Hong on the Range
- ISBN-10
- 1370695640
- ISBN-13
- 9781370695645
- Category
- Young Adult Fiction
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Boruma Publishing
- Author
- William F. Wu
Description
In this science fiction satire of westerns, after the American West was destroyed in a series of biological disasters, rebuilding it is a lot like building it in the first place, but there are crucial differences. For example, new, partly mechanical cattle with computer brains are called steerites. They speak and sing a lot more than the original steers. Most of the cowboys, outlaws, and lawmen are partly mechanical, too, except for those few humans called control-naturals. That group has to keep all their original equipment, just like the original cowboys. Louie Hong is one of those control-naturals, and life isn't easy for him. Most folks look down on a man who doesn't have at least one bionic hand. Yet Louie Hong is determined to make his way in the new Wild West. All Hong has to do is explain to the bounty hunters who are after him for robbing a bank, and the outlaw gang that is after him for stealing the loot, that he hadn't done any of it. With a little bit of luck, and the help of Chuck, his steerite companion, Hong hopes to find a home on the range that nobody can take away—not outlaws, not bounty hunters, not cyborgs, not even singing steerites. In Hong on the Range, William F. Wu has returned to the high-tech Wild West world of his Hugo and Nebula Award finalist short story, "Hong's Bluff," and written a rousing, funny science fiction saga complete with cyborg cowboys and outlaws. It is an exciting and witty subgenre of science fiction: The cyber western. This novel was chosen by the American Library Association, Booklist, and the Library Journal for their recommended and best of the year lists. ~~~~~ Excerpt ~~~~~ First I could only see that something large was displacing the tall buffalo grass ahead. Then I reached the spot and found a steerite lying down with his steel legs neatly folded underneath him. They gleamed silver in the sun and his hinged metal tail swished back and forth, its brush swatting the flies that buzzed around the natural hide of his meaty, biological middle. As I pulled my battered hat off by the brim and squinted at the steerite, he turned his steel bovine head toward me, short horns and all. "Hi, there," I said. "Hello," he answered pleasantly. He had been programmed with excellent enunciation and a trace of a Boston accent. "Good day to you. Where are you bound?" I untied my red bandana and wiped off my forehead with it. "I'm going to Femur to look for a job. Pardon my asking, but ... have you lost your herd? What are you doing here?" "I am merely waiting. Have I lost my herd? More accurately, my herd has been rustled." "Rustled?" "I dutifully escaped. None of my comrades succeeded in this endeavor. Since our trail crew ran off, I have no trail boss to whom I must report. Nor am I honor bound to join the herd after it has been rustled." I nodded toward the mark stamped onto the shining metal base of his tail, where it extended from his natural hindquarters. "Waiting for what? You still have your serial number." "Oh, yes. I am fully programmed and ready to report to any authority who can restore me to my legal owner." "Who's that?" "I don't know. We get basic programming for herding, pasturing, and speech, but little precise data. Of course, we can accumulate information as we go, but no one ever told me the owner's name or where to locate him." "I guess the trail crew was supposed to get you there?” "Indeed they were, those cowardly louts." He lowered his head modestly. "I am led to believe that my mechanical parts are quite expensive. Not to mention my beef."
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Lovely
By Jess HongLovely explores a world of differences that all add up to the same thing: we are all lovely! A celebration of diversity, Lovely shows how we're all beautiful, lovable, and full of love -- lovely!
-
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
By Cathy Park HongTo read this book is to become more human.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen In development as a television series starring and adapted by Greta Lee • One of Time’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year • Named One of the Best ...
-
Rings Related to Stable Range Conditions
By Huanyin ChenR.H. Herman and L.N. Vaserstein, The stable range of C∗-algebras, Invent. ... C.Y. Hong; N.K. Kim; T.K. Kwak and Y. Lee, On weak π-regularity of rings whose prime ideals are maximal, J. Pure Appl. Algebra, 146(2000), 35–44.
-
Hong's Bluff
By William F. WuIn this light-hearted, futuristic Wild West, Louie Hong, the young, all-human cousin of a cyborg gunfighter known as “the Hong,” just wants to survive—and earn his cousin’s respect.
-
Two of Everything
By Lily Toy HongWhen old Mr. Haktak digs up a curious brass pot in his garden, he has no idea what use it can be.
-
Understanding Maxine Hong Kingston
By Julia H LeeThis is exemplified in her first book, The Woman Warrior, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction, a bestseller, and a staple on college and university syllabi.
-
Long-Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer
By Beau DureKorean defender Hong Myung Bo and former MLS MVP Alex Pineda Chacon. Carlos Ruiz was still scoring goals; Kevin Hartman was still stopping them. But the Galaxy would struggle all season to get back to form. The Home Depot Center helped ...
-
The Taiji Government and the Rise of the Warrior State: The Formation of the Qing Imperial Constitution
By Lhamsuren Munkh-ErdeneBy 1630, Ligdan's territory reached the Greater Khinggan Range to the east, while it extended beyond the Yellow River to the west. According to Hong Taiji's previously mentioned letter, by August 16, 1631, Ligdan moved from Qurgan Qaya ...
-
Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World: What China’s Crackdown Reveals About Its Plans to End Freedom Everywhere
By Mark L. CliffordA powerful and dramatic mix of history and on-the-ground reporting, this book is the definitive account of one of the most important geopolitical standoffs of our time.
-
Modulation in Electronics and Telecommunications
By George Dekoulis2016;52:253-259 [59] Hong B, Hajimiri A. A general theory of injection locking and pulling in electrical oscillators—Part II: Amplitude ... In: locking range in injection-locked IEEE Transactions on Circuits and frequency dividers.