Phoebe North: Starbreak

The bloggers, reviewers, librarians, booksellers, and readers of Starglass . Thank you for letting me put planets inside your head. Your enthusiasm made all the hard work worth it.

James Dashner, Jodi Meadows, and Lenore Appelhans, for lending their kind words of praise to my first book. I hope you enjoy this one, too. SPAAAACE!

The Bruisers—Douglas Beagley, Nicole Feldl, and Fran Wilde—for reading early chapters and drafts of Starbreak , and especially to Wayne Helge, for pointing out precisely where Terra needed to be when the book began. An extra high five to Kelly Lagor, for assuring me that psychic plant people are, in fact, possible.

The women of YA Highway, Kirsten Hubbard, Stephanie Kuehn, Kody Keplinger, Kaitlin Ward, Kristin Halbrook, Kristin Otts, Amy Lukavics, Sumayyah Daud, Sarah Enni, Leila Austin, Kate Hart, and Lee Bross, for sharing snippets and support. You will always be my favorite community of writers.

My dear writer friends:  Veronica Roth, for her beta letters and her sanity. Jennifer Castle, for coffee and kvetching. Sean Wills, for stories and snark. Rachel Hartman, for her empathy. I’d be lost without you.

Michelle Andelman, the best agent a nerd could hope for, who has supported Terra and her journey from the time it was nothing more than a snippet on some blog. For your killer eye and your even deadlier pen, Nocki Vot ! (That’s “Thank you” in Tenctonese.)

My team at Simon & Schuster: Lucy Ruth Cummins, Anna McKean, Ellen Grafton, Bara MacNeill and Angela Zurlo. Thank you for all of your work getting the Asherah off the ground!

And especially Navah Wolfe. When I was thirteen years old, I used to stay up late watching reruns of Star Trek . I once dreamed of leaving the solar system; you’ve helped me do the next best thing—to invent an entire universe. I am so, so proud of what we’ve created in these pages.

My family: Phyllis Fineberg, Emily North, Elayne Rudbart, Frank Etzel, Barbara Etzel, and Jason Etzel. And my friends, who are as good as family: Nicole Talucci, Andrew Wirick, Tarah Dunn, Patrick Artazu, Eric Zuarino, John Zuarino, John Penola, and Jeffrey Krachun.

And finally, Jordan and Sammy Katz. My home, my loves. Without you, there would be no books.