ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to Jeff Bens for reading this back when it was a too-long short story and encouraging me to keep it in motion.

Thank you to Kat Georges, Peter Carlaftes, and Constance Renfrow at Three Rooms Press for your hard work, tireless dedication to getting it right, and unflagging enthusiasm. Thank you, Victoria Bellavia, for making it look beautiful.

Thank you to Emily Sylvan Kim, Manhattanville College, and the practitioners and staff of Sports Medicine at Chelsea for your continued support through the years.

Thank you to Jackie Sheeler, force of nature. Thank you to Jenn Northington for getting behind this book early on, and to Jesse Orona for schooling me on Dana Scully as Gay Icon.

I have the best friends in all of explored space—eternal gratitude to all of you!

Heather, Hannah, Liz, Flip. Ryan and Tracy. John P. Dang, y’all.

Thanks and apologies to my family—maybe someday I’ll write something without so many damn cuss words in it. Sincerest thanks to my grandparents and my great-grandmother for being the village.

Thank you to the fandom and the fans.

Thank you to Chris Carter, Robert Pollard, and my parents.