Blythewood (45 page)

Remember me,
remember me,
it tolled a different tune now.
You’re not alone,
you’re not alone.

I HAVE AN entire Order of
farbrente maydlakh
to thank for the
creation of this book. First, my daughter Maggie’s webcomic Penny
Dreadful (PennyDreadfulComics.com) inspired the 1911 setting.
My step-daughter Nora was an invaluable source of historical detail,
calling in her cohorts Barry Goldberg and Ben Hellwege to suggest
sources for the period. Maggie’s friend Sarah Alpert listened to
many hours of world-building, gave invaluable suggestions on the
manuscript, and invented Featherbell. My intrepid editor, Kendra
Levin, saw me through many revisions and tirelessly pinned down
the taxonomic hierarchies of Darkling and fairy.

Thanks, too, to Danielle Delaney, Nancy Brennan, and Janet
Pascal at Viking. My agent, Robin Rue, and her assistant Beth
Miller, at Writers House, were fiery in their advocacy for this book.

Thanks to Wendy Gold, Gary Feinberg, and Scott Silverman
for reading early drafts.
And, as always, I couldn’t do any of this without the faith and
love of my husband Lee.