Watchdog
Page 12
He looked at Tara, who nodded in agreement. “You got that straight. This is our company. All of us.”
Torch let out a whoop that caused half a dozen people in the hallway to look in at them through the glass wall. He covered his mouth and called, “Sorry.”
“Can we get an apartment now?” Tara asked. “With royal blue carpet and shell tile in the kitchen? And a white concrete birdbath in the backyard in the corner by the water recycler?”
“We sure can.” Vick held up a finger. “But first we’re going to get some quesadillas, and some corn on the cob, and chocolate milk.”
“That sounds good,” East said. “I’m starving.”
“Or we could send your dumb watchdog out to get it,” Torch said, grinning.
Laughing, Tara wrapped her arms around Daisy and gave her a fierce hug, then kissed her steel cheek.
Daisy just stood there, playing dumb.
Watchdog grew out of an email conversation with Kate Sullivan, my editor at Delacorte Press. We were batting around ideas for my next young adult book, and I tossed out the idea for Watchdog. She said it seemed like a great idea for a book for middle-grade kids. That stuck with me, because I wanted to write a middle-grade book—a book my own kids would be old enough to read right about the time it came out. I wouldn’t have written Watchdog if not for that spark from Kate. Plus, Kate liked the result enough to publish Watchdog, and made it a better book through her insightful editing, so I’m triply grateful to her.
Many thanks to Laurel Amberdine and Jessi Cole Jackson (fellow YA/MG authors and Codex Writers’ Group members), who critiqued the first draft of Watchdog, and to my longtime brainstorming partner, Jim Pugh, who helped me get unstuck time and again as I wrote that first draft.
Before I run with an idea, I’ve taken to testing it out on Jacob Robinson, who works in Hollywood (now with TBS). He (kindly and constructively) shoots down most of the ideas I send him, but Watchdog he loved. His enthusiasm got me enthused; he made a few crucial suggestions to the original two-sentence idea I sent him, and that was the start of what became this book. Thank you, Jacob!
Thanks also to my agent, Seth Fishman. He and I have been a team since my first novel was published seven years ago. He was an early fan of Watchdog, as well as the person who first got me to think about writing for readers of different ages.
Finally, gratitude and love to my family and friends. To my wife, Alison; to our dynamic duo, Miles and Hannah; to my parents and sister and her family; to Aunt M and Aunt Jane; to my in-laws, Bill and Ginny Scott; to my sister-in-law, Liz, and her family; and to my friends Beau, Saul, Colin & Jeannie, Tony & David, Mike, Larry, Suzanne & David, Lenny, Ted, Sara, and many others who have let me bounce ideas off them, encouraged me, supported me. Thank you all.
Will McIntosh is the author of several adult speculative fiction novels and a frequent short-story writer. His first novel, Soft Apocalypse, was a finalist for the Locus Award. “Bridesicle,” a short story published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, won a Hugo Award for Best Short Story and was later expanded into his novel Love Minus Eighty, which was an ALA-RUSA Reading List Selection for Science Fiction. His most recent novel for adults, Defenders, has been optioned for film by Warner Bros. Will is also the author of Burning Midnight, his first novel for young adults. He lives with his wife and twin children in Williamsburg, Virginia.
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