Pandemonium

ACKNOWLEDGMENT S

The first-time novelist owes thanks to almost everyone he’s ever met. A novelist who’s written a pop culture mash-up like this one is also indebted to almost every book he’s ever read, starting with the comics of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Thank you for teaching me to read, gentlemen. This book also owes much to the stories of H. P. Lovecraft and the novels of A. E. Van Vogt (pronounced “A. E.”) and Philip K. Dick. Kathy Bieschke and Gary Delafield were, as always, my first, best, and toughest readers. Andrew Tisbert and Elizabeth Delafield saw later drafts and kept me on track. My thanks as well to the many friends (including several more Delafields) who read the manuscript; to my children, Emma and Ian Gregory, who weren’t allowed to read it; and to my sisters, Robin Somerfield and Lisa Johnson, who were simply thankful they weren’t in it.

Several wise professionals guided me through the last mile of the publishing process. Gordon Van Gelder offered well-timed words of advice and a door-opening e-mail. Christine Cohen pushed the book into exactly the right hands. The deft copyediting of Sona Vogel and Deanna Hoak saved me from several embarrassments. My thanks to them all, and especially to my editor, Fleetwood Robbins. He under-2 8 8

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

stood the book from the beginning yet saw how it could be more true to itself.

Finally, my deepest thanks go to Darrell and Thelma Gregory, who never turned down their odd son no matter how many times he showed up at the checkout counter holding another comic or paperback. Mom, I’m sorry this book has so many curse words.