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Summary
Summary
Like so many others, Ram#65533;n Espejo ran from the poverty and hopelessness of the Third World to the promise of a new world--joining a host of like-minded workers and dreamers aboard one of the great starships of the mysterious, repulsive Enye. But the life he found on the far-off planet of S#65533;o Paulo was no better than the one he had abandoned.
Tough, volatile, and angry--a luckless prospector hoping for that one rich strike that will make him wealthy--Ram#65533;n is content only when on his own out in the bush, far from the dirty, loud, bustling hive of humanity that he detests with sociopathic fervor. Then one night his rage and too much alcohol get the better of him, resulting in sudden bloodshed and a high-profile murder. Ram#65533;n is forced to flee into the wilderness for however long it will take for the furor to die down.
Here, mercifully, almost happily alone, Ram#65533;n is once again free. But while searching for his long-elusive lode, he stumbles upon something completely unexpected: a highly advanced alien race in hiding; fugitives like himself on a world not their own. Suddenly in possession of a powerful, dangerous secret, Ram#65533;n must battle for his freedom from alien captors and also against the hostile and unpredictable planet. And so the chase begins.
Police, fugitive aliens, and a human murderer weave a web of shifting alliances as Ram#65533;n enters the greatest manhunt the alien world of S#65533;o Paulo has ever known. If he is to survive, Ram#65533;n must overcome inscrutable aliens and deadly predators, but his greatest enemy is himself. With every move in the desperate game, he struggles to outwit his enemies and solve the mystery of a murder he himself committed.
A rip-roaring adventure tale and character study of a fascinating and twisted mind, Hunter's Run showcases three masters of the form at their best.
Author Notes
George R. R. Martin was born on September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey. He began writing at an early age, selling monster stories for pennies to neighborhood children. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Journalism from Northwestern University. In 1986, he worked as a story editor for the CBS series The Twilight Zone. He was also an executive story consultant, producer and co-supervising producer for CBS's Beauty and the Beast.
In 1970, he sold the story The Hero to Galaxy magazine. Since becoming a full-time writer in 1979, he has written many novels, stories, and series including A Song for Lya, Portraits of His Children, The Pear-Shaped Man, and the Song of Ice and Fire series. He has won numerous awards including five Locus Awards, three Hugo Awards and two Nebula awards. In 2013 he made The New York Times Best Seller List with his titles A Dance with Dragons and A Game of Thrones: a Clash of Kings, a Storm of Swords, a Feast for Crows. His title's Rogues and The Ice Dragon made the New York Times List in 2014. Martin's title, A Knight of Seven Kingdoms, A Song of Fire and Ice novel, made the New York Times bestseller list in 2015. He is number 4 on the Hollywood Reporter's '25 Most Powerful Authors' 2016 list.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Martin (Song of Ice and Fire series), Dozois (Strange Days) and Abraham (A Shadow in Summer) revisit classic themes of exploration, exploitation and what it means to be human in this gritty SF adventure. Humanity has finally reached the stars, only to find that all the best spots have been claimed by other races-the Silver Enye, Turu, Cian and others. Human colonists serve as world-building crash-test dummies, dropped onto empty planets deemed too dangerous or inconvenient for other races, "to pave over whatever marvels and threats evolution had put there." On the misbegotten colony planet of Sao Paulo, ore prospector Ramon Espejo has no illusions, especially about how the Enye view humanity. Then Ramon murders the wrong man in a drunken fight and takes off into the wastelands to avoid the Enye authorities. Once in the outback, he discovers he's not the only one trying to hide from the Enye-and that the deadly cat-lizards called chupacabras are far from the worst dangers on Sao Paulo. This tightly written novel, with its memorable protagonist and intriguing extrapolation, delivers on all levels. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Ramon Espejo is a prospector on a world settled by Latin America's and the Caribbean's poorest, trying to make fortunes or at least better lives than they had on Earth. During preparations for arrival of the aliens who helped the venture this far, Ramon makes a potentially fatal mistake. In the wild, running from political fallout and hoping to profit while he's at it, he blasts a hole in a mountain and finds aliens, not the ones humanity has bargained with since it started space travel but stranger, more secretive ones, who use Ramon to deal with a particularly thorny problem his discovery has unearthed. Ramon and his alien captor journey across the often dangerous, unexplored planet, chasing a man who observed them to keep their secret from the rest of the populace. As Ramon learns what the aliens hadn't been forthcoming about, and as he begins to see them as something other than just enemies, things get messier. A gripping, thoughtful adventure about the other and how it changes people and takes on new meanings.--Schroeder, Regina Copyright 2007 Booklist
Guardian Review
Ramon Espejo, low-life prospector in a colony world, kills a man in a bar brawl and goes on the run, heading into the vast uncharted interior in the hope of locating a long hoped-for mineral deposit. Instead, he uncovers a subterranean alien dwelling and is attacked for his troubles. He awakes to find himself a prisoner of the aliens, shackled to a minder by an umbilical link and used to hunt down a fellow-human. As Ramon and the alien proceed through the wilderness, Ramon is forced into a journey of survival and self-discovery. The authors keep the alien intrigue in the background and concentrate on the human element. A compelling action adventure story, Hunter's Run is also a penetrating study of an alienated, unattractive individual compelled, quite literally, to look at himself and make life-changing decisions. Eric Brown's latest novel is Helix (Solaris). To order these titles with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0870 836 0875. Caption: article-septscifi.4 Ramon Espejo, low-life prospector in a colony world, kills a man in a bar brawl and goes on the run, heading into the vast uncharted interior in the hope of locating a long hoped-for mineral deposit. Instead, he uncovers a subterranean alien dwelling and is attacked for his troubles. - Eric Brown.
