Saga of Shadows 1: The Dark Between the Stars
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Authors: Kevin J. Anderson
Tags: #Fiction / Science Fiction / General
THE DARK
BETWEEN THE
STARS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
WITH BRIAN HERBERT
The Road to Dune
Dune: The Butlerian Jihad
Dune: The Machine Crusade
The Battle of Corrin
Hunters of Dune
Sandworms of Dune
Paul of Dune
The Winds of Dune
Sisterhood of Dune
Mentats of Dune
Hellhole
Hellhole Awakening
WITH DOUG BEASON
Ill Wind
KEVIN J. ANDERSON
NEBULA SHOWCASE 2011
Slan Hunter
First published in the US by Tor Books, 2014
This edition published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2014
A CBS COMPANY
Copyright © 2014 by WordFire, Inc.
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
® and © 1998 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.
The right of Kevin J. Anderson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-84983-677-7
eBook ISBN: 978-1-84983-679-1
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Printed and bound by CPI (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
The Seven Suns universe is my love letter to science fiction, a response to all the stories and the sheer sense of wonder I experienced over a lifetime of reading the genre.
This book is dedicated to the creators of the many incredible universes that took me out of a mundane childhood and transported me from everyday life to different planets and cultures—including, but not limited to, George Lucas, Gene Roddenberry, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Julian May, Andre Norton, and many, many more.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a novel is a solitary job, but writing a
good
novel requires a lot of help. For
The Dark Between the Stars
I would like to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Deb Ray, Diane Jones, Louis Moesta, John Silbersack, Pat LoBrutto, and my wife, Rebecca Moesta.
People assume that historians want to witness seminal events, but I must disagree. As a historian, my task is to record, to understand, to be objective. Yet objectivity is elusive when one is in the thick of a war that devastates the entire Spiral Arm. Personally, I would rather be an observer than a participant.
Nevertheless, while living through the conflict we now call the Elemental War, I did acquire a unique perspective. Now that I look back over the two decades since the end of that war, I see a time of peace and recovery. Civilization across the Spiral Arm is catching its breath.
The fiery beings called faeros have been driven back into their suns; the hydrogues are contained within their gas-giant planets. The Klikiss insect race departed on their final swarming, disappearing through their mysterious network of transportals to uncharted planets, and their treacherous black robots have all been wiped out.
The corrupt Terran Hanseatic League has become the Confederation, ruled by King Peter and Queen Estarra and composed of former Hansa planets, independent worlds, and Roamer clans. Although Earth remains important to the human race, the Confederation’s capital is Theroc, where the worldforest thrives and telepathic green priests tap into the vast knowledge stored in the sentient trees.
The Ildiran Empire is still humanity’s closest ally, and I admit to a fondness for their race and culture, having spent most of my professional career translating their billion-line historical epic, the Saga of Seven Suns. The Mage-Imperator even keeps a human green priest as his consort.
Impatient readers might consider twenty years plenty of time to chronicle such sweeping events, but in truth we are just getting started. It will take decades of peacetime contemplation to sort out the details.
If only we had that luxury.
—Rememberer Anton Colicos, introduction to
An Initial History of the Elemental War
Contents