Because that was always true. The Abbey and Eudoxia were small enough it became impossible to ignore it, but even among the teeming billions of Earth, they were spending their lives together. They needed to be gentle. And understanding. And careful. It had been true in the depths of history, and at the height of Earth’s power, and it would still be true now that they were scattering to the more than a thousand new suns.
Maybe, if they could find a way to be gentle, the stars would be better off with them.
Acknowledgments
While the creation of any book is less a solitary act than it seems, the past few years have seen a huge increase in the people involved with The Expanse in all its incarnations, including this one. This book would not exist without the hard work and dedication of Danny and Heather Baror, Will Hinton, Tim Holman, Anne Clarke, Ellen Wright, Alex Lencicki, and the whole brilliant crew at Orbit. Special thanks are also due Carrie Vaughn for her services as a beta reader, the gang from Sakeriver: Tom, Sake Mike, Non-Sake Mike, Jim-me, Porter, Scott, Raja, Jeff, Mark, Dan, Joe, and Erik Slaine, who got the ball rolling.
The support team for The Expanse has also grown to include the staff at Alcon Entertainment and Syfy, and the cast and crew of The Expanse. Our thanks and gratitude go especially to Hallie Lambert, Matt Rasmussen, and Kenn Fisher.
Special thanks also go to Leo Tolstoy, translators Louise and Aylmer Maude, and Project Gutenberg for Pastor Anna’s comfort reading.
And, as always, none of this would have happened without the support and company of Jayné, Kat, and Scarlet.
ALSO BY JAMES S. A. COREY
Leviathan Wakes
Caliban’s War
Abaddon’s Gate
Cibola Burn
Nemesis Games
Babylon’s Ashes
The Butcher of Anderson Station
Gods of Risk
The Churn
Drive
The Vital Abyss
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Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck
Cover design by Kirk Benshoff
Cover illustration by Daniel Dociu
Cover copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Corey, James S. A., author.
Title: Babylon’s ashes / James S. A. Corey.
Description: First Edition. | New York : Orbit, 2016. | Series: The expanse ; book 6
Identifiers: LCCN 2016037890| ISBN 9780316334747 (hardback) | ISBN 9780316217644 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780316546430 (hardcover (special edition)) | ISBN 9781478965374 (audio book CD) | ISBN 9781478909521 (Audio book downloadable) | ISBN 9780316217637 (ebook (open))
Subjects: | BISAC: FICTION / Science Fiction / Space Opera. | FICTION / Science Fiction / Adventure. | GSAFD: Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3601.B677 B33 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037890
ISBNs: 978-0-316-33474-7 (hardcover); 978-0-316-21763-7 (ebook)
E3-20161109-JV-PC