Systemic Shock

Author: Dean Ing

Ted Quantrill is a freak: he fastest gun in the West (and probably the world). After the total collapse of Russia, India and China band together (unlikely, I know, but this is fiction) and try to nuke the US out of existence. It works, partially, and what's left habitable of the US has turned into a post-apocalyptic Wild West, with a fanatical religious government reigning over it. In order to survive, Quantrill does whatever it takes. If that involves hunting down the enemies of the government, so be it. And he's good at it. 'A Western in SF disguise,' you say? Hell, yes, but this one, comes from the pen of a master of the hard-boiled action flick. And Ing doesn't hold back on the implied social commentary either, with little patience for the theocracy-potential he might have seen developing in the US. (Is he wrong? Not!) Still, the focus is on the development of a young man with a lethal talent and a suspended conscience, who needs a serious shakabuku in order to wake up from his trance and find his soul. And when he gets it, have some pity with his enemies. Why it's on the list: Because it's such unmitigated solid fun. The story continues over two sequels: Single Combat and Wild Country. Read if you like: Action, SF-Westerns and some solid dystopian visualization, without it degenerating into zombie-world.