Writing this novel has been such a journey. I still remember the first time I met Emma. I was standing in my kitchen making eggs for my kids (dippy eggs specifically) and I just saw her standing there, towering beside me. She snort-laughed as she smashed the cute face on the egg, peeled off the peel and bit into it. I didn’t really see her. I don’t hallucinate. It is just a thing that happens to authors sometimes. Sometimes we mold a character, craft them, sculpt and carve and chip them into inky being and then other times they just show up in your filthy kitchen, bloodied and bruised and hungover, machete at the ready.
I fell in love with Emma immediately.
Firstly, I want to thank the two people this book is dedicated to. You two are my heart and soul, you are my everything, thank you for being such fucking awesome humans.
To my parents, all four of you, thank you for your undying, unending support. Thank you for reading my work even when it is weird or horror. Thank you for making sure I had unfettered access to books to read, this has helped me become who I am and helped me find my passions.
To my first reader, Zsuzsanna. Thank you for helping to carve this granite into what it is today.
To friends, CJ, Dexter & Schawna, Judy, Freya, Breeze & Chris, and the others at the Write Here Launceston group, Samone, Karen, Jackie, & Teresa. Thank you for the cuppas, the adventures, and the advice.
To Rent Strike, Days N’ Daze, My Chemical Romance, Be Your Own Pet, Penelope Scott, Men At Work, The Cranberries, Skylar Grey, Moby, Billie Eillish, K.Flay, Sin Shake Sin, Harold Arlen, RAKEL, Poor Man’s Poison, Wolfmother, Grand Commander, The Arrogant Worms, Ken Ashcorp, Jukebox The Ghost, The Heavy, Metallica, Dan Owen, The Von Bondies, The Crane Wives, METRIC, Robert DeLong, Royal & The Serpent, Harley Poe, Bo Burnham, Amélie Farren, Kasey Chambers, Madilyn Mei, Qbomb, AJJ, System of a Down, Sodikken, Ren, Chinchilla, The Smashing Pumpkins, Hozier, Muse, Rick Astley, Adam Lambert, Kaiser Chiefs, Black Midi, Ratwyfe, Green Day. Thank you for the words and the music. Please go and listen to my playlist on YouTube, buy their music, follow them, buy their merch.
Thank you to Mark Z Danielewski, for showing me how weird and beautiful the written word can be. Thank you to Paul Jennings, for giving me permission to enjoy my strange, to grab it and run with it and not let anyone take it away from me. Thank you to John and Hank Green, for the community, for the inspiration, for showing me that change can happen. DFTBA.
Then lastly, thank you to retail hell for giving me the opportunities to hone my craft while on the clock.
