Hellgoing (18 page)

I was his Greta.

My blush drained off. Our Ds faced in. He held my eye, and I held his.

There was a fence, and someone was against it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Ongoing gratitude to Melanie Little and Sarah MacLachlan for their kindness, wisdom, and no-nonsense faith. And to the vital, crackling nerve centre of Canadian literature that is House of Anansi.

Thanks also to Mary Schendlinger and Stephen Osborne for helming
Geist
magazine in Vancouver, another such nerve centre on the west coast.
Geist
published two of these stories—“Take This and Eat It” and “The Natural Elements.” The editing process was such that I probably should have been paying them, as opposed to the other way around.

Thanks also to Emily Schultz at Joyland.com, for bringing “Clear Skies” to the world wide web, the
Walrus
for publishing “Wireless” and John Metcalf for liking “Dogs in Clothes.” And thanks to Ben Sures for acting as technical adviser on “Body Condom.”

Thanks always to my agent, Christy Fletcher.

And thanks to Marina Endicott and Rob Appleford for hanging in there with me through the writing of “Mr. Hope.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

©
ROB APPLEFORD

Lynn Coady is the author of the bestselling novel
The Antagonist,
which was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as the novels
Mean Boy
,
Saints of Big Harbour
, and
Strange Heaven
and the short story collection
Play the Monster Blind
. She has been shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award and the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and has four times made the
Globe and Mail
's annual list of Top 100 Books. Originally from Cape Breton, she now lives in Edmonton, Alberta, where she is a founding and senior editor of the award-winning magazine
Eighteen Bridges
.

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 with a mandate to publish Canadian-authored books, a mandate that continues to this day even as the list has branched out to include internationally acclaimed thinkers and writers. The press immediately gained attention for significant titles by notable writers such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, George Grant, and Northrop Frye. Since then, Anansi's commitment to finding, publishing and promoting challenging, excellent writing has won it tremendous acclaim and solid staying power. Today Anansi is Canada's pre-eminent independent press, and home to nationally and internationally bestselling and acclaimed authors such as Gil Adamson, Margaret Atwood, Ken Babstock, Peter Behrens, Rawi Hage, Misha Glenny, Jim Harrison, A. L. Kennedy, Pasha Malla, Lisa Moore, A. F. Moritz, Eric Siblin, Karen Solie, and Ronald Wright. Anansi is also proud to publish the award-winning nonfiction series The CBC Massey Lectures. In 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Anansi was honoured by the Canadian Booksellers Association as “Publisher of the Year.”