Daredevils (26 page)

It is the happiest she has ever been, the best moment of her life, but only so far.

My deepest thanks are due to friends who read early versions of this novel and gave me guidance. Sam Ligon, in particular, read every scrap of this and repeatedly helped me expand the world of the book. Mike Baccam, Stephen Knezovich, and Jess Walter also provided valuable help—as did the brilliant Ed Park, whom I am lucky to have as an editor. I have been so fortunate to call Renée Zuckerbrot my agent, and her editorial insights and patience through the various drafts helped me discover the story hidden there.

I would like to express my gratitude to PEN and the family of Robert W. Bingham, as well as the Washington Artists Trust. Their support made it possible for me to devote time to this novel that I would not have otherwise had.

I relied upon several sources of historical information while writing this novel but also took certain dramatic liberties. (These include changing the date of Evel Knievel's London bus jump, which actually occurred in May 1975, and retaining the name Short Creek for the
fundamentalist community in northern Arizona, even though the community has actually changed its name to Colorado City.)

Leigh Montville's biography
Evel
was particularly useful in understanding the history and mythology surrounding Knievel, and the History channel documentary
Absolute Evel
was valuable as a resource in attempting to reproduce the man's voice. Several accounts of the Short Creek raids were helpful in describing that day, but it was the
Life
magazine photographs of the raid that I returned to repeatedly when I wanted to try to imagine my way inside those events.

Among the many others to whom I owe thanks are:

The members of my “church,” fellow squires of the night's body: Chris, Dan, Jess, Sam, Tony.

The faculty and students of Eastern Washington University's MFA program, where I learned and where I sometimes teach.

The gang at the
Spokesman-Review,
where it has been my privilege to work since 1999.

The Internet, which makes it so easy to find useful information about everything from the mating patterns of jackrabbits to the dashboard of a 1970 Chrysler LeBaron.

And, most of all, my family: my mother, brothers, and sisters; my wife, Amy, and son,
Cole.

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