{"id":2508,"date":"2013-08-14T08:30:23","date_gmt":"2013-08-14T08:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/?p=2508"},"modified":"2013-08-08T23:40:12","modified_gmt":"2013-08-08T23:40:12","slug":"rayguns-over-texas-preview-bradley-denton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2013\/08\/14\/rayguns-over-texas-preview-bradley-denton\/","title":{"rendered":"Rayguns Over Texas preview: Bradley Denton"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cover<\/a>

Cover by Rocky Kelley<\/p><\/div>\n

As we barrel toward the August 29 premiere of\u00a0Rayguns Over Texas\u00a0<\/em><\/a>at\u00a0LoneStarCon 3<\/a>\u00a0(aka the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention) in San Antonio, I am presenting book excerpts, one contributor per day.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s selection comes from Bradley Denton<\/a>‘s “La Bamba Boulevard.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One of the two reprinted stories in\u00a0Rayguns Over Texas<\/em>, Denton\u2019s lyrical piece\u00a0functions as an ideal companion to his\u00a0award-winning novel Buddy Holly is\u00a0Alive and Well<\/em> on Ganymede<\/em> as well as\u00a0stand alone tale of ghostly Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\u201cRitchie Valens, right?\u201d I said. \u201cNice job.\u201d I didn\u2019t have any cash\u00a0on me for a tip or a photo, but I thought the kid at least deserved a\u00a0compliment for authenticity.<\/p>\n

He smiled. \u201cHey, you recognized me!\u201d<\/p>\n

I smiled back. \u201cSure. And thank you for your offer, but I already\u00a0know where Buddy\u2019s star is going to be. All I meant was that you\u00a0received your star first. Have a good night, now.\u201d I started westward\u00a0toward Grauman\u2019s again.<\/p>\n

But the Ritchie character came with me, matching my stride, and\u00a0I grimaced. This was what I got for speaking to one of these jokers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, look at it this way,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cL.A. is my hometown. I\u00a0was born in Pacoima. So, you know, they had to honor the native son.\u00a0And it\u2019s not like they just gave it to me the moment I died. I had to\u00a0wait until 1990.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t say anything in reply, even though those were good points.<\/p>\n

\u201cBesides,\u201d Ritchie continued, \u201cisn\u2019t it cool that Buddy\u2019ll get his star\u00a0on his\u00a075th\u00a0birthday? Not a bad present, if you ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n

I still didn\u2019t respond. Maybe if I stayed quiet, he\u2019d get the message\u00a0and leave me alone.<\/p>\n

He moved closer to avoid colliding with a pack of young bucks in\u00a0sparkly suits, and the headstock of his Strat whapped me on the elbow.\u00a0It sent an electric jolt up to my right shoulder, and I flinched away,\u00a0which made my left shoulder ram into a No Parking sign.<\/p>\n

Now I was beyond annoyed. I glared at Ritchie and walked faster.<\/p>\n

But Ritchie, still smiling, sped up as well. \u201cYou\u2019re going to Buddy\u2019s\u00a0unveiling ceremony tomorrow, right?\u201d He didn\u2019t wait for me to answer.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s good. That means you\u2019ll get to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n

We had reached the sidewalk in front of Grauman\u2019s Chinese,\u00a0where Marilyn, Luke, Darth Vader, Bogie, and SpongeBob\u00a0Squarepants, among others, were all accosting passersby with\u00a0snappy, seductive patter and sporadic lightsaber battles. Meanwhile,\u00a0watching it all, Spider-Man was crouched atop a garbage can\u00a0chained to a lamppost.<\/p>\n

I stopped walking and looked at Ritchie.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I\u2019ll see Buddy\u2019s Walk of Fame star tomorrow, along with\u00a0everyone else,\u201d I said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll see Buddy. You guys only\u00a0come out at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritchie\u2019s eyes widened, and then he threw back his head and\u00a0laughed. It was loud and chiming, and it echoed back from the tall,\u00a0ornate facade of Grauman\u2019s. But no one else on the sidewalk seemed\u00a0to notice.<\/p>\n

I tried to step around him to get to the plaza in front of the theater\u00a0where all the movie stars had left their marks. But at that moment\u00a0Ritchie stopped laughing and swung the neck of his guitar to block\u00a0my way.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re wrong,\u201d he said then, his voice suddenly serious. \u201cYou\u2019ll see\u00a0Buddy tomorrow. You\u2019ll see him over and over again. In the flesh. I\u2019ll\u00a0make you a bet on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

I began glancing around for a police officer, but the only one I saw\u00a0in the milling crowd was RoboCop.<\/p>\n

All right, then. Maybe if I humored Ritchie, he\u2019d bug off. \u201cOkay,\u201d I\u00a0said. \u201cWhat\u2019s the bet?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritchie grinned. \u201cIf I\u2019m wrong, and you don\u2019t see Buddy, I\u2019ll play\u00a0any song you want as long as it\u2019s not \u2018La Bamba.\u2019 And if I\u2019m right,\u00a0you promise to do two things tomorrow before midnight: One must\u00a0be something new and different that you haven\u2019t done before, but\u00a0that you plan to do again. And the other must be something new\u00a0and different that you haven\u2019t done before, but that you\u2019ll never do\u00a0again. And I\u2019ll still play any song you want as long as it\u2019s not \u2018La\u00a0Bamba.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Excerpt from \u201cLa Bamba Boulevard\u201d \u00a9 2011 by Bradley Denton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we barrel toward the August 29 premiere of\u00a0Rayguns Over Texas\u00a0at\u00a0LoneStarCon 3\u00a0(aka the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention) in San Antonio, I am presenting book excerpts, one contributor per day. Today\u2019s selection comes from Bradley Denton‘s “La Bamba Boulevard.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-rayguns-over-texas"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n