ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Versions of these stories have appeared in:
The MacGuffin, Vol. XXVI, No. 2; and r.kv.r.y., January 19, 2012, “Last Battle Aboard the Old Pro”;
Midway Journal, Vol. 7, Issue 3, “Random Acts”;
Needle: A Magazine of Noir, Winter 2012, Issue I, Vol III, “Smiles”;
Noir Nation International Crime Fiction No. 4, “Fleet Week”;
O-Dark-Thirty, April 18, 2013, “Cold War Canoe Club” and Summer 2014, Vol. 2, No. 4, “The Pit Sword Room”;
Plots with Guns, Issue 9, “Cash for Go_d”;
Prime Number, Issue 71, April-June 2015, “Official Ship’s Stationery”; and
r.kv.r.y., October 30, 2010, “Weight of the Moment”
Tremendous debts of gratitude are owed to many people who helped or at least humored me during the writing of these stories. Instrumental in this process were (and continue to be) Tracy Crow and James R. Duncan, who have been deeply patient, helpful, and inspirational. To Mark Fleeting, Pinckney Benedict, and Fred Leebron, who praise and chide and are never wrong. To Matt Flaherty, Mike Kobre, Tim Wright, Carol Dee Turner, and everyone in the DD-214 Writers’ Workshop, the Queens University MFA program, as well as many of the journal and magazine editors who’ve published my stories, essays, and articles, particularly: Jonathan Sturak and Eddie Vega at Noir Nation; Anthony Neil Smith at Plots with Guns; Steve Weddle at Needle: A Magazine of Noir; Nicholle M. Cormier at The MacGuffin; Jerri Bell and Ron Capps at O-Dark-Thirty; Jon Chopan, Tracy Crow, and Cliff Garstang at Prime Number; Mary Akers at r.kv.r.y.; and Ralph Pennel at Midway Journal. (It’s my sincere hope that everyone reads all these fine publications.)
I’m immensely thankful to Eric Campbell (and everyone at Down & Out Books). I don’t know what the odds are that we’d live in the same town, but that makes this even more special to me. I’m also thankful to James Tuck for a kickass cover, and to Elizabeth White for some mighty-fine guidance.
I’d also like to thank those whose presence influenced me in the early years of this adventure: James O’Neil; Willie Reader; my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Dickerson; Ronald “Bo” Walston; the Wilsons of Mobile, Alabama; Mark Amen; Mark August; Lyn Biliteri; H. Kermit Jackson; Ty Jones; Denny Sawyer; my Navy buddies, Joe Paul, Curt Jarrett, John Louthan, Perry Chastain, James “Bubba” Smith, Scott Dickerson, and all the guys from Guam and especially the San Jacinto Plank Owners; and my lifelong friends who are like brothers to me, Jeff Prince, Chris Hartnett, Anthony Acitelli, William Barnes, David (Hezy) Hemed, Paul Drew, and Kurt Hopson.
And I’m forever thankful for my entire family, but especially my parents, Carol and Jack, who showed me the way and kept me on the path.
The biggest thanks of all goes to my beautiful and infinitely-understanding wife, Lauren, who got on this rollercoaster with me when I thought it would be easy and loved me even after finding out that it never is. I wouldn’t trade you for anything in the world!