Lair of Dreams

The incredibly talented, wise, and patient Alvina Ling, editor extraordinaire, and the also talented and wonderful Bethany Strout and Nikki Garcia. You are the Charlie’s Angels of Editorial. Boo-ya.

The hardworking LBYR team: Megan Tingley, Andrew Smith, Melanie Chang, Lisa Moraleda, Hallie Patterson, Victoria Stapleton, Jenny Choy, Emilie Polster, Stefanie Hoffman, Adrian Palacios, Tina McIntyre, and Barbara Bakowski. “And ya don’t stop.”

Wizard designer Maggie Edkins for the spooky, atmospheric book jacket.

The incredible, laser-eyed copyediting/proofreading/fact-checking team: JoAnna Kremer, Christine Ma, and Norma Jean Garriton, respectively. They probably all have PTSD now.

Agent Barry Goldblatt, who deserves some kind of medal for patience and bravery at this point in our long collaboration. Josh Goldblatt—thanks for the manga and anime breaks and for explaining to people, “My mom’s not crazy; she’s just on deadline.”

Heroic assistant Tricia Ready for keeping the ship upright and for the research help, read-throughs, and reminders to grab my keys on the way out. Researcher Lisa Gold, who is true to her name and who doesn’t flinch at my midnight e-mails. Bill Zeffiro, for the music info and the quick wit.

The Lovely & Amazing Writing Group—the Spanx of good friends (total support): Pam Carden, Brenda Cowan, Anna Funder, Michelle Hodkin, Cheryl Levine, David Levithan, Emily Lockhart, Dan Poblocki, Nova Ren Suma, Robin Wasserman, and Justin Weinberger. I love you guys. And Laurie Allee and Gayle Forman for all of that, plus saving me many times over. xo

The Brooklyn Tuesday Night Writing Workshop: Emma Bailey, Michelle Hodkin, Ben Jones, Kim Liggett, Julia Morris, Susanna Schrobsdorff, Nova Ren Suma, and Aaron Zimmerman.

The “Away” Team: Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Jo Knowles, and Kelly Link. And the Fourth of July BBQ Brainstorm Trust: Theo Black, Elka Cloke, Chris Cotter, Eric Churchill, Holly Rowland, Jeffrey Rowland, Emily Seville Lauer, and Josh Lewis. And Kat Howard, for her critiquing service above and beyond.

The Superhero Librarians Club (“Can we find it? Yes, we can!”): Karyn Silverman, Jennifer Hubert Swan, and Sara Ryan.

This book was written in many NYC & Brooklyn cafés: Thanks to the delightful staff at Think Coffee, Four & Twenty Blackbirds, Southside Coffee, and the late, great Red Horse Café, RIP. Thanks, too, to the Brooklyn Writers Space.

Finally, this book could not have been written without the many wonderful, knowledgeable people who kindly gave of their time and expertise. Their guidance was invaluable, and any mistakes, inaccuracies, or willful jazz riffs on factual information are strictly the fault of the author. Thank you a thousandfold to the Museum of Chinese in America, New York City, and to Yue Ma, associate director of collections; Samantha Chin-Wolner, collections assistant; and Kevin Chu, collections and digital archives assistant, at the MOCA archives. Thank you, Professor Shirley J. Yee, Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies (specializing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries), the University of Washington. Thank you, Zhen Wang Luo and Gabe Law, for the information on Chinese funeral customs. Thank you, Bryan Berlanger, director, National Capital Radio and Television Museum, Bowie, Maryland. Thank you, Carey Stumm and Brett Dion at the New York Transit Authority Archives. Thank you to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. Thank you, Steve Duncan, badass urban explorer and historian, for gleefully detailing the various ways one could be maimed, killed, or arrested running around in NYC’s miles of rat-infested subway tunnels. Yeah, I’m good topside, thanks.