Acknowledgments

Huge thanks go out to Cory Allyn at Night Shade whose editorial insights challenged me and pushed the book to a stronger and more visceral realm. J. David Osborne’s initial editorial work on “The Sleep of Judges” was also invaluable and helped me convert much of the strangeness from alien to human.

Brian Evenson’s Introduction, which manages to be entertaining and humorous and thoughtful (and still end on a hyper-Evensonian crisis of identity and reality) is perfect. I am forever grateful that it opens the door to this crooked house.

I often feel that Stephen Graham Jones and Craig “Nick Cutter” Davidson are the cool brothers I never had (but was lucky enough to find), and their inspiration is central to the existence of this collection. That they also took time out to vet the thing reminds me how lucky I am to know them.

Somehow the only musical artist I listened to while working on this book was Spark Master Tape. Silhouette of a Sunkken City has probably infected the work in slow/paranoid/violent ways I can’t ascertain. So thanks to Spark for the sonic backdrop.

A big shout out to Night Shade Books for believing in this crazy work enough to create such a lovely edition and to distribute it, for the first time, to unsuspecting readers around the world.

Eternal gratitude, always, to my family, for believing in my writing and encouraging me to do it despite everything else. I love you dearly.

To the magazine editors who took a risk and published these stories on their first go ‘round, thanks for digging me out of the slush pile and encouraging me to keep going.

And finally, to the readers who originally discovered these short stories in their primordial form, thank you for believing in and supporting my weird work for over a decade. That this collection exists at all is a tribute to your good will, positive energy, and discerning readership. Here’s to the next ten years and whatever madness lies ahead.