Undertow by K.R. Conway (1st book in trilogy)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes an army to build a story.

I was lucky enough to have a fierce battalion behind UNDERTOW.

I MUST thank all my warriors.

Many thanks to my late grandfather, Joseph Blackburn, without whom this story would have never even sparked in my head. At only 17, he landed as a Marine on Iwo Jima during WWII. He saw fighting and sacrifice but also humanity, compassion, forgiveness, and humor. He told us of the friendships and craziness of so many young men thrown together against the backdrop of desperation. I took his portrait of war and set it into a tale of a genetic hatred between two races, mixing brutality with friendship, fear with humor.

I also can never thank enough my team of Beta readers. They would re-read, over and over, scenes from UNDERTOW and even get into arguments about what a character should or shouldn't do. Layla, Bethany, Carrie, Kim, Katherine, Meghan, Mara and Clare – I could never have done it without you.

A huge round of applause for Charlotte, my mad-skills editor / Beta, who tirelessly read through UNDERTOW checking for issues. I would've lost my mind without her. And she did it all with a newborn. Talk about Wonderwoman!

Many thanks to my parents, brother, hubby and kids who I'd bounce ideas off of and who listened to me talk endlessly as I tried to work through a scene. They didn't strangle me, which is really impressive.

A shout out to Agent Query Connect, an online community of writers who were always there to help hone a query letter or find leads. And another high-five to the Cape Cod Fiction Fanatics writing critique group that meets at Starbucks. Between the intense coffee and great conversation, I always had a reason to get back to my desk and write while staying up for hours thanks to the java jolt.

Thank you to my numerous editors at The Cape Cod Times who hired me as a freelancer right out of college. Their faith in me lead to other journalistic pursuits for the past 15 years. To this day I'm amazed they took a chance on me, especially since I was a Forensic Psych major in college. Writing? What the heck is that?

Thank you to my blog followers, Facebook fans and the nearly 500 people that swarmed the first few chapters of UNDERTOW in under five days on FICTIONPRESS. While I did pull it down on the advice of an agent, the cheers and praise of those readers helped me plow through the novel.

Many thanks to the real BHSers (past and present) that became cover models for UNDERTOW: Leslie (Eila), Colby (Raef), Christa (Ana), Justin (Kian), Sean (MJ), Megan (Nikki), Chris (Rilin), Sara (Eve), and Jeremy (Christian). They were insane enough to do it. Hooray for the wild bunch! Huge thanks to photographer Alex Daunais and graphic guru John Sullivan of Quahog Corner for their endless skills, and Carole Corcoran's stunning landscape shots of Cape Cod.

Endless thanks to the musical muses that overrun my iPod: Band of Skulls, The Black Ghosts, Creed, Evanescence, The Faders, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tristan Pettyman, Three Dog Night, Stateless, The Black Keys, Muse, Imagine Dragons, Little Big Town, Imogen Heap, Halestrom, Finger Eleven, and so many more. Long live the Rock N Roll Muse!

And lastly, a massive hug of gratitude to all of Cape Cod. The quirky people who live here, the shops and homes that inspire the imagination, and the stunning landscape that calls to the siren in us all.