So many friends, family members, mentors, neighbors, loved ones, and worthy adversaries had a hand in helping this book come to be—reading and responding, nurturing me and challenging me. Thanks to the many cantankerous arborists in my life, including Nate, Alex, and Jeff. Thanks to Davey McNelley, Jordan Pepper, and Brian Bors for talking to me about social work. Thanks to Tessa Evanosky for the snake ritual. Thanks to Talcon Quinn and Caty Crabb for teaching me so much about the plants and animals in the Ohio hills where we live. Thanks to Dave Baer for describing a career as a public defender. Thanks to Sammy Douthwaite, whittler. Thanks to Noah Gershman for the dice games. Thanks to Ann Tagonist for many wild ways and for helping me understand suturing. Thanks to Liz Badger for the illicit chocolate exchanges and for more than I can ever say. Thanks to Rhonda Rose, whom I called to ask how an excavator works and heard much more than that, whose stories and passion led the novel to be deeper and truer. Thanks to readers of very early chapters and drafts who helped me strategize ways to continue the writing: Zakes Mda, Rachel Glaser, Sara Jaffe, Anna Grace Keller, James Miranda, Patrick O’Keeffe, Elspeth Vance, and Zach Ballew. Thanks to Bianca Spriggs and Ghirmai Negash for asking necessary questions, whether or not I could answer them. Thanks to Eric ffitch, for forcing me to have an internet presence. Thanks to Jenna Johnson, whose instincts as an editor seem almost like magic to me. I am so glad we worked on this book together. Thanks to Claudia Ballard, who somehow knew how to patiently and calmly steer this book to just the right home. Thanks to all of you who told me your snake stories—snakes in your linen closets, in your drawers, under your tables, in your chimneys, and, yes, even in your beds. Thanks to water protectors and pipeline resisters, and to all those fighting domination in creative, bold, and steadfast ways. Thank you to Cusi Gibbons-Ballew, Nector Vine Ballew, and Amos Dell Ballew: I never knew ’til I met you what love oh love could do.

Also by Madeline Ffitch

ALSO BY MADELINE FFITCH

Valparaiso, Round the Horn

A Note About the Author

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Madeline ffitch cofounded the punk theater company Missoula Oblongata and is part of the direct-action collective Appalachia Resist! Her writing has appeared in Tin House, Guernica, Granta, VICE, and Electric Literature, among other publications. She is the author of the story collection Valparaiso, Round the Horn. You can sign up for email updates here.

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