by James Bow
You will read the great speeches that were made when the eggs of my Elder Mothers were returned to the hatch flats. They were speeches about responsibility, about facing up to the past. They were good speeches, as nearly as I can judge. Simon and his people, who are my people now, are a good people. They are kind.
But also I know this: after the first hatching, it was humans who built the mud domes. For no one else was there to build, only bones, and the old domes were cracked and falling. And after the first moult, it was I who taught the hatchlings our speech. Only, I cannot make all the sounds I remember. And the hatchlings do not remember them. My children have human accents.
The people of my Elder Mother are slow to grow, and I have grown old before they are even full grown. I wonder what will happen next tide-turn, when the second moult leaves the hatchlings a metre taller. Will there be quite so much tenderness for them then? Quite so much kindness?
I never told Simon what I did to Nathaniel Tal.
But I will tell history. This world, this Icarus Rising, is founded on a murder. A killing committed by a strong person, because others were too good to do what had to be done. It is the same founding, in a smaller way, that Daniel Tal gave to Icarus Down.
If the shadows are less dark here, it is only because we are not so close to the sun.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Bow was born in Toronto in 1972 to librarian parents who fostered his love of reading. His mother, writer Patricia Bow, got him interested in science fiction and fantasy, reading him Issac Asimov and Ursula K. LeGuin at an early age. She also encouraged him to write.
James has been an unapologetic Doctor Who fan since 1984, and spent most of his spare time during high school and university hanging out with fellow fans, writing stories and editing fanzines, all while studying for what he thought would be his real job as an urban planner.
The economy had other ideas for him. After graduating, he found few jobs in his chosen profession and drifted through other work that paid the bills but starved the soul. Taking a leap and concentrating on what he loved best — writing — he published three books of YA fantasy and more than thirty non-fiction science and history books for children. Icarus Down is his first science fiction novel.
He remains a big fan of Doctor Who, though he also loves Star Trek and Harry Potter as well as the books of Kenneth Oppel, Arthur Slade, Philip Reeve and Madeleine L’Engle, to name just a few. He has met most of the important people in his life through fandom, including his wife (fellow writer Erin Bow), the best man at his wedding, and the godfather to his eldest daughter. He currently lives in Kitchener, Ontario, with Erin and their two daughters, Vivian and Nora.
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The author is grateful for the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council and its Works in Progress grant.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Bow, James, 1972-, author
Icarus down / James Bow.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4431-3913-7 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-4431-3914-4 (html)
I. Title.
PS8603.O973I33 2016 jC813’.6 C2016-900401-5
Cover image © Retrostar/Dreamstime
Copyright © 2016 by James Bow. All rights reserved.
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First e-book edition: September 2016