ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I hate writing these, as evidenced by the fact that in the last book I completely forgot. It’s not that I don’t like thanking people or that I don’t have anyone to thank; it’s quite the opposite: I’m always terrified that I won’t thank enough people, and someone vital to my art or life will be completely forgotten. That’s why this time I’m going small and thanking only a tiny handful of people in this public setting. If you’re not mentioned in here, well, neither is almost anybody else. See what good company you’re in?

This book owes its existence to my wife, Dawn; my assistant, Chersti Nieveen; my agent, Sara Crowe; and my editors at Tor and Piper: Moshe Feder, Whitney Ross, and Carsten Polzin. Those six people are the ones, more than anyone else, who convinced me that a second John Cleaver book could work and be awesome, and they are, it follows, the ones who helped make it awesome. I couldn’t ask for any better collaborators than these.