Alexandra Machinist, my peerless agent, who also has the coolest name in the literary world; Rachel Kahan, both for her sharp edits and the inordinate amount of faith she showed in the manuscript; Lauren Kaplan, Ivan Held, and all the people at Putnam; Kris Engskov, former personal assistant to President Bill Clinton, for his help with the interior of the White House and its security procedures (I’ve taken liberties with the actual layout, and, of course, Mr. Engskov did not reveal the existence of a presidential vampire to me. I assume that would be classified); Claire Dippel (no relation to Konrad, at least as far as I know); Elizabeth Pontefract; Bryon Farnsworth; Amanda Rocque; Britt Mc-Combs; John Rember; Ahren Heidt; Randal Eymann; William Heisel; the whole sick crew at Big Action! and, of course, my first reader and one true love, Jean Roosevelt Farnsworth. I should also thank my daughter, Caroline, who tolerated her father typing at the keyboard while she waited with wet diapers.

The true story of Andrew Johnson’s pardon of a vampire can be found in The President’s Vampire by Robert Schneck, which investigates the facts first turned up by Charles Hoy Fort in Wild Talents. The Washington Prophecy is based on a story from Oval Office Occult: True Stories of White House Weirdness by Brian M. Thomsen.