I’d like to thank the family of raccoons that terrorize me every morning on my predawn jog. The way they appear in the dark, staring me down with their beady eyes and forcing me to turn around and shuffle in the other direction, really gets my adrenaline going and jump-starts my brain. I thought up many of the scenes in this book after some raccoon or group of raccoons scared the crap out of me in this way, so they’re kind of like my muses.
Otherwise, I owe undying gratitude to many other life-forms across the multiverse:
Agent extraordinaire John Rudolph
Editor supreme Diane Landolf
My very thoughtful sensitivity readers, Cris Beam, Tavi Tragus, and Sharane Wang
Erin, Wilson, and Oliver (plus the cats and the bearded dragon)
Mom and Dad, Julie, Debbie, Clay, Skye, Kaley, Ken, Maggie, Willow, Steve, Pam, Eric, and Anna
All the great folks at Random House Children’s Books
Kim at Paradigm
Matthew, Mike, Spike, and Yoni, plus Mr. Mullins and Mr. Myers
And a special shout-out to the people who invented the assorted brands of allergy nasal spray I used to ward off Austin allergens while under deadline