The Eternal World (31 page)

Authors: Christopher Farnsworth

BOOK: The Eternal World

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As always, many thanks are due to Alexandra Machinist, my brilliant agent. Thanks as well to my peerless and patient editor Rachel Kahan; Tom Jacobson; Monnie Wills; Dr. Kira Chow, for her read of the manuscript and medical advice; and to Kerri Keslow, for the use of the names of her sons, Parker and Weston.

This is a work of fiction. However, there was a survivor of the ill-fated Narváez expedition named Juan Ortiz who lived among the Uzita. Ortiz was reportedly saved from a horrible death when the daughter of the Uzita’s chief pleaded with her father to spare him.

The search for a cure for aging—a biological fountain of youth—is also very real, as detailed in Jonathan Weiner’s excellent
Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality
. It describes the work of Aubrey de Grey and other gerontologists who seek to solve what de Grey calls the Seven Deadly Things, the ways in which our bodies break down and age and betray us. For anyone investigating the possibilities of an engineered immortal lifespan, that book is the place to start.

The horrific toll of the ongoing drug war in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, is described in Charles Bowden’s remarkable book
Murder City: Ciudad Juárez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields
.

The number of deserters and resignations from the U.S. Army during the Second Seminole War, as well as other facts about the Seminole wars, are taken from Howard Zinn’s
A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present
.

Shako and Simon’s language lesson is not in Uzita but in Creek, which I took from http://native-languages.org, the website of Native Languages of America, an organization dedicated to preserving Native American languages. The websites for the Creek Language Project at the College of William and Mary (http://lingspace.wm.edu/lingspace/creek/) and the Seminole Tribe of Florida (http://www.semtribe.com/) were also helpful.

Any errors are mine alone, as are any alterations I’ve made in history and geography.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A former journalist and screenwriter,
CHRISTOPHER FARNSWORTH
is the author of the Nathaniel Cade/President’s Vampire series of novels, which was optioned for film and TV and has been published in nine languages. Born and raised in Idaho, he now lives in Los Angeles with his family.

www.chrisfarnsworth.com

facebook.com/authorchrisfarnsworth

@chrisfarnsworth

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

ALSO BY CHRISTOPHER FARNSWORTH

The Burning Men

Red, White, and Blood

The President’s Vampire

Blood Oath

CREDITS

Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

Cover photograph © by Paul Nicklen / Getty Images

Title page image © by Trucic/Shutterstock, Inc.

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

THE ETERNAL WORLD.
Copyright © 2015 by Christopher Farnsworth. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-228292-7

EPub Edition August 2015 ISBN 9780062282934

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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Canada