To the rest of my family: your unwavering support means the world to me. The news I broke about being a writer was met with enthusiasm, encouragement, and love. I’m so lucky to have all of you.

To Cody King: you made the best damn map I could have asked for. Let’s hang soon.

To Oliver Barrett: I never thought I’d have a cover so good. Thank you for patiently reading the many notes you had to sift through.

To Danny Hertz: thank you for your excitement, your kind words, and your hard work. You helped me more than you know.

I’m going to rattle off some more names here. This is a lonely job, but these people made it far less so and, even if we haven’t seen much of each other, helped get me to where I am. My infinite gratitude to: Dan Pantenburg, Chad Klein, Matt Hester, Kyle Cregan, Kymm Meyers, Christian Zomer, Christian Snow, Ross Burford, Lindsey Uhl, Joy Payne, Dominik Schmidt, Dylan Rudlof, Jesse Suihkonen, Devin Brown, Kai Nehas, Max McClusky, Steve Jardin, Tim Howe, and Zach Rowland. Friends forever.

Even as a debut author, I’ve built up quite the network of support. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all the wonderful writers I’ve met online who have cheered me on in more ways than I can count. Thank you: Daniel Greene, M. J. Kuhn, H. M. Long, Nicholas Eames, Adam Cesare, Jason Pargin, Travis Baldree, Amber Nicole, Ben Alderson, Kaven Hirning, Adrian Gibson, Andy Peloquin, Alexander Darwin, Michael Michel, and Will Wight. Authors don’t have competition—we just have talented friends who inspire us.

I am under no delusion that I would be here without the enormous number of people online who have been around every step of the way.

To the millions of readers who have engaged with the content I’ve made over the years: you did this. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To A Chat Of Books And Besties (Zoranne, Jaysen, Eryn, Kevin, Jenna, Deirdre, Johnee, Tre, and Laura): thank you for putting up with my voice messages. You’re the best online friends I could ask for. Our eventual meetup will be the stuff of legends.

To my fellow content creators: Maggie Siciliano, Petrik Leo, Alex Andros, Nina Haines, Nick Parry, Austin and Richard from 2 To Ramble, and a few dozen more I’m probably not mentioning: thank you for the work you do.

To everyone in the BRK Discord (and of course, my mods and dear friends, Kyle, Marissa, Lindsay, and Ryan): you’re the best reading community in the world. We all know it. Thank you for being there for me, and for championing my every effort.

To all the BRK Patrons: you saved me from living on the street. I’m not kidding.