Oct 19, 2016

Today I want to give a shout out to my parents, Bob Dalrymple and Bonnie Bechtold. They’ve both done so much to make this book possible, and I (like most children) do not credit them enough.

My father has been the first line of defense against plot holes and grammatical errors since day one. Actually, even before day one-- he’s been reading every book and short story I’ve ever written since I could read. But for Faoii-- He listened to the idea long before I put pen to paper. He read the first chapter the morning after I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote it all down in one sitting. He was the first person to read the finished manuscript. The first one to offer advice and opinions. He read every rejection letter from every agent. He knows the inkshares process as well as I do now because he’s had to listen to me talk about each new step for several hours several times. This book exists, in large part, to him-- and its clean and polished edges are his doing as well.

My mother has shared EVERY SINGLE POST I’ve put up about The Last Faoii. Several times. And with more capitalization and exclamation points each time a new missive has gone out. She’s resilient and insistent and has more than earned her Faoii title. Half of you wouldn’t even know about this book if it wasn’t for her being my number one fan.

But even before The Last Faoii. Before the books, short stories, and poems. Before I could write or read... I grew up watching both of these people read every night. I listened as they read to me before bed. I learned to appreciate literature even before I knew the word. And that, I think, was the basis of all of this.

Thank you both. I love you. And I know I don’t say that enough, either.