Thank you also to a number of additional friends at Stanford who’ve been so supportive: Gavin Jones, Denise Gigante, Dan Colman, Liz Frith, Charlie Junkerman, Elana Hornstein, Megan Miller, Nick Jenkins, Saikat Majumdar, Judy Richardson, Ramon Saldivar, Andrea Lunsford, Jennifer Summit, Dan Archer, Dan Klein, Matt Jockers, Jeremy Sabol, Scott Doorley, Laura McGrane, Bob Smith, Marissa Gemma, and of course Natalie Jabbar.
I’d love to list all of my students, but a few will have to stand in for the many. Thanks to Lucas Loredo, Lauren YoungSmith, Nik Sawe, Danielle Sheeler, Anneke Nelson, Max Doty, Vauhini Vara, Jess Goldman, Killeen Hanson, and Sara Buer.
Thank-you, very much, to so many members of my family who have been so supportive over the years, especially Edward Kealey, Robert Kealey, Don Kealey, Margaret Kealey, Donald Kealey, and Doreen Kealey, and all the members of the Kealey, Carroll, and Glynn families.
Thank-you to George Sembert, Doug again, Mike Kunow, Sallie Phillips, Tony Bila, Jim again, Terry again, Glen again, Dieter Tannert, Cameron Otzman, Dave Hunt, and Laurie Sandell. You know why.
Last call. Thanks to Genie and Jennifer Alexander, Lisa Watts, Bob Malekof, Brigitte Chauvigne, Rosemarie Murphy, Jessica Partch, Krysty Byrd and Matt Alper, Chris and Adrianna Kirkman, Allison Jones, Dawn McAvoy, Gravity Goldberg, Sara Houghteling, Aubrey Aldret, Seth Abramson, Susan and Ben Malikowski, Chris “Commish” Cooney, Jon Berry, all at Squeeze the Rock, Phil Knight, Peter Rock, Todd Pierce, Kristen Tracy, Chris Baty, Julie Rigaudiere, Minerva Hallacy, David Barker, Katie Boyle, Lyndon Rego, Michael Breen, Jory John, Jeff Hoffman, Tommy and Kelcie Beaver, Victoria Chang, Erica Rice, Nancy Harrison, Laura Crescimano, Kara Hammond, Meena Wilson, Channan Tigay, Rebecca Black, Catharine Fox, Christina Tran, “Handsome John” Lundberg, Joe Harrison, Jenny Zhang, Cheryl McGrath, Josh Tyree and Emily Mitchell, Alvaro Villanueva, Ninive Calegari, Dave Eggers, Naomi, Phil, J.R. and everyone in the Greensboro Dashers, and Christine Texiera for the peepers.
“Introduction, or Nobody” first appeared as “Nobody” in The Rumpus (2013). “From Bremerton” was originally published in Ascent 25.3 (Spring 2001). “The Lost Brother” appeared first in Glimmer Train (2013). “Thieves I’ve Known” was originally published as “Bones” in Prairie Schooner 77.4 (Winter 2003) and later anthologized in Best American Non-required 2004. It appears here by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 2003 by the University of Nebraska Press. “The Boots” was originally published in Story Quarterly 42. It was also the winner of the 2005 Joseph Henry Jackson Award from the San Francisco Foundation and Intersection for the Arts. “Circus Night” was originally published as “Wire” in Indiana Review 24.2 (Fall 2002). “Groundskeeping” was originally published in Glimmer Train 40 (Fall 2001). “The Problem with Flight” was originally published in Black Warrior Review 28.2 (Spring/Summer 2002). “Coyotes” was originally published in Indiana Review 29.1 (Summer 2007).
THE FLANNERY O’CONNOR AWARD FOR SHORT FICTION
DAVID WALTON
Evening Out
LEIGH ALLISON WILSON
From the Bottom Up
SANDRA THOMPSON
Close-Ups
SUSAN NEVILLE
The Invention of Flight
MARY HOOD
How Far She Went
FRANÇOIS CAMOIN
Why Men Are Afraid of Women
MOLLY GILES
Rough Translations
DANIEL CURLEY
Living with Snakes
PETER MEINKE
The Piano Tuner
TONY ARDIZZONE
The Evening News
SALVATORE LA PUMA
The Boys of Bensonhurst
MELISSA PRITCHARD
Spirit Seizures
PHILIP F. DEAVER
Silent Retreats
GAIL GALLOWAY ADAMS
The Purchase of Order
CAROLE L. GLICKFELD
Useful Gifts
ANTONYA NELSON
The Expendables
NANCY ZAFRIS
The People I Know
DEBRA MONROE
The Source of Trouble
ROBERT H. ABEL
Ghost Traps
T. M. MCNALLY
Low Flying Aircraft
ALFRED DEPEW
The Melancholy of Departure
DENNIS HATHAWAY
The Consequences of Desire
RITA CIRESI
Mother Rocket
DIANNE NELSON
A Brief History of Male Nudes in America
CHRISTOPHER MCILROY
All My Relations
ALYCE MILLER
The Nature of Longing
CAROL LEE LORENZO
Nervous Dancer
C. M. MAYO
Sky over El Nido
WENDY BRENNER
Large Animals in Everyday Life
PAUL RAWLINS
No Lie Like Love
HARVEY GROSSINGER
The Quarry
HA JIN
Under the Red Flag
Winter Money
FRANK SOOS
Unified Field Theory
MARY CLYDE
Survival Rates
HESTER KAPLAN
The Edge of Marriage
DARRELL SPENCER
CAUTION Men in Trees
ROBERT ANDERSON
Ice Age
BILL ROORBACH
Big Bend
DANA JOHNSON
Break Any Woman Down
GINA OCHSNER
The Necessary Grace to Fall
KELLIE WELLS
Compression Scars
ERIC SHADE
Eyesores
CATHERINE BRADY
Curled in the Bed of Love
ED ALLEN
Ate It Anyway
GARY FINCKE
Sorry I Worried You
BARBARA SUTTON
The Send-Away Girl
DAVID CROUSE
Copy Cats
RANDY F. NELSON
The Imaginary Lives of Mechanical Men
GREG DOWNS
Spit Baths
PETER LASALLE
Tell Borges If You See Him: Tales of Contemporary Somnambulism
ANNE PANNING
Super America
MARGOT SINGER
The Pale of Settlement
ANDREW PORTER
The Theory of Light and Matter
PETER SELGIN
Drowning Lessons
GEOFFREY BECKER
Black Elvis
LORI OSTLUND
The Bigness of the World
LINDA LEGARDE GROVER
The Dance Boots
JESSICA TREADWAY
Please Come Back To Me
AMINA GAUTIER
At-Risk
MELINDA MOUSTAKIS
Bear Down, Bear North
E. J. LEVY
Love, in Theory
HUGH SHEEHY
The Invisibles
JACQUELIN GORMAN
The Viewing Room
TOM KEALEY
Thieves I’ve Known