To the memories of Marie Landis, founder of the writing group now known as The Landis Review, and her husband, Si. You taught me that the object of life isn’t wealth. The object of life is the wealth of life.
To the former members of the Landis Review: Phyllis Hiefield, Brian and Jan Herbert, Joel Davis, Faith Szafranski, (the late) Cal Clawson and to the present members—Roberta Gregory, Linda Shepherd, Sarah Blum, Art Gomez and Jim Bartlett: to success! To love, laughter, connection, and a wonderful sense of a full and vibrant life well lived. What better definition of success do you need than that?
Also, many thanks to John Dalmas, great friend and enthusiastic supporter of my writing who was so gracious as to write a fine introduction to my first book, The Final Trick of Funnyman & Other Stories. Thanks also to Jeff VanderMeer (and family) who, through profound generosity, kindness and just plain hard work read many of my stories and selected some of them for publication in the aforementioned book (Ministry of Whimsy Press, 1997) but had plenty of good things to say about many other stories that, much to my delight, now appear in Kafka’s Uncle. I am and will always be grateful to you. Also thanks to Patrick and Honna Swenson who reprinted Final Trick (available through www.fairwoodpress.com) and who have published some of the stories reprinted here in their wonderful magazine, Talebones. Thanks to Scott Eagle for the cover art for the first edition of Final Trick and Carl and Lida Sloan for the cover art for the second edition. (And Thank You!! William F. Nolan for a recent and stunning review of the book who likened several stories to “—Bradbury at his finest.”)
Thanks for the work of Adrian Majkrzak for the cover of Kafka’s Uncle, who produced such a fine cover that is so true to the story. Thank you, Brian Herbert for so many years of fine friendship and for allowing me the honor of using your words to grace this book. I hope that I have been as good a friend to you as you have been to me.
Last, but certainly not least, to Roberta Gregory, my partner, my friend, who, with infinite compassion and forbearance, offered great solace and a superb eye for detail, and suggestions in the difficulties around my being challenged by computers and the proofreading of this manuscript. And to Karen Townsend former publisher and editor of Afterbirth Books who published the first edition of Kafka’s Uncle—thank you for being an outstanding editor and wonderful to work with, and thanks to Mike Toot who, through his fine understanding of computers, steered me through, at times, incomprehensible electronic waters and prevented crashes on the ever-lurking computer reefs. And with deep appreciation and a thank you to Andrew Burt and ReAnimus Press for publishing the second edition of Kafka's Uncle. Such are these people, upon entering one’s life, you know that no matter how many times you say, “Thank you,” it never seems enough. But that being said, “Thank you. Thank you all, thank you so much.”
—Bruce Taylor
Seattle, Washington