The Beast (39 page)

The End

Belle and Aleksander will return in
The Beauty
.

Author Notes

I love this fairytale. I’ve seen many movies, TV shows, and read many versions of it. The day I came up with the idea of using hellhounds and steampunk inventions was one of the best days of my life. I tried to pay homage to all the versions I was familiar with; Some easter eggs will be obvious and others won’t be. However, this world was still its own. So much hardship and death has a way of changing characters. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know these altered versions of familiar souls. I can’t wait to see who they become…now that the fairytale is over.

In order to give this world rules, I drew from various mythologies. Particularly Norse Mythology. It seemed perfectly tailored for what this story needed. All of the poems that Aleksander read from belong to a real collection of Old Norse poems called, Poetic Edda. I know spots were hard to understand, but I refused to alter the original words.

The same can be said for the Hunter’s Creed. The creed is a blend of old Catholic prayers and my own wording. If I could help it, I tried to keep the old prayers as close to the original wording as possible.

The thing that made this story particularly difficult, also a thing that I loved, was the cultural diversity. French, Norwegian (The basis for the Vakrein culture), American, British, and even some Irish. I imagined that throughout this story the characters switched almost seamlessly from speaking French, to Vakrein, to English, and back to French. I tried to represent this by slipping in little bits here and there. Such as Père (French for Father), Fille (French for Daughter), and so forth. Vakrein was the hardest to represent. I can type
merci
and most will recognize it. The Norwegian thank you (
takk
) is less recognizable. So instead I tried to represent it in the names, like Vakre Fjell or Mount Gunnhild.

It is my greatest hope that by doing all that I wrote above, God’s Cup might perhaps be mistaken for a real place. Or, at the very least, it felt real to you.

Au revoir…for now.

Acknowledgments

First, I’d like to thank my two writing mentors; Tom Nugent and Trisha Wolfe. I’ve said it many times, Tom taught me how to write and Trisha taught me how to tell a story. Whether they realize it or not, they helped shape me into the writer that I am. I will be forever grateful and indebted for that.

To my family…I love you all so very much. Thank you for never telling me that I couldn’t do it and for never encouraging me to have a backup plan. Thank you to my mom for always buying me books and never discouraging that desire. Thank you to my dad for always asking where your helicopter is. To Tom, thank you for all the inspiring gun talk. To the three of you, thank you for supporting me completely. To my brother, thank you for asking me how the book was coming along every time you saw me. To my lil sis, thank you for daydreaming with me about what it would be like if my book was ever turned into a movie. I have the best siblings ever—the best family ever.

To Nicholas Smith, my best friend who’s not blood related. You were the first to read
The Beast
. I thank you for loving the story as much as I do and for talking about the characters with me for hours.

Big thanks to Stephanie Mooney of Mooney Designs for creating such an incredible book cover, interior images, and a gorgeous map. You’ve captured it all so wonderfully, I can’t wait to see the sequels!

Thank you to Jaye Manus for her patience and mad formatting skills. People can actually read this because of your talents.

I have to give massive props to my betas: Jessica Bolton, Jessyca (Robin) Bull, Cheryl (SheRa) Martin, Taryn Love, Emily Beronja, and Bunny Cates. God, I hope I didn’t forget anyone. You didn’t have to read the book. You didn’t have to send back notes and edits. You certainly didn’t get paid for it. Yet, you were all still there for me. I bow down to your incredible awesomeness.

To my amazing—fantastic!—YouTube subscribers. My Tubers and Tubettes are the most beautiful people I know. You helped me stay positive when I had to cut over 10k words from my manuscript or when I was frustrated that it was taking so long. You also understood when my vlogs sucked because I was too busy writing. You dutifully gushed anytime I read bits from
The Beast
aloud and announced how excited you were to read it. You’ve all been there for me nearly every day for the last year. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A thousand times over…Thank you.

Thank you to indiegogo.com and all of my campaign funders! Your backing of this book had a foundation that was primarily faith-based. Thank you for lending a hand to an aspiring author. Also, thanks for your patience. We all know this took a lot longer than expected.

To
EVERY COWORKER I’VE EVER HAD
! You watched me write on my arms, scribble on pieces of paper, and you listened to my excited babble about characters you knew nothing about. Thank you…and I’m sorry.

In all honesty, this is only a portion of the people who have had a part in the creation of this novel. I’ve had many friends and writing partners since I was in my teens. They all influenced me and they all helped push me to this day. I have not forgotten you.

To the Universe and every god that’s out there—especially the writing gods—I thank you with every ounce of my being for this gift. Keep the stories coming.

About The Author

Lindsay Mead lives in Michigan’s lower peninsula with her small dog, Suzie Q, and her fish, Oscar. When she isn’t writing, Lindsay is replying to comments on YouTube. There she uploads a video every day, documenting her writing, travels, and life adventures.

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