Speaking Bones, page 116
ARUCURO TOCUA:
literally “living bones”; articulated creations made from bones, sinew, horn, antler, and other animal parts.
GARINAFIN:
the flying, fire-breathing beast that is the core of Lyucu culture. Its body is about the size of three elephants, with a long tail, two clawed feet, a pair of great, leathery wings, and a slender, snakelike neck topped with a deerlike, antlered head.
KYOFFIR:
an alcoholic drink made from fermented garinafin milk.
PÉDIATO SAVAGA:
literally “stomach journey,” the scrublands funeral practice of leaving a body exposed to the elements and scavenging animals.
PÉKYU:
title given to the leader of the Lyucu or Agon.
PÉKYU-TAASA:
title given to the children of pékyus; sometimes translated into Dara as “prince” or “princess.”
TANTO-LYU-NARO:
tribeless wanderers of Ukyu-Gondé who do not follow the ways of either the Lyucu or the Agon and who renounce all warmaking. Literally “warriors who do not make war.”
TOGATEN:
literally “runt”; a slur used against those of mixed Lyucu and native Dara ancestry.
TOLYUSA:
a plant with hallucinogenic properties; the berries are essential for the garinafins to breed successfully.
VOTAN-RU-TAASA:
“older-and-younger”; brothers.
VOTAN-SA-TAASA:
“older-and-younger”; sisters (or siblings).
LIST OF SELECTED ARTIFACTS AND MOUNTS
CRUBEN’S THORN: a dagger made from a cruben’s tooth and therefore undetectable to lodestone detectors, a favorite weapon of assassins. A rebel from Gan first attempted to kill King Réon of Xana with it. It was later wielded by Princess Kikomi against Phin Zyndu, and finally by Consort Mira on herself.
NA-AROÉNNA, THE DOUBT-ENDER: an extraordinarily heavy sword constructed by the master bladesmith Suma Ji for Dazu Zyndu, Marshal of Cocru. With a heart of bronze and a coat of thousand-hammered steel, it was quenched in the blood of a wolf. Later, it became the weapon, successively, of Mata Zyndu, Gin Mazoti, and Phyro Garu.
GOREMAW: an ironwood cudgel made more fearsome with rings of teeth embedded in the strike-head. Wielded by Mata Zyndu, it was the companion to Na-aroénna.
RÉFIROA: Mata Zyndu’s war steed, the “Well-Matched.”
GITRÉ ÜTHU: the Classical Ano title means “Know Thyself.” Legend has it that Luan Zyaji received it as a gift from the gods. The book supposedly showed divine revelations, but only of what the user already knew. Luan carried it with him beyond the Wall of Storms, and later gave it to his disciple, Zomi Kidosu.
BITER: a toothed war club given to Dafiro Miro by Huluwen of Tan Adü.
SIMPLICITY: once the sword of Mocri Zati, champion of Gan. When Mata Zyndu defeated him, the sword was gifted to Ratho Miro, the Hegemon’s personal guard.
LANGIABOTO: a war axe fashioned from garinafin rib and talon, it had been in the hands of the Aragoz clan, the ruling family of the Agon, for generations. The name means “self-reliance” in the language of the scrublands. Later, it was seized by Tenryo Roatan and became the symbol of Lyucu domination.
GASLIRA-SATA, THE PEACE-BITE: Goztan Ryoto’s war axe, made from a tusked tiger’s fang and four baby garinafin ribs bound together with horrid wolf sinew.
NOTES
The Veiled Throne and Speaking Bones were conceived of as one continuous narrative, and should be read as such.
A few notes specific to this book:
Fara’s poem for Kinri is in part reworked from the Song Dynasty poem 《卜算子•我住長江頭》 by 李之儀.
Ro Taça of Rima’s poem about the lute player is in part reworked from the Tang Dynasty poem 《琵琶行》 by 白居易.
The song from the mother who survives the Lyucu occupation of Dasu is in part reworked from the Yuan Dynasty poem 《山坡羊•潼關懷古》 by 張養浩.
Fithowéo’s arm, the stone-throwing machine deployed by Phyro during the Battle of Crescent Island, is essentially a counterweight trebuchet based on a modification of the design of traction trebuchets used in ancient China, as early as the fourth century before the common era. Traction trebuchets were described in Mohist texts, but probably had been invented earlier.
