Meet the Editor
Meet The Editor
His name is Caliber.
He is a seven-year-old ginger Maine Coon with gold eyes, a plumed tail he carries like a flag of minor grievances, and an editorial sensibility that does not accommodate excuses.
He weighs twenty-seven pounds. He sleeps on my chest. I have developed exceptional respiratory resilience because of this.
His Methods
Caliber does not keep office hours. He keeps all hours — 0239, 0715, midafternoon, the strange hollow stretch of 2312 when you’re not sure if you’re tired or just finished. He has been present for nearly every word written in this house over the last seven years, and he has opinions about all of it.
His editorial notes arrive in two forms.
The first is the biscuit — a slow, deliberate kneading that means this is acceptable, continue. It is the closest thing to professional praise you will receive from him, and you should take it.
The second is the bite. Swift, precise, unannounced. It means you have overstayed your welcome in a particular scene, or you have been petting him eleven seconds past his stated limit, or — most unforgivably — you have been typing when your hands were clearly needed elsewhere. He has bitten me on the hand. He has bitten me on the elbow while I was sleeping. He does not consider this aggressive. He considers it editorial.
His Credentials
He was present for the first draft.
He was present for the full POV conversion, the theological revision, the query letters, the waiting, the revisions, the more waiting. He lay across the laptop when it was time to stop. He woke me with biscuits when it was time to begin. He has never once suggested I give up, though he has strongly suggested, on multiple occasions, that I give him a snack.
He does not read the pages. He doesn’t have to. He reads the room, which is more useful.
His Character
Judgmental. Impatient. Correct.
He is my picky, passive-aggressive, magnificent red flag of a writing partner. He is subtle as a shotgun and loving as only cats can be — on his terms, in his timing, with the full weight of his considerable self.
Every book in The Fallen Series was written under his supervision.
You’re welcome.
— Caliber, Editor-in-Chief (as transcribed by Henley Parks, who knows better than to argue.)