ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Decorating and furnishing The Red House was aided by The Victorian House Explained by Trevor Yorke, and The Victorian House Style Handbook by Linda Osband (ed. Paul Atterbury). The function and history of its owner, M. H. Mason, was abetted by Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy by Melissa Milgrom; Walter Potter and his Museum of Curious Taxidermy by P. A. Morris; An Annotated Bibliography on Preparation, Taxidermy, and Collection Management of Vertebrates with Emphasis on Birds by Rogers, Schmidt and Gütebier; Taxidermy Step by Step by Waddy F. McFall; A Chaplain at Gallipoli: The Great War Diaries of Kenneth Best, ed. Gavin Roynon.

Filling the house with its occupants was enriched by Puppets Through the Ages: An Illustrative History by Günter Böhmer; The History of the English Puppet Theatre by George Speight; The Complete Book of Puppetry by George Latshaw; The Handbook of English Costume in the 20th Century by Alan Mansfield and Phillis Cunnington; The Ultimate Doll Book by Caroline Goodfellow; Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe (ed. Bagnoli, Klein, Mann, Robinson). And in the first place, were I not such an admirer of the work of Thomas Ligotti, I may never have written this book. The short story by Reggie Oliver, ‘The Children of Monte Rosa’, introduced me to the existence of preserved animals in tableaux, and also inspired me to write about them.

At the risk of absurdity, I must acknowledge the effects of the old ATV television puppet shows, The Pipkins (and its star Hartley Hare) and The Adventures of Rupert Bear. In addition one third of A Trilogy of Terror (1975), and Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang, may have been the two most frightening things I watched on television in the first half of my life. A long time ago they all captivated and terrified me in a manner unique to puppets. It was only a matter of time before these influences clambered out of their dusty trunks to perform for me once again.

Many thanks to my readers, Hugh Simmons, Clive Nevill, Anne Parry, and the late James Marriott, my editors Bella Pagan and Julie Crisp, Louise Buckley, Sophie Portas in publicity, and my agent John Jarrold.

It would be ungrateful and inappropriate to not thank the writers, critics, publications and websites who have supported me and my books with some of the kindest words a writer could ever wish to read. So my bony hands rise in salute to Gary McMahon, Eleanor Wixon, Simon Bestwick, Ramsey Campbell, Mark Morris, Tim Lebbon, Stephen Volk, Johnny Mains, Sarah Pinborough, Reggie Oliver, Joseph Delacey, Mathew Riley, Bill Hussey, Stephen Deas, Peter Mark May, Shaun Hamilton, Michael Wilson and This is Horror, Simon Marshall Jones, Ginger Nuts of Horror, Black Abyss, Jonathan Oliver, Professor Danel Olson, Rue Morgue, SFX, Wormwood, Black Static, Eric Brown and the Guardian, Forbidden Planet London and Birmingham, Alt Fiction, and The British Fantasy Society. Much thanks also to Facebook, for providing a medium for writers to meet their readers, their peers across the seas, and all those enthusiastic about horror. Never has the world been so accessible without having to move.

Above all, to my readers, I thank you for your time and your patronage.