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MY GRATITUDE I
am humbled by the gift of wonderful parents who adopted me as
an infant, and who, two years later, graced our family with my
adopted little sister. My mother and father instilled in
us the idea that we were chosen, and I’ve held this
belief, not as a sense of entitlement, but with humility and pride.
I thank my parents, especially my mother, for a remarkably happy
youth and for providing me with the confidence to move forward
through the rest of my life regardless of what difficulties I
might face. There
are many others who have had an important influence on me, including
(but certainly not limited to) my grandparents, my aunt Mary,
my aunts, uncles, and cousins, Elizabeth, Alisa, Cheryl, and my
friends from high school, college and graduate school whose families, wives,
and children are a source of love and support. PINNED Pinned,
my debut novel, is the culmination of nearly a decade of writing,
trying to convey my passion for the sport of amateur wrestling
with a story that readers of all ages, but especially teens, would
relate to and enjoy. I’d
like to thank my coaches at Millburn High School—Mr. Sachsel,
Mr. McSorley and Mr. Miron—each of whom inspired me to embrace
the sport of wrestling, and who taught me that sportsmanship and
discipline were always more important than wins or losses. I’d
also like to express gratitude to my California writing group—Alexes,
Janet, Mary Lou and Cathi—all fabulous writers themselves,
who helped to refine and improve Pinned. And,
of course, a huge thanks to Susan Schulman, Karen Grove and the
people at Harcourt Inc. LISTEN
& LIVE AUDIO, INC. After
graduating from Duke University, I pursued my graduate MBA studies
at The Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern
California. During my final term, I co-founded Listen &
Live Audio, an audiobook publishing company, financed entirely
by credit cards. Today,
Listen & Live Audio has published over 200 titles, on both
CD and cassette, abridged and unabridged. The company has
worked with some of the finest narrators in the audiobook industry,
including Burt Reynolds, Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller), Frank
Muller, Suzanne Toren, Simon Prebble, George Guidall, Laura Hamilton,
Grover Gardner and Alyssa Bresnahan, among others. The company has had the privilege of recording many excellent books, including the New York Times bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club, The Darwin Awards series, Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids, and The Tea House On Mulberry Street. Most recently, we have published audiobooks from Carol O'Connell, Cassandra King, Amy Hassinger, Hilary De Vries, Paul Levinson, Tim Cockey, Barry Eisler, David Rosenfelt and Jeff Guinn. In 2006, we have added authors Senator John Danforth, David Kushner, Robert B. Oxnam and Leil Lowndes to this impressive list. As
a result, Listen & Live Audio has received the highest honors
for its audiobooks:
In
addition to numerous starred reviews in Library Journal, Kliatt
and Publishers Weekly. A
FINAL THANKS I
appreciate the time and effort of every wrestler (retired and
current), librarian, coach and book reviewer who offered publication
quotes for Pinned. I am also grateful for the design
of this website—the work of Danielle Hobeika, website designer
extraordinaire and a member of the US Women's National Freestyle
Wrestling Team.
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