Tremendous gratitude to Bluestockings bookstore and Bureau of General Services—Queer Division. Thanks to Charis Books and all the other independent queer/feminist bookstores across the United States and Europe that have welcomed me and always carried my books. Thank you to the pigeons of NYC’s Washington Square Park who let me study them as I wrote, and the park’s human inhabitants who taught me how to befriend them.
Finally, a huge thank you to my Queer and Leather family for believing in me and my work: my dyke moms, my big brother Matthew, and my uncle Toni Amato who always encouraged me to edge play with my writing and create the most dangerous stories I could imagine. This book was made possible by my (not so) tiny menagerie of dogs (Mercury & Charlotte) and cats (Sierra, Noirchat, & Thing) with whom I make a home, and last and certainly not least, for Kestryl, my partner in life and art. Thank you, Daddy, for cooking me dinner, baking me cupcakes, and taking me to Disneyland. Thank you for beta reading and copyediting, and above all, thank you for building a home that is a magical sanctuary from the grownup world.
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