I’m grateful to everyone who had a part in this series, from the copy-shop manager who printed thousands of pages of drafts (Hannah) to the book lover in Moaning Myrtle cosplay who asked me to sign the toilet seat around her neck (Zoey).
Thank you to my sensational agent, Jodi Reamer, and my force-of-nature editor and publisher at Bloomsbury, Cindy Loh. I just reread the praise I heaped on the two of you in the acknowledgments of the first book, The Edge of Everything—and it all sounds like an understatement now. I couldn’t do this without you and will definitely cry if you ever make me.
Thank you a thousand times over to Kami Garcia, Danielle Paige, Kerry Kletter, Kathleen Glasgow, Bridget Hodder, and Haven Kimmel. Your friendship, and your books, have meant the world to me.
Thank you, Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer Niven, and Susan Dennard, for your extraordinary generosity and support.
Thank you to Darin Strauss, Susannah Meadows, Jess Huang, and Abby West for weighing in on early drafts of The Brink of Darkness. A bit of trivia: Susannah begged me to never use the word tunic in these books (she hates that word like other people hate moist). I tried not to, but failed at the last second. I’m sorry, Susannah. You’ll have to avert your eyes.
I’m grateful to Hans Bodenhamer for once again advising me on the fine art of caving.
I also benefited from the wisdom of three wildlife biologists: John Waller at Glacier National Park, Jim Williams (author of The Path of the Puma), and Douglas Chadwick (Tracking Gobi Grizzlies). Thank you all for your good cheer in the face of such questions as, “Well, what if the cougar was, like, supernatural?”
Thank you to my inspired friends at Bloomsbury, especially Cristina Gilbert and her tireless marketing and publicity team: Elizabeth Mason, Erica Barmash, Courtney Griffin, Anna Bernard, Emily Ritter, Phoebe Dyer, Beth Eller, Brittany Mitchell, Alexis Castellanos, and Alona Fryman. (Lizzy Mason: Congrats on selling your own YA novel, The Art of Losing. I know a great publicist.)
Thank you to Diane Aronson and Melissa Kavonic in managing editorial and to Katharine Weincke and Pat McHugh for being such sharp, thoughtful readers. Thank you to Bloomsbury’s art director, Donna Mark; designer Jeanette Levy; and illustrator Shane Rebenschied. I love what you’ve done for Zoe and X.
As for the phenomenal sales team: Because of you, I’ve gotten to see my novels not only in amazing indie bookstores and Barnes & Noble, but also in places you can buy lawn furniture and 56 boxes of Kleenex at a time. It’s all been thrilling.
Bloomsbury Publishing has been a wonderful home. I bow deeply to Emma Hopkin, the managing director of Bloomsbury Children’s Books worldwide; to my UK publisher, Rebecca McNally; and to Australia’s managing director, Kate Cubitt. I’m also indebted to Lucy Mackay-Sim, Emma Bradshaw, and Charlotte Armstrong in the UK, and Sonia Palmisano and Adiba Oemar in Australia.
Thank you to Hali Baumstein (Bloomsbury) and Alec Shane (Writers House) for all the things, all the time.
Thank you to Mary Pender at UTA for her vision and all-around coolness and to Cecilia de la Campa at Writers House for negotiating such beautiful foreign editions.
I’m grateful to the welcoming folks at YALLfest, Booksplosion, LitJoy Crate, and the Quarterly Literary Box. Thank you to Betsi Morrison and Luke Walrath at the Alpine Theater Project, and to everyone at the Whitefish Review. Thank you to Ursula Uriarte. Thank you to Melissa Albert, Cathy Berner at Blue Willow Books in Houston, and Cristin Stickles at McNally Jackson in New York for being early supporters.
Thank you to the friends who are always there when I’m insecure, exhausted, and hungry (usually all at the same time): Radhika Jones, Tina Jordan, Jessica Shaw, Laura Brounstein, Anthony Breznican, Erin Berger, Peternelle Van Arsdale, Robin Roe, Meeta Agrawal, Bonnie Siegler, Gita Trelease, Adriana Mather, Jeff Zentner, Missy Schwartz, Jill Bernstein, Sara Vilkomerson, Devin Gordon, Janet McNally, Susie Davis, Heidi Heilig, Marc and Francine Roston, Annie Anderson, Sabine Brigette, Diane Smith, David Pickeral, Mike Eldred, Brian and Lyndsay Schott, and Kate Ward.
Finally, thank you to my daughter, Lily, and my son, Theo: I love you more than words.