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Gunfight on Europa Station
ALL-NEW STORIES TAKE THE WILD, WILD WEST TO THE FINAL FRONTIER
An actual wagon train to space?
Gunslinging cowpokes riding in rickety rocket ships?
What isn’t possible when you mix science fiction and Westerns?
The final frontier ain’t so final in these 12 tales of space exploration and each a timeless yarn told around the warm glow of a nuclear reactor just before it goes supernova. There’s a story for everyone who’s ever dreamed of traveling the stars.
From the lone stranger who flies into town to help a widow and her daughter to the alien rancher trying to pose as human, they are familiar, yet with completely new twists. Take the pair of mercenaries who sign on to stop a mining camp insurrection only to discover they might be on the wrong side of evolution, or the prospector who finds the strike of a lifetime but ends up stranded on a barren moon without hope of rescue. And if that’s not enough to catch your fancy, then how about a cloned Doc Holliday making his way in a future where both sickness and gambling are ancient history?
Assembled inside are the biggest names in science fiction, taking you to the farthest reaches of the galaxy like they’ve never done before. Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, and Wil McCarthy are some of the exciting yarn-spinners inside. So get ready to hit the hyper-thrusters as you set course for adventure, mystery, romance, and two-lasergun slinging action!
Featuring Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, Wil McCarthy, Gini Koch, Martin Shoemaker, Cat Rambo with J.R. Martin, Alastair Mayer, Alex Shvartsman, Patrick Swenson, and Michael F. Haspil. Edited by David Boop ( Straight Outta Tombstone ).
Praise for Gunfight on Europa Station :
"An enjoyable selection of hard SF stories that consistently entertain, with several that are really rather good." —Tangent Online
"Gunfight on Europa Station is another creative anthology from Baen Books, which has delivered many times before... It’ll give you a home where the aliens roam - and its immense fun for it."— Warped Factor
About Straight Outta Dodge
“A dark, diverting anthology of 14 original tales, the third in a series. . . . By tossing weird fiction concepts into western settings, these tales give rise to unusual what-ifs. . . . [T]he ever-enjoyable Joe R. Lansdale is on hand with 'The Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train,' an energetic tale of a mystical gunfighter, and Harry Turtledove presents the delightful 'Junior & Me,' set in an alternate world in which evolution favored reptiles rather than mammals, and the ornery galoot narrating the yarn is actually a highly evolved dinosaur. The result is an amusing . . . bunch of stories. ”— Publishers Weekly
About Straight Outta Tombstone :
“The authors were having fun. Even when they are not playing the stories for laughs, they are taking an opportunity to . . . tell a story with a fresh twist, and expand out of their expected boundaries.”— The Galveston County Daily News
An actual wagon train to space?
Gunslinging cowpokes riding in rickety rocket ships?
What isn’t possible when you mix science fiction and Westerns?
The final frontier ain’t so final in these 12 tales of space exploration and each a timeless yarn told around the warm glow of a nuclear reactor just before it goes supernova. There’s a story for everyone who’s ever dreamed of traveling the stars.
From the lone stranger who flies into town to help a widow and her daughter to the alien rancher trying to pose as human, they are familiar, yet with completely new twists. Take the pair of mercenaries who sign on to stop a mining camp insurrection only to discover they might be on the wrong side of evolution, or the prospector who finds the strike of a lifetime but ends up stranded on a barren moon without hope of rescue. And if that’s not enough to catch your fancy, then how about a cloned Doc Holliday making his way in a future where both sickness and gambling are ancient history?
Assembled inside are the biggest names in science fiction, taking you to the farthest reaches of the galaxy like they’ve never done before. Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, and Wil McCarthy are some of the exciting yarn-spinners inside. So get ready to hit the hyper-thrusters as you set course for adventure, mystery, romance, and two-lasergun slinging action!
Featuring Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Lindskold, Wil McCarthy, Gini Koch, Martin Shoemaker, Cat Rambo with J.R. Martin, Alastair Mayer, Alex Shvartsman, Patrick Swenson, and Michael F. Haspil. Edited by David Boop ( Straight Outta Tombstone ).
Praise for Gunfight on Europa Station :
"An enjoyable selection of hard SF stories that consistently entertain, with several that are really rather good." —Tangent Online
"Gunfight on Europa Station is another creative anthology from Baen Books, which has delivered many times before... It’ll give you a home where the aliens roam - and its immense fun for it."— Warped Factor
About Straight Outta Dodge
“A dark, diverting anthology of 14 original tales, the third in a series. . . . By tossing weird fiction concepts into western settings, these tales give rise to unusual what-ifs. . . . [T]he ever-enjoyable Joe R. Lansdale is on hand with 'The Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train,' an energetic tale of a mystical gunfighter, and Harry Turtledove presents the delightful 'Junior & Me,' set in an alternate world in which evolution favored reptiles rather than mammals, and the ornery galoot narrating the yarn is actually a highly evolved dinosaur. The result is an amusing . . . bunch of stories. ”— Publishers Weekly
About Straight Outta Tombstone :
“The authors were having fun. Even when they are not playing the stories for laughs, they are taking an opportunity to . . . tell a story with a fresh twist, and expand out of their expected boundaries.”— The Galveston County Daily News
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published October 25, 2022
8 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
David Boop
66 books32 followersDenver-based author David Boop is a single dad and returning college student. Dave was a journalist before turning to fiction.
