EVERY BOOK IS AN EXERCISE IN ACCRUING DEBTS YOU CAN’T possibly pay back; instead you write a list of thank-yous and hope in some small way it suffices. Bearing that in mind, thank you to the many editors who worked on, polished, shaped, loved, and published some of these stories: Brian Mihok, Gabriel Blackwell, Roxane Gay, M. Bartley Siegel, Kate Bernheimer, Benjamin Schaefer, Scott Garson, Jeremy John Parker, Tara Laskowski, Lauren Becker, Amanda Miska, Katie Flynn, Morgan Beatty, Aubrey Hirsch, Adam Prince, Richard Thomas, and Josh Pachter. Thank you to my marvelous first readers and longtime trusted friends: Robert Kloss, Erin Fitzgerald, and Steve Himmer. Thank you to Gregory Howard, Lincoln Michel, Joseph Scapelato, Jeff Jackson, Rion Amilcar Scott, Tara Campbell, Sarah Rose Etter, Matt Bell, Kate Zambreno, Penina Roth, Marie-Helene Bertino, and Laura Bogart for reasons varied and numerous.
Thank you to all of the women I know, writers and otherwise; you keep singing in dark times and you keep me sane by doing so. Thank you to the men I know who are fierce allies and feminists: you guys get it. Thank you to all the genderqueer folks I know: this book is very much for you and for everyone tearing down gender norms and barriers.
Thank you to my blurbers, who gave of their time and so generously read this book, no matter how busy they were. Thank you to my fabulous editor, Gina Iaquinta, who worked so hard to make this book a thousand times better. Thank you to the whole team at Liveright; I’m so happy to be working with you all again. Thank you to my agent, Kent Wolf, who will always have the best hair along with the eternal gratitude of all of his writers.
Thank you to my family, especially my mom and dad, who probably still think I’m a morbid weirdo but who have been nothing but supportive of my morbid weirdo pursuits. Thank you to my husband, Christopher, who is the very best human in the world and without whose support and time and love I would never, ever have been able to write this book.
And finally, thank you to my daughter, Isadora. This book would not exist without you. I wrote it for you, and for all the daughters, and for all the mothers of daughters, and for all the mothers of mothers of daughters; thank you for carrying the world.