Acknowledgements

Special thanks to editor Elizabetta McKay who makes the daunting task of editing for a writer not only a learning experience but oftentimes humorous along the way. Thanks for many laugh-out-loud moments during not only book one, but book two. I look forward to our continued hard-working fun with the rest of the series. And to cover artist, Jaycee DeLorenzo, at NineStar Press.

Additional thanks to Jeffry Condran, my favorite creative writing professor who, no doubt, cringes every time I bend his rules. I never would have written a book or braved going to graduate school without his encouragement and inspiring instruction.

Thanks to my graduate peers and writing instructors in the University of New Orleans Creative Writing Workshop who read and reviewed parts of this work, ultimately contributing to this story. Especially to Carolyn Hembree, the poetry professor who let a fiction writer play in her class to improve her writing. And Justin Maxwell, whose Playwriting and Adaptation classes taught me so many new approaches to writing.

And always, to my family for their endless patience, support, and love. No one else pretends to be nearly as interested in my wild ideas as they do. I love them for it.

Lastly, to you, dear reader. Thank you for reading my work and the time spent in my world with my characters. I’ll see you again in book three.