Shikari in Galveston

Infobox short story |
name = Shikari in Galveston
title_orig =
translator =
author = S. M. Stirling
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = alternate history, steampunk, post-apocalyptic fiction
published_in = "Worlds That Weren't"
publication_type = Anthology
publisher = Roc Books
pub_date = 2003
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
pages =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Shikari in Galveston" is an alternate history short story written by S. M. Stirling. It is a prequel to "The Peshawar Lancers".

Plot introduction

"Shikari in Galveston" takes place in Texas a century after a meteor shower devastated North America and Europe. The disaster led to a society in Texas that has evolved into a mixture of Native American and European society. The British Empire, or the Angrezi Raj, has been expanding its influence into the area using Galveston as a base.

Plot summary

British cavalry officer Eric King, is assembling a hunting party which includes the revenge seeking Sonjuh, who lost her family to the cannibals and Robre, a young hunter of the Cross Plains tribe who hopes to earn a rare rifle from King. Meanwhile Russian agents plan to incite a tribe of cannibals to destroy the British allied tribes of former Texas.

"Why Then, There"

Accompanying "Shikari in Galveston" in "Worlds That Weren't" was an afterword by Stirling entitled "Why Then, There". Stirling makes it clear that he uses alternate history to write adventure fiction in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard, fiction that can no longer be set in the explored, post-colonial world.

Characters in "Shikari in Galveston"

Robre is inspried by Robert E. Howard. [cite web |url=http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20021209/worlds.shtml |title=Worlds That Weren't: A Definitive Anthology of Alternate History? |accessdate=2008-10-03 |author=Cynthia Ward |date=12/09/2002 |work=Book Review |publisher=Strange Horizons]

Literary significance and reception

Rick Kleffel called the story "fascinating and thought-provoking" and described an action scene a "reader's equivalent of a wild thrill sequence from great popcorn movie", but complained about the language making the story difficult to read. [cite web |url=http://www.trashotron.com/agony/reviews/turtledove-worlds.htm |title=Worlds That Weren't Review |accessdate=2008-10-03 |author=Rick Kleffel |date=2002 |work= |publisher=Agony Column] The Strange Horizons declared the story "succeeds in delivering action-packed adventure and hair's-breadth escapes" but stated the novel ended too soon and read more like a compact version of a novel. Steven H. Silver commented that the story reads like a Haggard set in unexplored African continent but stated that Stirling focuses on the world and the technology rather than the characters. [cite web |url=http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/gilman.html |title=WORLDS THAT WEREN'T |accessdate=2008-10-03 |author=Steven Silver |date= |work=Book Review |publisher=SF Site]

Publication history

"Shikari in Galveston" was originally published in 2003 in the alternate history anthology "Worlds That Weren't" which included stories by Harry Turtledove, Mary Gentle, and Walter John Williams.cite web |url=http://www.uchronia.net/bib.cgi/label.html?id=gilmworlds |title=Gilman, Laura Anne (ed.). Worlds that Weren't |accessdate=2008-10-03 |author= |date= |work= |publisher=Uchronia]

References

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=5RjgaVzMrNQC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&dq=Stirling+%22The+Peshawar+Lancers%22&source=web&ots=7iAF_2D3h6&sig=bwGaGvXCD0FG9xwI1ZZbJrDPp_o&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result "Worlds That Weren't" on Google Books] - includes "Shikari in Galveston"
* [http://hem.bredband.net/b104699/books/peshawar/shikari.html Sample section on author's wesite]
*isfdb name|id=Shikari_in_Galveston|name=Shikari in Galveston