When you’re starting out with a book that’s good but not quite there, those Early Believers mean everything. Thank you to the support of Nena Smith—if she believes in you, you’ll never lose. To Brian Centrone and Casey Ellis, who published my first short story in their collection Startling Sci-Fi—thank you for that first step into a larger world. To Evan DeSimone and Alanna Bennett, thanks for showing up to my first event. To Andrew Smith, Nathan Burgoine, and Alim Kheraj, thanks for the interviews about my book opinions. In the time before I sold anything, it made me feel like a real publishing fancy lady.

Thanks to Lisa Amowitz, my mighty mentor in Pitch Wars. We may not have sold our version, but it got Connor out of Britain and into the Illinois farmlands. To the Pitch Wars class of 2016, what an incredible club to be a part of: Kosoko Jackson, Ernie Chiara, Mary Dunbar, Anna Birch, Jenny Howe, Gwynne Jackson, Maxym Martineau, Sarah Van Goethem, Ian Barnes, and Annette Christie, to name a few. And of course, Brenda Drake for setting it all up.

Six years. A million versions. This means I’ve had my share of beta readers, but I’d be sunk without them. Thank you, Sam Glatt, Becky Kirsch, Cat Griffith, Paul Anderson, Marcus Kaye, Lizzie Partridge, April Griffith, Todd Lampe, Paul Kirsch, Tiffany Rose, David Abramovitz, Jack O’Brien, Ben Fowler, Kyle Stevens, James Pearson, Tatianna Carr, Eli Alperin, Ben Matthew Empey, Max Wirestone, Jessica Cluess, Jay Coles, Mark O’Brien, Josh Martinez, Grace Li, Caden Gardner, and Mary Ann Marlowe. You read some of the sketchiest detours this story has taken and found the core things to love about it. That’s all I could ask for.