A Desolation Called Peace
Page 50
Eternal thanks go as well to that list of persons I inflicted bravado and assurances upon.
Thank you to my dear friends: Elizabeth Bear, who makes me want to be a better writer than I am, and a better student of ethics and character work as well, and whose friendship is a steady point I am honored by; Devin Singer, who told me I’d gotten it right when I needed to hear it; Marissa Lingen, who texted me “my DUDE Swarm” and thus entirely proved I’d written a book with the emotional valence I meant to convey; Max Gladstone, who once talked through Buddhist ethics with me long enough that for a brief moment I understood the why of it, and then wrote a book (Empress of Forever, which I entirely recommend, O readers who have followed me deep into the acknowledgments) that made me believe it for the space of a climactic space battle; and all the rest of the ’zoo and my agentsibs, too many to list here for fear of leaving out someone important. Thank you all; you are the community I have always wanted to find.
(A quick shout-out also goes to Scott and Anita at The Read-Along podcast, who accidentally saved me from an embarrassing continuity error; to David Bowles, for talk and teaching about Nahuatl; and to Rebecca Roanhorse, who has been an absolute cheerleader for this book, even before reading it.)
And thank you to DongWon Song, my fantastic agent, who trusted me to find my way through this book, and made sure I was all right through launching the first one at the same time; to Devi Pillai, editor par excellence, who insisted that I get the pacing right, and who is frustratingly, amazingly, always correct about what I need to do to a book (only 15k underwritten this time, Devi, I’m learning); to my brilliant cover artist, Jaime Jones, who apparently can see into my head; and to the entire marketing and publicity team at Tor Books, who have taken such good care of me.
Most importantly: I could not do this—write, this book, any book, anything—without my glorious wife Vivian Shaw: spaceship consultant, world-translator, first and best reader. You are the center of every star chart; these things are ceaseless, my darling.
April 2020
Santa Fe, NM
ALSO BY ARKADY MARTINE
A Memory Called Empire
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arkady Martine is a speculative fiction writer and, as Dr. AnnaLinden Weller, a historian of the Byzantine Empire and a city planner. She is currently a policy advisor for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, where she works on climate change mitigation, energy grid modernization, and resiliency planning. Under both her names she writes about border politics, rhetoric, propaganda, and the edges of the world. Martine grew up in New York City and, after some time in Turkey, Canada, Sweden, and Baltimore, lives in Santa Fe with her wife, the author Vivian Shaw.
website: Visit her online at arkadymartine.net, or sign up for email updates here.
Twitter: @ArkadyMartine
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraphs
Prelude
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Interlude
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Interlude
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Interlude
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Interlude
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Interlude
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Postlude
A Glossary of Persons, Places, and Objects
Acknowledgments
Also by Arkady Martine
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE
Copyright © 2021 by AnnaLinden Weller
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Jaime Jones
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10271
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Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-18646-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-18648-5 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250186485
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First Edition: 2021