Sunland: A Novel

Acknowledgments

• • vii • • Acknowledgments I’m indebted to many people and organizations that have helped me along the way. Josh Benke, Don Lee, Robert Boswell, Julian Rubinstein, and Pauls Toutonghi read early drafts and offered sound advice. For their insights, humor, and friendship, big thanks to Willy Vlautin, Ralph Morgan, Nicole Tourtelot, Scott Benke, Dan Engber, Blake Nelson, Sam Moulton, Rus Bradburd, Josh Weil, Dana Levin, Mario Zambrano, Clifton Spargo, Andrés Carlstein, Liz Weiss, Caleb Cage, and Piera Willner. For the gift of time, space, and support, thanks to the Lannan Foundation, Casa Libre en la Solana in Tucson, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. At the Workshop, thanks to Deb West, Jan Zenisek, Connie Brothers, Sam Chang, Ethan Canin, Marilynne Robinson, and Andy Greer. It’s a true pleasure to work with the University of Nevada Press, and I’m immensely grateful to Joanne O’Hare, Mike Campbell, Margaret Dalrymple, Kathleen Szawiola, and Jan McInroy. Huge thanks also to my agent, Maria Massie. I’m supremely thankful to Humane Borders for allowing me to tag along in the desert borderlands. The staff at the Oakland Zoo were really helpful and taught me everything I needed to know aboutthesexlivesofzooanimals.Thankyou,KJPage,andChaparralHouse, for showing me, at 26, that compassion coexists alongside laughter. Thanks to my mom, my stepdad, and my entire family for their love and support. Special thanks to Ben Fountain and the Southwest Review for encouraging my earliest work. And of course, I would be nowhere without Robin Romm—thank you for everything, always. ...