Acknowl­edg­ments in The God of the Woods reflect a deep sense of appre­ci­a­tion from the author to sev­er­al key indi­vid­u­als and resources that sig­nif­i­cant­ly con­tributed to the devel­op­ment of the nov­el. The author begins by thank­ing Bob and Kel­ly Nessle, Kevin Gagan, Kevin Hynes, Kath­leen Bow­er, Anna Serot­ta, Jean Dom­mer­muth, Max O’Keefe, Rebec­ca Moore, and Steve Williams for their inter­views on var­i­ous per­ti­nent top­ics. The author acknowl­edges that any fic­tion­al­iza­tion found in the nar­ra­tive is sole­ly their own respon­si­bil­i­ty, but the insights gained through these con­ver­sa­tions were invalu­able in shap­ing the book. Each of these indi­vid­u­als played a cru­cial role in pro­vid­ing the real-world knowl­edge and per­spec­tives that were woven into the sto­ry, offer­ing exper­tise that enriched the novel’s authen­tic­i­ty.

The author extends fur­ther appre­ci­a­tion to the authors of key pub­li­ca­tions that pro­vid­ed valu­able inspi­ra­tion dur­ing the writ­ing process. Works such as Anne LaBastille’s Woodswoman, Robert J. Koester’s Lost Per­son Behav­ior, Ralph Wal­do Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”, and Hen­ry David Thoreau’s Walden are high­light­ed for their pro­found influ­ence on the nar­ra­tive. Oth­er essen­tial ref­er­ences include Creem mag­a­zine, William Murray’s Adven­tures in the Wilder­ness; or, Camp-Life in the Adiron­dacks, Bar­ney Fowler’s Adiron­dack Album, Paul Schaefer’s Adiron­dack Explo­rations: Nature Writ­ings of Ver­planck Colvin, and Peter Bronski’s At the Mer­cy of the Moun­tains. These texts offered crit­i­cal insights into the themes of nature, wilder­ness, and the human expe­ri­ence with­in it, which were fun­da­men­tal to the cre­ation of the nov­el. The author empha­sizes how these works guid­ed and informed their writ­ing, help­ing to devel­op the com­plex lay­ers of the sto­ry.

The acknowl­edg­ments also extend to the pub­lish­ing pro­fes­sion­als who pro­vid­ed essen­tial sup­port and guid­ance through­out the process. Seth Fish­man, Rebec­ca Gard­ner, and the Gern­ert team are thanked for their pro­fes­sion­al­ism, ded­i­ca­tion, and belief in the project. Addi­tion­al­ly, Sarah McGrath and the River­head team are rec­og­nized for their unwa­ver­ing sup­port and friend­ship, which were vital to bring­ing the book to fruition. The author express­es deep grat­i­tude for their exper­tise and the smooth col­lab­o­ra­tion that made the novel’s com­ple­tion pos­si­ble. Along­side these pro­fes­sion­als, the author also thanks their col­leagues and stu­dents from the MFA pro­gram at Tem­ple Uni­ver­si­ty, includ­ing Don Lee, Cara Blue Adams, Jena Osman, Pat­tie McCarthy, Rich Deeg, and the late Dr. JoAnne Epps, for their feed­back and encour­age­ment dur­ing the writ­ing process. The guid­ance and moral sup­port of these peers helped to shape the book, both cre­ative­ly and intel­lec­tu­al­ly.

Acknowl­edg­ing the impor­tance of feed­back, the author thanks Alex Gilvar­ry and Mac Casey, who pro­vid­ed invalu­able insights on ear­ly drafts of the nov­el. Their con­struc­tive crit­i­cism helped refine the sto­ry and ensured its authen­tic­i­ty. The author also express­es heart­felt thanks to friends, fam­i­ly, and peers like Murph Casey and Jes­si­ca Geller, who offered not only moral sup­port but also a sense of cama­raderie through­out the jour­ney. Their pres­ence and encour­age­ment were essen­tial to the author’s abil­i­ty to con­tin­ue writ­ing and revis­ing the work, even when faced with obsta­cles. The acknowl­edg­ment of these per­son­al rela­tion­ships under­scores the emo­tion­al foun­da­tion of the nov­el, high­light­ing the impor­tance of sup­port sys­tems in the cre­ative process.

Last­ly, the author express­es pro­found grat­i­tude to their ances­tors, par­tic­u­lar­ly Cheryl and Ger­ald Parkhurst, who made the Adiron­dack Moun­tains their home. This con­nec­tion to their lin­eage and her­itage served as an impor­tant source of inspi­ra­tion for the book’s set­ting and themes. Fam­i­ly mem­bers, includ­ing Mac, Annie, and Jack, are thanked for pro­vid­ing the moti­va­tion and bal­ance that helped guide the author through­out the writ­ing jour­ney. Their unwa­ver­ing sup­port and encour­age­ment were instru­men­tal in main­tain­ing the author’s focus, ensur­ing that the project was com­plet­ed with both pas­sion and pur­pose. This clos­ing acknowl­edg­ment under­scores the per­son­al and famil­ial ties that pro­vid­ed both ground­ing and inspi­ra­tion, mak­ing the cre­ation of The God of the Woods a deeply mean­ing­ful and per­son­al endeav­or.