Dead Man's Reach (49 page)
Authors: D. B. Jackson
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With each of the Thieftaker books, I have looked for ways to blend my fictional elementsâEthan's life, his conjurings, his anachronistic profession, his loves and friends and rivals and enemiesâwith the historical details of 1760s and, now, 1770s Boston. Finding that balance between fact and fiction, and weaving the fantastic and historical together in a manner that leaves the boundary between the two all but invisible to my readers, has always been the greatest challenge of writing this series.
And in none of the books was this challenge more formidable than in
Dead Man's Reach
. The circumstances and progression of occurrences leading up to what has come to be known as the Boston Massacre were as complex as those surrounding any event in the pre-Revolutionary period. The seeds of this watershed tragedy were actually planted in 1768, when customs officials seized John Hancock's ship
Liberty
, prompting riots and, eventually, the occupation of Boston by British troops. These events were chronicled, loosely of course, in
Thieves' Quarry
. Over the following eighteen months, the presence of soldiers in the city fed a growing tension that often threatened to spill over into bloodshed.
In February 1770, the violence erupted at last. The shooting of young Christopher Seider by Ebenezer Richardson happened much as it is described in these pages, including the initial demonstrations in front of the shop of Theophilus Lillie. So did the grand funeral arranged by Samuel Adams and his fellow patriots, down to the complications created by the tremendous blizzard that struck New England just days before the demonstration.
In the days and weeks that followed, conflicts between soldiers and Boston's citizenry continued. The fights at Gray's Rope Works followed the progression described in this novel, as did the moment-by-moment escalation of emotion on the night of March 5, 1770, when soldiers opened fire on the mob that had gathered near the Customs House on King Street.
Therein lies the challenge I mentioned. Not only did I wish to blend my fictional narrative with historical events, but I also did my best to make my story follow the historical timeline as closely as possible. It wasn't always easy, but it was a great deal of fun.
Of course, Ethan's blood feud with Nate Ramsey played no role in these events, and we have no evidence that magick did anything to ratchet up the emotions of those who gathered in Boston's streets. But that is a discussion for another time and place.
In piecing together the sequence of historical occurrences, in particular those surrounding the Seider shooting, the fights at Gray's Rope Works, and the massacre itself, I relied on two books: Hiller B. Zobel's
The Boston Massacre
(W. W. Norton, 1970) and Richard Archer's
As If an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution
(Oxford University Press, 2010).
For more information on the scholarly and primary sources I have used for this and other Thieftaker books and storiesâalong with a good deal of other informationâplease visit my website:
www.dbjackson-author.com
.
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As with the other Thieftaker novels, I owe a great debt to several people who have helped me get my facts (and fictions) straight. My thanks to Dr. John C. Willis, for his help with the history; Dr. Christopher M. McDonough, who translated more spells for me; Dr. Robert D. Hughes, who educated me on the arcana of Anglican Church matters; and Dr. Thomas Spacarelli, who translated a bit of Portuguese for me. Any mistakes that remain despite the best efforts of all these very smart people are entirely my own.
As always, I wish to thank the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, in particular Catherine T. Wood, the center's office manager, for allowing us to use the map of Boston that appears at the front of the book.
Lucienne Diver is a superb agent, a terrific critical reader, and a wonderful friend. I am grateful to her for all that she has done for my books and my career. My sincere thanks as well to Deirdre Knight, Jia Giles, and the great people at the Knight Agency.
I've been fortunate to work on this book with several fine editors at Tor Books, including Marco Palmieri, Stacy Hill, and Christopher Morgan. Their insights, patience, and wisdom added immeasurably to the finished product, and I am indebted to them all. I'm also deeply grateful to Tom Doherty, Irene Gallo and her staff, Cassie Ammerman, Leah Withers, Diana Pho, and all the terrific people at Tor, and also to Terry McGarry.
Thank you as well to: Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, A. J. Hartley, John Hartness, James Tuck, Carrie Ryan, Mindy Klasky, Diana Pharaoh Francis, C. E. Murphy, Charles Coleman Finlay, Kat Richardson, Blake Charlton, Kate Elliott, Eric Flint, Mary Robinette Kowal, Alethea Kontis, Stephen Leigh, Lynn Flewelling, Joshua Palmatier, Stuart Jaffe, Edmund Schubert, Kalayna Price, Robert Sawyer, and Patricia Bray, all of whom have helped me with ideas or world-building, character or plotting, phrasing or research, not to mention promotion of the series.
At the end of the day, as at the beginning, my wife and daughters are the source of my greatest happiness and, on a day-to-day basis, the lion's share of my laughter. I couldn't do any of this without their love and support.
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D. B. J
ACKSON
is the award-winning author of more than fifteen fantasy novels, many short stories, and the occasional media tie-in. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He has a master's degree and Ph.D. in U.S. history, which have come in handy as he has written the Thieftaker novels and short stories. He and his family live in the mountains of Appalachia.
Visit him at
www.dbjackson-author.com
. Or sign up for email updates
here
.
    
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Contents
Map: A Plan of the Town of Boston
Ethan Kaille Novels by D. B. Jackson from Tor Books
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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.
DEAD MAN'S REACH
Copyright © 2015 by D. B. Jackson
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Chris McGrath
Map reproduction courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal
Map Center at the Boston Public Library
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
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 [email protected].
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-7114-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-3819-2 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466838192
First Edition: July 2015