The Brilliant Dark
Page 45
At the end, Saskia saw clearly the golden splinter in the dark and went home to it — and whatever was on the other side of it — to begin her story anew.
Acknowledgements
And so, we come to the end.
Writing a trilogy is a tricky thing, as I have learned through the process of completing this one. From a development standpoint, there are many moving parts, questions to be answered, and a constant looping-back to make sure your original intent is not only clear, but still there. I started writing Scion of the Fox on a whim in 2014, without a plan, after encountering the titular animal on a snowy night walk, and I’ve followed that fox down deep into places I never fathomed. I came out blinking on the other side, exhausted but, as a writer, altered for the better. I hope as a reader you came out with something that will hold meaning long after these covers are shut.
The series itself was always focused on a wished-for horizon, on endings, on the fallibility of even the most infallible, on inverting the tropes that I, as a reader, always relied on, on making difficult choices, on found family, on mistakes, and the emotional toll of grief heaped on those far too young to deserve it. I built a mythology, a world, an underworld, and creatures that seemed to erupt fully formed and heedless of my creative energies, and though their stories are now over, they will always exist in these three volumes, and I’m content with that.
But I didn’t do it alone. Writing a series requires support, in actual fact. Thanks, first, to ECW Press for taking on this series mostly sight unseen and trusting me to deliver. To my editor, Jen Hale, who has always been forever my strongest, loudest advocate, without whom I would not be a published author. To my copy editor, Jen Knoch, who went through every book with such meticulous fervour and caught so many things, offered such incredible insights, and left her amazing reaction comments throughout the manuscripts — the latter of which kept me going through those heavy editing phases. And to the entire team at ECW — the designers, publicists, marketers, sales folks. You have all been fabulous. I still don’t feel worthy.
Thank you to my poor blurbers, also, who gave the earliest review of these embarrassingly large books, and did so with aplomb and grace.
To my family, for encouraging my desire to create stories, to pursue art, no matter the cost. I say without any irony that making art has saved my life, and continues to, so I am grateful that my parents bought me every book I asked for and never demeaned my delusions of grandeur when it came to writing at a young age.
Warmest thanks to my dear husband who, while not in the arts himself, holds them, and my work, in high esteem and has been nothing if not my champion, reminding me how difficult this work is and how I am lucky I can not only pursue it as a career but that I have the drive for it.
And, finally, and with the tenderest affection, to the readers I say: Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are seen for seeing me and my work, for buying it, taking it out of the library, talking about it with your friends at school, for your kind personal messages, your Tweets, your thoughtful reviews, and your general wonderfulness. It has been a privilege to share this trilogy with you, and I hope to see you again at the dawn of the next adventure.
And should you be an aspiring writer yourself, person still sticking around at the end of this, take heart. If you write, you are a writer. Passion and discipline and a desire to tell a tale are all you need to get started, plus a little bit of courage to keep going. Just know that I believe in you, whoever you are.
Keep reading, keep dreaming.
~S
About the Author
S.M. Beiko is an eclectic writer and artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She also works as a freelance editor, illustrator, and graphic designer. Her first novel, The Lake and the Library, was nominated for the Manitoba Book Award for Best First Book as well as the 2014 Aurora Award. The first novel in this series, Scion of the Fox, won the 2018 Copper Cylinder Award.
Copyright
Copyright © S.M. Beiko, 2019
Published by ECW Press
665 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, ON M4M 1Y2
416-694-3348 / info@ecwpress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Editor for the press: Jen Hale
Cover design: Erik Mohr / Made by Emblem
Interior illustration: S.M. Beiko
Author photo: Teri Hofford Photography
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: The brilliant dark / S.M. Beiko.
Names: Beiko, S. M., author.
Series: Beiko, S. M. Realms of ancient ; bk. 3.
Description: Series statement: The realms of ancient ; book III
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190109998 Canadiana (ebook) 20190110619
ISBN 9781770413597 (hardcover)
ISBN 9781773054162 (PDF)
ISBN 9781773054155 (EPUB)
Classification: LCC PS8603.E428444 B75 2019 DDC jC813/.6—dc23
The publication of The Brilliant Dark has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country and is funded in part by the Government of Canada. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. Ce livre est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada. We acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), an agency of the Government of Ontario, which last year funded 1,737 individual artists and 1,095 organizations in 223 communities across Ontario for a total of $52.1 million. We also acknowledge the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit, and through Ontario Creates for the marketing of this book.