Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank my wonderful editor, Lindsey Hall, for feedback that’s always straight on the mark, and for giving my Falcon wings. I am deeply grateful to the whole Orbit team for all their hard work on this book, and to Emily Byron, my UK editor, for bringing it across the pond. Huge thanks to my amazing agent, Naomi Davis, for being my champion and co-conspirator, and for helping my dreams come true.

Thanks to my dad for buying me my first copy of Writer’s Market in fourth grade, and for suffering through that terrible novel I wrote in middle school. And to my mom, a force to be reckoned with, for never leaving any doubt in my mind that women are powerful leaders. Celestial oceans of gratitude to my husband, Jesse King, for his unflagging support, and for the random geeky conversation on a long car drive that spawned the idea for this book. And thanks to my fabulous daughters, Maya and Kyra, for their patience, love, and understanding while I wrote it.

A big shout-out to my awesome beta readers: Silvia Park, Lauren Austrian-Parke, Constantine Haghighi, John Mangio, Beth Sanford, Paul Saldarriaga, Nicole Evans, J. P. Orminati, and Amberleigh Orminati. And extra special thanks to Deva Fagan and Natsuko Toyofuku, for sticking with me through draft after draft and book after book. Your wisdom, insight, and enthusiasm are worth more than Cornaro gold.

And finally, thank you for reading this book. It’s not a story until someone reads it; you have made it complete.

extras

meet the author

Photo Credit: Erin Re Anderson

MELISSA CARUSO graduated with honors in creative writing from Brown University and holds an MFA in Fiction from University of Massachusetts—Amherst.

Author Interview

When did you first start writing?

I “wrote” my first book when I was about four years old. I drew the pictures and dictated the words to my big brother. It was basically a field guide to different dragons, with descriptive text like “Gargor eats people!” (I still have it.) I haven’t stopped writing since.

Who are some of your biggest influences?

There are so many fantasy authors I really admire who shaped my writing during my formative years. I particularly always envied the snappy dialogue and brilliant plotting of Steven Brust, and yearned to write something with a heroine as wonderful as Aerin from Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown. I am also a huge Hiromu Arakawa fangirl, and learned a ton from her amazing manga Fullmetal Alchemist. It’s so good on so many levels—especially the amazing character relationships, fantastic world building, and stunning pacing in a medium where that’s a particular challenge.

Where did the idea for The Tethered Mage come from?