by Ilsa J. Bick
To Katie Halata, Mary Albi, and Alison Weiss for being ever-available, tweeting your fingers off, answering questions (even on weekends!), and taking care of business no matter what the hour: I owe each of you a dry martini, and probably three. (Although, yeah, I admit that when you volunteered to help during your honeymoon, Katie … well, gosh, I didn’t know whether to be grateful or worried. Priorities, girlfriend.)
To Deb Shapiro: Thank you for organizing my life. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
To all the Random House team members of sales and marketing out there in the trenches: Thank you for getting my work in front of readers and giving these books their best shot.
My deepest thanks also go to my publishers abroad, who took a chance on this trilogy and dedicated so much of their time and energy on its behalf. A very special shout-out to Niamh Mulvey, Roisin Heycock, Alice Hill, and the rest of the production team at Quercus UK: Tea was lovely, but those zombie cocktails were brilliant. I do believe I’ve recovered enough for a repeat.
To Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch: You were right. I was ready.
To my husband, David: Come on, admit it. You’ll miss my shaking you awake at 2 a.m. to discuss a plot point; you know you will. So … okay, then. Must be time for another series.
And, lastly, to all the bloggers, fans, Twitterati, and Facebook friends from around the world, who shared their love for the series with me and anyone who would listen: Thank you so much for having the courage to reach out and let me know how this trilogy has touched you. I have loved living and making the journey with you. Here’s my world, and welcome to it.