I wrote nearly all of this right after that. Which means I’ve reached the point where this has to change tense. Because you didn’t make it this far. You didn’t get to see this book set free into the world. And I have struggled for months with what I was going to do with these acknowledgments. Do I keep all this? Do I tell the truth?
I would like to think that my fiction does that: it tells a truth. And the truth is that I cannot divorce you from this book. You are written into the very fabric of it, and it does not work without you.
So.
Thank you, Baize. I wrote this book as my love letter to you, back when we were still together, back when you were still alive, and that’s the truth of it all. But I also hope that this accomplishes something else. You left your own legacy behind, in your work, in your kindness, in your originality, in your podcast. You don’t need me to add to that. Rather, I would like to do something else for you, to honor what you have done for me.
Each person who picks up this book, who makes it to the end, who reads these final words, will hopefully then think of you, even if they never knew you, never got to experience your energy or your beauty. Literature has a way of granting immortality, and so I hope that Each of Us a Desert has a long shelf life.
Because then that means you get to live forever in the minds of others.
Thank you, Baize, for being my Emilia, and for letting me be your Xochitl.
Mark
ALSO BY MARK OSHIRO
Anger Is a Gift
About the Author
Mark Oshiro is the Hugo Award-nominated writer of the online Mark Does Stuff universe (Mark Reads and Mark Watches), where they analyze book and TV series. Their debut novel, Anger Is a Gift, was a recipient of the Schneider Family Book Award in 2019. Their lifelong goal is to pet every dog in the world.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Begin Reading
Acknowledgments
Also by Mark Oshiro
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
EACH OF US A DESERT
Copyright © 2020 by Mark Oshiro
All rights reserved.
Edited by Miriam Weinberg
Cover design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell
A Tor Teen Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-16921-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-16920-4 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250169204
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First Edition: 2020
