These stories first appeared, in different versions, in the following publications: “The History of Rodney” in Ploughshares; “Swamp Boy” in Beloit Fiction Journal; “Fires” in The Quarterly and Big Sky Journal; “The Valley” in American Short Fiction; “Antlers” in Special Report; “Wejumpka” in The Chariton Review; “The Legend of Pig-Eye” in The Paris Review; “The Wait” in Story; “Days of Heaven” in Ploughshares; “In the Loyal Mountains” in Southwest Review. These stories were also published in the following anthologies: “The History of Rodney” in New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best 1990 and Other Sides of Silence: New Fiction from Ploughshares; “Fires” in Pocketful of Prose; “The Valley” in Listening to Ourselves; “Antlers” in Texas Bound, In the Company of Animals, and Best of the West 4; “Wejumpka” in Pushcart Prize XV and New American Short Stories 2; “The Legend of Pig-Eye” in The Best American Short Stories 1991; “The Wait” in Boats; “Days of Heaven” in Pushcart Prize XVIII and The Best American Short Stories 1992; “In the Loyal Mountains” in New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best 1991. Grateful acknowledgment is made to these publications and their editors.
Deepest thanks to Russell Chatham for the painting on the jacket, to Hilary Liftin for production assistance, to Melodie Wettelet for the book’s design, and most especially to my editors, Camille Hykes and Larry Cooper. My publisher Sam Lawrence, who passed away last year, was many things to many people, but for everyone he was a steadfast lover of books. He is missed.
These stories are products of the imagination. The characters in them are not intended to represent any real persons.