There was a long silence. Then the construct gave a ripple of its spider legs that might have been a shrug.

“There’ll be time for that later, if I feel like it,” she said. “I can do it myself, if it comes to that. In the meanwhile”—her voice changed direction, coming from one of the larger constructs beside him as it danced a little spidery jig—“I can see some possibilities. Having a whole swarm of bodies might be useful.” Her voice went back to the small construct, shifting on his shoulder. “So what now?”

“Back to Refuge,” Gyre said.

“You think they’ll want to talk to you?”

“Elariel might,” Gyre said. “And I have some ideas I want to see if I can sell her on.”

“Your ideas,” Kit said, “are always …”

“Yes?”

“Interesting,” the tiny construct finished, taking a firmer grip on his shirt. “Let’s go.”

The story continues in …

Book 2 of Burningblade & Silvereye

Coming in 2021!

Acknowledgments

Ashes of the Sun is, depending on how you count, around the twentieth novel I’ve written. Aside from making me feel ancient, the thing that surprises me about that fact is that you would think the process would be old hat by now, but it’s not. Ashes may in fact be my most-revised novel ever, with big chunks thrown away and rewritten; I can only hope the results are worthwhile.

This is not a Star Wars novel, but it definitely originated, back at the beginning, in a series of conversations about Star Wars. My list of people to thank therefore needs to start with Star Wars and everyone who was involved with it (a formidably large group by now) and especially the various authors who wrote novels in that universe, notably Timothy Zahn and Chuck Wendig, as well as David Brin and Matthew Woodring Stover for their wonderful Star Wars on Trial. Next come thanks to the Red Letter Media crew for the horrifying, insightful Harry S. Plinkett reviews of the prequels (maybe lighten up on Rich Evans, guys!) and the participants in a series of conversations at 4th Street Fantasy on the subject, across several years. That includes at least Max Gladstone, Scott Lynch, Arkady Martine, and Seth Dickinson, but also many others who I don’t have the time and ability to name. Apologies; my only excuse is that we were in the hotel bar and it was two in the morning.