The Ballad Of Billy Badass & the Rose of Turkestan [Paperback]

William Sanders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999

An exciting modern fantasy based on Cherokee traditions; a moving love story; a cry of protest against crimes against native peoples-- and more. A young Cherokee, his dead (but still sarcastic) shaman grandfather, and the Asian woman they both love.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It has everything I love about a book . . . . Sanders' prose and dialogue is wry, and funny, and serious, and gripping. The book swallows you whole from first page when Billy's grandfather talks through him through the body of a bluejay and doesn't let you go until the end, with not a wasted page in between. Rather, there's a wealth of intriguing incident and story, character and interaction, high flights of fancy and down to earth horrors." -- Charles de Lint, THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, August, 1999

"Sanders' prose misses no beats and he keeps pulling off new plot twists with the ease of a seasoned expert. The novel is lean and mean like Billy, but soft in all the right places like Janna. It kicks butt." -- Al Sirois, OUTSIDE, May, 1999

"This is a story of horrifying truths, deadly lies, and people pushed aside since long before current memory. And no one could tell it better than Sanders. It has been a long while since a writer has come along with such a brilliant economy of language. . . . Realistic dialogue, multi-dimensional characters, a driving story line--there is never a moment when the reader feels in anything but capable hands." -- Lisa DuMond in SFsite, February 1999

From the Author

I still think this was one of my best books. I'm pleased that this new edition from Wildside Press has turned out so well. Melisa Michaels did an outstanding job on the cover, didn't she? --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corp; 1 edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738803103
• ISBN-13: 978-0738803104
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #497,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Passionate and exciting contemporary fantasy, December 10, 2001

By 

Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ballad of Billy Badass and the Rose of Turkestan (Paperback)

Fortunate SF readers will have encountered William Sanders' earlier novels _Journey to Fusang_, a fine, funny-serious, alternate history about a North American colonized by the Chinese instead of the Europeans, and _The Wild Blue and the Grey_, another alternate history about Indians from an independent state as pilots in World War I. Even more fortunate folk may have encountered some of Sanders' other work, published in a variety of categories.

Sanders has recently returned to writing SF, mostly in shorter forms. He has published such excellent stories as "Elvis Bearpaw's Luck", "The Undiscovered" (which was nominated for both the Nebula and the Hugo), and "Jennifer, Just Before Midnight". He has also published a new SF/Fantasy novel, _The Ballad of Billy Badass and the Rose of Turkestan_. Even more recently he has published a fine mystery, _Smoke_, and an excellent science fiction novel, _J._ -- both are very well worth finding.

This is a very fine contemporary fantasy, with an exciting story in the forefront, as well an involving love story, plenty of humor, and even a message. The message doesn't get in the way of the story: instead, the story supports the message, and the message is a passionately presented and definitely worth hearing.

The title characters are Billy Badwater, a Cherokee and a Gulf War veteran, and Janna Turonova, a doctor from Kazakhstan. Janna is in the US partly to alert people to the terrible environmental damage done in Kazakhstan by Soviet nuclear testing and toxic waste. Billy meets her at a powwow, and they fall in love. Soon Billy finds himself chasing this woman across the western U. S., and on a reservation in Nevada he finds evidence that much as the Soviets used the Asian people's land as dumping grounds and testing grounds, the U. S. has used Native American land in the same way. The fantasy element arises from a monster that is called forth by the toxic waste in Nevada. Billy, aided by Janna and some other friends, especially his dead Grandfather, is pushed to use Indian magic in battle against the monster. The story is exciting and involving throughout, and the love story is convincing and sexy.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cult Success That Deserves To Be Much More!, December 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ballad of Billy Badass and the Rose of Turkestan (Paperback)

At this moment there is no rhyme or reason to American publishing, no way of telling where the good and vital books are going to be appear. In a way that's frustrating. In another it's exciting. It makes it possible to have the sense of discovery that you get picking up and reading something like THE BALLAD OF BILLY BADASS AND THE ROSE OF TURKESTAN. It's a thriller and a love story. It utilizes Indian lore and science fiction. Set on Southwestern Reservations and in the seedier side of Las Vegas, BALLAD gives a chilling glimpse into the third world country that exists inside this nation. It's cult success is just about guaranteed. It deserves much more than that.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy more than one copy--it's so good, you'll want to share!, August 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ballad Of Billy Badass & the Rose of Turkestan (Paperback)

Billy Badwater is one of the most appealing fictional characters I've ever met. In fact, all of the characters in THE BALLAD OF BILLY BADASS AND THE ROSE OF TURKESTAN are so fully realized that the book is replete with major characters and rich lives that continue well beyond the page. There are almost no minor characters because any character that comes under Sanders' skillful pen for a couple of sentences springs to life by such adept description and wise choice of detail as to defy understanding of quite how the hell Sanders manages to invest so much in each character time after time.

The book wove the seriousness of its subject matter brilliantly with generous, laugh-out-loud humor. Grandfather has to be the sweetest dead curmudgeon in all of literature. I'll never look at a crow again without wishing that Grandfather would suddenly say something insulting from the crow's beak and ride on my shoulder for a few sarcastic miles.

A wonderful romance takes place in the midst of intense action that keeps gathering momentum and doesn't let go of its grip on the reader as the story avalanches down an unearthly mountain of terror and something eerily vulnerable and wholly of this world while being altogether unworldly rises to battle the threat of chaos with the frailest and most potent of powers.

Best of all, even better than the fabulous characters, the heartwarming romance, a dead grandfather anyone would love to posthumously adopt, and a kickass plot, best of all is the overall sustained level of incredibly terrific writing. It would be a disservice to merely call William Sanders a great writer because he surely deserves the appellation of one of the world's greatest living writers. Grandfather, if looking over my shoulder, would dryly remark "One of the greatest, dead or alive, for that matter." And Grandfather knows his stuff.