Beneath the Skin

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone at AquaJogger for their continuing support and encouragement and for putting up with my absences whenever I’m off on a writing vacation: Jim Spencer, Bobby Criswell, Steve Bergstrom, Lew and Kathy Thorne, Mark Poor-man—you’ve each made it possible for me to pursue my dream. Thank you!

Special writing thanks to: Sean and Rose Prescott, Karen Abrahamson, and Dean Smith for being my first readers and for helping me tell the best story possible; and to my editor, Jen Heddle, and my agent, Matt Bialer, for your passion, your humor, and your artistry—I’m honored to work with you both!

Big-ass thanks to: Mippy Carlson, Nate Gross, Sheila Dale, Louise Robson, Judi Szabo, and all the members of Club Hell and my street team for your support, enthusiasm, well wishes, and love for Dante and his world. Y’all ROCK!

Heartfelt thanks to: my sons, Matt Jensen and Sebastian Phoenix, and their partners, Sherri Lyons and Jen Phoenix, and my story-writing little Kylah Phoenix, for all their encouragement and love; and Kris Rusch, Lynn Adams, Sharon and Marty Embertson, and Jerry Robinson for your friendship and for your tireless efforts in spreading the word—I couldn’t do it without you.

Special you-were-there-in-my-time-of-need thanks to: Jeri Smith-Ready and Patrice Michelle for running me around after my graceful plummet in Orlando; Sean Prescott for picking me up at the airport and for just being there; Kris Rusch, Dean Smith, Chris and Steve York, Rose Prescott, and all the talented and prolific members of OWN for showering me with welcome-home goodies; and everyone who visited me in the hospital and sent their well-wishes—thank you each so very much!

Thanks also to Abulia Paroxysm (Sebastian Phoenix) for creating music that is original and heartfelt and true. And to Queens of the Stone Age, Saul Williams, Saints of Ruin, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, and Rammstein for the music.

And last, but never least, Trent Reznor, whose music always provides an emotional soundscape for Dante and his world and is always a source of inspiration.

And, again, thanks to you, the reader, for picking up this book and plunging back into Dante, Heather, and Lucien’s world. None of this could happen without you. If this is your first time, bienvenue and enjoy.

Please visit me at adrianphoenix.com, myspace.com/adriannikolasphoenix, and at facebook.com/pages/Adrian-Phoenix/.