Frontier Earth [Paperback]

Bruce Boxleitner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2001

Best known for his role as Captain Sheridan on "Babylon 5," Bruce Boxleitner has created a brand new science fiction legend featuring a stranger-an alien from another world-in a strange land: the American West of the late 1800s.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Advanced space-humans and alien invaders go head-to-head in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881. (western fans will exclaim, Aha!) Macklin and Doris are descendants of the lost Roanoke colony, some of whom were rescued and taken into space by benevolent aliens of the multispecies Associative. As Monitors, they keep an eye on Earth, but when the predatory alien Kra'agh attack their ship, they crash, separately, on Earth. His memory lost, Macklin wanders into Tombstone, where he finds a room at the boardinghouse of kindly and attractive widow Sarah Nevers. Inevitably, he gets mixed up with the Earp brothers and their allies. Meanwhile, the two ghastly Kra'agh hunters (they can eat terrestrial life-forms and feed on pain and fear) kill some humans, absorb the contents of their brains, disguise themselves with projected illusions, and creep in pursuit. Naturally, they side with the Clanton gang. Doris finally catches up with Macklin and helps him remember what's going on, but his intelligent Companion is damaged and requires rare elements for repair. The Kra'agh, however, have destroyed the Monitors' Moon base and are poised to invade Earth. They try to trap Macklin at the OK Corral, playing their part in the historic shootout, then attack the boardinghouse and grab Sarah. Doris will attempt to rendezvous with an emergency pickup craft, while Macklin follows poor Sarah. First-novelist/actor Boxleitner (the Babylon 5 series, etc.) gives this oft-exploited scenario an organized, crisply delivered, and well-informed workout. Expect sequels. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Will please both science fiction and Western fans. -- BookBrowser

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ace (January 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441007945
• ISBN-13: 978-0441007943
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,317,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine blend of historical fact and sci fi, December 21, 1999

By 

Sonny Whitelaw "Sonny" (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frontier Earth (Hardcover)

Tombstone 1881; not the slightly gritty, visually septic Hollywood version, but a real, multi-layered tapestry of frontier life, where the gap separating the lawless from the law keepers is thin and murky. This is the well-researched backdrop for a science fiction story that would give Sigourney Weaver nightmares.

From the outset, we are thrust into a cat and mouse game. The predators are creatures who do not feed simply on human flesh, but feast, indeed savor, human terror. The prey is a man without a memory. But there's far more at stake that just his life...if only he could recall why.

At times, the reader is caught up in the events leading to the most famous showdown in American western history, the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Then changing gear, the unfolding drama is seen from the alien perspectives of hunter and hunted, both of whom are confused by human motivations and self-righteous, conflicting moralities.

Cocky and self-assured, caught up in their own unfolding drama, the human players have no comprehension that the very future of Earth is at stake as they head towards their own violent climax. A climax that without alien involvement, may have seen history written very differently....

The book is punctuated with a rich patina of sensations. Not simply visual, but visceral. The brutality of the aliens is described with imagery that reaches into our primitive hindbrain and shakes it uncomfortably. Yet we also see that some humans too, feed on terror and in many ways are as unprincipled as the most horrific of aliens our imaginations can conjure.

Read this one carefully to savor the tastes and textures of a well written, first book. I look forward to a sequel.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not just for die-hard Boxleitner fans!, November 22, 1999

By 

S. Sloan "xkalibr" (Ozarks (at the moment)) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frontier Earth (Hardcover)

The man really did it! This first novel gives us a taste of Harry Turtledove, with a dash of Stephen King, and a healthy dose of Mr. Boxleitner's wit, charm and experienced actor's sense of story. It is definitely a first novel AND a setup for a sequel so the exposition is sometimes too lengthy, in moments even diluting the suspense, BUT when it revs up, it really revs up and is well worth the read--looking forward to more from such a creative storyteller!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well researched, tightly written, November 22, 1999

By 

Robert E. Murphy (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frontier Earth (Hardcover)

Having just picked this book up, I was struck by the level of research that the author obviously performed to get the flavor and historical authenticity of the Tombstone area. The intensity of the Earp-Clanton feud his heightened by the behind the scenes death struggle between the Monitor and the Kra'agh.

This type of believeable alien is similar to those done by William H. Keith in his novels, and therefore it is no suprise to see Bill Keith acknowledged in the book.

I was forced to stay up far too late to finish this book. I hope there are more forthcoming, and more information on the Associatives, and the eerily dangerous Kra'agh.