The time is 1882. With the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the battle with the thing that used to be Johnny Ringo behind him, the consumptive Doc Holliday makes his way to Leadville, Colorado, with Kate Elder, where he plans to spend the rest of his brief life, finally moving in to the luxurious facility that specializes in his disease.
But one night he gets a little too drunkΠ²Πβhardly a novelty for himΠ²Πβand loses everything he has at the gaming table. He realizes that he needs to replenish his bankroll, and quickly, so that he can live out his days in comfort under medical care. He considers his options and hits upon the one most likely to produce income in a hurry: he'll use his skill as a shootist and turn bounty hunter.
The biggest reward is for the death of the young, twenty-year-old desperado known as Billy the Kid. It's clear from the odds the Kid has faced and beaten, his miraculous escape from prison, and his friendship with the Southern Cheyenne, that he is protected by some powerful magic. Doc enlists the aid of both the magic of Geronimo and the science of Thomas Edison, and he goes out after his quarry. He will hunt the Kid down and either kill him and claim the reward or die in the process and at least end his own suffering.
But as he is soon to find out, nothing is as easy as it looks.
Review
"Resnick has done his research, and fast guns, fast plotting, and a comfortably entertaining writing style make this novel a rollicking western with a steampunk tweak." --Publishers Weekly
"A fast, fun, and often amusing tale where Wild West meets steampunk.... Told in a spare style reminiscent of a tale told 'round the campfire, The Buntline Special has a mythic feel." --Miami Herald
"Brilliant. Scary, funny, often very moving. Left me wishing I could have shared a couple of whiskeys with Wyatt and Doc." --Jack McDevitt, Nebula Award-winning author of Echo
"With great relish Resnick subversively refurbishes this notorious collection of fact and embroidery.... A clever and refreshing do-over." --Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Mike Resnick has won an impressive five Hugos and has been nominated for thirty-one more. He has sold seventy-one novels and more than 250 short stories. He has edited forty-one anthologies. His work ranges from satirical fare, such as his Lucifer Jones adventures, to weighty examinations of morality and culture, as evidenced by his brilliant tales of Kirinyaga. The series, with sixty-six major and minor awards and nominations to date, is the most honored series of stories in the history of science fiction. Visit Mike Resnick online at mikeresnick.com.