Due to the schizophrenic nature of this collection, it would be impossible for me to thank everyone who—at one point or another—intangibly contributed to this manuscript. Consequently, I’m not going to try. However, I must express an avalanche of kudos to my editor at Scribner, Brant Rumble. Beyond being a brilliant editor, Brant might be the last sincere human in all of New York.
Additionally, there are a few random cats whose editorial insight directly influenced certain passages, and they are as follows:
Kate Condon
Bob Ethington
David Giffels
Scott Lowe
Jennifer Piro
Mark J. Price
Hillery Stone
Paul Tough
Michael Weinreb
I must likewise thank my supercagey agent, Daniel Greenberg, and my superfoxy lawyer, Amy Everhart. I’d also like to unleash my profound gratitude to everyone at SPIN whom I ever had lunch with (and especially to those whom I always have lunch with) and to everyone at SPIN I occasionally have drinks with (and especially to those who I always have drinks with).
Finally, I want to publicly apologize to anyone who ended up getting mentioned in this book simply because they had the misfortune of knowing me (either in the present or in the past). I’m not sure what compels me to ruin all our lives; I guess that’s just the way I am. Sorry.