This book doesn’t take place on the real Dartmoor; its setting is a parallel dimension moor that doesn’t exist but just happens to be in the same place on the map. But while the places in Villager’s moor have different names and all of its inhabitants and legends are from my imagination, it shares an ambience with Dartmoor and would not have been the same book if I had not been living and walking there during its creation. So, I raise a glass here to Dartmoor, and to the residents whom I’ve met, chatted to and learned from – not least my ‘Dartmoor Dad’ Keith Dahill, Nat Green and Ruscha Schorr-kon, a landlady immeasurably more interesting, kind and accommodating than the one featured in the ‘Stopcock’ chapter of this book. I would also like to offer a special thanks to Louise McKnight and Laura Willis, who kindly offered their time and knowledge of – respectively – Glaswegian dialect and piano tuning to help me sharpen some of the notes here, and Ellie for her support and a couple of eagle-eyed spots at proof manuscript stage. This is the fifth book I have crowdfunded through Unbound, and if you are one of the people who pledged for it, you perhaps deserve the biggest thanks of all, as it wouldn’t exist – at least not in its present form – without you. Absolutely vital also is that I mention Matt Deighton, who – like RJ McKendree – is a brilliant unassuming songwriter bashed about, then enhanced by time, and whose excellent 1995 album Villager made me decide, many years ago, that I’d one day like to write a book with the same name. Matt is one of many musicians whose craft is an important part of what has led me to this point in my writing career. The others are far too numerous to list here, but I would be seriously remiss in not mentioning my good friend Will Twynham, who as we speak is bringing RJ McKendree to life in the most thrilling of ways. Just as music has made this book more than it would have been without it, art has too, and I am indebted to my mum Jo, my dad Mick, Unbound’s art director Mark Ecob and Villager’s cover artist Joe McLaren for the work they have done to make it a beautiful object, rather than just a load of words on some pages. Finally, thank you to my editors Imogen Denny, DeAndra Lupu, Mathew Clayton and Hayley Shepherd for their eagle-eyed skills, to Matt Shaw and Dave Holwill for the website help, and to my agent Ed Wilson, and anyone else who, like them, has assisted in any way in giving me the belief that I can do this.

A Note on the Author