The Sky-Riders

By Mike Allen and Paul Dellinger

Alistair Jones is a ex-Pinkerton agent roaming the West in search of work. Amy Dunston is an angry widow searching for answers. Who knows what those men with matching mustaches and bowler hats are searching for, but Alistair and Amy would both like to know why there are so many of them, why they all look alike, and why they're impervious to bullets -- at least until they met the business end of Alistair's .52-caliber 1874-pattern Sharps rifle. It could take down a buffalo with one shot, and it worked on those Bowlers, too.

 

But Alistair's gun and Amy's quick thinking might not be enough. Scientist Hiram Wilson's newfangled solar-and-steam-powered airship has brought an army of those bowler-wearing varmints out of the woodwork, and destroying Hiram's invention is just the beginning of their terrifying plan for our planet.

 

A vintage Western meets an alien invasion straight out of the golden age of science fiction and adds a chaser of steampunk in The Sky-Riders, a new novelette from Southwest Virginia authors Paul Dellinger (Mr. Lazarus) and Mike Allen (Unseaming).

 

Paul's stories have appeared in Fantastic Stories, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and numerous DAW anthologies. Mike is a Nebula, Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy award finalist. The two have been friends for decades, but this is their first collaboration. 

 

Cover by Orion Zangara and Derek L. Chase.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mythic Delirium Books
• Release date: Jan 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781507068472

Mike Allen

Mike S. Allen, a graduate of Harding University with a degree in print journalism, has written articles for newspapers and military publications. He has also spoken to a number of churches around the world as a part-time youth minister, full-time assistant minister, and regular ol' church member. He is a husband, father, and friend who enjoys working and living in the Washington, DC metropolitan area (except during rush hour).

Book preview

The Sky-Riders

Paul Dellinger & Mike Allen

Mythic Delirium Books

The Sky-Riders

Copyright © 2015 by Paul Dellinger and Mike Allen. 

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover © 2015 by Orion Zangara (http://orionzangara.com/) and Derek L. Chase (http://www.dereklchase.com/)

This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, locations, and events portrayed in this book are fictional or used in an imaginary manner to entertain, and any resemblance to any real people, situations, or incidents is purely coincidental.

Published by Mythic Delirium Books

mythicdelirium.com

Table of Contents

One: The Oddest Sight

Two: A Gang of Look-alikes

Three: Warnings

Four: Down in Flames

A Note from the Authors

About the Authors

One: The Oddest Sight

Alistair Jones pulled his gray gelding to a halt, rising in his stirrups to peer down into a valley at what must be the oddest sight this part of the world had seen since John Wesley Hardin caught his pistol in his suspenders trying to outdraw a Texas Ranger.

Dusty, just what the hell is that? he asked the horse. Dusty’s eyes had widened and his nostrils flared, but he ventured no opinion.

Man and horse stared down at what looked to be a gigantic gray hump jouncing along behind a ridge. Jones might have thought it to be some hitherto unclassified frontier animal, even though he figured the American frontier had been pretty well explored by now, three years before the 19th century would be relegated to the history books. But the two rows of metallic wheel-like objects on thick poles along its sides, glowing and steaming in the northeastern Texas sunlight, had to be man-made. Whatever those were, Jones knew they were nothing birthed by nature.

He kept gawking as the ridge ahead of the behemoth began to dip and it moved more into the open. Now he could make out more of its shape. It reminded him of a colossal pillow, or maybe a fat monster cigar, its sides seeming to breathe in and out as though maybe it really was alive. But then the ridge dropped further and a wagon came into view beneath the thing, if you could call it a wagon. It had wheels, three sets of them, and was longer than any wagon he’d ever seen. It was being pulled by a team of only six mules, so its burden couldn’t be as heavy as its size would indicate.

Those mules were moving at a pretty good clip, but Jones saw they would have to stop soon because the valley was narrowing and they were running out of space. Apparently the driver realized this at the same time as Jones, because he could now see the man, dwarfed by the size of the wagon, hauling back on the reins and applying the brake with his foot. Jones saw three other men jump down from the wagon and take cover in the rocks around it.

Then Jones saw why they had been in a hurry.

A half-dozen riders emerged from behind the ridge in obvious pursuit and, at least from this distance, it seemed to Jones that they all looked alike. For one thing, they all seemed rather rotund in their matching black coats and trousers. Even from up here, he could see that they all wore black bowler hats — not that those were uncommon, having been the hat of choice for celebrated westerners from Bat Masterson to Billy the Kid, but it seemed funny that this