Library Journal Review
Ramon Espejo wakes in darkness, without clothes, without memories, until, little by little, his past returns. He is a prospector on the colony planet of Sao Paolo, ruled by the alien Enye. He also remembers a bloody knife, a corpse, and flight from the law--and gradually realizes that he is both hunter and hunted. Martin ("Song of Ice and Fire" series), award-winning sf editor Gardner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham (A Shadow in Summer) combine their talents in this tale of one man's search for his own humanity in a universe of diminishing returns. A good choice for fans of hard sf. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Hunter's Run Chapter One Ramón Espejo lifted his chin, daring his opponent to strike. The crowd that filled the alleyway behind the ramshackle bar called the El Rey formed a ring, bodies pressing against each other in the tension between coming close enough to see and retreating to a safe distance. Their voices were a mixture of shouts urging the two men to fight and weak, insincere exhortations to make peace. The big man bobbing and weaving across the narrow circle from him was a pale European, his cheeks flushed red from liquor, his wide, soft hands balled into fists. He was taller than Ramón, with a greater reach. Ramón could see the man's eyes shifting, as wary of the crowd as of Ramón. "Come on, pendejo ," Ramón said, grinning. His arms were raised and spread, as if he were ready to embrace the fighter. "You wanted power. Come have a taste of it." The shifting LEDs of the bar's signs turned the night blue and red and amber in turn. Far above them all, the night sky shone with countless stars too bright and close for the lights of Diegotown to drown. The constellation of the Stone Man stared down at them as they circled, a single star smoldering balefully like a red eye, as if it was watching, as if it was urging them on. "I ought to do it, you ugly little greaser!" the European spat. "I ought to go ahead and kick your skinny ass!" Ramón only bared his teeth and motioned the man nearer. The European wanted this to be a talking fight again, but it was too late for that. The voices of the crowd merged into a single waterfall roar. The European made his move, graceless as a falling tree; the great left fist made its slow way through the air, moving as though through molasses. Ramón stepped inside the swing, letting the gravity knife slip from his sleeve into his hand. He flicked the blade open in the same motion that brought his fist against the larger man's belly. A look of almost comical surprise crossed the European's face. His breath went out of him with a whoof . Ramón stabbed twice more, fast and hard, twisting the knife just to be sure. He was close enough to smell the nose-tingling reek of the flowery cologne the man wore, to feel his licorice-scented breath panting against his face. The crowd went silent as the European slipped to his knees and then sat, legs spread, in the filthy muck of the alley. The big, soft hands opened and closed aimlessly, slick with blood that turned pale when the LEDs were red, black when the light shifted blue. The European's mouth gaped open, and blood gushed out over his teeth. Slowly, very slowly, seeming to move in slow motion, he toppled sideways to the ground. Kicked his feet, heels drumming the ground. Was still. Someone in the crowd uttered an awed obscenity. Ramón's shrill, self-satisfied pleasure faded. He looked at the faces of the crowd--wide eyes, mouths open in little surprised O's. The alcohol in his blood seemed to thin, sobriety floating to the top of his mind. A sinking sense of betrayal possessed him--these people had been pushing him on, encouraging the fight. And now they were abandoning him for winning it! "What?" Ramón shouted to the other patrons of the El Rey. "You heard what he was saying! You saw what he did!" But the alley was emptying. Even the woman who'd been with the European, the one who had started it all, was gone. Mikel Ibrahim, the manager of the El Rey, lumbered toward him, his great bear-like face the image of patient, saintly suffering. He held out his wide hand. Ramón lifted his chin again, thrust out his chest, as if Mikel's gesture was an insult. The manager only sighed and shook his head slowly back and forth, and made a pulling gesture with his fingers. Ramón curled his lip, half turned away, then slapped the handle of the knife into the waiting palm. "Police are coming," the manager warned. "You should go home, Ramón." "You saw what happened," Ramón said. "No, I wasn't here when it happened," Mikel said. "And neither were you , eh? Now go home. And keep your mouth shut." Ramón spat on the ground and stalked into the night. It wasn't until he began to walk that he understood how drunk he was. At the canal by the plaza, he squatted down, leaned back against a tree, and waited until he was sure he could walk without listing. Around him, Diegotown spent its week's wages on alcohol and kaafa kyit and sex. Music tumbled in from the rough gypsy houseboats on the canal; fast, festive accordion mixing with trumpets and steel drums and the shouts of the dancers. Somewhere in the darkness, a tenfin was calling mournfully, a "bird" that was really a flying lizard, and sounded uncannily like a woman sobbing in misery and despair, something that had led the superstitious Mexican peasants who made up a large percentage of the colony's population to say that La Llorona , the Crying Woman, had crossed the stars with them from Mexico and now wandered the night of this new planet, crying not only for all the children who'd been lost and left behind on Earth, but for all the ones who would die on this hard new world. He, of course, didn't believe in such crap. But as the ghostly crying accelerated to a heartbreaking crescendo, he couldn't help but shiver. Alone, Ramón could regret stabbing the European; surely it would have been enough just to punch him around, humiliate him, slap him like a bitch? But when Ramón was drunk and angry, he always went too far. Ramón knew that he shouldn't have drunk so much, and that whenever he got around people, it always seemed to end like this. He'd begun his evening with . . . Hunter's Run . Copyright © by George Martin. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Hunter's Run by George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Daniel Abraham All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
