Hounds of the Underworld

AcknowledgementsLee: Jennifer’s asking for our acknowledgements. Dan: You’ll have to do it. I broke my wrist. Lee: We should probably say something about how this isn’t our first collaboration. Dan: So you want me to thank the Baby Teeth contributors? This book is all their fault: if Baby Teeth hadn’t been so fun, Hounds of the Underworld would still be lurking in a parallel universe somewhere. Lee: When we thank them, can we get in this quote by American scholar Brené Brown? The one that says, “if you’re not in the arena getting your arse kicked then I’m not interested in your feedback.” Dan: We did get some great feedback, and from some of the best in the arena: Debbie Cowens, Sandra Dusconi, JC Hart, and Grant Stone. Simon Fogarty. Lee: Don’t forget Jake Bible, Phillip Mann, Paul Mannering, and Jeff Strand. We should thank Raw Dog Screaming Press, too, Jennifer Barnes, John Lawson and J.L. Gribble for taking a chance on a couple of unknowns from down-under. When we set out to find a home for this quirky story, I didn’t expect we’d feel quite so at home. I’m going to go first and thank my family, okay? To my children, Céline and Robbie, who understand Mum’s need to write, and my soul-mate, David, who doesn’t really, but always supports me anyway. Dan: Damn, you did the family thing first. Now it’ll sound like I’m copying. Never mind. To Chrissy, for letting me spend countless hours with my head in the clouds, because she prefers that to watching me rock back and forth in the corner, slowly gnawing my knuckles to the bone, which is what I do when I’m not writing. To Mum and Dad and Tony and Jan, who have always encouraged me in their own ways, despite never having witnessed the trauma of the knuckle-gnawing. To Isaac and Annabelle, for giving me all the right reasons. Lee: And Dan, I want to thank you for agreeing to work with me. For all those long emails, the unexpected explosions, and beautiful sentences using the word ‘spooling’. For being the Matiu to my Penny. Writing this book with you has been a challenge and a joy. (Next time, warn me about the explosions, okay?) Dan: Likewise, thanks for having me along for the ride, and for the talking fridge. I quite literally couldn’t have done this on my own. But I can’t make any promises about explosions. They just happen.