“That one of your closest friends was horribly ripped off by two self-serving criminals who have no moral currency?”

“That I can finally download all of Enya’s back catalog?”

Esther shook her head, the gleam in her eyes growing brighter. “SHOPPING TRIP!”

Acknowledgments

Not only did this project introduce me to my favorite series of comics, but I also had the joy of meeting their creator, John Allison, who is as dry and funny in real life as in his writing. Thank you so much for letting me hang out with Susan, Daisy, and Esther; it really was an honor.

Erica Finkel, my editor at Abrams, has been the Actual Best to work with, and I hope I may do so again one day. I’d like to thank both the team at Abrams and BOOM! for everything they’ve done to help the story along as well as Juliet Mahony for her admirable agenting.

Not having gone to Sheffield University, I needed some insider advice, which I got from Emma Hartick, the most excellent medical-student adviser I could possibly have asked for, and from Rachel Ellis, who didn’t seem to mind how many times Susan insulted English Literature students. Thank you also to Mariam Khan and Patrice Lawrence for being patient with me, and to Grace Latter for tacitly giving me permission to nick your name, if not your personality.

Hugest of thanks to two people essential to the whole project: fellow Giant Days fan Robin Stevens, the first person I told about working on this and definitely the most enthusiastic, and my friend Molly Ker Hawn.

As always, thank you to my family, especially Pragmatic Dan, who offered McGraw’s calm to my out-of-control Susanish tendencies.

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