First, let me award you a NO PRIZE for spotting something no one else has. You have no idea how much we appreciate you talking the time to read and comment on our work. It’s literally why we do this every week.

Anyway here’s the official answer: It was a messy, chaotic process when the Anomalous Phenomena Society was folded into British Intelligence following the retirement of Arthur Holmwood. Consequently, many files were lost or left sitting uncategorized in moldy boxes for decades. Some time during the reign of Elizabeth II (reportedly the early ’80s) a grand audit and re-filing of the Section X files took place. Any files or communications that were deemed still relevant or warranting further study/investigation were marked with the “E II R” stamp.

Yep, yep, yep…that our story and we’re sticking to it.

Thanks!

Would not the “E II R” in the blue stamp be something from 1952 or later, as it would designate “Elizabeth II Regina”?

By the date of the start of Pitch Black Day, her father, George VI, would have only been on the throne for 18 months (after her uncle, Edward VIII, had only reigned 10 months before abdication), and the (not given, but implied) date of the exchanges above would place the Holmwood incident squarely in the time period of George V.

Of course, given the nature of the story so far, history might have taken a different course, but the earlier secret files indicate Holmwood was disposed of while Elizabeth II was still 6 months away from being born.

Here’s hoping Mr. Jehan Bumpass is a better person than he is an agent.
I would hate to see our “Saxon Tart” brought up as purely walking a line between an asset or a liability, and not as a person at all.

I’m quite sure that some nitpicking experts will find inaccuracies of some kind or another regarding details, but I get a very distinct 1930′s English Establishment vibe from the texts, without the caricature element that often creeps into (US) depictions of English(wo)men. Let’s cherish the time, when bureaucratic and technological jargon could still happily coexist with style and craft in official correspondence and documentation.

On Abigail in genereal: I’m one of those who remember being able to google The Avengers and find John Steed and Emma Peel – I had to use Doc’s version of Google, of course, since this was way before the official Google was available (but by then I had figured out it was not Al Gore who invented the Internet) – and I really love the latter, but I must say that you made Abigail Singer a much more real character. While Emma was a skilled, tough fighter beneath – and in a certain way in spite of – her proper upbringing and education, Abigail comes accross as a ruthless fighter at heart, who uses befitting demeanour as just another weapon, if at all.

I think it’s a pity that both Dracula and the Germans are more stereotypical / caricatural by comparison. On the other hand, I fully understand that their depiction fits very well with the type of story you are telling.

One more thing: I really love how the English use Protocol 15 hypnosis instead of MIB memory wipe laser technology. Nice piece of worldbuilding. Even better is the way you introduce it en passant without much fanfare.