Here are some names, in no particular order: Ashnack, digbeta, Raul, Don, briangc, Meek, Laura, Pencil Lad, Mike, bagelgod, Donny D, saketini99, Ed Adkins, Javier, Timmy, liam, Scarecrow, shadowfusion99, Ann Towey, davidkaye929, iGame3D, Carlos, Rakie, Senecal, Mendoza, dreadlocksmile, hearwritenow, and marbotty.
Some of those names have been with us for the whole long ride, some are almost brand new. They're the people who commented the most often (no science was used in computing this alleged piece of data) and who made it a treat to come back again and again, Monday after Wednesday after Friday. Thanks. I know I'm forgetting somebody--go ahead and include yourself in that list if you want.
alnjo, who is in fact two people sharing one virtual identity (the handle with two brains?), gets singled out for being such a hardass over and over again, right from the start, and sticking around even though there were mummies, stupid, stupid mummies. alnjo kept me from thinking I was all like hot shit--which believe me, is a valuable service for someone with my runaway ego.
Joel Carroll gets a special mention for drawing the most incredible picture of Gary I've ever seen (be nice and I'll show you some time). You should really check out his work atjoelcarroll.com.
Ann Towey drew the creepiest picture of Gary. No, there was no contest or anything, people just liked to draw pictures of Gary.
Adrian, who is still from Scotland but is now 21 and could drink in America, too, is still around. His work schedule kept him from commenting much on Monster Planet (and he was sorely missed) but he never lost touch and in the end he rallied like a champ. Seriously, Adrian made this process a lot more fun than it could have been. His antics got me through some pretty tough times.
I need to send a very special thanks to Mark Frauenfelder, who liked Monster Island so much he not only gave me a great review on Boing Boing, he then went and helped me get the book published. Cory Doctorow (also at Boing Boing) gave us another mention on Oct. 13th, which also helped.
John Oakes, my publisher, gets a big thank you, for taking a chance on all of us, one which I believe is going to pay off for everyone.
My wife Elisabeth needs to be thanked profusely. Maybe we could have a receiving line. In a year when death and destruction stopped being the proper subject of fiction and became far too real she stood by me. At times when she had her own worries she never stopped cheering me on. When I told her I had a book deal she cried tears of joy--how can you ask for more than that?
And finally (yes, finally) we need to thank Alex once again. Everyone started clapping... NOW! Hey, I think I heard you all the way over here. Alex made this thing happen with his own two hands. I just wrote about zombies. I would have written about zombies anyway. Alex turned this thing into the culmination of my life's story. I've been writing for twenty-one years, if you can believe it, but nothing of any note happened until I met Alex. Thanks, Alex!
Okay, okay, dry your eyes and let's move on. There are blogs to be written and guerilla marketing tactics to be tactified. See you all very soon!
Sincerely, David Wellington