My Professors: Lisa Corrin for kindly and without judgment pointing out in an Art History paper that I cared more about the stories of the artists than the work they created. Jim Shepard and his amazing fiction seminars, for giving me purpose then and now.
The Ghosts of My Alloy Past: Lanie Davis, Katie Schwartz, Rachel Tobias, Liz Dresner, Theodora Guliadis, Beth Clarke, Emilia Rhodes, Stacey Silverman, Gina Girolamo, Maggie Cahill, Tripp Reed, Cheryl Dolins, Amanda Bowman, Ashley Williams, and Monsieur Socktopus, all of whom helped me along this journey from assistant . . . to assistant . . . to eventual author.
J. Allan Hobson, for his wonderful book The Dreaming Brain.
And of course, Ernie The Dog, who always keeps me laughing.