This book was the result of a dare mixed with a throwaway comment my mother once uttered, and I suppose I must thank her for setting the proverbial “what if?” wheels of rather rampant imagination whirling in my head.
I am especially indebted to my first readers and support team, Frankie Drogin, Claudia Shaw, Maria Terré, Iman Muldoon, Marilu Batchelor, and Amanda Cook, who patiently read various versions of the manuscript and provided much appreciated incisive feedback, which included pointing out, among other things, inconsistencies in “choreography.” And they laughed and blushed, but persevered, and more importantly, pushed me to persevere.
My heartfelt thanks to Laura Verallo de Bertotto, who despite her dizzying schedule always made time to parse through the manuscript with a level of insight that constantly astounded me. Gin con relámpagos, vamos!
Mil gracias, once more, to Maria Terré, for everything, not least the caffeine-induced bouts of inspiration, seeing as many parts of this book unfurled over morning coffee after school drop-off.
Caroline Sintès, cue LeAnn Rimes: how do I live without you? No, really, how?
Luis de Terry, my own go-to gay chip, for being one of my loudest cheerleaders. Eres un amor.
PJ Pascual, my dear friend, who warmly and generously provided in abundant supply when it was most needed, two of the “-ERs” we treasure most: LaughtER and SheltER.
To Anton San Diego, Tim Yap, and Paolo Reyes for all the support in the media.
To Soc Orlina, for working tirelessly on the layout and the proofs. Nothing probably makes you blush anymore.
To Gianna Montinola, Karla Delgado, Tesa Totengco, Lucinda Bruce, Pam Bowman, Gai Olivares, Tunting Cruz Matters, Kavita Daswani, Donnette Noel, Jennifer Peters, Lynne Robinson, and Rajha Ghazi, a huge thank you for invaluable bits of advice here and there, whether legal, libidinal, or literary.
And to the formidable Anvil troika—Karina Bolasco, Gwenn Galvez, and RayVi Sunico—thank you for championing this book and its volatile subject matter! RayVi—YOU were the English professor who made all the difference. I think of all the Latinos I fell in love with soon after you introduced me to them: Pablo Neruda, Vicente Aleixandre, Octavio Paz …