Hes published a dozen short stories and written two short films. His stories have appeared in magazines like Tales of the Talisman and SF Trails and in the anthologies Wondrous Web Worlds and Space Pirates. A fixture on the convention circuit, hes spoken at such literary gatherings as Mile High Con, Coppercon and Norwescon.
His novel, She Murdered Me with Science, debuted in August.
General interests include noir, Mayan history, and The Blues. He enjoys watching anime and playing GO.
Series:
* Noel Glass Mystery
Series contributed to:
* Full-Throttle Space Tales
Hes published a dozen short stories and written two short films. His stories have appeared in magazines like Tales of the Talisman and SF Trails and in the anthologies Wondrous Web Worlds and Space Pirates. A fixture on the convention circuit, hes spoken at such literary gatherings as Mile High Con, Coppercon and Norwescon.
His novel, She Murdered Me with Science, debuted in August.
General interests include noir, Mayan history, and The Blues. He enjoys watching anime and playing GO.
Series:
* Noel Glass Mystery
Series contributed to:
* Full-Throttle Space Tales
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 13, 2023
An anthology of weird western stories with a Science fiction backbone. Includes 12 stories, with the most famous writers being Wil McCarthy, Alan Dean Foster, Cat Rambo, and Elizabeth Moon. I had a good time with these. My favorite was probably Foster's "Hydration," which was also one of the simpler tales. Lots of good ideas here. Enjoyable.
February 9, 2023
I received an eARC of this book from Baen in return for an honest review. A collection of 12 stories which are basically westerns in outer space. Westerns as defined as stories which take place beyond the edge of civilized stories. Many of the stories in this collection revolve around mining communities.
The stories typically are resolved in the framework of the story, but as with the best stories often leave you wanting more, either of the characters or society or both. This was a fun read and I recommend it to others, especially if you enjoyed the Western aspects to the movie/tv show Firefly.
The stories typically are resolved in the framework of the story, but as with the best stories often leave you wanting more, either of the characters or society or both. This was a fun read and I recommend it to others, especially if you enjoyed the Western aspects to the movie/tv show Firefly.
February 4, 2022
An alien law enforcement officer goes undercover as a cowboy to complete his mission. Two guns-for-hire are swept up in a mining revolution. An honorable captain protects a small family’s claim from outer-space pirates. A daring prospector on a deserted planet struggles to survive. An obsolete medical examiner embraces colonial life as he struggles to solve the mystery of the undead. All twelve stories are a fun and adventurous blend of desperados and galactic marshals, pistols and rockets, barfights and space battles, staked claims and sonic showdowns, and wagon trains and planetary stations. The unlikely heroes face the hardships of living off the land, seek answers to the great unknown, and pursue the hopes and promises of the frontier.
Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, and more titans of the sci-fi genre contribute to this imaginative sci-fi western anthology. The collection is great for those who want that sense of mystery, romance, and enterprise that is found in traditional westerns, but is made unique by cosmic settings and advanced technology. Fans of strong female characters, plucky innovators, and determined dreamers will enjoy these folkloric and sensational yarns.
(This review was originally written for Library Journal magazine.)
Elizabeth Moon, Alan Dean Foster, and more titans of the sci-fi genre contribute to this imaginative sci-fi western anthology. The collection is great for those who want that sense of mystery, romance, and enterprise that is found in traditional westerns, but is made unique by cosmic settings and advanced technology. Fans of strong female characters, plucky innovators, and determined dreamers will enjoy these folkloric and sensational yarns.
(This review was originally written for Library Journal magazine.)
September 3, 2022
Book #: 34
Title: Gunfight on Europa Station
Author: David Boop (ed.)
Format: Paperback, 272 pages, local library New Books shelf
Pub Date: Published January 25th 2022 by Baen
Started: 8/1/22 Ended: 9/1/22
Awards: none
Categories:
A book published in 2022 (PpSgr 01); A book with 22 or more letters in the title (GrRds 03); A book with fewer than 5000 ratings on Goodreads (GrRds 14); A book that uses all five vowels in the title and/or author's name (GrRds 37); A book published in 2022 (GrRds 51); By a Male Author (BkHdr 08); New to YOU Author (BkHdr 20); A Borrowed Book (BkHdr 27);
Rating: **** four out of five stars
When I saw this sitting on the new book shelf at the library, I couldn't resist. It's an anthology of space western stories. While the SF sub-genre is sometimes derisively referred to as "Bat Durston" as satired by Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, there are surprisingly good stories in this genre, Cowboy Bebop and Firefly to name just two.
My normal rating for an anthology is usually three stars, middle of the road. Some stories are failures, some are wonderful. This one, I'm rating with four stars, some truly excellent stories and not a klinker in the bunch. YMMV.
