Lauren Miller - Free to Fall

First and foremost, I thank the One who gave me the idea for this book, my ever-present Paraclete. I hope I didn’t butcher it too much in the execution.

Thank you to the incomparable Kristyn Keene, agent extraordinaire, whose enthusiasm for this story never waned and whose sensibilities shaped and improved it at every stage. And to Kyle Kallman, the best intern ICM ever hired, who liked my crazy idea enough to give me notes on it when he didn’t have to. Sorry for naming a bad guy after you.

Thank you also to my editor, Sarah Landis at HarperTeen, whose insights and care for these pages left me swimming in gratitude on more than one occasion, and to the whole Harper­Teen team, especially Jen Klonsky, Gina Rizzo, Christina Colangelo, Sarah Kaufman (who’s two for two on kickass covers), Jon Howard, Kaitlin Severini, and Alice Jerman for all their hard work and general awesomeness.

For your amazing expertise on all things nanobot (and for basically giving me my oxytocin hook), a thousand thanks to the brilliant Dr. Katrina Siffred. For my hacker scenes, I’m indebted to Mike Siley, who isn’t a hacker but still manages to be a badass. Please move back to LA. And then there’s Alex Young at NASA, the coolest solar physicist in the world, who somehow explained solar storms in a way my not-scientifically-inclined brain could understand. Without your help, I may never have ended this book, and especially not with a spectacular green glow. And finally, Anne Drewry, dear friend and brilliant doctor, who helped me figure out how to kill all the people I needed to kill in this book, and who also taught me, years ago, the particular joy and privilege of having a “roomie BFF.”

Thank you also to Ryan Dobson, for coming up with the name “the Doubt” (gee, did I write any of this book myself?); to Brent Robida, for your consistent and complicated friendship but also for reading the very first iteration of this story (that forgotten TV script that AMC didn’t want) and for sending me Wendell Berry when I was stuck; to Bobbi Shiflett, for reading the first draft of this book in three days and single-handedly saving me from a black hole of self-doubt; and to Jordanna Fraiberg and Natalie Krinsky, for encouraging and inspiring me from across coffee shop tables as I wrote these pages and reminding me that this writing thing we do doesn’t have to be loners’ work.

These acknowledgments would not be complete without a huge, all caps THANK YOU to the fabulous Niki Castle, who read this book even faster than Bobbi did and said such nice things that I have to wonder if I can trust her. If anyone could convince me to move across the country, it’s you, lady. Just as long as you promise to supply me with pumpkin cookies and vinho verde rosé.

Last but certainly not least, to my family, for their unending support and love, and especially to my husband, daughter, and little peanut on the way, who will no longer be a peanut when this book hits shelves but an actual person. I’m excited about this book, but I’m way more excited about you, Lil’er Miller. May you and your sister always trust that whisper within.