About the Book
THE YEAR IS 1881
The United States of America ends at the Mississippi
River. Beyond lies the Indian nations, where the magic of powerful
Medicine Men have halted the advance of the Americans east of the river.
An American government desperate to expand its territory sends Thomas
Alva Edison out West to the town of Tombstone, Arizona on a mission to
discover a scientific means of counteracting magic. Hired to protect
this great genius, Wyatt Earp and his brothers.
But there are plenty who would like to see the Earps and Edison dead.
Riding to their aid – old friends Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson.
Against them stand the Apache wizard Geronimo and the Clanton gang.
Battle lines are drawn, and the Clanton gang, which has their own
reasons for wanting Edison dead, sends for Johnny Ringo, the one man
who might be Doc Holliday's equal in a gunfight. But what shows up
instead is The Thing That Was Once Johnny Ringo, returned from the dead
and come to Tombstone looking for a fight.
Welcome to a West like you’ve never seen before, where “Bat Masterson”
hails from the ranks of the undead, where electric lights shine down on
the streets of Tombstone, while horseless stagecoaches carry passengers
to and fro, and where death is no obstacle to The Thing That Was Once
Johnny Ringo. Think you know the story of the O.K. Corral? Think again,
as five time Hugo winner Mike Resnick takes on his first steampunk
western tale, and the West will never be the same.
