This Side of Salvation

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The beliefs or lack thereof portrayed in this book belong to the characters, not the author. Those who comb these pages for a religious or anti-religious agenda will be left scratching their heads. It’s just about this boy, y’know?

One belief I share with David and Bailey concerns the awesomeness of Arcade Fire. This novel would not be the same without their second album, Neon Bible. While Funeral depicts the innocence of childhood and The Suburbs deals with adulthood’s longing to return to that innocence, Neon Bible is about adolescence, when many of us first learn that the world can hurt us. Neon Bible and this novel both chronicle the struggle to retain hope in the face of this revelation.

All Scripture quotes are taken from the World English Bible, the only translation currently in public domain across the planet.

I cannot recommend enough H. A. Dorfman’s The Mental Guide to Baseball. This sports psychologist offers wisdom that can be applied to any occupation, especially writing. It taught me how to tune out distracting thoughts and focus on the next sentence, and the next, and the next. Read it, even if you hate baseball.