by Lena Nguyen
Park smiled at him, and her heart gave a hard clutch of love. “I understand.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing tends to be solitary, but much like the launching of a spacecraft, publication is wonderfully, beautifully collaborative. As such, I have many people to thank for the propelling of this book into the world.
First thanks must go to my wonderful agent, Matt Bialer, who remembered my half-finished manuscript after some years and became its first standard-bearer in the industry. Thank you, Matt, for taking a chance on this story, and for being such a strong advocate for it ever since. Thank you too to his team at Sanford J. Greenburger, especially his assistant Bailey Tamayo. Thank you to Robert Lawrence, whose insightful comments and early enthusiasm for this book helped give it a much better ending; and thank you to Jerry Kalajian, my film agent, as well. Thank you also to Robert VS Redick, whose writing inspired me when I was still in high school, and who took the time to give me advice and a helping hand whenever I asked for it, and whose books I pay homage to with the name Fulbreech.
Thank you to my MFA thesis advisors at Cornell University, John Robert Lennon and Stephanie Vaughn, under whose early guidance this book first took shape and steadily grew. Thank you, Stephanie, for insisting I change the book’s original title, Biophilia, which was truly awful. This title is much better. And thank you so much to John, who first gave me the encouragement to consider the book as more than just a thesis, and who devoted so much time to giving me incisive and positive comments on that first nascent manuscript, and for everything else he’s done over the years.
I owe a debt of gratitude to my editor, Leah Spann, whose patience and efficiency and kindness continually astounds me. Thank you for believing in this book and its vision. Thank you to the entire DAW team, whose tireless efforts brought this book through its long journey to publication: thank you to Joshua Starr, Lindsay Ribar, Alexis Nixon, Jessica Plummer, Adam Auerbach, Katie Anderson, Betsy Wollheim, and Sheila Gilbert.
I am lucky to be surrounded by incredible family and friends who have always been enthusiastic about my weird desire to just write books. Their unconditional support bolstered me to this finish line. Thank you to my expansive and loving Nguyen family, across the country and across the world; your endless pride and excitement means more than I can say. To my cousins, Tim, Andrew, Ethan, Brandon, Alex, Ryan, Annie, and Tony: thanks for enduring all this talk about the book, and for letting me retreat every summer to write bits of it at a time, and for being the best family I could ask for. To all my aunts and uncles, and to my grandmother: thank you for showering us in unconditional love, and for believing wholeheartedly in this wild dream. I love you all very much.
Thank you to my parents, Kimphuong and Dungchi, who always encouraged my pursuits in writing, and who worked so hard to give us the opportunities we had, even when we were very young, and who continue to inspire me every day. Thank you for always believing in my success; for sending me to Stanford and Harvard and Brown to write, especially when you could have told me to study something more practical; for driving me to the bookstore and letting me sit for hours when I should have been playing outside; for working long hours and making the many sacrifices loving parents make without a word; for nourishing my skills and allowing them to flourish; and for supporting me so readily and selflessly. I love you, and I hope this book makes you proud.
Thank you to my sister, Milla, who had to put up with my writing and talk of it pretty much from the moment she was born. Thank you for everything you’ve done and continue to do, from taking my author photo and putting together my wardrobe to campaigning for the book on social media. You are the best sister in the world, and you have always been my biggest cheerleader—and I am yours. Thank you for everything, and I can’t wait to see where your journey takes you. I’ll be by your side every step of the way.
Thank you to the Conigliari family, especially for hosting us when I was in the trenches with this manuscript, and for their endless kindness and support over the years. Your generosity and warmth truly mean the world. Thank you to Paul, Sandy, Jonathan, Chris, Jason, Rachel, Anna, and Marco.
Special and heartfelt thanks to my friends Curtis, Joe, Allison, Christian, Leila, Jack, Conner, and Micah for your incredible support and friendship over the years, even when you had to endure vague descriptions of “tongueless insanity” and scientific inaccuracy and all the things that came with the making of this novel. Your encouragement and love has meant the world. I truly treasure you all, and I am so happy to finally share this story with the greatest friends I could have dreamed of. If we were on a spaceship, I’d want you as my crew.
And finally, thank you to my partner Jeremy Conigliari, this book’s first and closest reader, its earliest champion, and my greatest source of inspiration. You’ve always had unwavering faith in this story’s success and destination: I’ll never forget your joy and utter unsurprise when we found out that it was going to be published. How you said to me that you’d always known it was going to happen—that it was just a matter of time. You’ve been my rock, but that feels too mundane, too Earth-bound—maybe I should say you’ve been my comet, ferrying me to places I never dreamed I could go. Thank you for the countless sacrifices, for the many nights addressing tears and doubts, for the rallying pep talks and loving words, and for the several epiphanies in mid-conversation that made this book so much better than it was. Your belief beckoned this story into reality. You never gave up, even when I wanted to. None of this would have happened without you, and this book is as much yours as it is mine. You have been by my side every step of the way, and you have made every moment worth it. Thank you for your faith, your pride, your love, your support, and everything else that you’ve done and are. You are my hero, and I love you more than I can say. To the moon and back, perhaps, or to Eos and back.
Thank you for helping me reach for the stars. We’ve grabbed them together; now let’s see where this voyage takes us next.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Lena Nguyen lives with her partner in the alien desert of Arizona. She received her MFA in fiction from Cornell University, where she also taught courses in English, writing, and zombies. Her science fiction and fantasy have won several accolades, and she was a Writers of the Future finalist. When not writing, Lena enjoys editing and game development. We Have Always Been Here is her debut novel.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.