The Shotgun Arcana (60 page)

To my wonderful children, Jon, Emily, and Stephanie, for being my strength and my solace.

To my amazing and ever-supportive agent, Lucienne Diver, and all of the fantastic folks at The Knight Agency, thank you for making me feel like family.

Thank you to my “League of Extraordinary Beta Readers”: Sara Ruhlman, Susan Lystlund, Kim LaBrecque, Meg Hibbert, Leslie Barger, Steve Stanley, Patrick Crowley, and David Lystlund.

To Dan Smith, Meg Hibbert, Mike Allen, Paul Dellinger, and the incomparable Allen Wold, for friendship and for showing me what true writers are made of. I am in their debt for the generosity of their time and wisdom.

To my sister, Vickie, and brother-in-law, Tony Ayers, and all their children, grandchildren, and in-laws, for always believing in me.

To all of the terrific people at Tor Books whom I have had the honor to work with—my amazingly talented editor, Greg Cox, and Stacy Hill, Patty Garcia, Marco Palmieri, Diana Pho, Aisha Cloud, and Tom Doherty, for support, patience, and sympathy. Your kindness in my time of loss meant the world to me and I’ll never forget that. Thank you. Thanks to Raymond, Swanland, for another breathtaking jacket, and to George Skoch, for his amazing cartographic skills that turned my little imaginary town into a real place.

To our sweet little cat, Wafflez, rest in peace. We miss you and love you.

To every person who read
The Six-Gun Tarot
and took the time to send me a comment or encouragement, I can never tell you how much your support means to me. “Thank you” doesn’t begin to express my gratitude.

For every kind word, every gesture of love and friendship and advice. Everything counts, everything. Thank you all.

Books by R. S. Belcher

The Six-Gun Tarot

The Shotgun Arcana

Nightwise
*

*
Coming in 2015 from Tor Books

About the Author

R. S. B
ELCHER
is the acclaimed author of
The Six-Gun Tarot,
which made several of year’s ten-best fantasy lists. He is a former newspaper and magazine editor and reporter, and lives in Salem, Virginia.

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.

THE SHOTGUN ARCANA

Copyright © 2014 by Rod Belcher

All rights reserved.

Map by George Skoch

Cover art by Raymond Swanland

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

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New York, NY10010

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 [email protected].

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-0-7653-7458-5 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4668-4273-1 (e-book)

e-ISBN 9781466842731

First Edition: October 2014