Authors: Dennis McKiernan
City of Jade
Table of Contents
BY DENNIS L. Mc KIERNAN
Caverns of Socrates
The Faery Series
Once Upon a Winter’s Night
Once Upon a Summer Day
Once Upon an Autumn Eve
Once Upon a Spring Morn
Once Upon a Dreadful Time
Once Upon a Summer Day
Once Upon an Autumn Eve
Once Upon a Spring Morn
Once Upon a Dreadful Time
The Mithgar Series
The Dragonstone
Voyage of the Fox Rider
Voyage of the Fox Rider
HÈL’S CRUCIBLE
Book 1:
Into the Forge
Book 2:
Into the Fire
Dragondoom
The Iron Tower
(omnibus edition)
The Silver Call
(omnibus edition)
Tales of Mithgar
(a story collection)
The Vulgmaster
(the graphic novel)
The Eye of the Hunter
Silver Wolf, Black Falcon
City of Jade
Red Slippers: More Tales of Mithgar
(a story collection)
ROC
Published by New American Library, a division of
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Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2,
Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,
Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632,
New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue,
Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, October 2008
Copyright © Dennis L. McKiernan, 2008
All rights reserved
REGISTERED TR ADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
McKiernan, Dennis L., 1932-
City of jade : a novel of Mithgar / Dennis L. McKiernan.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-436-28132-4
1. Mithgar (Imaginary place)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3563.C376C58 2008
813’.54—dc22 2008012568
PS3563.C376C58 2008
813’.54—dc22 2008012568
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
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.
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To Martha Lee McKiernan
The heart of my world
The heart of my world
Acknowledgments
To Martha Lee McKiernan for her enduring support, careful reading, patience, and love. Additionally, much appreciation and gratitude goes to the Tanque Wordies—John, Frances, and Diane—for their encouragement throughout the writing of
City of Jade
. Lastly, I would say of all the languages used herein—some of my own devising, others of known nationalities—any errors in their usage are entirely mine.
City of Jade
. Lastly, I would say of all the languages used herein—some of my own devising, others of known nationalities—any errors in their usage are entirely mine.
Foreword
Back when I began the Mithgar series, I didn’t know about Aravan and his Elvenship, the
Eroean
. I wrote
The Silver Call
and
The Iron Tower
completely ignorant of that magnificent ship. Then I wrote
Dragondoom,
followed by
Tales of Mithgar
, and it was in
Tales
, in the very last story—“When Iron Bells Ring”—that the name Aravan first appeared, though we only saw the name and little else of that Elf.
Eroean
. I wrote
The Silver Call
and
The Iron Tower
completely ignorant of that magnificent ship. Then I wrote
Dragondoom,
followed by
Tales of Mithgar
, and it was in
Tales
, in the very last story—“When Iron Bells Ring”—that the name Aravan first appeared, though we only saw the name and little else of that Elf.
But then I wrote
The Eye of the Hunter
and there he was—Aravan, a crucial member in the search for Baron Stoke. It was here we first learned of the
Eroean
and of some unknown tragedy that lay in Aravan’s past, and of the disappearance of that splendid ship. What had happened, none knew . . . but Aravan held subdued grief in his eyes, and his ship was among the missing.
The Eye of the Hunter
and there he was—Aravan, a crucial member in the search for Baron Stoke. It was here we first learned of the
Eroean
and of some unknown tragedy that lay in Aravan’s past, and of the disappearance of that splendid ship. What had happened, none knew . . . but Aravan held subdued grief in his eyes, and his ship was among the missing.
It was when I went back in the history of Mithgar and wrote
The Voyage of the Fox Rider
that we first got to sail on that Elvenship—with its crew of forty men and forty Dwarves, and a Pysk and two Mages—and sail we did, over much of the world. It was also there that we discovered why grief dwelt deep in Aravan’s gaze, and where the
Eroean
had gone when it vanished from the world.
The Voyage of the Fox Rider
that we first got to sail on that Elvenship—with its crew of forty men and forty Dwarves, and a Pysk and two Mages—and sail we did, over much of the world. It was also there that we discovered why grief dwelt deep in Aravan’s gaze, and where the
Eroean
had gone when it vanished from the world.
Once I discovered where the
Eroean
was, I realized then that Aravan had indeed sailed on the
Eroean
during the Winter War, a war at the center of the story told in
The Iron Tower.
And so when the book was revised, I added a single paragraph telling of Aravan’s mission during that conflict.
Eroean
was, I realized then that Aravan had indeed sailed on the
Eroean
during the Winter War, a war at the center of the story told in
The Iron Tower.
And so when the book was revised, I added a single paragraph telling of Aravan’s mission during that conflict.
However, after
Voyage of the Fox Rider
, we didn’t get to sail on the Elvenship again through three more Mithgarian novels—
The Dragonstone
and the two books of the Hèl’s Crucible duology—but finally we re-boarded that craft in
Silver Wolf, Black Falcon
, and then once again in
Red Slippers: More Tales of Mithgar.
Voyage of the Fox Rider
, we didn’t get to sail on the Elvenship again through three more Mithgarian novels—
The Dragonstone
and the two books of the Hèl’s Crucible duology—but finally we re-boarded that craft in
Silver Wolf, Black Falcon
, and then once again in
Red Slippers: More Tales of Mithgar.
And so, of the many books about Mithgar, in only two (or perhaps three) have we really spent time with the crew on the decks of the
Eroean.
Eroean.
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