Cloud Walker, All Fools' Day, Far Sunset (74 page)
He thought of many things. He thought of a blue sky and puffy white clouds and cornfields. He thought of a small farmhouse and voices that he could still hear and faces that he could no longer visualize. He thought of a birthday cake and a toy star ship that you could launch by cranking a little handle and pressing the Go button.
And then he thought of Ann Marlowe, dying on a small wooden barge. He thought of Mylai Tui, proud because she was swollen with child. He thought of Bai Lut, who made a kite and brought about his own death, the destruction of a school, and a journey that led to the ironically amazing discovery that all men were truly brothers. And he thought of Shah Shan, with the brightness in his eyes – tranquil in the knowledge that his life belonged to his people …
The sun began to sink over the horizon. He stayed on the balcony and watched it disappear. Then he came back into the small room.
The god-king looked at Yurui Sa and smiled. ‘Once,’ he said softly, ‘I knew a stranger, Poul Mer Lo, who had ridden on a silver bird. Doubtless, he would have desired greatly to return to his land far beyond the sky … But – but I no longer know this man, being too concerned with the affairs of my people.’
‘Lord,’ said Yurui Sa, and his eyes were oddly bright, ‘I already knew the answer.’
‘Go, now,’ said Enka Ne, ‘for I must presently greet my guests.’
A slight breeze came into the room, whispering softly through the folds of a garment that hung loosely on a wooden frame. The iridescent feathers shivered for a moment or two, and then became still.
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Collections
Jupiter Laughs
Voices in the Dark
A World of Difference
Novels
All Fools’ Day (1966)
The Cloud Walker (1973)
A Far Sunset (1967)
Five to Twelve (1968)
Kronk (1970) (aka Son of Kronk)
The Last Continent (1970)
Merry Christmas Ms Minerva (1978)
The Overman Culture (1971)
Prisoner of Fire (1974)
Seahorse in the Sky (1969)
Seed of Light (1959)
The Slaves of Heaven (1975)
The Tenth Planet (1973)
Transit (1964)
Uncertain Midnight (1958) (aka Deadly Image)
Who Needs Men? (1972)
Ferry Rocket (1954) (Writing as George Kinley)
The Expendables (Writing as Richard Avery)
- The Expendables: The Deathworms of Kratos (1975)
- The Expendables: The Rings of Tantalus (1975)
- The Expendables: the Wargames of Zelos (1975)
- The Expendables: The Venom of Argus (1976)
Edmund Cooper was born in Cheshire in 1926. He served in the Merchant Navy towards the end of the Second World War and trained as a teacher after its end. He began to publish SF stories in 1951 and produced a considerable amount of short fiction throughout the ’50s, moving on, by the end of that decade, to the novels for which he is chiefly remembered. His works displayed perhaps a bleaker view of the future than many of his contemporaries’, frequently utilising post-apocalyptic settings. In addition to writing novels, Edmund Cooper reviewed science fiction for the
Sunday Times
from 1967 until his death in 1982.
A Gollancz eBook
Copyright © The Edmund Cooper Literary Trust.
Contact e-mail
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2014
The Cloud Walker copyright © The Edmund Cooper Literary Trust 1973
All Fools’ Day copyright © The Edmund Cooper Literary Trust 1966
A Far Sunset copyright © The Edmund Cooper Literary Trust 1967
Introduction copyright © SFE Ltd 2014
All rights reserved.
The right of Edmund Cooper to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
This eBook first published in 2013 by Gollancz.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 473 20188 0
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
