Theodore Wheeler: Bad Faith

My sincerest thanks those who made this book possible.

Foremost, to Nicole, for acting in ardent good faith to ensure that there’s room for writing and literature in this life we’ve built together; to my daughters, for putting up with a pensive father with aplomb; to my mom for passing on a love for books and never talking me out of fixations; to Karen, for making sure I had time to write most every day, even when there was a baby in the house; and to my family and friends for their support.

I’m grateful for my crew of mentors, advocates, and compatriots: Bill Sedlak, Amber Mulholland, Drew Justice, Ryan Borchers, Stephanie Delman, Jonis Agee, Susan Aizenberg, Bob Churchill, Cleo Croson, Natalie Danford, Nabina Das, Miles Frieden, Amina Gautier, Anne Greene, Jordan Hartt, Arlo Haskell, Nicola Mason, Kassandra Montag, Dave Mullins, Emily Nemens, Amy O’Reilly, Jessica Rogen, Lucas Schwaller, Sam Slaughter, Brent Spencer, Mary Helen Stefaniak, Travis Thieszen, Felicity White, and Mark Wisniewski. A special thanks to Richard Burgin.

Thanks to Queen’s Ferry Press, Bradley Cole, Brian Mihok, and Kelsey Hall, for helping get this book to press, and to Erin McKnight for her tireless enthusiasm and guidance.

Finally, this book couldn’t have been written without the support of the following organizations: Akademie Schloss Solitude, Key West Literary Seminar, Port Townsend Writers Conference, Wesleyan Writers Conference, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Creighton University, Prairie Schooner , University of Nebraska, 1877 Society and Omaha Public Library.

Theodore Wheeleris a reporter who covers civil law and politics in Omaha, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. His fiction has been widely featured in national anthologies and magazines, including Best New American Voices,New Stories from the Midwest,The Southern Review,The Kenyon Review,Boulevard , and Five Chapters . He’s been a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany, a resident of the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and has won the Marianne Russo Award from the Key West Literary Seminar. He is also the author of a fiction chapbook and Kings of Broken Things , a novel that’s forthcoming in the spring of 2017.