The Withdrawal Method

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

"The Film We Made About Dads" was first published online at sweetfancymoses.com, and subsequently in Maisonneuve magazine.

"Pushing Oceans In and Pulling Oceans Out" was first published in Prism International as "Pulling Oceans In and Pushing Oceans Out."

The postcard described in "Dizzy When You Look Down In" is real and very exciting.

"The Love Life of the Automaton Turk" could not have been written without Mark Sussman's essay, "Performing the Intelligent Machine: Deception and Enchantment in the Life of the Automaton Chess Player," published in The Drama Review and The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine by Tom Standage.

"The Past Composed" was first published in Grain and subsequently in The Journey Prize Stories 16. The art exhibit described in this story is an installation by Douglas Gordon called "30 Second Text."

"Respite" was first published in Malahat Review and subsequently in The Journey Prize Stories 18. The Fountain Group is based on Le Phare, a non-profit organization that provides respite care to families with terminally ill children in Montreal. Please donate money to them.

"When Jacques Cousteau Gave Pablo Picasso a Piece of Black Coral" was first published in Prairie Fire and borrows heavily from Cousteau's excellent book The Living Sea.

I'd like to express special gratitude to the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council for financial assistance.

There are many, many people who deserve credit for their various roles in helping turn a file on my computer into this book. Thanks to each and every one of you, very much, for all your help and support.