by Daniel Xiao Wang

Created on: August 10, 2011

Hunter's Run, written by Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, and Daniel Abraham is a science fiction novel about Romon Espejo, a rough and rugged Mexican prospector that lives the colony of Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo is one of many such colonies, scattered across the stars.

Humanity established colonies on various planets with the aid and assistance of a sentiment alien race, the Silver Enye. The Silver Enye were only one of several sentient alien species that humanity had come into contact with.

Ramon Espejo is drinking at a local bar, the El Rey, and gets into a bar fight with a European Ambassador. As Ramon says later in the novel, the Ambassador simply “didn't know it was knife fight.” Ramon kills him in the alley.

Desperate to escape the law Ramon decides to leave civilization behind for a little while and go prospecting. The local authorities, for their part, are desperate to catch and prosecute someone for the crime- anyone- because the Silver Enye are arriving on the planet soon and they want to maintain a semblance of law and order before the alien visit.

Ramon is certain on this run, as he is certain on every run, that this will be the “big one” the one where he finds a rich mineral load and becomes rich himself. As he is traveling he notices something peculiar in the rock formations and decides to investigate. He sets a charge, but when it goes off he finds much more than he bargained for.

For hiding on that planet is yet another sentient alien race that has been hiding from the Silver Enye for hundreds of years. By finding them Ramon threatens the safety of an entire alien race. They can't allow him to expose their secret. But discovering a new and bizarre alien race is only the tip of the iceberg for Ramon, things are about to get a lot more complicated.

Hunter's Run is a hard core science fiction story full of alien races and species, new alien words and concepts, and strange alien behaviors. It will appeal to fans of strong science fiction and those that enjoy a story full of alien milieu and new discoveries.

There are also deep philosophical currents in the story, including the reoccurring question, “under what conditions do you kill?” The rough and calloused exterior that Ramon shows throughout the novel is not the only emotion dictating what he does, and he must often remind himself that he is “Ramon Espejo, a though sonofabitch.” But, who IS Ramon Espejo really? And is this man him?

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