Description:

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.

Review

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

"Babylon 5"'s Captain Sheridan, Bruce Boxleitner, has crafted his own science fiction legend in this terrific new series. The enigmatic gunman known as Macklin continues his quest across the 19th-century American West to fulfill his purpose on Earth: preventing the invasion of a sinister predatory race of aliens.

**

From Publishers Weekly

Babylon 5 star Boxleitner beats the odds in this entertaining sequel to his first novel, Frontier Earth. Not only does this clever SF/western hybrid feature better pacing and characterizations (among them, Cissy, a plainspoken "soiled dove," and two articulate Apaches), but Boxleitner's rock-solid plotting drives home the old alien vs. human story by contrasting it with the Apache-white man conflicts in Arizona, circa 1882. The returning hero, Macklin, an Associative Monitor Corps member, is helping to protect a human society still in its formative stages from a predatory race known as the Kra'agh, savage, smelly aliens who want to turn Earth into their very own supermarket. During his first adventure on Earth, culminating at the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, a partially amnesiac Macklin loses his fellow Monitor, Dorree, who leaves him to fight the Kra'agh alone while she seeks help off world. After a stint as an Earp gunslinger, Macklin feels more like a cowboy than a Monitor sworn to watch over primitive worlds. Later adventures lead him out of Tombstone to Tucson and eventually to Apache Peak and a sacred Apache mountain site, which also happens to contain the first alien hive for Kra'agh invasion forces. By humorously skewing western legends and showing respect for history by exercising restraint where he should, such as in his depiction of the Sunrise Ceremony/Gift of Changing Woman, Boxleitner succeeds in making this series one to watch with anticipation.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

...an honest and largely successful effort to convey a sense of both time and place...grand story on a galactic scale. -- OffTheShelf

A fantastic read...a whole lotta fun. -- Mainframe

Mr. Boxleitner shows a deft touch that will lead to readers wanting more novels in this universe. -- BookBrowser