I am indebted to Jaimy Gordon, Ellen Akins, and Catherine Gammon for their unwavering support, incisive editorial advice, intelligence, and friendship, and to the series editor, Charles East. I wish also to thank Stuart Dybek, Buddy Nordan, Nancy Zafris, Scott Heim, and Kent Nelson for their guidance and encouragement; Fred Wheaton for being my ideal audience; and Marty Lammon, David Muschell, and Sarah Gordon, whose supportive kindness and faith helped me to persevere. And a special thank you to my sister Jane.

“Blue Skin” was first published in Columbia: A Magazine of Poetry and Prose, “Godlight” in Another Chicago Magazine, “Star-dogged Moon” in The Gettysburg Review, “A. Wonderland” in Carolina Quarterly, “Swallowing Angels Whole” in Third Coast, “Sherman and the Swan” in Chelsea, “Secession, XX” in the Kenyon Review, and “Hallie Out of This World” in Prairie Schooner.

The brief excerpt from Wallace Stevens’s poem “The Auroras of Autumn,” from the book of the same name, is reprinted by permission of the publisher, Random House. Passages from the writings of Aimee Semple McPherson are reprinted by permission of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.