Dedication
for Jackie
Acknowledgements
I’ve wanted to write fiction since childhood, but after college I knew I had to see the world first. I traveled, and worked, at odd jobs and good jobs. The best job, and the only one that matters to this book, was at a wonderful, intense, and explosively successful company called America Online, later AOL. To my many AOL friends, colleagues, bosses, and business partners, in Northern Virginia, Hamburg, London, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, and Hong Kong, who taught me so much and helped me see how big this world is—who gave me something to write about—thank you all.
The idea for this book fell small yet whole into a letter (on AOL Japan stationery) to my dear friend and collaborator Erik Bennett. No one else could have made me comfortable enough to bring this fragile whimsy out into the light.
This book went through a lot of changes and hit many dead ends in the writing. Without the support, encouragement, and advice of these people, I would have done much worse. Thanks to Erik Bennett, Adrian Bryant, Maren Pyenson, Masi Denison, Luke Christopher, David Guimbellot, Geoffrey Kabaservice, Lars Sorgenfrey, Kendra Harpster, Jennifer Russ, Kathryn Johnson, Cindy Sommer, Frank Sommer, John Mahshie, Jennifer Brinn, Melissa Cox, Jennifer Azantian, Wayland Smith, James Artimus Owen, Joshua Essoe, Laila Sultan, Jessica Epperson-Lusty, Kate Yonkers, and Jacqueline Dobranski.
This book benefited greatly from workshops, at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and at Aspen Words (formerly Aspen Writers’ Foundation) in Aspen, Colorado, led by writers Fenton Johnson, John Beckman, Robert Bausch, Pam Houston, Leslie Pietrzyk, T. Greenwood, and Kathryn Johnson.
The Cat Vacuuming Society of Northern Virginia is a tough bunch of literary critics, and nurturing too. Superstars Writing Seminars is brutally honest about the publishing business, and nurturing too.
My editor Vivian Trask reads deeply and with exquisite sensitivity. It’s hard enough to find the weak parts; she also finds the missing parts. I am blessed to have worked with her.