Cataclysm Baby

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the editors and staff of the following publications, where portions of Cataclysm Baby previously appeared: Alice Blue, American Short Fiction, Annalemma, Anthills, Artvoice, Everyday Genius, FANZINE, Gargoyle, Guernica, JMWW, > kill author, Knee-Jerk, The Literary Review, Ninth Letter, Poor Claudia, Puerto del Sol, The Reprint, Sleepingfish, TripleQuick Fiction, Wigleaf, and Wrong Tree Review.

Thanks to David McLendon for serving as the first editor of Cataclysm Baby, and for his invaluable friendship throughout the writing of it; to Dan Wickett, Steven Gillis, Brad Green, Sean Kilpatrick, Elizabeth Ellen, Wendell Mayo, Lawrence Coates, Michael Czyzniejewski, and all my colleagues at Bowling Green State University for being early readers of the manuscript that became this book.

“Walker, Wallace, Warren” owes a debt to “Applewood Figure,” kept in the permanent collection of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore—and to Michael Kimball and Tita Chico, for making sure I saw it.

“Xarles, Xavier, Xenos” owes a similar debt of inspiration to Mike McCormack’s “The Terms,” which it wouldn’t exist without.

Most importantly, thanks always to my wife Jessica, whose love and support enables every word.