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Faster Gun
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It's hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean, and a hundred times too big to be a ship. It looks like nothing anyone ever saw. And it's crashed just outside Tombstone with something alive inside.
...more
ebook, 32 pages
Published
August 8th 2012
by Tor
(first published July 18th 2012)
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Doc Holliday and some ladies investigate some mysterious wreckage in the desert near Tombstone...
I saw this was one of the nominees for the Locus award for best short stories. Since it was free on Tor.Com, I figured I'd give it a read.
Since it's a short story, there isn't a lot I can say without giving away the best bits. All you need to know is that Doc Holliday is the main character and there are time traveling magic-using ladies and a wrecked alien ship in it.
Oh, and it's a damn good story. ...more
I saw this was one of the nominees for the Locus award for best short stories. Since it was free on Tor.Com, I figured I'd give it a read.
Since it's a short story, there isn't a lot I can say without giving away the best bits. All you need to know is that Doc Holliday is the main character and there are time traveling magic-using ladies and a wrecked alien ship in it.
Oh, and it's a damn good story. ...more
Doc Holliday leaned his head way back, tilting his hat to shade his eyes from the glare of the November sun and said, “Well, that still looks like some Jules Verne shit to me.”
3.5 rounded down because i didn't like it as much as her other shorts, mostly because i didn't get it at first because i'm a dummy.
review to come
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2012/08/08/faster-... ...more
Nov 14, 2014
Karlyflower *The Vampire Ninja, Luminescent Monster & Wendigo Nerd Goddess of Canada (according to The Hulk)*
rated it
really liked it
There are some things a person just knows. And I know that I could never do this review as much justice as my fellow Toraholic, Jess, has done HERE!
A ward line wouldn't stop a bullet - lead just didn't answer to magic - but it would keep a person out.
That being said, I cannot completely cop out behind another person's words (even when they express all the things I felt in better words than skyline my brainsphere)
Ever since first reading Bear's The Horrid Glory of its Wings I have been a little ...more
A ward line wouldn't stop a bullet - lead just didn't answer to magic - but it would keep a person out.
That being said, I cannot completely cop out behind another person's words (even when they express all the things I felt in better words than skyline my brainsphere)
Ever since first reading Bear's The Horrid Glory of its Wings I have been a little ...more
A damn good story.
This
Plus this
Does not always equal this
And this little shorty is proof of that.
I've been itching for a good grit lit western and while sticking with my paranormal streak, tor.com fetish, and newly found love of Elizabeth Bear, this little shorty definitely fit my mood and didnt disappoint.
Sci-fi has always been a bit of a hit or miss for me. I love alien races, dystopias, parallel universes, and interstellar politics, but sometimes the time travel and metaphysical aspects of sci-fi just make my ...more
Plus this
Does not always equal this
And this little shorty is proof of that.
I've been itching for a good grit lit western and while sticking with my paranormal streak, tor.com fetish, and newly found love of Elizabeth Bear, this little shorty definitely fit my mood and didnt disappoint.
Sci-fi has always been a bit of a hit or miss for me. I love alien races, dystopias, parallel universes, and interstellar politics, but sometimes the time travel and metaphysical aspects of sci-fi just make my ...more
Wild West shoot-out with Doc Holliday and a spaceship, yeehah! I'm not really sure what just happened but I know I loved it! (Thank heaven for story comments at the end to explain it to me! The clues were all there in the story, I just didn't have the insight to know which dots to connect.). Can Elizabeth Bear write a short story that is NOT fantastic? No, no she can not.
http://www.tor.com/2012/08/08/faster-... ...more
http://www.tor.com/2012/08/08/faster-... ...more
"That thing was a ship, Doctor Holliday. A ship that sailed between the stars."
I enjoyed this one but I didn't really understand the set-up until I read through the comments on tor.com -- and I highly recommend doing that if you also end your reading with a "Huh. Okay. Wait, what?"
...more
I enjoyed this one but I didn't really understand the set-up until I read through the comments on tor.com -- and I highly recommend doing that if you also end your reading with a "Huh. Okay. Wait, what?"
...more
One of my favorite authors re-imagines Doc Holliday finding a UFO, in the OK Corral era of Tombstone, AZ. First-rate story. Read it, if you haven't already: https://www.tor.com/2012/08/08/faster...
...more
Sep 04, 2016
Jason
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
Sci Fi, Short Stories
Recommended to Jason by:
karen
A short story with Doc Holliday, but it ain't your typical oater.
Two stars plus one for the ending, for a total of three... I reckon. It's short. That's a plus. It's definitely a case where the destination is better than the journey, but I usually prefer it the other way around. It was a nice destination once we got there. I was pleasantly surprised, but all in all... well, it's no daisy. It's no daisy at all.
See whether or not you agree by checking it out for yourself. It's only 23 pages in a w ...more
Two stars plus one for the ending, for a total of three... I reckon. It's short. That's a plus. It's definitely a case where the destination is better than the journey, but I usually prefer it the other way around. It was a nice destination once we got there. I was pleasantly surprised, but all in all... well, it's no daisy. It's no daisy at all.