The Péa pipes (and the various arucuro tocua devices derived from them, such as the Divine Voice) are inspired by the Auxetophone, a pneumatic amplifier invented by Horace Short and Sir Charles A. Parsons. The device for taking spirit portraits is inspired by the phonautograph invented by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Alexander Graham Bell created a version of the phonautograph using a cadaver ear.
* * *
I’m deeply grateful to the following individuals for their help in the production of this book: Joe Monti (editor extraordinaire); Russell Galen (bestest of agents); Danny Baror and Heather Baror-Shapiro (foreign rights); Angela Cheng Caplan (media rights); John Vairo and Lisa Litwack (art direction); Tony Mauro (cover); Robert Lazzaretti (map); Valerie Shea and Alexandre Su (copyediting); Lauren Truskowski and Kayleigh Webb (publicity); Madison Penico (manuscript assistance); Caroline Pallotta, Kaitlyn Snowden, Kathryn Kenney-Peterson, Alexis Alemao (managing editorial and production).
I also wish to thank the many people who helped me during the drafting of this book, whether by reading drafts, giving me ideas, providing research assistance, or keeping up my spirits: Anatoly Belilovsky, Dario Ciriello, Elodie Coello, Elías Combarro, Kate Elliott, Nathan Faries, Barbara Hendrick, Crystal Huff, Emily Jin, Allison King, Leticia Lara, Anaea Lay, Felicia Low-Jimenez, John P. Murphy, Erica Naone, Tochi Onyebuchi, Emma Osborne, Bridget Pupillo, Achala Upendran, Alex Shvartsman, Carmen Yiling Yan, Christie Yant, Florina Yezril, Caroline Yoachim, Hannah Zhao.
Above all, I couldn’t have done this without my family. Lisa, Esther, Miranda, I love you.
Finally, thank you, readers, for coming on this journey with me. I’ve long held the belief that fiction is a co-creation between the author and the reader. While the author sets the scene and describes the action, introduces the characters and sets forth their lines, it’s the reader whose imagination brings it all to life. Just as the author must put something of themselves into the world to build it, the reader must also take a leap of trust to devote their attention wholly to the fantasy world, to live a life separate from reality.
Dara began as a joint creation of my wife, Lisa, and myself. We wanted to make a world together that honored the wuxia fantasies that played such an important role in our childhoods. Later, I expanded Dara and told the story of the Dandelion Dynasty in it. The saga was conceived of more than a decade ago, and the very last scene of the series was actually the first scene that took shape in my head. It’s a great privilege for a creator to find a world so absorbing as to spend such a big portion of a lifetime laboring in it; but without you, the story of Dara would remain nothing but printed words on a page, as inert as blocks of congealed wax carved by a clumsy hand.
May you find a place in this fantasy world to live out an interesting life, a life with an empathy that encompasses the world and at the end of which you leave your teeth on the board, content that you served mutagé.
More from this Series
The Grace of Kings
Book 1
The Wall of Storms
Book 2
The Veiled Throne
Book 3
More from the Author
The Hidden Girl and…
The Paper Menagerie and…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KEN LIU is an award-winning American author of speculative fiction. His collection The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories has been published in more than a dozen languages. Liu’s other works include The Grace of Kings, The Wall of Storms, The Veiled Throne, and a second collection, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. He has been involved in multiple media adaptations of his work, including the short story “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode in Netflix’s animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC’s Pantheon, adapted from an interconnected series of short stories. “The Hidden Girl,” “The Message,” and “The Cleaners” have also been optioned for development. Liu previously worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. He frequently speaks at conferences and universities on topics including futurism, cryptocurrency, the history of technology, and the value of storytelling. Liu lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Ken-Liu
SimonandSchuster.com
SAGAPRESS.COM
@SagaPressBooks
@SagaSFF
ALSO BY KEN LIU
THE DANDELION DYNASTY
The Grace of Kings
The Wall of Storms
The Veiled Throne
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. • Copyright © 2022 by Ken Liu • Map illustrations copyright © 2021 by Robert Lazzaretti • All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Saga Press Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. • First Saga Press hardcover edition June 2022 • SAGA PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. • For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com. • The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. • Interior design by Kathryn A. Kenney-Peterson • Jacket illustration by Tony Mauro • Author photograph © Lisa Tang Liu • Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. • ISBN 978-1-9821-4897-3 • ISBN 978-1-9821-4899-7 (ebook)
Ken Liu, Speaking Bones
