ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

WRITING A NOVEL is never dull, and while all novels have a beginning and an end, the paths traveled in between can certainly carry stories of their own. I started Mr. Lullaby a couple of years ago but stopped at fifty pages to finish writing The Nightmare Man, the first novel under my pen name, J. H. Markert. When I picked back up with Mr. Lullaby, it was with a new perspective on the overall narrative, and while all the characters are new, I was able to easily connect it to the world I’d created in The Nightmare Man, which pleased me on two fronts—I was able to give my readers somewhat of a sequel, yet at the same time create another stand-alone. And both novels now should give me many options for creating more from this world. For those readers hoping for the return of the storyline and characters from The Nightmare Man, it will, I promise, happen at some point! Halfway through writing this novel, I was asked to be a long-term substitute teacher for a dear friend battling cancer. It also happened to be for my daughter’s eighth grade class, so I agreed to do it, and suddenly here I was teaching middle school history. Having been used to writing full time, this certainly created some challenges, as my writing time was limited. But alas, I got it done, leaning on the teachers and administration along the way, and wow, what a year that was! Thank you to everyone at St. Edward, and all my new teacher friends for pulling me through, as it was certainly a year I’ll never forget.

For me, at least, thanking people at the end of a novel is the most stressful part of writing a novel, as I’ll inevitably leave someone out, although certainly not on purpose! But thank you to Matt Martz, my publisher at Crooked Lane, and Sara J. Henry, my editor, for your expertise, constant support, and belief in my work. To Rebecca Nelson, Dulce Botello, Thai Fantauzzi Perez, Melissa Rechter, Madeline Rathle, Heather VenHuizen, and everyone at Crooked Lane Books—you’re amazing! This cover—WOW! To my cousin and loyal reader Shawn Lockhart for being the first person to read an early version of Mr. Lullaby. To Gill Holland, for your constant support of my work. To my siblings and parents, where creativity always abounds, thank you! To my agent, Alice Speilburg, thank you for putting up with my craziness and my nonstop book ideas; you’ve singlehandedly changed the course of my career and I can’t thank you enough. To my wife, I think I’m getting closer ; thank you for continuing to keep the faith, for being the breadwinner for twenty-four years, for being such a wonderful mother to our two children, aaaaaand I’m not sure you want to read this one! And thank you, dear reader, for making it this far, with hopes that you’ll continue to read whatever comes next.

Continuously onward and upward!

J. H.