by Fiona Paul
Mom, Paul, Vicky (ahem, alphabetical order, no fighting), thanks for your never-ending support, random edible gifts that kept me from starving, and for not disowning me when I went AWOL from the family for weeks at a time. You guys are right—I do too much. (But I don’t see that changing anytime soon.)
More thanks:
To Jennifer Laughran, for good advice and not giving up on me.
To all my awesome critique pals, and to the Blueboarders, some of whom provided more guidance and encouragement than they will probably ever know. Also to Connie, for knowing when to be my cheerleader and when to tell me to suck it up.
To the staff at Kayak’s, the best coffee shop in St. Louis, for putting up with all my special orders and for letting me take up the primo table by the bookshelf for insane amounts of hours. (I’m going to bring back the books I “borrowed” eventually, I promise.)
To Kholood Eid, for the amazing author photographs. You rock!
To Raul, Howard, Jeff, and everyone over at the-trades.com, for letting me write reviews and showering me with free books (because, let’s face it, part of every writer’s job is being a voracious reader).
To Susan Pickering and Dennis Black—you were the best English teachers a girl could hope for, but I’m a little cranky at you both for saying my writing was phenomenal and then telling me I should become a doctor.
Last, but not least, to Adam, for yanking me out of make-believe land and reminding me that the real world can be magical too.
FIONA PAUL is a writer, wanderer, and free spirit, with degrees in psychology and secondary education. She’s traveled all over the world, and many of the scenes in Venom were inspired by real-life experiences (though she won’t tell you which ones). She now makes her home in St. Louis, Missouri. Her future goals include diving with great white sharks and writing more books, but not necessarily in that order. Venom is her first novel.
You can visit Fiona Paul at www.fionapaulbooks.com
and read her blog at fionapaulbooks.blogspot.com
