Thanks as ever to people who helped out with emotional support, random kindness and odd bits of information or inspiration: Pete Atkins, Eugene Byrne, Susan Byrne, Meg Davis, Pat Cadigan, David Cross, Alex Dunn, Val and Les Edwards, Jo Fletcher, Christopher Fowler, Christopher Frayling, Neil Gaiman (who has also written a Moran-as-narrator story — and came up with the ‘Professor Moriarty retires to Essex to keep wasps’ joke), Mark Gatiss (who parallels the ‘consulting criminal’ premise, but added a Jim’ll Fix It joke I wish I’d thought of), John Courtenay Grimwood, Maxim Jakubowski, Rodney Jones, Stephen Jones, Yung Kha, Jean-Marc Lofficier, Tim and Donna Lucas, Paul McAuley, Maura McHugh (who maintains my website at johnnyalucard.com), Helen Mullane, Sara and Rita Paço, Sarah Pinborough, Chris Roberson, Russell Schechter, Dean Skilton, Brian Smedley, Tom Tunney, Stephen Volk and the members of the ‘Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula books’ Facebook group.
Kim Newman, Islington, 2011