I am extremely grateful to the entire team of people at Roc who made this book possible: the marvelous Anne Sowards with her insightful and wonderful editing, Brad Brownson for his work in publicity, and Robin Catalano for copyediting. Heartfelt thanks as well to my agent, Colleen Mohyde.
Sarah Riley and Karen Peláez once again went above and beyond the calls of friendship by reading through my first draft of the book and telling me where things were going off the rails. I am deeply grateful to my family for their continued love and support, from my ninety-one-year-old grandmother for reading what must’ve seemed like a rather weird book, to my mother’s decision to take on the task of selling my debut novel as if the second coming of Girl Scout cookies had just arrived. Writing a sequel was very hard work, and my brother was kind enough to pitch in and give me regular phone calls asking whether I’d hit my target word count for the day. It was appreciated. I’m also grateful to my husband for hobbling my Internet access (at my request) during the last big push on the manuscript.
I also owe a heavy debt to all of the lovely, supportive, and extremely funny people who I have met through Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and at conventions. Thank you for the support you showed to a debut novel about a slacker vampire. I am so much richer for having met all of you.
Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins: An Encyclopedia by Carol Rose and Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks by Juliet Eilperin were invaluable in the planning stages of this book.