Anyone who has lived knows life is savage and unfair and cruel, painful in its irony. Everything we experience in this life is an exercise in loss and gain. We hang suspended between the two.
Perhaps for most of us it’s not an equitable exchange between misery and joy, good and evil. In the end, we all know we rise and fall between debt and credit, windfall and loss. We hope God, or whatever it is that waits for us, is more forgiving than the tax man. We hope for mercy, or at least a not-too-thorough audit of our accounts.
However, it’s up to us to balance the books while we can, and as always, it’s better to go out in the black than in the red.
I felt the debts of winter in my bones, but the flowers were waiting in the garden, and for today, at least, it was spring.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book was a long time coming. Writing it helped me to cope with an awful event in my family’s life. I want to thank so many for their love, patience, and support during that journey.
Thank you to Leslie Barger, who was the first person to read this novel in its earliest form and gave me encouragement to finish the short story and make it into a novel. To Velvet Vernon, a brilliant editor, who saw the embryonic version of this book and saw potential there, and to Heidi Schmidt, who was a huge and passionate advocate that “The Greenway” should see print. I am in debt to all three of you for your kindness, talent, and belief in my words, even when I didn’t believe in them.
I also want to thank my agent, Lucienne Diver, for immeasurable support in the writing of this novel and for believing in it, and me, enough to make its publication a reality. You are more than a wonderful agent—you are a wonderful person. Thank you.
As always, to my children, Jon, Emily, and Stephanie, who give my life its greatest happiness. You’re my strength and my comfort. I love you.
To Katherine Milliner and Michelle Jirout, for joining our dysfunctional little family. Thank you for making it better and brighter. You are loved, and you always have a home here.
To my mother, Mable Belcher, and my sister, Vickie Ayers, who raised me through their own sorrows and losses, challenges, and struggles and always made me feel loved and supported. I count myself lucky to have had two such amazing people as my parents.
To my grandmother, Beulah Swanson—the real-life inspiration for Ballard’s granny. She was always kind, wise, and strong in her faith and in her love for her family. We love you and miss you, Granny.
To Joyce Wallace, for her enduring and fierce love of my children and her love of life. You are a wonderful grandmother to my kids. Thank you.
To my awesome beta readers: Faye Newsham, Susan Lystlund, David Lystlund, and Kim LaBrecque, thank you for all the hard work and tough love.
Thank you to the unflappable Greg Cox, the incomparable Diana Pho, and the amazing Adynah Johnson of Tor Books, for all the support and assistance in every aspect of this novel.
To Steve Franco, Tim Delano, and Charles Kalanik: You saw me through so many good times and bad times, and I am honored to call you my friends and my brothers.
And finally, to Karen Bess Carter, James, Jenna, and Chelsea Carter, and Russ Bess for making me part of your family in its darkest hour. And to Jareth Saunders—you were your momma’s life, her breath, and her greatest pride and joy, and you always will be. Torri Lyn is loving and kissing you all, and always will, in the gallery of memory.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
R. S. BELCHER is the acclaimed author of The Six-Gun Tarot, which made several year’s ten-best fantasy lists, and The Shotgun Arcana. He is a former newspaper and magazine editor and reporter, and lives in Salem, Virginia. You can sign up for email updates here.
BOOKS BY R. S. BELCHER
The Six-Gun Tarot
The Shotgun Arcana
Nightwise
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Books by R. S. Belcher
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
NIGHTWISE
Copyright © 2015 by R. S. Belcher
All rights reserved.
Cover illustration by Trevillion Images
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Belcher, R. S.
Nightwise / R. S. Belcher.—First edition.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-7460-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-4274-8 (e-book)
I. Title.
PS3602.E429N54 2015
813'.6—dc23
2015015284
e-ISBN 9781466842748
First Edition: August 2015