What I didn’t know in 2017 was how timely a potential deadly pandemic and the competence of the government response would be when Black finally hit the shelves. It was a lack of imagination that led me to believe even a narcissistic ass like Tyson Abington would recognize the potential threat to his planet and immediately enact science-based measures to contain and defeat it. Wow was that naive, huh?
Anyway, since writing this book, a series of Earth-shattering crises have arisen as a direct result of leadership failures in America and beyond. The COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting worldwide recession, and history-making Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality have all left indelible marks on the entire human village. Life may never return entirely to “normal” again, instead forging ahead to create a new normal that protects and affirms the importance of everyone.
This reckoning was decades in the making, and was only exacerbated by generations of leaders making empty gestures and paying platitudes to problems we’ve all seen coming from a very long way off. But it’s also elevated a new era of protesters, politicians, and creatives who’ve emerged as beacons of hope and change.
It’s these people who are inspiring me today as I write the next chapter of Susan Kamala’s, Tyson Abington’s, and Thuk’s journey, and it’s them I want to acknowledge here. Every NYC doctor, nurse, orderly, janitor, and EMT who worked double shifts for weeks at a time as coronavirus ravaged one of the greatest cities on Earth. Every crafter who turned their sewing machine into a DIY face-mask factory. Every small business owner who drained their savings to keep their employees paid during lockdown. Every employee who pressed on through the uncertainty of making rent. Every last person who grabbed a mask and a cardboard sign and marched in a thousand cities all across the world to demand an end to police brutality and racial inequality with a backdrop of record-breaking unemployment and pandemic.
Science fiction, at its core, imagines a future where we all lived through this to build something better, together. That’s its foundational premise in many ways. And it starts today, with you, and all of us. You are the heroes, now. You are who we’ve been waiting for.
Don’t give up the ship.
TOR BOOKS BY PATRICK S. TOMLINSON
THE BREACH
Gate Crashers
Starship Repo
INTERSECTION SPACE
In the Black
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Patrick S. Tomlinson lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When not writing sci-fi and fantasy novels and short stories, Tomlinson is busy developing his other passion: stand-up comedy. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Acknowledgments
Tor Books by Patrick S. Tomlinson
About the Author
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.
IN THE BLACK
Copyright © 2020 by Patrick S. Tomlinson
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Andrian Luchian
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-30275-5 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-250-30276-2 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250302762
Our ebooks 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 email at [email protected].
First Edition: 2020
