Beyond the Ice Limit
Page 30
The expedition did not go quite as planned. It was a dark story and the ending was rather grim and enigmatic. We believed at the time that no further explanation was required. As with the famous Twilight Zone episode, “To Serve Man,” there appeared to be only one possible outcome after the final page was turned.
However, we began to get letters and emails asking exactly what did happen after that final page. And demanding a sequel to the novel.
We thought such requests would die down over time. They did not. We continued to receive them until they totaled in the many thousands. Even today, at virtually every book signing we do, somebody asks us when we are finally going to write a sequel to The Ice Limit.
Eli Glinn was a character we first introduced in The Ice Limit, and he continued to appear in several of the books that followed. In the mysterious way that fictional characters sometimes take on lives of their own, Glinn too began to insist that we tell the rest of the story—he even worked behind the scenes, as it were, to make it happen. Glinn roped in Gideon Crew, our newer series character, in his obsession with the “meteorite.” That was when we realized our readers were right: the story and characters demanded a sequel. Once we understood that, we knew the time had come to set sail once again.
We did, however, take pains to ensure that this new book was not just a story for fans of The Ice Limit or Gideon Crew, but rather a stand-alone novel that anyone could enjoy, whether or not they had read any of our earlier fiction. We hope that, in retrospect now, you agree, and that you have enjoyed your fictional journey—whether for the first or the second time—to the Screaming Sixties of the South Atlantic…and beyond the Ice Limit.
About the Authors
The thrillers of DOUGLAS PRESTON and LINCOLN CHILD “stand head and shoulders above their rivals” (Publishers Weekly). Preston and Child’s Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series, and their recent novels include White Fire, Blue Labyrinth, Crimson Shore, and The Lost Island. In addition to his novels, Preston writes about archaeology for the New Yorker and National Geographic magazines. Lincoln Child is a former book editor who has published six novels of his own, including the huge bestseller Deep Storm.
Readers can sign up for The Pendergast File, a monthly “strangely entertaining note” from the authors, at their website, www.PrestonChild.com. The authors welcome visitors to their alarmingly active Facebook page, where they post regularly.
Also by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Agent Pendergast Novels Gideon Crew Novels
Crimson Shore The Lost Island
Blue Labyrinth Gideon’s Corpse
White Fire Gideon’s Sword
Two Graves*
Cold Vengeance* Other Novels
Fever Dream* The Ice Limit
Cemetery Dance Thunderhead
The Wheel of Darkness Riptide
The Book of the Dead** Mount Dragon
Dance of Death**
Brimstone** *The Helen Trilogy
Still Life with Crows **The Diogenes Trilogy
The Cabinet of Curiosities †Relic and Reliquary are
Reliquary† ideally read in sequence
Relic†
By Douglas Preston By Lincoln Child
The Kraken Project The Forgotten Room
Impact The Third Gate
The Monster of Florence Terminal Freeze
(with Mario Spezi) Deep Storm
Blasphemy Death Match
Tyrannosaur Canyon Lethal Velocity
The Codex (formerly Utopia)
Ribbons of Time Tales of the Dark 1–3
The Royal Road Dark Banquet
Talking to the Ground Dark Company
Jennie
Cities of Gold
Dinosaurs in the Attic
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
Epilogue
A Note to Our Readers
About the Authors
Also by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Newsletters
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Splendide Mendax, Inc. & Lincoln Child
Cover design by Flag
Cover art by Stanislaw Fernandes
Cover copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the authors’ intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors’ rights.
Grand Central Publishing
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First Edition: May 2016
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Preston, Douglas J., author. | Child, Lincoln, author.
Title: Beyond the ice limit : a Gideon Crew novel / Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.
Description: First edition. | New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2016. | Series: Gideon crew series ; 4
Identifiers: LCCN 2015050544| ISBN 9781455525867 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781455566136 (large print) | ISBN 9781455588978 (int’l) | ISBN 9781478909118 (audi
o CD) | ISBN 9781478909125 (audio download) | ISBN 9781455525881 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Human-alien encounters—Fiction. | Antarctic Ocean | BISAC: FICTION / Thrillers. | GSAFD: Adventure fiction. | Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3566.R3982 B49 2016 | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015050544
ISBNs: 978-1-4555-2586-7 (hardcover), 978-1-4555-2588-1 (ebook), 978-1-4555-8897-8 (int’l), 978-1-4555-6613-6 (large print)
E3–20160418–DA–PC