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Authors: Simon R. Green
Once In a Blue Moon
PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF SIMON R. GREEN
Blue Moon Rising
“This fantasy adventure is one readers will savor and enjoy for a long time to come.”
—Rave Reviews
“Delightful.”
—
New York Daily News
“Easily my favorite of Simon Green’s fantasy novels.”
—Chronicles
Beyond the Blue Moon
Chosen as One of the Year’s Best Books by Chronicles
“I was completely caught up in their adventure and read it intently and impatiently until they finally achieved their destiny. If they’re making fantasy adventure much better than this, I don’t know about it.”
—Chronicles
“Fans of Hawk & Fisher will particularly enjoy the revelations about the deadly duo’s background, and, as always, Green provides plenty of spectacular violence and some spectacular wonders. Solving the mystery is almost incidental, but that doesn’t really matter in this engrossing adventure.”
—
Locus
“Continuing the adventures of a pair of charmingly roguish and intensely honorable heroes, this fast-moving, wisecracking sequel to
Blue Moon Rising
belongs in most fantasy collections.”
—
Library Journal
“Very satisfying.”
—
Wiltshire Times
(UK)
“One of the best fantasy books I’ve read all year . . . a truly enjoyable and fulfilling sequel. . . . I can’t recommend the book highly enough.”
—The Green Man Review
DON’T MISS THE ADVENTURES OF
HAWK & FISHER
SIX ACTION-PACKED NOVELS IN TWO OMNIBUS EDITIONS
Swords of Haven
and
Guards of Haven
In the dark city of Haven, where everything’s for sale, City Guard cops Hawk & Fisher cannot be bought. A husband-and-wife team with fast blades and even faster mouths who dare to cleanse Haven’s corrupted soul. Together, they are the perfect crime busters . . . with a touch of magic.
The war against crime is forever.
“I think what charmed me about it is the absolutely unabashed manner in which Green has copied the style of almost any current cop/detective/sleuth TV show. . . . The situations and dialogue are straight off your current screen.”
—
Asimov’s Science Fiction
“Green’s very different approach to writing fantasy adventure—bearing a strong resemblance to the private eye novel—works surprisingly well.”
—Chronicles
“Simon R. Green’s books are fun books that grab you, suck you in, and don’t let you go. They are always fun, and the Hawk & Fisher books are no exception. Hawk and Fisher are a couple of honest, straight-talking, tough-as-nails guards who use steel as often as wits to keep themselves out of trouble. They bully their way through situations, often just letting their reputations work their magic. The plots are straightforward, with just enough of a twist to keep you guessing until the end. If you’ve read and enjoyed Green’s other books, you don’t want to miss these books. If you haven’t read Green before,
Swords of Haven
is a good way to get a taste of his style of writing.”
—SF Site
“Green has a marvelous gift of leavening grim situations with wicked wit, and the intrigues are intricative enough to leave even the most practiced mystery solver puzzling. A stormer of a series. Fine stuff.”
—Prism UK
Also by
SIMON R. GREEN
THE SECRET HISTORIES NOVELS
The Man with the Golden Torc
Daemons Are Forever
The Spy Who Haunted Me
From Hell with Love
For Heaven’s Eyes Only
Live and Let Drood
THE DEATHSTALKER SERIES
Twilight of the Empire
Deathstalker
Deathstalker Rebellion
Deathstalker War
Deathstalker Honor
Deathstalker Destiny
Deathstalker Legacy
Deathstalker Return
Deathstalker Coda
THE ADVENTURES OF HAWK & FISHER
Swords of Haven
Guards of Haven
OTHER NOVELS
Blue Moon Rising
Beyond the Blue Moon
Blood and Honor
Down Among the Dead Men
Shadows Fall
Drinking Midnight Wine
ACE BOOKS
THE NIGHTSIDE SERIES
Something from the Nightside
Agents of Light and Darkness
Nightingale’s Lament
Hex and the City
Paths Not Taken
Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth
Hell to Pay
The Unnatural Inquirer
Just Another Judgement Day
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny
A Hard Day’s Knight
The Bride Wore Black Leather
GHOST FINDERS NOVELS
Ghost of a Chance
Ghost of a Smile
Ghost of a Dream
O
NCE
IN A
B
LUE
M
OON
SIMON R. GREEN
ROC
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014
USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China
A Penguin Random House Company
First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Copyright © Simon R. Green, 2014
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Green, Simon R.
Once in a blue moon/Simon R. Green.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-101-63763-0
I. Title.
PR6107.R44O53 2014
823'.92—dc23 2013021844
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.
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Contents
Don’t Miss the Adventures of HAWK & FISHER
ONCE IN A BLUE MOON, SOMETHING MAGICAL HAPPENS . . .
I
t’s been a hundred years since the Demon War. Since Prince Rupert and Princess Julia of legend rode into the Darkwood to defeat the terrible Demon Prince and banished him from the world of men. A hundred years since the Blue Moon shed its awful Wild Magic over the Forest Kingdom.
Many things have changed, and many have not. But we all know: fate does so love an anniversary.
ONE
NO ONE EVER ESCAPES THE PAST
T
he Dutchy of Lancre’s greatest pride, problem, and most profitable tourist attraction is the Hawk and Fisher Memorial Academy. Also known, less formally, as the Hero Academy. Founded some seventy-five years ago by Captains Hawk and Fisher, late of the City Guard in some less than salubrious city port down in the depths of the Southern Kingdoms. There are many stories about Hawk and Fisher, apparently the only honest guards in that city; all of the stories are of a resolutely heroic nature, though not always particularly nice, or suitable for mixed company. But apparently these two venerable warriors reached an age where they preferred teaching to doing, and so—the Academy.