Back before there were dogs in my life, there were short stories, and I wrote them. Later this month, Trajectory will be reissuing my collection of short stories, The Kind I'm Likely to Get. Here's the introduction from the new edition, which explains where the book has been and why now seemed like a good time to reintroduce it to the world:
When I first published The
Kind I’m Likely to Get, in 1999, it was after years of rejections. During that time, I’d met with agents,
including one who was puzzled by the idea that the stories should be read in
order. I hadn’t thought it was so revolutionary,
or that agents didn’t read things in order.
Why couldn’t it be a novel, others asked. But it wasn’t a novel, and it didn’t aspire
to be one. Eventually, after firing my
agent, it was published as a paperback original by William Morrow. Even then, part of the reason it was picked
up was that they were introducing a line of paperback original fiction and had
a slot to fill. This is how publishing
works.
It was a relief when it began to get positive reviews from
places like The New York Times. Maybe I would have the chance to publish
again! But just as quickly, Morrow was
sold to HarperCollins and when the second printing of The Kind I’m Likely to Get ran down, it was never reprinted. But, technically, it was available as a
print-on-demand title, so they could retain the rights. So, readers could order the title, but
bookstores couldn’t return unsold copies for credit, which meant they were
unlikely to keep any copies on the shelf.
But in 1999, when I was negotiating my contract, I managed
to strike electronic rights without anyone batting an eye. We still weren’t sure what electronic rights
actually were, and I was a completely unknown writer, so no one really cared
one way or another.
More than a decade later, after writing a series of books
about life with dogs, reissuing my stories seemed like a good idea. And as I prepared the files, I realized that
it would also be easy to add some extras—including commentary on each story,
which you, the reader, can choose to read or ignore.
I’ve also added four newer stories, Stories About Animals. While
there are virtually no animals in The
Kind I’m Likely to Get, they are unavoidable in my more recent work. And, to me, the stories with animals are
warmer, richer and more emotional than the shell-shocked characters of my
original collection. But I’ll let you be
the final judge.
, I decided to go a different way altogether. I contacted my childhood friend, Alison Bechdel, and asked she would do something for me. 
." As I drove her and her husband Paul around town, we turned a corner onto Chartres Street in Bywater and there, several blocks away, was a rottweiler roaming the middle of the street. It seemed too ridiculous to be true, but I drove closer and we hopped out of the car to pursue him. Of course, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with Julie or I, sensing, perhaps, that we were opportunists. But he did allow Julie's husband to approach him. Still, he was slippery, and it wasn't until later in the evening that some volunteers from Dogs of the 9th Ward called saying they had him. The next day I whisked him to my vet and we began the process of getting him healthy and treating his heartworms. He's moved from being a shy, timid boy to a healthy one, but, of course, he's still looking for a home. 
