Acknowledgments

These stories are dedicated to the memory of Thomas Avena who first recognized, and later published the title story in The Bastard Review, and who fed me, encouraged and inspired me over many years. My sincerest thanks are offered to Amy Scholder who discovered and nurtured this manuscript, and to Rex Ray who encouraged me to send it to her. Special appreciation is in order to Ira Silverberg and those formerly at High Risk who gave me this start. Molly Giles was instrumental in the writing of this book; her generosity as a teacher continues to impress me. Thanks also to David Bergman for first publishing “Club Feet” in Men On Men 5, to Brian Bouldrey who published the title story in Best American Gay Fiction, 1996. Thank you to Dale Peck and Richard Canning who included “Keloid” in Vital Signs: Essential AIDS Fiction in 2007. Special thanks to Victoria Baker whose dedicated copyediting provided this writer with a million new things to obsess over. Thanks to the Volgelstein Foundation, the Authors League Fund, and Giorno Poetry Systems. I am grateful to Dzanc Books for rEprinting this book and making it available to the digital cosmos.