Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Acknowledgments

Writing Storm and Fury was uniquely difficult for me. It wasn’t because it was a spin-off of a series I hadn’t visited in a while, even though that is never easier. It wasn’t because I was expanding the world, rewriting it in a way. It was because Trinity shared the same progressive eye disease as me. Retinitis pigmentosa is a group of rather rare genetic disorders that involve the breakdown and eventual death of retina cells. Less than 200,000 people suffer from it. It’s a progressive disease, typically resulting in significant constriction of vision (tunnel vision) or blindness. There’s no cure or treatment at this time. If you’re diagnosed with RP, you’re going to get that talk. The what-to-expect-in-the-future talk. You’re told that your vision will continue to shrink until there’s nothing but a thin pinprick of vision left or nothing at all. You won’t know when it will happen. How long it will take or when you will go blind, but you know it’s coming. It’s scary. No lie. When I was diagnosed in my early thirties, I almost didn’t believe it. I ignored it at first. Well, I ignored it for years until my doctor at the Wilmer Eye Institute asked me, “Can you still see the stars at night?” And you know what? I couldn’t answer the question. I couldn’t remember the last time I even stopped to look up at the stars, and that was a wake-up call for me. Because one night when I looked up at the night sky, all I would see would be darkness, and I wouldn’t even know the last time I saw the stars. I didn’t want that to happen. Denial is just as bad as wallowing in it. I had to face that I was going blind, that it was happening, and I needed to make adjustments, and I wanted people to learn about RP.

Like Trinity, RP doesn’t define who I am. It’s just a part of me, and through her, I wanted to hopefully educate people on diseases like RP. Ones that are silent and not always visible. When people look at me and interact with me, they often cannot tell that I can barely see them. When I ask for help from strangers, I’m usually dismissed, because nothing looks “wrong” about me. I hope that after learning about RP, it will make people more empathetic to everything in between the blind and the seeing. And maybe, hopefully, one day there will be a cure.

I want to thank my agent, Kevan Lyon, my subrights agent, Taryn Fagerness, Tashya Wilson and the entire team at Inkyard Press, my publicist, Kristin Dwyer, Margo Lipschultz, my assistant and friend, Stephanie Brown, Stacey Morgan (who told me the first version of this book sucked and it did), Andrea Joan, Vilma Gonzalez, Jen Fisher, Lesa and Andrew Leighty. The following people are always an inspiration on many different fronts: Sarah J. Maas, Jay Crownover, Cora Carmack, KA Tucker, Kristen Ashley, JR Ward and so many more.

Thank you, Liz Berry and Jillian Stein for always making sure I will see the stars.

Special thanks to all my JLAnders and reviewers, and to you, the reader. This book wouldn’t be possible without you. I owe you everything.