Right out of the gate, my number one thank-you goes to the amazing Saundra Mitchell, editor of Out Now—an anthology of contemporary short stories celebrating queer voices in young adult fiction (which is, conveniently, out now!). When they contacted me about being a contributor, I jumped at the opportunity … and then struggled to come up with a premise. What I wanted to write was a tale of two social enemies forced to work through their lust/hate issues while hiding from a vampire invasion—and I was sort of shocked when Saundra gave my idea an enthusiastic green light.

I came to love that short story so much that I actually scrapped a manuscript I had already fully outlined and put together a frantic pitch for a different book entirely: “What about vampires, but gay?!” I am so lucky to work with Liz Szabla, who keeps helping me hone these concepts into books I’m proud to put my name on—and so grateful to Jean Feiwel for believing in me and my ideas enough to put her name on them as well.

My magnificent agent, Rosemary Stimola, sees that my dreams come true over and over again, and I am so grateful; and many thanks are due to Allison Remcheck and the rest of the Stimola Literary Studio team for unwavering support and all-around awesomeness!

The book in your hands was made possible only by a staggering amount of work. My (literal!) months and months of writing were only the beginning. From edits and revisions to design, execution, and promotion, I’ve been aided and abetted by an incredible team at Macmillan. Brittany Pearlman, Molly Ellis, Mandy Veloso, Kim Waymer, Mike Burroughs, and Ashley Woodfolk are all heroes and magicians; and I owe a debt of gratitude to Erin Stein, Allison Verost, and Jon Yaged, as well.

I am not without my enablers, of course, and I need to thank my own personal League of Dark Stars: Adam Sass, Kevin Savoie, Phil Stamper, Kosoko Jackson, and Ryan La Sala. And thanks, also, to my Syndicate of Glampires: Julian Winters, Alex London, Mark Oshiro, Adib Khorram, Lev AC Rosen, Shaun David Hutchinson, Sam J. Miller, Adam Silvera, Kristen Simmons, Tom Ryan, Kiersten White, Zoraida Córdova, PC & Kristin Cast, Tim Floreen, Dahlia Adler, Erick Smith, Zack Smedley, John Corey Whaley, and Cale Dietrich. And yet more thanks go to the Mystic Order of Friends I Cannot Believe I Still Have Yet to Meet in Person: Derek Milman, James Brandon, Shawn Sarles, Riley Sager, Greg Howard, and Abdi Nazemian. Every last one of you is an inspiration!!