Title: Gunfight on Europa Station
Author: David Boop (ed.)
Format: Paperback, 272 pages, local library New Books shelf
Pub Date: Published January 25th 2022 by Baen
Started: 8/1/22 Ended: 9/1/22
Awards: none
Categories:
A book published in 2022 (PpSgr 01); A book with 22 or more letters in the title (GrRds 03); A book with fewer than 5000 ratings on Goodreads (GrRds 14); A book that uses all five vowels in the title and/or author's name (GrRds 37); A book published in 2022 (GrRds 51); By a Male Author (BkHdr 08); New to YOU Author (BkHdr 20); A Borrowed Book (BkHdr 27);
Rating: **** four out of five stars
When I saw this sitting on the new book shelf at the library, I couldn't resist. It's an anthology of space western stories. While the SF sub-genre is sometimes derisively referred to as "Bat Durston" as satired by Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, there are surprisingly good stories in this genre, Cowboy Bebop and Firefly to name just two.
My normal rating for an anthology is usually three stars, middle of the road. Some stories are failures, some are wonderful. This one, I'm rating with four stars, some truly excellent stories and not a klinker in the bunch. YMMV.
March 30, 2022
While some aspects of the classic western can be translated into a science fiction setting, trying to shoehorn all of it into a short story doesn't work so well. There are a fair number of steampunk novels and shorts that do a good job of it, without violating too much common sense or at least recognize it's a fantasy. An OK read, there are a couple of good stories.
May 9, 2022
Short story collection focused on using Old West tropes in space. Those same tropes have existed since long before the Western, but SF has often leaned heavily into them (see Star Wars). This is an average collection. Some stories are good, some bad, but most are just ok and forgettable.
October 6, 2022
”Gunfight on Europa Station” is an anthology based loosely along the lines of old western style events and settings in outer space. Many of the short stories are the Old West with a twist running from silly to dangerous. I definitely enjoyed it.
August 21, 2023
Worth reading. There's nothing world-changing here, but just exercising the idea of Western plots in space is enough. I haven't been able to find Boop's "Straight Outta" series yet, and I am not sure whether I need to now.
January 16, 2024
As is usual with collections-on-a-theme books such as these, the stories were a mixed bag, but all were generally interesting and enjoyable. The tales by Alan Dean Foster and Alastair Mayer stood a bit above the rest.
September 27, 2023
This is a fun collection of space Western short stories. The quality of the stories varies a bit although it’s generally fairly high. If you can get used to the idea of space suits coming equipped with lassos, the style of stories here is wide enough that you may find something to enjoy.
Highlights for me included:
* The Penultimate Stand of Pina Gracchi by Michael F. Haspil, an amusing retelling of the classic “new sheriff in town” tale. Great characters and a cool story–plus, Haspil uses “penultimate” correctly.
* Alex Shvartsman contributes Winner Takes All which introduces us to a special operator with a heat of gold who has to choose how far she’ll go to get her woman.
* Riding The Storm Out by Martin L. Shoemaker has two frontier sheriffs bringing in a wanted man – with the unusual complications of Martian gravity, storms, and lack of air.
* Jane Linskold’s Claim Jumped is about, well, exactly what it says on the tin. Mystery and murder mix with asteroid mining and a sinister hidden hand.
The rest fell somewhere in the middle. Only two stories really didn’t do it for me. Wil McCarthy updates another classic to Doc Holliday 2.0–I don’t know if it was not being able to get Val Kilmer’s picture out of my mind, but it felt too forced. The other one was Alan Dean Foster’s Hydration. This had me until the end, when the newly-rich, water-poor heroine develops an unlikely symbiotic relationship with a strange savior. It felt a bit contrived. All in all, this came out a bit above average (6/10 based on 2022) and opened the door to some new authors while providing good entertainment.
6.5/10 (3.25 stars)
Highlights for me included:
* The Penultimate Stand of Pina Gracchi by Michael F. Haspil, an amusing retelling of the classic “new sheriff in town” tale. Great characters and a cool story–plus, Haspil uses “penultimate” correctly.
* Alex Shvartsman contributes Winner Takes All which introduces us to a special operator with a heat of gold who has to choose how far she’ll go to get her woman.
* Riding The Storm Out by Martin L. Shoemaker has two frontier sheriffs bringing in a wanted man – with the unusual complications of Martian gravity, storms, and lack of air.
* Jane Linskold’s Claim Jumped is about, well, exactly what it says on the tin. Mystery and murder mix with asteroid mining and a sinister hidden hand.
The rest fell somewhere in the middle. Only two stories really didn’t do it for me. Wil McCarthy updates another classic to Doc Holliday 2.0–I don’t know if it was not being able to get Val Kilmer’s picture out of my mind, but it felt too forced. The other one was Alan Dean Foster’s Hydration. This had me until the end, when the newly-rich, water-poor heroine develops an unlikely symbiotic relationship with a strange savior. It felt a bit contrived. All in all, this came out a bit above average (6/10 based on 2022) and opened the door to some new authors while providing good entertainment.
6.5/10 (3.25 stars)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews