Blackthorne
Page 63
He had a great deal of thinking to do.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
No novel gets written in a vacuum. When it comes to creativity, lived experiences with other human beings over the expanse of one’s lifetime are grist for the mill. Other author’s works, both fiction and nonfiction, are a professional writer’s best education. This is why I try so hard to remember my influences. It’s important to give credit where credit is due. Education is precious.
Nonfiction is a passion for me. It keeps my brain working and feeds my muse, but then, I always did enjoy school—not the exams and the bullying, mind you. The knowledge. I love learning, questions, and expanding my experience. At the same time, I’m human, and I don’t always absorb all the details. Therefore, there are no doubt quite a few blunders contained in this novel. That isn’t the fault of anyone listed. Trial and error are how human beings learn best, and we can’t learn from mistakes we don’t claim. Thus, the errors are mine. It’s a shame that so many people these days seem incapable of admitting when they’re wrong, let alone when they’ve made a mistake. Human beings need mistakes. They’re what make us wiser. And you don’t become wiser without radically changing your mind from time to time. I don’t know about you, but I want to be like Yoda when I grow up—lightsaber and all. (Although, I’ll give a pass on the green muppet skin and big ears. However, speaking in Frank Oz’s voice might be fun.) Of course, that assumes I’ll grow up. I probably won’t since I kind of reject most of what our society feels being a grown-up is about, but that’s a whole other essay.
So, here goes … .
Many thanks to Tempest Bradford, Nisi Shawl, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Cynthia Ward. The Writing the Other workshop was instrumental in making this novel work. If you’re a writer and can’t afford to attend, definitely pick up Nisi’s and Cindy’s Writing the Other: A Practical Approach. It’s a great place to start diversity education. Another workshop I attended was Revolutionary Writing/Writing for Social Change run by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due. I learned quite a bit in both workshops and made valuable contacts. Diversity is an important aspect of worldbuilding. If all the characters that people your world look and act exactly the same, it stops being a believable place. Unless you want a flat, white-walled world. That has its uses too. (See Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.) The point is to make conscious choices, not unconscious ones. Racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, religious bigotry … we’re all soaking in it from the day we’re born. As a result, every human being has internalized that shit, including myself. I want to use my superpowers for good. That’s why I choose to work hard on my biases. Nonetheless, I feel like a gardener forever yanking up weeds by the roots. There’s always something I’ve missed and don’t see until the leaves shoot up from the dirt. That’s just the way it is.
One of the things I definitely want to bring up here is that much of Blackthorne’s little red leather book is heavily influenced by The Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. I wish to state up front that Blackthorne’s interpretation (and the Acrasian Regnum’s) is absolutely wrong. I wanted to demonstrate how philosophies and teachings could be warped when taken out of context. (Yes, cultural appropriation.) Blackthorne’s little red leather book is his Bible, in a way. So, he does what many people do with the Bible—he takes things out of context. I chose the template I did because I’m a martial arts student (Kendo, Wing Chung Kung Fu, and currently Hakkoryu.) As a semi-pacifist hippie type, I greatly appreciate the teachings of martial arts. The heart of it is nothing like what Blackthorne demonstrates. (Unless you’re a Cobra Kai from The Karate Kid, and if you are … yikes.) Part of being a genre writer is looking at such things, twisting them, and then turning the volume knob to eleven. I’m sorry if I’ve offended an entire culture as a result of playing with that idea. Nonetheless, know that I know the difference between what the real text says and Blackthorne’s interpretation. You should too.
Books: The Art of Blacksmithing by Alex W. Bealer; The Craft of the Japanese Sword by Leon and Hiroko Kapp and Yoshindo Yoshihara; Samurai by Harry Cook; The Samurai by S. R. Turnbull; The Sword of No Sword by John Stevens; The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Mushashi; The Art of War by Sun Tzu; An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic by Jim Murphy; Plague, Pox, and Pestilence by Kenneth F. Kiple; The Age of Homespun by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich; The American Revolution edited by John Rhodehamel; Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis; The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Colonial America by Dale Taylor; Everyday Life in Colonial America by David Freeman; The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation by Katherine Ramsland, PhD; A Sea of Words by King, Hattendorf, and Estes; 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Captain Grose; A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier: Some of the Adventures, Dangers, and Sufferings of Joseph Plumb Martin; Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs writing as Linda Brent; Heart of Oak: A Sailor’s Life in Nelson’s Navy by James P. McGuane; London 1753 by Sheila O’Connell; After the Revolution: The Smithsonian History of Everyday Life in the Eighteenth Century by Barbara Clark Smith; Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms of North America by Turner and Szczawinski; Revolutionary Medicine 1700–1800 by C. Keith Wilbur M.D.; A Modern Herbal Vol. I’II by Mrs. Grieve; The Prince, The Art of War, and The Discourses by Machiavelli; Common Sense by Thomas Paine; SPQR by Mary Beard; Moby Dick by Herman Melville; If The Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home by Lucy Worsley; The Gathering Wind: Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea by Gregory A. Freeman; On Combat by Dave Grossman; Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; Barry Lindon and Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray; and The Encyclopedia of Combat Techniques by Chris McNab and Will Fowler. Also, all the Patrick O’Brien books I could get my mitts on, as well as some Jane Austen. It takes a lot of reading to screw things up the way I do. ;)
I want to send out a big, big thank-you to Enid Crowe, who took several days out of her work week to take me around the Ulster Museum—which, if you’re unfamiliar with it, is an Irish village pieced together with actual old buildings transported from all over Northern Ireland. The village itself is designed with the Edwardian period in mind, but many of the buildings are far, far older, like many things in Ireland. Walking the paths between the farms and other buildings was the closest thing to time travel I’ve ever experienced. Go there, if you get the chance. They have a post office, police station, a working linen farm, linen looms, churches, cottages, a school, a coal scale … it was amazing. That tour helped so much to make the late 1700s and early 1800s real for me. The Giant’s Ring and the canal were amazing too. Also, thanks to Ian for driving me all around and telling stories. You’re an inspiration. (And I still want that Eggplant/aubergine parmesan recipe.) Seeing all the things in living color that I’d been studying in black-and-white was incredible. And walking the walls of Derry was amazing—never mind the trip to Long Kesh and Newgrange. Brian, thanks for setting up the tour with your cousin Mickey, and everything else you did for me. It was kind of backward to go to Ireland after having written about it, but one day there will be more Northern Irish stories. One. Day. Thanks to my friend Shelly Rae Clift for taking me to the locks and the fish ladder in Seattle, WA. Thanks to Melissa Mead Tyler and Brian Tyler for hosting and for being such great friends. More thanks to Cherie Priest for that amazing tour of Lookout Mountain and the surrounding battlefields as well as the spooky stories. Thanks for the coffee, the company, and for tolerating my silly cannon fixation too. Many thanks to Chris Levesque for his on-the-spot military expertise, Shecky Betai—the best, most fun copyeditor I’ve ever had, Barry Goldblatt my wonderful agent, Joe Monti my editor, my good friend Ben Fritzler (and awesome DM) for checking my gay, and to Ela Sjunneson Henry for her kind instruction regarding writing blind characters. Sensitivity readers are vital, if inclusion and diversity are going to work—that, plus an awareness that white, straight people aren’t always the most appropriate persons to a
ddress certain topics. There’s so much I’ve learned and am still learning. I promise not to stop trying even though it’s frightening and risky. Creativity is dangerous, after all. Thanks for your patience, dearest readers.
Lastly, thanks to my husband Dane aka the Viking—my best friend and my lover. I truly wouldn’t be doing any of this without you, my love. Here’s to the adventures to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STINA LEICHT is an award-nominated sci-fi/fantasy writer living in Texas. When she was small she wanted to grow up to be like Vincent Price. Unfortunately, there are no basements in Texas, making it impossible to wall up anyone alive under the house. Alas, she’ll have to resign herself to going quietly mad while wearing a smoking jacket. Too bad that Texas is hot and she doesn’t smoke and, therefore, doesn’t own a smoking jacket.
You can find her online at csleicht.com and on Twitter at @stinaleicht.
SAGAPRESS.COM
SIMON & SCHUSTER NEW YORK
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
SimonandSchuster.com
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/StinaLeicht
ALSO BY STINA LEICHT
The Malorum Gates
Cold Iron
The Fey and the Fallen
Of Blood and Honey
And Blue Skies From Pain
We hope you enjoyed reading this Simon & Schuster ebook.
*
Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox.
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author ’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2017 by Christina Leicht
Jacket illustration copyright © 2017 by Alejandro Colucci
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Saga Press Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
SAGA PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.
For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
Also available in a Saga Press paperback edition
The text for this book was set in Adobe Jenson Pro.
First Saga Press hardcover edition August 2017
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Leicht, Stina, author.
Title: Blackthorne / Stina Leicht.
Description: First Saga Press hardcover edition. | New York : Saga, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2017. | Series: The Malorum gates ; book 2
Identifiers: LCCN 2016044036 (print) | LCCN 2016055186 (eBook) |
ISBN 9781481442893 (hardcover : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781481427807
(softcover : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781481427821 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Imaginary wars and battles—Fiction. |
Good and evil—Fiction. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3612.E35554 B57 2017 (print) |
LCC PS3612.E35554 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044036