3:59 (34 page)

To Roy Firestone, who, as always, listened to every complaint, rant, whine, tirade, and breakdown with calm sympathy.

To Ginger Clark. I refer to her as “my rock star” for a reason. She’s not just an agent, she’s a partner in crime.

To Kristin Daly Rens, who worked as diligently as I did to whip this book into shape. She saw the kernel of a fantastic story, then made sure I saw it, too.

To the amazing folks at Curtis Brown: Holly Frederick, Dave Barbor, Jonathan Lyons, and Kerry D’Agostino.

To my Balzer + Bray family: Donna Bray, Alessandra Balzer, and Sara Sargent, as well as the ridiculously talented HarperCollins team, including Emilie Polster, Stefanie Hoffman, Caroline Sun, Ray Shappell, and Kathryn Silsand.

To Carrie Harris and Laurel Hoctor Jones, whose astute critiques and timely brainstorming saved this book.

To my Bacon sisters: Jessi Kirby, Stasia Kehoe, Elana Johnson, and Carrie Harris (again). I’m only sane because of you.

To Deb Shapiro, publicist extraordinaire, who did not get a thank you in
Ten
.

To Amber Sweeney, who generously did all the legwork and design on the Army of Ten promotion—http://armyoften.blogspot.com—and who has been a tireless advocate and ally.

To the Generals in the Army of Ten, the best street team in the history of street teams: Alisha Blanchard, Sophia Candrilli, Danielle DeVor, Jennifer Halligan from A Book and a Latte, and Jen Runkle.

To my mom, as always. My little red caboose.

Pixie Vision Productions

GRETCHEN McNEIL
is the author of
Ten
and
Possess
. She is also a former coloratura soprano, is the voice of Mary on G4’s
Code Monkeys
, and currently sings with the L.A. based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. She is a founding member of vlog group the YARebels—where she can be seen as “Monday”—and is an active member of the Enchanted Inkpot, a group blog of YA and middle-grade fantasy writers. You can visit Gretchen online at www.gretchenmcneil.com.

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