The Blood Guard (The Blood Guard series) (23 page)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
f the idea of the Thirty-Six is even remotely real, then I’ve had the embarrassing good fortune to be surrounded by more than my fair share of these blessed people. Lucky me.

The following all deserve much more consideration than I could ever hope to fit on a single page:

Margery Cuyler, Kelsey Skea, Tim Ditlow, and Larry Kirshbaum of Amazon Children’s Publishin
g
—
g
ood-
humored trailblazers who take risks with new writers;

Melanie Kroupa, gentle editor of endless patience and perfect pitch, as well as Kerry Johnson, who repaired many unspeakably wonky sentences; Katrina Damkoehler and Vivienne To, who made the book look fun
and
beautiful;

Alice Swan, Genevieve Herr, Stephanie Thwaites, Sam Smith, and John McLa
y
—
U
K stalwarts, pitiless in their smarts and sharp-eyed wit;

Ted Malawer and Ruth Katcher of the Inkhouse, both of whom give their everything in support of their writers and their
stories;

Dan Bennett, Bruce Coville, Christopher
Stenge
l
—
t
rue friends all;

Beth Ziemacki, without whom, nothing.

Raoul, feline sidekick for nearly seventeen years. He passed away during the revisions on this book, and his absence is felt daily. Good night, little guy.