2010; 295 pages. Book 1 (out of 4) in the “Weird West Tale” series. New Author? : No. Genres : Steampunki; Alternate History;
Western. Overall Rating: 7*/10.
It’s the 1880s Old West in a parallel universe, one where the western boundary of the United States is the
Mississippi River. The lands to the west
of there are controlled by the Apache medicine man, "Geronimo", aka “Goyathlay”, and his Cheyenne counterpart, "Hook Nose", aka “Que Sul-La”. Together, they weave powerful magic that
keeps the White man from invading their lands.
The exclusion of the Americans
from Indian territories is not absolute.
A few towns and cities are allowed; they promote trade and cooperation
between the two empires. One of these is
Tombstone, Arizona.
As is true in our dimension,
this alternate Tombstone seems to attract both the best and the worst breeds of
gunslingers. Wyatt Earp is the marshal
there; his brothers are his deputies and Bat Masterson is one of his allies. On the “black hat” side is the infamous
Clanton clan and the McLaury brothers.
Into this tense stand-off rides the gunman who can gives the Earps the
upper hand.
Doc Holliday.
What’s To Like...
The Buntline Special
is the reimagining of the Gunfight at the
O.K. Corral in a steampunk world.
In addition to the historically accurate participants, Mike Resnick
includes others who were bystanders, such as Kate Elder, plus some interesting persons that weren’t there,
such as Thomas Edison and Ned Buntline. But there is no doubt that the main protagonist of the tale is Don Holliday.
The presence of Edison allows
for some marvelous inventions to come into play. Things such as electric
stagecoaches, lie detector machines, fluoroscopes, a super-hardened brass
alloy, and, possibly the most intriguing one of all: robotic hookers. Magic also figures into the storyline (useful hint: do NOT piss off a Native American
medicine man!), and a couple of paranormal creatures are added to
make things interesting.
For the most part, the story is set in
Arizona, in the greater Tombstone area.
The book includes five drawings strewn throughout the text; I thought they were
a marvelous addition. Since I’ve lived in
Arizona for quite a while, it was neat to see one of our lesser-known tribes, the Hualopai, play a part in the story.
The O.K. Corral gunfight is the highlight of the book. But it’s not the “final ending”; there’s another 50 pagers after that happens, mostly resolving the paranormal challenges of the plotline. All the plot threads get tied up, and if this adventure tickles your fancy, there are three more books in the series .
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.2*/5, based on 88 ratings
and 48 reviews.
Goodreads: 3.49*/5,
based on 1,334
ratings and 210 reviews.
Excerpts...
“Geronimo wants to know who he is facing.”
said Obidiah.
“Bat Masterson and John Henry Holliday,”
replied Holliday.
“Doc Holliday?”
“The very same.”
Obidiah turned to Geronimo and spoke to him
in the latter’s native tongue. Geronimo
stared at Holliday and then said something to Obadiah.
“He wants to know if you really killed
seven men in a card game in Mexico.”
“Probably not,” answered Holliday. (pg. 55)
“I don’t like you much, Holliday,” said
Frank.
“Well, you have that in common with a lot
of other men,” said Holliday easily.
“Oh? Sounds like they’d be interesting men
to know.” He looked around the
saloon. “Where are they?”
“Buried in graveyards from here to Texas,”
said Holliday. “And a few in Colorado,
just for good measure.”
“You don’t make friends real easy, do you?”
said Tom.
“Let’s just say I’m choosy.” (pg. 224)
“The government
didn’t ask for me because of my winning smile.”
(pg. 34)
There’s a small amount of profanity in The Buntline Special. I noted ten instances in the first 10%, all
of which were the mild epithets involving hell
and damn. Later on, there are a couple of f-bombs, an excretory
product, and an SOB.
My bigger criticism of The
Buntline Special is with the pacing.
Far too many pages are devoted to discussing Doc Holliday’s terminal
illness: tuberculosis, or as it was
called in those days “consumption”. Ditto for the repartee between the White Hats
and Black Hats. One of the baddies,
Johnny Ringo, has it in for Doc, and a lot of ink is expended on those two
taunting each other. Bat Masterson’s
sudden handicap, which we’ll not detail here, also is drawn out far too long. On the other hand, the part I found really
interesting, the roles played by the Native Americans, is given short shrift.
Despite all this, The
Buntline Special kept my interest, as did Book Two of this series, The Doctor and The Kid, which I read seven years
ago, and is reviewed here. I
attribute that Mike Resnick’s writing and storytelling skills.
Book Four, The Doctor and the Dinosaurs,
is on my TBR shelf. I can’t wait to see
how Resnick works T-Rex into this storyline.
7 Stars. Add ½ Star if you read this series in its proper order. I have a feeling I should’ve done that.
