Last Stories and Other Stories

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Centre André Malraux in Sarajevo and my French publisher, Actes Sud, made it possible for me to revisit Sarajevo in 2007. Thus the genesis of “Escape.” Thanks also to Actes Sud for the beautiful French-language edition of “Star of Paris,” whose original I have regretfully removed from this edition, and for the Lyon trip in 2012 which allowed me to visit Trieste again. To my Marie-Catherine Vacher, the guiding light of Actes Sud, I can only say: Je t’embrasse mille fois.

Ms. Tatiana Jovanovic was a great help (and sweet friend) when I researched “Escape” and “The Treasure of Jovo Cirtovich.” Puna hvala, Tanya. Ya te lubim.

In 2011 the Kapittel 11 Stavanger International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech brought me to Norway in the confidence that I could become an accomplished skjørtejeger. Hence the Stavanger cluster of stories, and also “Defiance” (the theme of that festival). I would like to thank Mr. Eirik Bø, the festival director; Ms. Marit Egaas (his boss), who took me to several lovely and eerie ancient sites, and her husband, the kind and jovial Mr. Kurt Kristensen — not to mention the history-wise Mr. Egil Hennksen, and of course Mr. Arild Rein, who brought me to, among other places, the Nazi bunkers of Tungesnes (see “The Trench Ghost”). I stayed in a small white house at Bergsmauet 2 (grunnflate thirty-six square meters) which was hauled piecemeal from its old site in Sauda to Stavanger in 1831. Supposedly it is haunted, although I never saw any ghosts. It is the setting for “The White-Armed Lady.” Mr. John Eirik Riley, the instigator of my Stavanger trip, has continued to become an ever-closer friend. It was he who first brought me to Lillehammer for the Sigrid Undset Literary Festival back in 2006. A few notes from that period dwell in descriptions in “The Memory Stone.”

Mr. Gianluca Teat was a cheerful friend and a learned guide to modern and antique places around Trieste, Redipuglia, Aquileia and Cividale. Hence “Jovo Cirtovich,” “The Trench Ghost,” etcetera. Thanks also to Sara Blasina.

In Japan I would like to present my sincere thanks to Ms. Kawai Takako, Ms. Tochigi Reiko and Mr. Yoshio Kou.

My friend Mr. Ben Pax lent me his copy of I Am That. See “The Trench Ghost.”

Ms. Teresa McFarland, guapa, linda y hermosa, did me many kindnesses both public and private during the writing of this book, including the thankless task of reading draft versions of many stories in search of typographical errors, which seem to be my hallmark as I age. She also translated and interpreted Spanish whenever my infant capabilities did not suffice. Last Stories benefited tremendously, and so did I. Sin ti la vida no quiero…

I would like to thank Chris and Lydia Martin for their friendship and support.

Reading my FBI file this year provided non-ectoplasmic chuckles. Whenever I wearied of inventing sprites underground, I could entertain myself with the spooks around me.

My agent, Susan Golomb, sold this book. My editor, Mr. Paul Slovak, bought it, and saved me from many small errors. I cut a few pages, out of compassion for them both. No doubt Last Stories will make us all rich, at least in those “hell banknotes” that one burns at certain ethnic Chinese funerals in Southeast Asia. Ms. Carla Bolte, the designer, made everything look right, because she cared. Carla, I will always love you. I gratefully acknowledge the intelligent diligence of the copy editor, Maureen Sugden, who double-checked and queried cannons, deathbed words and feline names at various epochs. Without her, who knows how many modifiers would still be dangling? How many more word repetitions would be dribbling down my chin?

These stories were not finished quickly; a generous prize stipend from the American Academy of Arts and Letters has made my last five years nearly free of financial worry. I will not forget my gratitude. Ohio State University’s purchase of the bulk of my photographic negatives has also been a tremendous help, for which I would like to thank Mr. Geoffrey Smith for buying the collection in the first place, the lovely Ms. Lisa Iacabellis, whose quiet, patient competence is the expression of a considerate heart, and my manuscript dealer, friend and fellow firearms enthusiast, Mr. George R. Minkoff. May there always be fifty mercury-tipped cartridges in your clip, George. Ms. Priscilla Juvelis, my artist’s book dealer, has also aided and abetted me in the sweetest fashion. Thank you, Priscilla.

My mother took me to a beautiful Bonnard exhibition in Basle, on which I have drawn in certain descriptions of “The Faithful Wife.” I would like to express my loving gratitude to her for this and many other things. Her friends Bob and Dorli Collins and Georges and Monica Taillard loaned me several volumes of Swiss ghost stories, a couple of whose images figure indirectly here and there. (Someday I hope to write about Wassergeister, Wassernixen, Brunnholden and Meerjungfrauen.) Thank you all.