{"id":2544,"date":"2013-08-19T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/?p=2544"},"modified":"2013-08-15T15:43:25","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T20:43:25","slug":"rayguns-over-texas-preview-aaron-allston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2013\/08\/19\/rayguns-over-texas-preview-aaron-allston\/","title":{"rendered":"Rayguns Over Texas preview: Aaron Allston"},"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 Aaron Allston<\/a>‘s\u00a0\u201cDefenders of Beeman County.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A government agent comes to\u00a0a rural Texas community to check on\u00a0unusual energy readings, in Aaron Allston’s story\u00a0straight out of the Twilight Zone.<\/p>\n

At Ayers\u2019 insistence, they took two cars, the sheriff\u2019s department\u00a0cruiser and Ayers\u2019 sleek black limousine. They drove out past the\u00a0city limits, the transition from houses and mowed lawns to dry scrub\u00a0land a sudden one, then headed north on a back road.<\/p>\n

Ayers glared ahead through the haze of summer dust the\u00a0sheriff\u2019s wheels kicked up from the gravel road. Cothron drove too\u00a0fast, making sharp turns, catching air on bumps and rises, all the\u00a0maneuvers more demanding than was good for the limousine. Ayers\u00a0wasn\u2019t in the mood to skid off the road into rocks and tarantula nests\u00a0and sheep crap.<\/p>\n

He very much looked forward to killing the sheriff.<\/p>\n

They left the gravel road to turn west onto Bull Dog Run, a rutted\u00a0dirt track. A few hundred yards past the turnoff, with no buildings\u00a0nor Sandstone Hollow in sight, the sheriff\u2019s car pulled off to the side\u00a0and stopped.<\/p>\n

Ayers pulled up behind it. Cothron had already exited his vehicle\u00a0and was heading off on foot across dry terrain toward a scattering\u00a0of pumpjack oil wells \u2014 equipment that looked like a mad welder\u00a0had attempted to create impressionistic sculptures of giant brown<\/span>
\ngrasshoppers.<\/p>\n

Ayers hit the button to lower his passenger-side window. Hot air\u00a0washed in across him. \u201cWhat\u2019s the holdup, sheriff?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGotta pee. Bladder the size of a marble. Be right back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayers rolled the window up and glowered after the sheriff.<\/p>\n

Cothron walked perhaps fifty yards off the road, stood with his\u00a0back to the cars, unzipped, and then stood with his hands on his hips.\u00a0Ayers looked around, impatient. There were no people to be seen\u00a0in any direction, no movement at all other than the slow bobbing of
\nsome of the pumpjacks.<\/p>\n

A few moments later, Cothron zipped up again. But he didn\u2019t turn\u00a0around to return. He bent over to examine something on the ground.\u00a0He turned, saw Ayers looking, and waved the Washington man over.<\/p>\n

Shaking his head, Ayers left the comfort of his car and walked\u00a0to the pee site. \u201cGet your ass back in your car, Cothron. Whatever\u2019s\u00a0going on here isn\u2019t relevant to my assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to crap yourself when you realize how relevant it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cothron jabbed a finger toward the ground before him. \u201cTake a look\u00a0at that<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayers moved up beside him and looked. All he saw was a patch of\u00a0once-dusty ground, now spattered with liquid, rapidly drying out to\u00a0become dusty again. \u201cI\u2019m missing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s okay, I don\u2019t miss anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Ayers heard it, the sound of metal clearing leather, and felt a\u00a0handgun barrel pressed hard into the side of his head.<\/p>\n

Ayers cleared his throat. \u201cSheriff \u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Excerpt from\u00a0\u201cDefenders of Beeman County\u201d \u00a9 2013 by Aaron Allston.<\/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 Aaron Allston‘s\u00a0\u201cDefenders of Beeman County.\u201d<\/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-2544","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