Acknowledgements

The following books provided much inspiration for the interior design of Apartment 16 and the life of Felix Hessen: Wyndham Lewis, by Richard Humphries; The Bone Beneath the Pulp: Drawings by Wyndham Lewis, edited by Jacky Klein; Francis Bacon and the Loss of Self, by Ernst van Alphen; Francis Bacon: Taking Reality by Surprise, by Christophe Domino; Interviews with Francis Bacon, by David Sylvester; Grosz, by Ivo Kranzfelder; Diana Mosley, by Anne de Courcy; The Occult Roots of Nazism, by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke.

Special thanks to Julie Crisp for the faith, careful readings and notes, and to my agent John Jarrold for getting me a shot at the next level. Much gratitude and affection also goes out to Ramsey Campbell, and to Peter Crowther at PS Publishing, who first brought me into print.

For my readers, Anne Parry, James Marriott and Clive Nevill, I have again incurred a debt by exploiting your precious time and critical skills. I thank you.

Finally, a very special thanks to the grand old apartment buildings of Knightsbridge, Mayfair and Marylebone that funded my ‘old school’ writing residency from 2000 to 2004. I thought I’d never ever escape.