Ink and Steel

  Mike Resnick, author of Starship: Mercenary

Gritty, insightful, and daring.

  David Brin, author of the Uplift novels and Kiln People

A glorious hybrid: hard science, dystopian geopolitics, and wide-eyed sense

of wonder seamlessly blended into a single book.

  Peter Watts, author of Blindsight

Elizabeth Bear has carved herself out a fantastic little world… . It’ rare to find a book with so many characters you genuinely care about. It’ aroller coaster of a good thriller, too.

  SF Crowsnest

 “What Bear has done … is create a world that is all too plausible, onewracked by environmental devastation and political chaos… . She conductsa tour of this society’ darker corners, offering an unnerving peek into afuture humankind would be wise to avoid. SciFi.com An enthralling roller-coaster ride through a dark and possible near future.

  Starlog

[Bear] does it like a juggler who’ also a magician.

  The Mumpsimus

   Principal Players in Ink and Steel

combined with a selection of historical and literary figures as may be convenient to the reader.

Alleyn, Edward: (Ned) A player. Principal Tragedian of the lord Admiral’s Men.

Amaranth: A lamia

Arthur: A King of Britain. Mostly dead.

Baines, Richard: An intelligencer and Promethean

Bassano lanyer, Abilia: England’s first professional woman poet. Mistress of Henry Carey. Sadly, not appearing in this book because I did not have room for her.

Bassano, Augustine: Court musician to Elizabeth, Venetian Jew, father to Abilia, and intimate of Roderigo Lopez. Also not appearing in this volume,but I promise you, he and Abilia and Roderigo and Alfonso had manyinteresting adventures that Will never found out about. Someday I will write the Jews of Elizabeth’s Court book and you can find out all about it.

Bradley, William: Stabbed by Thomas Watson in Bankside. Dead.

Brahe, Tycho: An Astronomer

Burbage, Cuthbert: Brother to Richard Burbage

Burbage, James: Father to Richard Burbage. Owner of the Theatre in Bankside.

Burbage, Richard: A player. A Promethean. Principal Tragedian of lord Strange’s Men, the lord Chamberlain’s Men, and the King’s Men. Eventual Shareholder at the Globe.

Burghley, Baron: (William Cecil) lord Treasurer. A Promethean. Mbber of the Privy Council. Father to Robert Cecil.

Cairbre: A bard, the Master Harper of the Daoine Sidhe

Cecil, Anne: Wife to Edward De Vere, daughter to William Cecil, sister to Robert Cecil

Cecil, Robert: Secretary of State. A Promethean. Mbber of the Privy Council. Later, the Earl of Salisbury.

Catesby, Robert: A Catholic recusant

Chapman, George: a playmaker and poet

Cobham: Briefly, lord Chamberlain

Coquo, Oratio: Edward de Vere’s catamite, a former choirboy. I am not making that up.

Corinna: The love object in Ovid’s fifth elegy, and a character in Tamburlaine

Davenant, Jenet Shepherd and John: Innkeepers along the road to Stratford

Dee, Doctor John: An astrologer

Drake, Sir Francis: A privateer

Ede, Richard: A keeper at the Marshalsea prison

Edward: A player. A mbber of the company of lord Strange’s Men.

Essex, Earl of: (Robert Devereaux) A Promethean Faustus: A Scholar

Fawkes, Guido: A Catholic recusant

Findabair: A princess of Faerie. Dead.

Fletcher, John: A vile playmaker

Forman, Simon: A physician of sorts

Frazier, Ingrim: A servant to Thomas Walsingham

Ganymede: Jove’s cupbearer. Euphbistically speaking, a term for a catamite. A gardener

Gardner, William: Justice of the Peace for Southwark

Gaveston, Sir Piers: lban to Edward II, formerly King of England

Geoffrey: A Faerie, with the head of a stag

Green, Robert: A vile playmaker and pamphleteer

Henslowe, Philip: Owner of the Swan Theatre Holinshed: A historian, of sorts

Hunsdon, lord: (George Carey) lord Chamberlain. A Promethean. Mbber of the Privy Council.

Hunsdon, lord: (Henry Carey) lord Chamberlain. A Promethean. Mbber of the Privy Council. Father to George Carey.

John: A carriagban

Jonson, Ben: A vile playmaker, son of a bricklayer, educated at Westminster. Formerly a soldier in the low countries.

Kbp, Will: A player. Clown for the lord Chamberlain’s Men

Kyd, Thomas: A vile playmaker

Langley, Francis: A moneylender