She said yes.
Suddenly the ball was rolling. Over the next few weeks, Elemental was conceived, a collection of stories showcasing the various elements of speculative fiction, hence the wide variety of stories presented here, from space opera and Vonnegutesque absurdity to high fantasy, magical realism, and the shadowy fringes of dark fantasy and slipstream. I wanted it all, in one book, unified because in itself Elemental represented the way the entire community banded together to help.
There was never any question that the money raised by the project should go to help the children left behind, so it was a natural choice to donate all proceeds to Save the Children’s Asia Tsunami Relief fund.
The disaster may have slipped from the front pages of our newspapers and been replaced by celebrity gossip on our television screens, but before I go, I want to leave you with some of the cold hard facts.
As of today:
INDONESIA: 122,232 people dead, 113,937 missing
SRI LANKA: 30,974 people dead, 4,698 missing, and over 100,000 families have been displaced
INDIA: 10,776 dead, 5,640 missing—5,554 on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
THAILAND: 5,395 dead, 2,993 missing
SOMALIA: 150 dead
MALDIVES: 82 dead, 26 missing
MALAYSIA: 68 dead
MYANMAR: 59 dead
TANZANIA: 10 dead
SEYCHELLES: 3 dead
BANGLADESH: 2 dead
KENYA: 1 dead
AUSTRALIA: 13 dead, 349 missing
AUSTRIA: 6 dead, 500 missing
BELGIUM: 6 dead
CANADA: 4 dead, 87 missing
CHINA: 15 dead (10 from Hong Kong; 3 from the mainland, and 2 non-Chinese residents of Hong Kong), 29 missing
CZECH REPUBLIC: 1 dead, 7 missing
DENMARK: 7 dead
FINLAND: 5 dead, 214 missing
FRANCE: 22 dead, 74 missing
GERMANY: 60 dead, 668 missing
ISRAEL: 5 dead, 5 missing
ITALY: 20 dead, 310 missing
JAPAN: 8 dead
NETHERLANDS: 6 dead, 30 missing
NEW ZEALAND: 2 dead, 64 missing
NORWAY: 16 dead, 908 missing
SINGAPORE: 8 dead, 31 missing
SOUTH AFRICA: 11 dead, 4 missing
SOUTH KOREA: 11 dead
SWEDEN: 52 dead, 1,838 missing
SWITZERLAND: 23 dead
TAIWAN: 3 dead, 45 missing
UNITED KINGDOM: 51 dead, 1,083 missing
UNITED STATES: 18 dead, 472 missing
In total, 170,125 people from 36 countries lost their lives, with another 134,012 people missing, the majority of whom are now presumed dead. Over one-third of these were children. These figures don’t include those who were injured, those who lost their homes, those whose families were swept away.
On Christmas Day 2004 these weren’t just numbers, they were people with families. Twenty-four hours later they became statistics in one of the world’s worst natural disasters.
It seems fitting to write this closing paragraph today because it is the six-month “anniversary” of the school psychologist stopping me in the corridor. Six months gone by in the blink of an eye for me, but not, I suspect, for those left behind in the wake of the wave who still need food, shelter, clothes, an education, things we all take for granted. In buying Elemental you have gone a little way to helping rebuild these children’s lives. It’s a small step, but small steps can change the world. I thank you with all of my heart.
Steven Savile
June 11, 2005
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in these stories are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
ELEMENTAL: THE TSUNAMI RELIEF ANTHOLOGY
Copyright © 2006 by Steven Savile and Alethea Kontis
Introduction copyright © 2006 by Arthur C. Clarke
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Edited by Steven Savile and Alethea Kontis
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
eISBN 9781466827356
First eBook Edition : August 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Elemental : the Tsunami relief anthology : stories of science fiction and fantasy / [edited by] Steven Savile and Alethea Kontis.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-765-31562-9 (hc)
EAN 978-0-765-31562-5 (hc)
ISBN 0-765-31563-7 (tpbk)
EAN 978-0-765-31563-2 (tpbk)
1. Science fiction, American. 2. Fantasy fiction, American. 3. Science fiction, English. 4. Fantasy fiction, English. I. Savile, Steven. II. Kontis, Alethea.
PS648.S3E544 2006
813’.087608—dc22
2005034486
First Edition: May 2006
Elemental Page 39