Acknowledgements

It takes a village to create a story.

Thank you to my writing group, The Symbiotes, particularly Alboricah Rathupetsane, Phula Seooe, Merin Raju Jacob and Jerome Coetzee. You were the first fans and critics of Fleeting Joy. You continuously inspire me both in writing and in life, and this story would have died long before its first 1,000 words had it not been for you. I’m forever grateful to be in this community of writing weirdos.

Thank you to my cyberspace chosen family, who trialed Fleeting Joy’s world in its infancy. Who would have thought that we’d be stuck in the Cookie Room 15 years later, still playing make-believe at witching hours? Though continents apart, you’re my imagination’s safe space and a constant source of inspiration.

Thank you to Shan Grobler, the artist who created the book cover and the elements that come from it. Though the traditional art is my own, the digital art was created by her. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to try to capture my weird vision! (Also, yes, I paid her - pay creatives, people!)

Thank you to the quiet corners of the queer community, where joy, anger and sorrow can breathe. You’re the reason I want to put Fleeting Joy out there; the beacon of success for me is the vision of just one of you thinking ‘this was a shit week, but at least I can read a new chapter of Fleeting Joy.’ That would make every minute put into this story worth it.

Thank you to my family, who indulge my strangeness in spite of their blunt practicality. None of you care much for storytelling, and certainly not for fantasy, horror or melodrama. And though I may at times be difficult to understand to straight-talkers like you, I am forever grateful for how much you have sacrificed to help me flourish.

Thank you to Mrs. Martin, wherever you may be. When I was only six, you said that I would one day be an author. While I imagine you didn’t expect ‘gay vampire story’ to be my genre of choice, it still means the world to me that you cared about the stories of a troubled little child.

Thank you to all those who have contributed to folklore, particularly vampiric folklore. Each story builds on those told before them. Even Petar Blagojević’s corpse, accused of being a vampire in the 1600s and subsequently staked, gets credit here.