Hey! You’re reading the acknowledgments—thanks!
To L. Frank Baum, C. S. Lewis, and Roald Dahl, thank you for the inspiration I first felt for this kind of story back at Rich and Judy Wandschneider’s “Book Loft” in my hometown of Enterprise, Oregon. Population two thousand then, population two thousand now.
To my high school English teacher, Sharon Forster, for teaching me where to put a period in a sentence. Better yet, what to put before that period.
To the many, many, many individuals at United Talent Agency who helped make not only this story a reality but also the screenplays I’ve had the good fortune of writing over the years. Special thanks to Charlie Ferraro, Aaron Kaplan, and Stewart Brookman. An extra tip of the hat to Charlie for the brainstorming strategy sessions at 301 North Canon Drive.
To Adam Gomolin, the greatest champion of Skavenger’s Hunt from start to finish, as well as the Inkshares team of Avalon Radys, Angela Melamud, Elena Stofle, and Thad Woodman, for their incredible support.
To Staton Rabin, Matt Harry, Pamela McElroy, Jessica Gardner, and Ryan Quinn, for letting me know which chapters, paragraphs, sentences, and words made sense, and which ones might need a second look.
To Will Staehle for his amazing cover design, and to Kevin Summers for his beautiful design work on everything inside.
To all of you for dropping a few hard-earned dollars and taking a leap of faith on a screenwriter who had never written a novel before.
To my children and grandchildren, who I often thought of while searching for the next elusive string of words during the snowy, icy, rainy, and flat-out cold Oregon winter of 2016–17. I couldn’t have done it without you.
And finally, to my wife.
Grace.
I gave your name to a key character in this story only because I, and everyone who is blessed to know you, realize that you are the very opposite. I figured it would get a smile and a laugh from family and friends alike.
Having you next to me is what I live for.