Masked Singer, or demand I taste test the spice levels of your latest creations. You are the best part of every day. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you.

To my writing friends-turned-family, from the daily poetry thread to the Twitter writing communities, horror fam to indie loves, I appreciate you beyond words. Publishing is a hell of a journey, but it’s the good kind of crazy when you have people you can count on to make you laugh on the hard days, help you work through the blocks, inspire your creativity, and celebrate even the smallest victories. Here’s to many more years of whiskey, wine, and words.

To my family, thank you for being my biggest fans and constant readers. I finished a solid chunk of this book on vacation in Wells Beach, Maine, watching everyone in the waves under the blazing sun, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to have those moments. I see a celebratory reunion at Scoop Deck in the near future. Love you all so much.

I’d be remiss to not give a shoutout to my Birds, the best hype crew I could ever ask for. Thank you for not only blowing up my notifications with insane gifs, memes, and incredibly classy, not even a little bit crass, jokes, but also for reading my words, recommending my stories, and never hesitating to offer eyes and ears of support. Love you all (the right ones will know).

Extra special thanks to Jaimie Truesdale, Lindsay Smith, Jenn Rebecca Gaylord, Anna Knierim, Alex Andreeva, Dawn Gray, Jenn Beston, Jaime Hendricks, Meghan Crawford, and Melissa Willis. I can’t thank you enough for tolerating my spontaneous karaoke sessions, running check-ins, true crime updates, ridiculous FaceTime conversations, con shenanigans, and TikTok hilarity. ILYSM.

And a huge wave of gratitude to the readers, reviewers, bookstagrammers, bloggers, and bookish communities. Thank you for giving my stories a chance.