I’d like to thank William Gay for his generous offer to work with Wild Dog Press to bring out this volume of his collected prose, and for allowing me to photograph his paintings and record our conversations, and finally for the beautiful poetry of his prose. I’d also like to thank Susan McDonald for all her support. Patty Baker, Patty Wagner and Renee Leonard helped with the typing. Lamont Ingalls is a friend and cohort who helped design the book along with John Cipollina who did the cover. Greg Hobson is an amazing photographer whose expertise is much appreciated. And for their friendship and support of all my endeavors I’d like to thank Susan White, Jerry Risner who helped me find William Gay in Hohenwald, Frank Evans, Anthony Blake, my daughter Coree and my son Coby.