Life's Lottery (84 page)

See: ‘Mother Hen’, ‘Twitch Technicolor’, ‘Gargantuabots vs the Nice Mice’, ‘Organ Donors’,
The Quorum
and
Seven Stars.

With Ian Brady, one of the so-called Moors Murderers, among the most despicable of British serial killers. They abducted, tortured and killed children.

A peer who disappeared in 1974, suspected of the murder of his children’s nanny. It is assumed that he either disposed of himself invisibly or became an international fugitive. Legally, he is presumed deceased.

Captain of the world-cup-winning England football team of 1966.

Character in the British comic
Smash
.

UK slang: time in prison.

This brand of Swiss crop rotation is seared into my generation’s brain by geography O levels.

See ‘Where the Bodies Are Buried 3: Black and White and Red All Over’.

UK police abbreviation: grievous bodily harm.

An institution for the criminally insane.

UK serial killers; Sutcliffe is known as the Yorkshire Ripper. Apparently, they really do argue about what television channels to watch.

Killing for Company
, Brian Masters, about Nilsen; ‘…
Somebody’s Husband, Somebody’s Son
’, Gordon Burn, about Sutcliffe.

Screenwriter of the underrated
Fellow Traveler
and occasional contributor to
Sight & Sound
magazine. As a writer for television, he does specialise in true crime drama:
The Tragedy of Flight 103
(the Lockerbie crash),
The Flowers of the Forest
(a child abuse panic) and
Shipman
(the serial killer doctor). We can assume that Keith’s feelings about
Mountaintop
are coloured by personal involvement, since Eaton’s work is remarkably tactful and insightful in a genre rarely distinguished by those qualities.

The practice of being dropped in a wilderness and making your way out using only a map; once a common school afternoon-off exercise, a holdover from the days when British boys’ schools worked some sort of military training (ROTC – Royal Officer Training Corps) into the syllabus.

Outside the National Health Service. Though NHS care is provided for all British citizens, those who can afford it can opt out and pay for supposedly higher-quality medical treatment.

In this alternate timeline, such things are possible; in our real world, 2001 has come and gone without it. In my defence, Neal Stephenson, who is a lot more clued-up about computers than I am, posited exactly the same thing in his
Cryptonomicon
, which is set
before
2001.

T
hanks are due to Pete and Dana Atkins, Janies Bacon, Sarah Biggs, Anne Billson, Eugene Byrne, Susan Byrne, Pat Cadigan, Jacquie Clare, John Clute, Loretta Culbert, Julie Davies, Meg Davis, Alex Dunn, Dennis and Kris Etchison, Martin Feeney, Leslie Felperin, Jo Fletcher, Martin Fletcher, Christopher Fowler, Neil Gaiman, Paula Grainger, Charlie Grant, Antony Harwood, Rob Holdstock, Steve Jones, Rodney Jones, Karen Krizanovich, Chris Manby, Dave Mathew, Paul McAuley, Maura McHugh, Silja Muller, Bryan and Julia Newman, Sasha and Jerome Newman, Marcelle Perks, David Pringle, Geoff Ryman, David Schow, Adam Simon, Helen Simpson, Millie Simpson, Dean Skilton, Mandy Slater, Brian Smedley, Michael Marshall Smith, Graham Watkins, Doug Winter.

AVAILABLE NOW FROM TITAN BOOKS

In 1961, Derek Leech emerges fully formed from the polluted River Thames, destined to found a global media empire. In 1978, three ambitious young men strike a deal with Leech. They are offered wealth, glamour, and success, but a price must be paid. In 1994, Leech’s purpose moves to its conclusion, and as the men struggle, they realize to truth of the ultimate price.

A brand-new edition of the critically acclaimed novel featuring five short stories by the award-winning author.

“‘Fans of ‘Deal with the Devil’ stories ought to be delighted with this fifth novel from British horror writer Newman, which brings a new twist or two to the genre.”
Publishers Weekly

“This well-told tale is peopled with a fascinating array of characters and offers much witty and sage commentary on our materialistic society.”
Library Journal

“Newman’s postmodern morality play puts him into the first rank of current horror novelists.”
Booklist

TITAN
BOOKS.COM

In the tiny English village of Alder, dreams and nightmares are beginning to come true. Creatures from local legend, science fiction and the dark side of the human mind prowl the town.

Paul, a young academic composing a thesis about the end of the world, and his girlfriend Hazel, a potter, have come to Alder for the summer. Their idea of a rural retreat gradually sours as the laws of nature begin to break down around them. Paul and Hazel are soon drawn into a vortex of fear as violent chaos engulfs the community and the village prepares to reap a harvest of horror.

A brand-new edition of the critically acclaimed novel. This edition also contains the short stories ‘Ratting’, ‘Great Western’ and ‘The Man on the Clapham Omnibus’.

“A roaring good read.”
The Times

“Newman’s prose is sophisticated and his narrative drive irresistible.”
Publishers Weekly

TITAN
BOOKS.COM

It is 1976 and Kate Reed is on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s movie
Dracula.
She helps a young vampire boy, Ion Popescu, who leaves Transylvania for America. In the States, Popescu becomes Johnny Pop and attaches himself to Andy Warhol, inventing a new drug which confers vampire powers on its users…

Kim Newman returns to one of the bestselling vampire tales of the modern era in this brand-new novel in his acclaimed
Anno Dracula
series.

TITAN
BOOKS.COM