To my Liverpool housemates, for always wanting to help, whether it was making tea or creating quiet spaces so I could work. And to my New York housemates, for not giving me weird looks when they find me talking to myself, or rocking in corners, or when I burst into nervous laughter.
To the online community, for its constant love and support.
To the readers, who make every bad day good and every good day better.
And to Neil Gaiman, for the hug.
They warn you about sequels.
They tell you to stock up on caffeine and pajama pants. They tell you to strap yourself down against the storm. They tell you that it will all be worth it in the end. That you’ll get through it.
But they never tell you how.
The answer?
People.
People who keep you grounded. People who keep you sane. Who talk plot. Talk pacing. Talk character.
People who answer hypothetical questions about really strange things without looking at you like you’ve lost your mind.
People who steal the delete key from your keyboard when you decide at two a.m. that maybe you should hold it down.
People who know when you need to be left alone and when you need to be dragged from the computer into the light of day (or the darkness of a laser tag arena).
People who care. Who believe. Even when you don’t.
This was not an easy book, in any sense. It fought back. It dragged me through mud and thistle. There were casualties. Hours. Drafts.
But I had people.
I had my mother, who reminded me to eat and breathe, and my father, who reminded me to swim until the world felt small enough again.
I had my NYC housemates, Rachel and Jen, who knew when I needed noise and when I needed quiet (and when I needed to watch cartoons).
I had Carla and Courtney, who hauled me to my feet and dusted me off and squared me on my path.
I had my agent, Holly, who told me I would find a way, because I always did.
I had my editors, Abby and Lisa, who believed in the books, and in me.
And I had you.
VICTORIA “V. E.” SCHWAB (www.veschwab.com) is the #1 New York Times, USA Today, and indie best-selling author of more than a dozen books, including Vicious, the Shades of Magic series, and the Monsters of Verity series. Her work has received critical acclaim, been featured by Entertainment Weekly and the New York Times, translated into more than a dozen languages, and optioned for TV and film. The Independent calls her the “natural successor to Diana Wynne Jones” and touts her “enviable, almost Gaimanesque ability to switch between styles, genres, and tones.”
The Dark Vault Page 59
