Book description
1875, New Mexico Territory.
A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert
town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle
that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of
Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its
streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde.
It's a town that lives in fear.
But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend
as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming
down with breath-taking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the
helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents
have ever known.
Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As
this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been,
he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance
against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveller Ella, he
pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents - townsfolk,
Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors - all in danger of
annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an
epic showdown for survival. Joan D. Vinge was born in Baltimore,
Maryland. She has read science fiction since junior high school, and has
been writing professionally since 1973. She now lives in Madison,
Wisconsin, with her husband, editor Jim Frenkel, and their two children.
Joan's short story, 'Eyes of Amber', won the 1977 Hugo Award for Best
Science Fiction Novelette and her novel The Snow Queen
won the 1981 Hugo Award for Best SF Novel. She has been nominated for
several other Hugo and Nebula Awards, as well as for the John W.
Campbell New Writer Award.