See whether or not you agree by checking it out for yourself. It's only 23 pages in a w ...more
"Faster Gun" is a modest short story, an alien first-contact story set in the old West featuring legendary Doc Holliday and a small delegation who were obviously much more than they appear at first glance. Nice, straightforward story-telling, well-written, with some interesting characters; but nothing really new to rave about.(This story appeared on the Tor website.)
...more
...Bear builds the tension like in a spaghetti western, but uses elements that warp the story into something unexpected. Faster Gun is a very enjoyable read if you don't mind a blend of genres.
Full Random Comments review ...more
Full Random Comments review ...more
Oct 21, 2013
Tammy K.
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
Western, Science Fiction, and short story readers.
This is still free on Tor.com
I was in the mood for a cowboy short and this title fit that bill.
Overall it was a decent (average) read. The mystery was a good one. The settings/scenes are vividly described. The characters could have been filled out a bit more but they work for such a short story (32 Pages).
My main complaint is this: The story is written with chapter two first, followed by chapter one.
I was wondering how this would work and here it is:
I was in the mood for a cowboy short and this title fit that bill.
Overall it was a decent (average) read. The mystery was a good one. The settings/scenes are vividly described. The characters could have been filled out a bit more but they work for such a short story (32 Pages).
My main complaint is this: The story is written with chapter two first, followed by chapter one.
I was wondering how this would work and here it is:
A. Hoppalong Cassidy....more
Q. What do you call a f
Strange.
I hope that Elizabeth Bear is testing the waters for a new series! It would certainly make an excellent adventure series with a sci if twist - great read!
This is by no means my typical read, so I don't feel well qualified to review it. I will say, that has been my experience with Tor stories (I read them to fulfil reading challenge prompts I'm reluctant about, and they are in genres I wouldn't usually touch) but I've always been impressed with them so far. Like the others, I found this quite an accessible read. The writing style is really good and I was interested to see where the story went. However, I didn't really get it and had to read the co
...more
I'm not exactly sure what I think about this one. I happened to see that it was nominated for a Locus Award for best novelette in 2013. I really liked The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi, which won the category, when I read it last year. And I already read another of the stories in the category as well, The Lady Astronaut of Mars. I think that's why the category caught my eye. I didn't want to read all of the stories at this point, my nook is overflowing, but I've always wanted to try Elizabet
...more
A day in the alternate life of an alternate Doc Holliday. Or so it seems. In Elizabeth Bear's chapbook Faster Gun, a somewhat unusual party of tenderfeet - a man with a gift for magic, and four women with a variety of striking attributes - hire Doc to guide them to the wreck of an alien spaceship not far form the town of Tombstone. But the reality is something rather different indeed.
Beautifully written, as Bear's work always is, with just enough clues to the explanation of what's really going o ...more
Beautifully written, as Bear's work always is, with just enough clues to the explanation of what's really going o ...more
3.5 stars
This is a story mixing the Wild West, science fiction and even a little fantasy into a nice little package. It seems that Westerns are not an unlikely pairing with science fiction elements – just see Cowboys vs. Aliens or Mike Resnick’s The Buntline Special (review). I’d place Bear’s story above The Buntline Special and somewhere in the vicinity of Cowboys vs Aliens (what, I enjoyed it!).
Read more at Starmetal Oak Reviews. ...more
This is a story mixing the Wild West, science fiction and even a little fantasy into a nice little package. It seems that Westerns are not an unlikely pairing with science fiction elements – just see Cowboys vs. Aliens or Mike Resnick’s The Buntline Special (review). I’d place Bear’s story above The Buntline Special and somewhere in the vicinity of Cowboys vs Aliens (what, I enjoyed it!).
Read more at Starmetal Oak Reviews. ...more
En los años de la leyenda del Far West un grupo de exploradores se adentra en una nave espacial alienígena que se ha estrellado en las afueras de Tombstone, liderada por Doc Holliday.
Para los amantes del Lejado Oeste estará bien, pero quitando eso la historia me ha parecido bastante plana y previsible.
Para los amantes del Lejado Oeste estará bien, pero quitando eso la historia me ha parecido bastante plana y previsible.
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Elizabeth Bear is a rare author to discover. More chameleon than simple writer, able to conform her writing to different genres.
The is spot on for the time period with clipped to the point writing and very literal comparisons. It is very dime store western.
Not a favorite by any stretch, but I liked the ending.
The is spot on for the time period with clipped to the point writing and very literal comparisons. It is very dime store western.
Not a favorite by any stretch, but I liked the ending.
Doc Holiday and Johnny Ringo. It would be interesting to see where Elizabeth Bear takes this. I hope she gets enough response to expand this. There are so many places it could go. I certainly recommend this, and hope for more.
A sci-fi western time travel novellette, centered around a spacecraft crashed on Earth, just outside Tombstone, with something alive inside. I am not a fan of the Western genre, and probably because of it the story did not work for me.
Combined scifi mad western interesting idea - a good read
Steampunk + time travel + space travel. Fun.
Kind of Cowboys vs Aliens (or rather, some Cowboys/girls with and some against them), with some time travel thrown in.
Not bad, but not spectacular either.
Not bad, but not spectacular either.
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