Forests of the Night

Copyright © 1993 by Steven Swiniarski. All Rights Reserved.

Cover art by Jim Burns. DAW Book Collectors No. 918.

This is for John, Heather, and their kid(s?)

If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property and reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher. In such case neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."

First Printing, July 1993 123456789

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-MARCA REGISTRADA

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PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to a number of people who left their mark on this manuscript. To Dan Eloff, who knows he got me writing again, and to R. M. Meluch, who doesn't. To the members of the Cleveland SF Writer's Workshop, who helped me get the burrs and toolmarks off this novel. To Stacy Newman, who offered to proof this. To Anastacia H. Brightfox, for naming one of the characters. And thanks to Amy, who, if nothing else, helped to give me something to write about.

Tygerl Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry ?

In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire ? What the hand, dare seize the fire ?

And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? And what dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp ?

When the stars threw down their spears, And water'd heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee ?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry ?

-WILLIAM BLAKE