Afterparty(93)

Actually, there isn’t one person at Simon Pulse who hasn’t been wonderful. Bethany Buck, many hugs and thank you. Carolyn Swerdloff in marketing has been holding my hand and doing fabulous things above and beyond for the past two years, now with the help of the dynamic and sweet Emma Sector. Mara Anastas has been kind and darling. Paul Crichton is a truly generous magician, and Lydia Finn the most amazingly effective, proactive, and genuinely nice person. Jacket designer Jessica Handelman is inspired (and also prescient). Michelle Fadlalla, Venessa Carson, and Anthony Parisi have done all kinds of beyond great things right from the start. And Mary Marotta and Teresa Brumm, just wow. Both Nicoles, Ellul and Russo, have been lovely, as has Courtney Sanks, and as for my local rep, Kelly Stidham—I am so lucky. (And, Dawn Ryan, I miss you.)

Many thanks to Professor Amir Hussain and to Rabbi Morley Finestein for sharing your wisdom with so much depth and sensitivity. I am deeply grateful for your help. Thanks also to my dear Mimi Roberts for help on the Montreal front; to Menachem Kaiser for his input on the use of the word “shiksa”; and to super-librarian and horse expert Leslie Chudnoff, who was kind enough not to laugh at me when Loogs acted more like a very large wheaten terrier than a horse. (If I did blow it, the fault is mine, of course, and not that of the experts who tried to save me from myself.)

Thank you, Alethea Allarey, for keeping me electronically connected, technologically semi-competent, and sometimes, also, sane.

To the L.A. branch of the Apocalypsies—thank you for taking me in. The half a clue I finally have, I got from you. And to the LAYAS, you rock. To my critique group, Alexis O’Neal, Caroline Arnold, Gretchen Woelffle, Nina Kidd, and Sherril Kushner for years of support and friendship and wisdom and input: thank you.

To my mom, Lillian Redisch, who is still cheerleading as avidly as when I was a six year old with a black-and-white marbled notebook and a pencil, and to my mother-in-law, Marilyn Stampler, and our dear friend, Jay Markoff, with all my books on permanent display on your coffee table, thanks.

Laura and Michael, you are phenomenally good storytellers in your own right, and such sage advisers. Thanks. Laura, your notes saved me when I was stuck. I love you both so much. And as for Rick, you read every word of every draft, and offered smart, smart input and endless encouragement. Then there’s your complete willingness to share our house with new crews of characters for years at a time, and act as if it’s normal to have conversations about them as if they were real. I love you. I thank you. I appreciate you.

Finally, Evan, rescue dog extraordinaire, thank you for reforming and not actually eating any significant pieces of paper, note cards, or paper clips involved in the creation of this book.