There are so many people who had a hand in this book that it feels as if we could probably take over the world Menghu-style, but maybe with books instead of guns. Victoria Wells-Arms, my lovely agent, wouldn’t need a weapon at all, disarming people with her incurable perkiness and killer instincts. My wonderful editor at Simon Pulse, Sarah McCabe, would probably use the cutest picture ever of a pug as a distraction, then go for the jugular with her red pencil. Both of these ladies pushed me to sharpen Sev’s story until it could draw blood.
Thanks are also required for the extended members of the Last Star Burning battalion at Simon Pulse: Mara Anastas, Mary Marotta, Liesa Abrams, Jessica Handelman, Michael Rosamilia, Carolyn Swerdloff, Catherine Hayden, Michelle Leo and her team, Christina Pecorale and the rest of the S&S sales team, Katherine Devendorf, Chelsea Morgan, Rebecca Vitkus, Sara Berko, and Aubrey Churchward.
There are so many people who read various awful stages of Last Star Burning, and I am grateful to all of you for encouraging me rather than trying to kill my book. A special thank you to Shenwei Chang for the insights they provided on language, culture, and many other things.
I’m so grateful for my mom and dad, who made books part of our family culture. I still hear Tolkien in my dad’s voice as I read because he’s the one who read it to me first. They taught me from a very young age that I could accomplish anything I wanted to, so long as I was prepared to work for it, and were suitably not surprised when I told them Last Star Burning was going to get printed on actual paper with a cover and everything. Thanks to both of them for knowing I could do it, telling me I was doing it, and then saying they were proud of me afterward.
My mother- and father-in-law are also very much a part of this list. Sherri Sangster listened to me talk about writing ad naseum, watched my children while I wrote, jumped up and down for me when things moved, and sent me on dates with my husband when they didn’t. She waded through my first drafts, gave me honest feedback, and still was okay with me being married to her son at the end, so that’s something. Thanks to Greg Sangster for always having a new book idea for me should I run out, usually involving mud, knives, and communist Southeast Asian countries.
Thanks to my oldest sister, Sarah Dunster, who, though she is blond and quite stubborn, is a much better person to look up to than Cale. She proved to me that writing isn’t a dream so much as an accomplishment, and you should probably read her books. Also to my other siblings who are fabulously supportive and encouraging, including Juan, Bailian, and Zhongying, who mostly make fun of my Chinese.
Most of all, thanks and all the props and acknowledgment in the world to my children. They gave me some lovely titles that, though they did not make it to the final cover, still make me happy. (My favorite is Fight the Bad Guys. Maybe when I write my father-in-law’s crawling-through-the-jungle book, that’s what it will be called.) To my wonderful, patient, perfect husband, who dealt with all the craziness, obsessiveness, ups and downs and unders, thank you, thank you, thank you. He shares all his time, confidence, honest opinions, and love, and there aren’t words to express how grateful I am for him. I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect partner in life.
And, last of all, though certainly not least, thank you to whoever is holding this book. You are awesome. I wrote this book for you. Please don’t use it as a weapon.