The Last Namsara (Iskari #1)(100)
The entire team at Gollancz, but especially Gillian Redfearn and Rachel Winterbottom. I’m ridiculously excited and proud to be part of the Gollancz family.
My international coagents and foreign publishers: Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine my stories would be translated into other languages and sold in countries so far from my own. Thank you for believing in this book.
My early readers (of various drafts): Cassandra Roach, Kayli Kinnear, Shannon Thomson, Leslie Morgenson, Amber Sundy, Andrea Brame, Rachel Stark, Emily Gref, Franny Billingsley, Traci Chee, Renée Ahdieh, Chris Cabena, Joan He, Michella Domenici, Hope Cook, Merrill Wyatt, Kamerhe Lane, Heather Smith, Amy Mathers, Tomi Adeyemi, Isabel Iba?ez, Kit Grant, Leila Siddiqui, and Geoff Martin. I’m probably forgetting someone. If I am, I’m so sorry!
Extraspecial thanks go to:
Franny Billingsley, for teaching me everything I know about storytelling.
Leila Siddiqui, for your honest feedback and kind help at the eleventh hour.
Art and Myrna Bauman, for letting me use the cottage whenever I need to escape the world and just write.
Leslie Morgenson, for telling me all those years ago that I am, in fact, a writer. You gave me the courage to go rogue.
Heather Smith and Nan Forler, for coffee, friendship, and general mischief-making.
My Pitch Wars cohort: I never expected to fall so hard in love with you all, but I did. It is a joy to be journeying with you.
My Pitch Wars mentors, Traci Chee and Renée Ahdieh: Thank you for dragging me out of the hole I’d dug myself into, then believing in and championing this book. Your mentorship was one of the best things to ever happen to me. Far better than book deals.
Brenda Drake: Thank you for working so tirelessly, thanklessly, and invisibly behind the scenes of Pitch Wars. You are a life changer.
Michella Domenici and Joan He, for your friendship and fangirling and willingness to drop everything when I need fresh eyes and another perspective. *squishes you both*
Isabel Iba?ez, for backseat conversations from Charleston to Orlando. For devouring this book “like a starving wolf.” But most of all for your love and support. Sweet friend: you are beautiful.
Hope Cook, for always being just a text away whenever I need to a) melt into a puddle of self-pity or b) go on an angry rampage. I love you, O wise one.
Chris Cabena, for chess games and SAGA reminders and patiently listening to me ramble through all my plot snags. I cherish you more than you know.
Tomi Adeyemi, for your friendship, wisdom, and support. For talking me off ledges and bringing me back to the heart of things. But most of all for being so proud of me.
Joanna Hathaway, I don’t know how I would have survived this year without you. You make me braver than I am on my own.
Asnake Dabala, brother and dearest friend, for letting me abuse all your printing privileges. Nilimuuliza Mungu kwa ajili ya rafiki na akakuleta wewe. Thank you for always being there for me.
My entire Cesar family: I wouldn’t be who I am today without you all. Thank you especially to Nancy McLauchlin, Mary Dejonge, and Sylvia Cesar, for teaching me everything I know about love and bravery and being true to yourself; Larry Dejonge, Brian Baldoni, and Jim McLauchlin, for making my childhood one happy adventure; Pa, for carrying me to bed every night for almost a decade (we miss you); Bobbi, for making my lunches, driving me to appointments, teaching me how to braid my hair . . . you’ve always been so much more than a grandmother. Belonging to all of you is one of the greatest joys of my life. Thank you for raising me.
Jordan Dejonge, for being my coconspirator in all things growing up, but mostly: writing, adventuring, and figuring out how to be human together. I love you.
Dad, for always supporting and defending me. I’m so proud to be your daughter. Jolene, for always being proud of my art-making. Nathan and Graeme, for being two beacons of light in my life.
Mum, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Your love is a bright, fierce thing and the most precious gift I’ve ever been given.
Joe, for never thinking to doubt me. For talking me through this and everything else. For always, always bringing me back to myself. Now let’s go chase your dream, my love.
Last of all, thank you, dear reader, for making it this far. Never forget: you are not what you’ve been told you are, you are what lies within you.