The Invaders (26 page)

Authors: Karolina Waclawiak

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The idea for
The Invaders
has taken many incarnations over the years and the themes in the novel have been burrowing away in me for so long I'm not sure what I'll do now that I've let them out.

First and foremost, I want to thank my wonderful and remarkably generous teachers and fellow students in the Columbia MFA program, including Sam Lipsyte, Christine Schutt, and Gary Shteyngart, who helped me grow as a writer.

Second, Heidi Julavits, Ed Park, Vendela Vida, Andi Winnette, Casey Jarman, Andrew Leland, Ross Simonini, and my entire
Believer
family whose direction and dedication helped me become a better writer through learning how to be an editor. I learned from the best.

I would like to thank Kirby Kim for always being on my team and Ron Hogan for his wise edits.

A number of brilliant and kind people read drafts of this novel and gave me invaluable advice and support during the process. They are: Dominika Waclawiak, Jennifer Gann, Roxane Gay, Randa Jarrar, Anisse Gross, Iman Saleh, Diane Cook, Megan Abbott, Sara Gran, Libby Burton, Mark Waclawiak, Janne Darata, Natasha Stephan and my mom. Thanks to Jen Cox, Alyssa Barrett, John McElwee, and Lee Ellis for their general moral support.

My mother and father inspire me every day and I thank them for all of their help, especially my badass mother, who is the kind of woman I aspire to be.

Finally, immense gratitude to Jon DeRosa who is always my first and last reader and is someone I am lucky to know. I am constantly in awe of your talent and curiosity. Thanks for everything.

AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH BY ERIC BURG

KAROLINA WACLAWIAK's
first novel,
How to Get Into the Twin Palms,
was a
New York Times
Editor's Choice, Salon's “Most Underrated Novel of 2012,” and was selected for
New York
magazine's summer reading list. Her work has appeared in the
New York Times
,
Los Angeles Times
,
The Rumpus
, and
The Believer
(where she is the essays editor). Waclawiak received her BFA in Screenwriting from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and her MFA in Fiction from Columbia University. She lives in Los Angeles.

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New York, NY 10012

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Regan Arts Subsidiary Rights Department, 65 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, or events is coincidental.

First Regan Arts hardcover edition, July 2015.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014955551

ISBN 978-1-941393-29-1

eISBN 978-1-941393-91-8

Interior design by Laura Klynstra

Jacket and Cover design by Richard Ljoenes

Jacket art by Archive Holdings Inc. / Getty Images