A Once Crowded Sky (2 page)
Touchstone
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Thomas K. King
Illustrations by Thomas Fowler
Lettering by Steve Bryant
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Touchstone hardcover edition July 2012
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Designed by Ruth Lee-Mui
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
King, Tom.
A once crowded sky : a novel / Tom King. — 1st Touchstone hardcover ed.
p. cm.
“A Touchstone book.”
Summary: “Tom King’s debut novel opens in an imaginative world of comic book superheroes struggling to take on normal lives after sacrificing their powers to save the world”—Provided by publisher.
I. Title.
PS3611.I24O53 2012
813'.6—dc23
2011042729
ISBN 978-1-4516-5200-0
ISBN 978-1-4516-5202-4 (ebook)
For my wife,
COLLEEN
Contents
Her skywards gaze inspired my imagination,
compelling my eyes to mirror her action,
and I looked upon the sun for longer men usually are able.
More power is allowed there than here
by the nature of the virtue of that place,
the true home of the human species.
Still I could not bear the shine for long;
I was only able but to glance at the light’s rolling sparkle,
like molten iron escaping from the fire.
Then suddenly the day blared too bright,
as if the One Who Has The Power
had adorned the heavens with another sun.
Her eyes remained fixed on the eternal circles;
even as I turned away from the light;
And set my eyes back upon her.
Now seeing her, I began to change
as once mortal Glaucus changed after eating an herb that
allowed him to roam the sea in the company of the gods.
Such superhuman transformations cannot be
expressed in words; let this story serve as a simile
until grace grant you the experience.
—
Paradiso
,
Dante Alighieri
SUPERMAN:
Somewhere out in trackless space there must be more particles of Kryptonite! I hope none falls to earth again! Perhaps it may never happen . . . but perhaps it may . . .
—
Superman
#61 (1949),
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Al Plastino
Ultimate, The Man With The Metal Face #566
Their lives are violence. Month after month after month, they fight a wonderful war, play a wonderful game, forever saving the next day from the next dastardly villain, the next meteor falling from the sky, the next giant monster emerging from his cave, his rock-fists swatting at the heroes rising into the air around him, and Pen slides the spatula under the half-cooked pancake and flips it over. The raw underside splatters wide and spreads across the pan. The circle starts to lose its shape as it falls into itself.
“I think I’m doing this wrong,” Pen says.
Anna turns from where she’s cutting the strawberries and looks over his shoulder. “You’re doing that wrong.”
“Don’t mock me,” he says as he pokes the goo with the side of the spatula. “I’m a very powerful man. I could very easily flick this pancake into the sun.”
“Yeah, you’re still doing it wrong.” Anna takes the spatula from his hand and begins to gather the dough back into a credible shape.
“Pancakes for dinner, poorly cooked pancakes. This is what comes from marrying someone raised by a robot.”
“Hey, The Man With The Metal Face never poorly cooked anything in his entire life. That the great Ultimate maybe possibly did not pass these skills along to his somewhat less great sidekick is not that poor guy’s fault.”
