Hard Light (38 page)
Authors: Elizabeth Hand
“Where are you going?” she asked as she hopped out into the night.
“To find an old friend.” I waited for her to step away from the Rover, then gunned the engine. “See you on the flip side, Sam. Everything that rises must converge. When you're ready to use that camera, don't forget to remove the lens cap.”
I rolled down my window and stuck my hand out in farewell as I pulled off. When I looked into the rearview mirror, I saw her gangly figure black against the star-scattered sky, one arm raised high as she waved frantically and called after me. But the wind took her voice, tossing it back into the night, and I didn't hear what she said.
When I reached the main road, I slowed the Rover so that I could fish the bottle of Vyvanse from my bag. I took four pills and turned south. Behind me reared the moor and ragged tors of West Penwith, dark and endless as the sky itself. Before me the road wound past ancient fields and sleeping farmsteads, standing stones and abandoned mines, toward the coast and Penzance and, eventually, London. I had no idea where Quinn was, or even if he was still alive. Based on everything I knew about him, the odds weren't good.
But for once in my life, I wanted to bet against the odds. Night fell fast here: I shifted into high gear, kept my eyes on the dark road, and headed east to meet the sun.
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Author's Notes and Acknowledgments
This novel was inspired by several visits to the British Museum's groundbreaking 2013 exhibit, Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind. While there is no way of proving that our prehistoric ancestors understood the persistence of vision and created and used thaumatropes, I believe that they did. To watch a demonstration of the Mas d'Azil thaumatrope, visit
https://prehistories.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/thaumatrope/
. For additional information, read
La Préhistoire du Cinéma
by Marc Azéma.
The visionary photographer William Mortensen's reputation was in decline for decades, in part because of the antipathy of Ansel Adams and other members of the f64 group. Happily, Feral House Press has attempted to right this wrong with its landmark volume,
American Grotesque: The Life and Art of William Mortensen
. Feral House has also reprinted Mortensen's notorious
The Command to Look,
with an essay by Michael Moynihan on how the book influenced Anton LaVey's Church of Satan. For more info, check out
feralhouse.com
.
London is a real place, and so is West Penwith. Padwithiel is not, though I have visited it many times: as Melville wrote, “It is not down in any map; true places never are.” Those looking for more information on the vast number of Neolithic sites in West Penwith (and far beyond) might start with Julian Cope's vast and invaluable site,
The Modern Antiquarian,
www.themodernantiquarian.com
.
Books are never written entirely alone: mine aren't anyway. My thanks to all of the following:
As ever, my eternal gratitude goes first and foremost to my agent, Martha Millard, for twenty-seven years of strength and support for all my work.
Heartfelt thanks to my editor, Marcia Markland, for her continuing help and insight, and to Quressa Robinson, Sarah Melnyk, Paul Hochman, Lauren Hougen, and the rest of the stellar team at St. Martin's Press.
To Melanie Sanders, Copy Editor Imperator.
To Enza Vescera, for her invaluable assistance in tracking down a crucial paper on mollusks and ancient dye production in Northern Europe.
To Judith Clute, for helping me navigate Canary Wharf and the labyrinthine reaches of London beyond Camden Town.
To Anne Wittman, who shared her knowledge of Queen's Wood, Highgate, and Crouch End, and helped me map Adrian's squat.
To Legs McNeil, Resident Punk and role model.
To Brenda, Andrew, and Harley Morlet.
To Ellen Datlow and Bill Sheehan, who read and commented on this book in manuscript.
To David Shaw, for musical inspiration on this and so many other books.
To Graham Sleight, who helped me locate the ruins of Kethelwite Manor.
To John Clute, my literary and life compass, who read numerous drafts of this novel, visited myriad Neolithic sites, and made absolutely certain that Cass did not make a wrong turn on the A303.
Finally, to all the readers who have followed Cass's misadventures and given me musical, artistic, and creative advice and inspiration during the writing of this book, in the virtual world and beyond: Cass may never express her gratitude for all your help, so I will. Thank you, with all my heart.
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Also by
Elizabeth Hand
Wylding Hall
Errantry
Radiant Days
Glimmering
Illyria
Generation Loss
Saffron and Brimstone
Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol
Mortal Love
Bibliomancy
Black Light
Last Summer at Mars Hill
Waking the Moon
Icarus Descending
Aestival Tide
Winterlong
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Elizabeth Hand
is the author of fourteen novels and four collections of short fiction. She has received the World Fantasy Award (four times), the Nebula Award (twice), the Shirley Jackson Award (twice), and the James Tiptree, Jr. and Mythopoeic Society Awards, and several of her novels have been selected by
The New York Times
and
The Washington Post
as Notable Books of the Year. She is also a longtime critic and contributor of essays for
The Washington Post,
the
Los Angeles Times, Salon,
and
The Village Voice,
among many others. She divides her time between the Maine coast and North London.
Â
Visit her Web site at
www.ElizabethHand.com
. Or sign up for email updates
here
.
    
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Contents
Author's Note and Acknowledgments
Â
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.
A THOMAS DUNNE BOOK FOR MINOTAUR BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin's Publishing Group.
HARD LIGHT.
Copyright © 2016 by Elizabeth Hand. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Epigraph
here
from
The Command to Look: A Master Photographer's Method for Controlling the Human Gaze
by William Mortensen and George Dunham. Feral House, 2014; Camera Craft Publishing Company, 1937. Used by permission.
Epigraph
here
from
Flash in Modern Photography
by William Mortensen. Camera Craft Publishing Company, 1941. Used by permission.
Epigraph
here
from
Pictorial Lighting
by William Mortensen. Camera Craft Publishing Company, 1935. Used by permission.
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover photographs: Cave © Chris Kench; silhouette © Stephen Mulcahey/Arcangel Images; inside cave © Andreiuc88/Shutterstock; sky © Kosmos111/Shutterstock
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-03038-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-03037-5 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781250030375
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
.
First Edition: April 2016