Выбрать главу

For lending their eyes when no one else was looking: Steve Margulis, Tony Palermo, Michael Peterson, Chris Coleman, Alex Paknadel, William Vollmann and Jason Woliner.

For life, etcetera: Jim and Beverly Long, Bill and Betty Parsons, Mel and Jean Ireland, Don and Juanita Long.

For Twist-a-plots and comic books: Jaysen Long.

For putting up with me and sometimes even playing along: Devon Kurcina.

For invaluable support, and for Chantaclass="underline" The Clarkes—Keith, Margot, Liz, Anne, and Caro.

For making the world a better place: The Longs—Katie, Samantha, and Haley. The Kurcina—Dave. And Mackerel.

For lessons learned: Ron Loewinsohn, Clark Blaise, Bharati Mukherjee, Chris Nealon, Alyce Miller, Terri Parent, and Samrat Upadhyay.

For keen insight into nearly everything: Eli Horowitz.

For additional insight: Jordan Bass, Greg Larson, Jim Fingal, Mac Barnett, Caroline Loevner, Gabe Hudson, and Kevin Feeney.

For constant companionship and support; for providing the foundation on which this novel was built; for humor, love, and perpetual wit: my wife, Chantal Clarke.

Copyright

Grove/McSweeney’s
New York/San Francisco

Copyright © 2006 by Dustin Long

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, or the facilitation thereof, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

First published in 2006 by McSweeney’s Books, San Francisco

Printed in the United States of America

eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-5558-4864-4

Cover art by Josh Cochran

Grove Press

an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

841 Broadway

New York, NY 10003

McSweeney’s Books

849 Valencia St.

San Francisco, CA

Distributed by Publishers Group West

www.groveatlantic.com