Shadows of Falling Night
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Authors: S. M. Stirling
Shadows of Falling Night
ALSO BY S. M. STIRLING
NOVELS OF THE CHANGE
ISLAND IN THE SEA OF TIME
AGAINST THE TIDE OF YEARS
ON THE OCEANS OF ETERNITY
DIES THE FIRE
THE PROTECTOR’S WAR
A MEETING AT CORVALLIS
THE SUNRISE LANDS
THE SCOURGE OF GOD
THE SWORD OF THE LADY
THE HIGH KING OF MONTIVAL
THE TEARS OF THE SUN
LORD OF MOUNTAINS
NOVELS OF THE SHADOWSPAWN
A TAINT IN THE BLOOD
THE COUNCIL OF SHADOWS
OTHER NOVELS BY S. M. STIRLING
THE PESHAWAR LANCERS
CONQUISTADOR
S. M. STIRLING
Shadows of
Falling Night
A Novel of 
THE SHADOWSPAWN
ROC
Published by the Penguin Group
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New York, New York 10014, USA
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First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, May 2013
Copyright © S. M. Stirling, 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Stirling, S. M.
Shadows of falling night: a novel of the Shadowspawn/S. M. Stirling.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-1-101-60894-4
I. Title.
PS3569.T543S54 2013
813’.54—dc23 2013001052
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
AcknowledgmentsThanks to Richard Foss, for help with the fine details of food, wine and restaurants and invaluable hints about Paris and other locations.
To Kier Salmon, for
all sorts
of help throughout construction!
To Marino Panzanelli and Marco Pertoni for help with Italian, and also the other members of the Stirling listserve, including Marcus Baur, my native Viennese guide.
Walter Jon Williams, Vic Milan, John J. Miller, Lauren C. Teffeau, Matt Reiten, Jan Stirling and Ian Tregellis of Critical Mass, for constant help and advice as the book was under construction.
To Jack Williamson, Fred Pohl, Sprague de Camp and other Golden Agers for inspiration; and Roger Zelazny and Fred Saberhagen.
To John Birmingham for advice on speech patterns from Oz.
To Joe’s Diner, for putting up with me working in the corner—especially after the accident, when I had to switch to a dictation program.
CHAPTER ONEParis
“If you’re evil and you know it—
Give a shout!
Rape and torture, drink their blood,
Grind their hearts into the mud!
If you’re evil and you know it—
Then you really ought to show it!
Shout ‘Hurray!’
“This fascination with vampires…” the young Frenchman said as she finished the song and collapsed backward onto the sofa.
“Tsk, Henri,” Adrienne Brézé said. “Not
vampires
. Vampires are a
myth. We Shadowspawn are the
source
of the myth, and of many others.”
Henri grinned. “Then my innocent and merely human self has fallen into the hands of beings out of legend, who are inflicting upon me an evening of superb food, drink and intriguingly varied sexual intercourse as a prelude to their more sinister plans?”
“Exactly! We are
loup-garou
, sorcerers, oni, ghūl…Nearly all of the wicked ones, in fact. We aren’t really supernatural, of course, though we thought so until a few generations ago. In practice that makes little difference.”