Read Skirmish: A House War Novel Online
Authors: Michelle West
Skirmish: A House War Novel
The Finest in Fantasy from
MICHELLE WEST:
The House War:
THE HIDDEN CITY (Book One)
CITY OF NIGHT (Book Two)
HOUSE NAME (Book Three)
SKIRMISH (Book Four)
The Sun Sword:
THE BROKEN CROWN (Book One)
THE UNCROWNED KING (Book Two)
THE SHINING COURT (Book Three)
SEA OF SORROWS (Book Four)
THE RIVEN SHIELD (Book Five)
THE SUN SWORD (Book Six)
The Sacred Hunt:
HUNTER’S OATH (Book One)
HUNTER’S DEATH (Book Two)
SKIRMISH
A
House War
Novel
MICHELLE WEST
DAW BOOKS, INC.
DONALD A. WOLLHEIM, FOUNDER
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ELIZABETH R. WOLLHEIM
SHEILA E. GILBERT
PUBLISHERS
Copyright © 2012 by Michelle Sagara.
All Rights Reserved.
Cover art by Jody Lee.
DAW Book Collectors No. 1571.
DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Book designed by Elizabeth Glover.
All characters in this book are fictitious.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
EISBN: 9781101563106
First Printing, January 2012
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
events that follow
The Sun Sword
.
E
very book is a challenge, and every book is a joy. This has been especially true of
Skirmish
. I started chapter one more times than I have for any other book (although
Hidden City
came close). During that process of constant false starts, I was a bear to live with. During revisions, I was just possibly worse.
Luckily, my home team has developed a sense of humor about my writing process (which is probably why they’re still sane). So, in no particular order, credit is due my sons, Daniel and Ross, my exceptionally patient husband, Thomas, my Australian alpha reader, Terry (and Skype for when we discussed revisions and which elements could be changed, tossed, or enshrined); my mother and father, who manned the fort, and made sure my entire household was not falling down on top of me; my Monday and Friday night extended family.
My away team is also, at this point, family—and just as tolerant. Sheila Gilbert, my long-suffering editor (and publisher), Debra Euler, my managing editor (well, okay, she’s DAW’s managing editor, but I’m sure on the wrong days if you asked her, she’d say I personally need one of my own), and Joshua Starr who answers phones, emails, and tweets; Marsha Jones, who now gets all the difficult picky questions about who-does-what when it comes to rights and things like e-books. And of course Betsy Wollheim who did not even blink on the very last time I will ever drink wine at a DAW dinner. (I fell asleep. It was survivably embarrassing. I think. I’ll let you know the next time I see her.)
No book is an island. No author is an island. If it’s true that we learn to write in isolation, if it’s true that the words are ineluctably our own, it’s
also
true that those words on the page don’t magically become a book on their own.
And when they do become a book, there are the readers. I have the best readers in the world.
When I started
Hunter’s Death
, Jewel Markess ambushed me; I had intended her to be a minor character through which the events in the poorest of the city’s streets could be viewed. I knew there were demons, and worse, beneath the city streets; I knew that they were preying on the people who, in theory, no one would miss. I hadn’t counted on Jewel Markess, of course, and by the time I had finished Jewel’s
first scene
, the shape of the novel shifted.
I finished
Hunter’s Death
. By the end of
Hunter’s Death
, I knew how many of the character arcs would close; I knew what the end of the entire long sequence would be; I knew that Jewel ATerafin had taken the first steps on a path that must lead to a House War for the heart of Terafin. I also knew about the characters that hadn’t appeared yet.
I began to write the arc that would introduce those characters. Jewel was part of the sixbook series,
The Sun Sword
. Sixteen years had elapsed between the end of
Hunter’s Death
and
The Broken Crown
, and Allasakar had had the time to recover, to summon the
Kialli
in force, and to plan. And he’d had time to bring a godborn child into the world—while he was on the plane. Jewel’s role in
The Sun Sword
led her to the brink of a House War—but that wasn’t resolved in
The Sun Sword
.
I finished writing
The Sun Sword
. I started
The House War,
with the intent of writing a braided narrative—one that could move between the early past of the den and its formation, and the fracturing of the House Council in the quest to determine its next ruler. In fact, I started the first book six times. The only beginning that worked was the one for the book that became
Hidden City
. But I’d intended to write a braided narrative between the past and the present—and there was no way to make that work, given Rath.
Readers of
The Sun Sword
were then left in the present while I followed the beginnings of Jewel and her den.
The book you hold in your hands is the first book that takes place in the present time line—but it takes place
after
the events of
The Sun Sword
. In fact, it starts the day after the last appearance of Jewel Markess ATerafin in that series.
To understand the events in
Skirmish
, the best thing to do is to read
The Sun Sword
before you start this book. I realize, however, that not everyone will want to do this, because the series doesn’t just follow Jewel.
Between now and the publication of
Skirmish
, I will work on a “story so far” which will encapsulate the key events that occur in
The Sun Sword
, with regard to Jewel and her den. I’ll put this up on my web site (
http://msagarawest.wordpress.com
). It will, of necessity, be very spoiler heavy, but for readers who have only been following
The House War
series it will be essential; many things will make little sense otherwise.