We slurp down a couple of bowls of ramen at the Covered Market and wander a while, in no rush since Yusuf’s on winter break from teaching, before heading back home. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than in our small, drafty flat with Yusuf—both of us learning together which light switches do what and which floorboards creak. After I shake off the drizzle from outside, I break out the bedsheet and Scarlett. I had to replace her screen but she’s still in decent shape. I queue up my favorite thing I’ve ever filmed, that quick bit of me and him at the observatory back in the Commonwealth. Which Yusuf must’ve known I’d want to see—after the explosions, and the special effects, and the beautiful lies of the movie—because he rustles around in his office for a few minutes before popping out with his small telescope and opens the doors to the tiny balcony off our living room. He points the telescope up at the sky.

We can’t see that many stars here most nights. But the clouds are supposed to clear later, and besides, we have the time.

Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Hi, you made it this far! Thank you. I really hope you enjoyed this book. I hope you saw a part of yourself in it. Especially if you’re the type of person who, at some point in their life, was described by someone else as something like, “you’re too much of…” or “you’re not enough of…” I hope you don’t listen to those voices, and you stop and remind yourself that you’re pretty great.

A number of pretty great/generally wonderful people helped me get this story into the world.

Eternal, multiverse spanning thanks go to my agent, Naomi Davis of BookEnds Literary Agency. For the exact reasons that (many) people said no to me and this book, Naomi not only said yes, but also, “let’s go bigger, weirder, and more queer!” And they provided lots of bursts of positivity, advice, and motivation along the way.

Thanks to my editor, George Sandison at Titan Books, for going on this ride. For his many key reads and insights that helped me write some of my very favorite parts of the book, and for his humor and patience. Thanks to Elora Hartway for her thoughtful and thorough edits, along with Michael Beale, Andy Hawes, Paul Simpson, Adrian McLaughlin. Special appreciation to Julia Lloyd for creating the beautiful cover. Thanks to the publicity team for all of their hard work: Katharine Carroll, Kabriya Coghlan, and Sarah Mather. And to everyone in general at Titan for taking a chance on not one book, but invested in my career.