96 Miles
Page 23
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The first sentence of this story is true, so I guess I should start by thanking my dad. If he hadn’t gathered my siblings and me into the bathroom of our childhood home to tell us that, in the case of an emergency, we could drink the water in the toilet, this book wouldn’t exist. I should also thank the great state of Nevada, particularly the desolate middle part, for sparking my imagination during long drives down lonely highways. And while on the subject of inspiration, this story of two brothers surviving in the Nevada desert without their dad also wouldn’t exist without the music of a local band here in Las Vegas called The Killers—I only had the first sentence, then I listened to the Battle Born album. Thanks for that!
Thank you to my first reader, Cord Esplin, who read every scene in this book as I wrote it, and whose facial expressions let me know whether I was on the right track. Gus Esplin read the next draft, then Homer—how handy to have you three clever boys around!
Thank you to my favorite critique partner, Chase Baldwin, for your genius-level feedback, always. I couldn’t have stumbled upon a better random person on the internet with which to navigate this world of publishing.
Thank you to all of my early beta readers for your totally unbiased feedback, even though we’re family and friends: Mary Morgan, Sara Strasser, Amy Thurston, Memzy Waite, and Landee Anderson (aka crickets). My round-two beta readers, who were just as unbiased, I’m sure: Michelle Esplin, Ally Adams, Stacia Henderson, and Mandy Abbott. If I ever need friends to survive a blackout with, I choose you people. Even though you have no survival skills.
It was important to me that I get things right with my characters Stew and Jess. I spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos of kids just like them, and I wish I had a better way to properly thank them. Thank you to Heather Griffith for answering my questions early on—so early on that you probably don’t even remember, but I do! Thank you to Mandy Abbott, Marleen Gunnerson, and Nora Gunnerson, for reading drafts and checking my work. Any errors after all that are my own.
I’m so grateful for my agent, Andrea Somberg, who believed in this story and stuck with me through submission highs and lows. I definitely won the literary agent lottery!
Thank you to my brilliant editor, Susan Chang, for believing I was capable of doing better, even when I seriously doubted it. I also won the editor lottery! Thanks too, to my copy editor, Eliani Torres, for your attention to detail. And to the team at Tor/Starscape who put hard work and time into this book: Elizabeth Vaziri, Rafal Gibek, Megan Kiddoo, Steven Bucsok, Heather Saunders, Peter Lutjen, Laura Etzkorn, and Anthony Parisi.
I’m so lucky to be surrounded by supportive friends and family, because it turns out, publishing can be pretty stressful. Thank you to everyone who kindly scheduled playdates with my little one to help me meet deadlines. My other creative outlet is guitar, and I want to give a special thanks to my guitar students for being the best distraction every time I needed it. Thank you to my local ANWA friends—I’m so grateful to have found a group of talented, fun, and hilarious writers! To my extended Esplin family, for your unwavering love and support—how lucky I am to have married into this family! To the people I grew up with—Becky, Tom, Amy, Erin, and Sara—it’s no coincidence that every manuscript I’ve written has been about siblings. Clearly, you are my greatest inspirations. Thank you for supplying me with decades of wonderful memories. Dad, thank you for years of enthusiastic encouragement (despite what my high school English teacher had to say about it). Mom, thank you for keeping me going through years of rejection, well over a decade, and never doubting this would happen one day.
Finally, there are no words to express how grateful I am for my kids, Cord, Gus, Homer, and Elowen, and my husband, Anthony. The best thing I can come up with is that you … dramatic pause … are Battle Born.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J. L. ESPLIN grew up with a Secret Service agent father, who was intent on raising self-reliant kids, prepared for any emergency, especially natural disasters. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the edge of town with her husband and kids. 96 Miles is her first novel. When not writing, she enjoys teaching guitar the fun way, traveling to new places, and coming back home to the desert.
Visit her online at jlesplin.com, or sign up for email updates here.
Goodreads: J. L. Esplin
Facebook: @jlesplin
Instagram: @jl_esplin_writes
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
96 MILES
Copyright © 2020 by Jenny Esplin
All rights reserved.
Cover art: background by Shutterstock.com; boys by Stocksy.com
A Starscape Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Esplin, J. L., author.
Title: 96 miles / J. L. Esplin.
Other titles: Ninety-six miles
Description: First edition. | New York : Starscape, a Tom Doherty Associates Book, 2020.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019044525 (print) | LCCN 2019044526 (ebook) | ISBN 9781250192301 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250192295 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Survival—Fiction. | Brothers—Fiction. | Diabetes—Fiction. | Electric power failures—Fiction. | Nevada—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.E846 Aam 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.E846 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044525
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044526
eISBN 9781250192295
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First Edition: February 2020