"Meeting McCarthy" was originally published in the 1992 Summer issue of The Southern Quarterly. The essay is about the three days my then girlfriend and I spent with her friend, Cormac, as we sought advice and inspiration for the book we were writing about her life as a professional poker player. It was the best "workshop" I've ever attended. The nine other essays were honored with the distinction of Notable Essay of the Year in The Best American Essays. They are about my life in Wyoming. "Garry Wallace's essays frame up a world that feels completely lived in-things are resonantly what they are, seen close up and also receding into the lonesome Western distance. Encounters are honest, accurately drawn; and the moments that mystify, bringing sorrow or unexpected light, they reach us right through the language. " Sven Birkerts, author of The Other Walk: Essays.