Dark Sky (Keiko) (43 page)
Authors: Mike Brooks
She stepped back into her cabin doorway and activated her own door release. ‘Goodnight, Jenna. I’m sorry, again.’
‘Goodnight, Tamara.’ Jenna waited until the door slid shut behind the former GIA agent, then turned and made her way towards her own cabin before she could bump into anyone else and start another fight. Tomorrow was a new day, if such a thing really existed up here away from all units of time other than the purely arbitrary, and it would contain new things. Exciting things. Possibly slightly scary things.
And the
Jonah
climbed on, far enough up now that terms like up and down were starting to become simply a case of where you were standing, towards the
Keiko
.
Towards home.
I WILL, ONCE
more, start my acknowledgements with an apology.
When I was creating the universe of the
Keiko
and its crew, I wanted to keep much of the cultural individuality that marks the world today. Although it can be a source of conflict, I also feel that humanity’s diversity is one of our most interesting attributes. However, as someone who has never lived (indeed, has rarely even travelled) outside of the UK, my personal experience of other cultures is somewhat limited. In
Dark Sky
I have once more used Apirana Wahawaha the Maori, possibly the crew member with a culture most starkly different to my own, and I apologise to the Maori people individually or collectively for any inaccuracies in his portrayal that may cause offence. However, this time I’ve also set the novel on planets with strong Russian influences, and I hope just as fervently that no readers feel that my depiction is unfair (I make no apologies for individual characters – there are bad apples everywhere, after all).
With that out of the way (again), thanks go first to my agent Rob Dinsdale, whose assistance got me to the stage of, for the first time, writing a novel where I knew
before I started it
that I’d get paid for it. That was a hell of a feeling, let me tell you. I am indebted to both him and my editor Michael Rowley for their insight, suggestions, and willingness to put up with my default initial position of WHAT DO YOU MEAN I SHOULD CHANGE THAT, IT’S FINE AS IT IS AND HERE’S WHY.
Speaking of Michael, I should also mention and thank the entire team at Del Rey UK including Emily, Tess and Clarissa, who’ve not just made sure that all the things that need to happen for a novel to work actually happened, but also that it’s been suitably and enthusiastically waved at people to persuade them to buy and/or review it (or ‘publicity and marketing’, as I believe it’s called). Also, the cover art. I
love Dark Sky
’s cover art, even more than I liked
Dark Run
’s.
Special thanks go to Liudmila for ensuring that the Russian in this book is as close to authentic as you can get with the Latin alphabet. Any errors in the text are most definitely mine, not hers.
Thank you to everyone who’s read anything I’ve written so far and has said anything nice about it … and even the people who’ve been critical, because I want to get better at this writing thing, and I’m unlikely to do that if I’m in an echo chamber of unconditional praise.
And finally, and most importantly, thank you to my wife Janine for being supportive of my wish to make stuff up and have other people read it, and the corresponding demands on my time. And also being interested to read what I’m writing without going, “Haven’t you finished it yet?” or other such unhelpful comments. In this, as in so many other things, you are the best person I could share my life with.
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This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Epub ISBN: 9781473502956
Version 1.0
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Copyright © Mike Brooks 2015
Mike Brooks has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
First published in the UK in 2015 by Del Rey