Story Thieves (31 page)

Obviously, he needed to thank Liesa Abrams Mignogna, who from the beginning had asked, “Why can't this James character be an author?” Then, “And can he be wearing a Batman shirt?”

And of course James couldn't thank Michael Bourret enough, given that Michael was his agent, and maybe, dare he say . . . friend?

No, he daren't. So just “agent” it was.

Then there was everyone else at Aladdin: Annie, Mara, Fiona, Carolyn, Katherine, Adam, Laura, Mary, Christina, and everyone who shepherded the book from its start as just a tiny sheep baby (
Lamb?
James wondered) to its current incarnation as full-grown, curly-haired
Mr.
Sheep. James furrowed his
brow. A shepherd analogy? Shouldn't there be something with genies, since the imprint is called Aladdin? He shrugged. No one reads these things anyway, so why worry about consistent creative choices?

Not that he
ever
really worried about consistent creative choices.

Then there were those who personally supported James. Your Thaphnes, your Dan and Saras, your Shannons, your Brandons, your Everyone Elses. “Maybe it's not as bad as you think,” they'd say, and James would shrug.
Anything
was possible, he supposed. They definitely needed to be acknowledged for that.

But what about all the
fans
? Out of everyone, they were the most important people to say “Thank you!” to! But how to do it? There was no possible way to thank all of them, even with the time machine James's future self had just gifted him. Oh, horrible irony! Was it irony? James frowned, not sure. Twitter would know . . . but that way lay madness.

And then there were the teachers, the librarians, and the booksellers. The magical, selfless geniuses who changed children's lives on a daily basis, and who every so often would push James's books into the hands of a reader who wasn't quite done
with fairy tales just yet. Thanking all those people would take months, or
years
if James were lazy about it! Even if he just started with, say, Kim and Katie Laird—

OOOH, NEW CAT VIDEO ON THE INTERNETS!

. . . Ha! Classic, that cat. Now, where was he? Something about thanking people. Right!

Except that thanking people made James wonder what would happen if he left someone's name off by mistake. Would people get offended? Doubt their contribution? Not thank him in
their
books?! That would be horrible! Sure, his family would know he loved them, since James was always incredibly thankful for their support, but everyone else? And even worse, what about those who
didn't
contribute anything, but just assumed James was referring to them when thanking “everyone else”? It made him shudder with horror.

Nope. There was just no good way to do this. James crumpled up the paper he'd been doodling on instead of writing down names like he was supposed to have been doing. And if there was no good way to do something, that meant he shouldn't do it. After all, not everyone had acknowledgments pages, right?

All people really had to know was how honored James was by
anyone
reading his work, and how much he hoped they enjoyed it. And what better way to show that . . . than by SENDING EVERY READER A THOUSAND DOLLARS IN CASH! That was a
much
better idea than some clichéd acknowledgments page! If readers finished the book, all they'd have to do was [You're not putting this in. No.—Liesa] and James would send them a thousand dollars in cash!

Perfect.
This would be the best acknowledgments page
ever
.

A
LSO BY
  J
AMES
R
ILEY

Half Upon a Time

Twice Upon a Time

Once Upon the End

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ALADDIN

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

First Aladdin hardcover edition January 2015

Text copyright © 2015 by James Riley

Jacket illustration copyright © 2015 by Vivienne To

Author photograph by Maarten de Boer

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at
www.simonspeakers.com
.

Jacket designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena

Interior designed by Gabe Levine and Laura Lyn DiSiena

The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Riley, James, 1977–

Story thieves / James Riley. — First Aladdin hardcover edition.

p. cm.

Summary: Except for reading the Kiel Gnomenfoot magic adventure series, Owen's life is boring until he sees his classmate Bethany climb out of a book in the library and he learns that Bethany is half-fictional and has been searching every book she can find for her missing father, a fictional character.

[1. Books and reading—Fiction. 2. Characters in literature—Fiction. 3. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 4. Magic—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.1.R55St 2015 [Fic]—dc23 2014028133

ISBN 978-1-4814-0919-3 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-4814-0921-6 (eBook)