Apocalypse Cow (41 page)

Acknowledgements

This book would not have happened without the unflinching support of my wife Natalie Grant Logan, who continued to believe in the oddness of the tale when I was beginning to lose faith. Thank you, Nats – you are the one who made this possible. My family members also deserve special thanks, simply for not thinking I was a complete maniac when writing this book and for their enthusiasm and support in the run-up to publication.

Sir Terry Pratchett, for first initiating his award for new novelists and then choosing
Apocalypse Cow
as the joint winner of the prize, has my eternal gratitude, as do the other judges: Tony Robinson, Marianne Velmans, Simon Taylor and Michael Rowley. My publicist Lynsey Dalladay and Sir Terry’s right-hand-man, Rob ‘The Enforcer’ Wilkins, deserve a special mention for being so enthusiastic and positive about this novel.

Thanks are due to Kat Urbaniak, Leah Kohlenberg, Rebecca Dempster, Perry Seymour, Michelle Grant, Valerie Alison Grant, Nehmi Moya Klaassen, Ian Vale and Sarah Childress, who all read early versions and provided valuable feedback. Ian Vale
also
kindly employed his photographic skills to produce an author picture that I hope hits the sweet spot between cheesy and pretentious. I am grateful to the members of the Budapest writers’ group who were involved in the rather tipsy night that spawned the idea for this book. Wayne, Esther, Jeff, Kalman, Victoria, Sylvia and Sue: long may the wine flow!

I must thank Christopher Moore, Vanessa Gebbie, Mark Kukis and Robert Hough for encouragement and advice on writing and the publishing industry in general, along with Ted and all the members of YouWriteOn. David C. Logan, who won the Terry Pratchett prize alongside me, was a rock of support during the publication process, and Dave Beynon, one of the runners-up in the prize, was the epitome of grace and encouragement and deserves every success in his writing career. Thanks also to Helen and Bee at Multi-Story and Scott Bury for mercilessly plugging the book.

Finally, I’d once again like to thank Simon Taylor, this time for his editorial suggestions and easy manner, which made for both a better book and a pleasurable editing process.

About the Author

Michael Logan
is a Scottish journalist whose career has taken him across the globe. He left Scotland in 2003 and has lived in Bosnia, Hungary, Switzerland and Kenya, where he is currently based with his wife and two young children. His experience of riots, refugee camps and other turbulent situations have helped fuel his writing. His short fiction has appeared in various literary journals, and a (very) short story of his won Fish Publishing’s International One-Page Fiction Prize.
Apocalypse Cow
is his first novel.

To find out more, visit
www.freelancelogan.com

TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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First published in Great Britain
in 2012 by Doubleday
an imprint of Transworld Publishers

Copyright © Michael Logan 2012

Michael Logan has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781448109296
ISBNs 9780857521170 (cased)
9780857520753 (tpb)

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