Ninefox Gambit (43 page)
Cheris finally knew the meaning of Hellspin Fortress. She had killed a terrifying number of people for the heptarchate. When it came to the Lanterners, she decided she was done. A Lanterner’s life had worth the way a heptarchate soldier’s life had worth. A life was a life. It was a simple equation, but she hadn’t been a mathematician then, and Kel Command had failed to understand the notation.
That hadn’t been the only reason – she couldn’t help being a Shuos – but it was the one that mattered.
Calendrical warfare was a matter of hearts.
But numbers could move hearts, with the right numbers, and with the right hearts.
She had learned that not all masters were worth serving. It was time to carry the fight to the hexarchs.
I’m your gun.
Calendrical rot had set in again.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to the following people: my editor, Jonathan Oliver, and the wonderful folks at Solaris Books; my agent, Jennifer Jackson; and my agent’s assistant, Michael Curry.
I am grateful to my beta readers: Sam Kabo Ashwell, Peter Berman, Joseph Betzwieser, Daedala, Helen Keeble, Yune Kyung Lee, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Nancy Sauer, and Sonya Taaffe.
This one is for Yune Kyung Lee, best sister ever, who was there when everything began.
FOR FANS OF
THE MARTIAN
AND
THE MARS TRILOGY
In the near future Dr. Holland, a scientist running from a painful past, joins the Mars colonisation effort, cataloguing the remnants of Mars’ biosphere before it is swept away by the terraforming programme.
When an artefact is discovered deep in the caverns of the red planet, Holland’s employers interfere, leading to tragedy. The consequences ripple throughout time, affecting Holland’s present, and the destiny of the red planet.
For in the far future, Mars is dying a second time. The Final War of men and spirits is beginning. In a last bid for peace, the disgraced Champion Val Mora and his ‘spirit’ lover are set free from the Arena to find the long-missing Librarian of Mars, the only hope to save mankind.
Holland’s and the Champion’s lives intertwine, across the millennia, in a breathtaking story of vast ambition.
“
Champion of Mars
celebrates all that is best in SF. Simply put, Guy Haley is a very good writer, with an infectious love for sci-fi that shines off every page.”
The Guardian
“Haley weaves two tales into a tight, compelling narrative.
Champion of Mars
is a thriller, an unnatural mystery and a strange sort of love story. Highly entertaining and original, and well worth a look.”
Starburst Magazine
THE FUTURE IS OURSELVES
The world is rapidly changing. We surf future-shock every day, as the progress of technology races ever on. Increasingly we are asking: how do we change to live in the world to come?
Whether it’s climate change, inundated coastlines and drowned cities; the cramped confines of a tin can hurtling through space to the outer reaches of our Solar System; or the rush of being uploaded into cyberspace, our minds and bodies are going to have to drastically alter.
Multi-award winning editor Jonathan Strahan brings us another incredible volume in his much praised science-fiction anthology series, featuring stories by Madeline Ashby, John Barnes, James S.A. Corey, Gregory Benford, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Simon Ings, Kameron Hurley, Nancy Kress, Gwyneth Jones, Yoon Ha Lee, Bruce Sterling, Sean Williams, Aliette de Bodard, Ramez Naam, An Owomoyela and Ian McDonald.
“One of the year’s most exciting anthologies.”
io9
on
Edge of Infinity
“[The
Infinity
series] has gone from strength to strength.”
Tor.com