Acknowledgments
This book took two years to write and a decade to revise, and it’s impossible to thank all the people who helped me along the way. However, special thanks are due:
To Anna Jean Mayhew, for her helpful comments. To the “Smiling Authors”: Kerry Dunn, Sheryl Dunn, Richard C. Hine, Marla Mendenhall, Jarucia Jaycox Nirula, Dwight Okita, Steffan Piper, and Robert L. Taylor, for constructive criticism, advice, and moral support.
To Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link of Small Beer Press, for making it happen, and for the magic editing touch.
To Kat Köhler, my partner in crime.
To my parents, who passed on their love of words.
And to Keith—first reader, loyal critic, mapmaker, and inspiration—who was there when it all began.