Outlaw Galaxy: Hunter's Truth and Other Tales

By Bill Smith

Outlaw Galaxy: Hunter's Truth and Other Tales (Outlaw Galaxy 3, short story collection) Five short stories filled with the adventure and wonder of the Outlaw Galaxy universe. About 18,500 words or 53 pages, reading time: one hour. Stories in this collection are: * "Hunter's Truth." There's more to being a bounty hunter than capturing a target. * "Just Names and Dates." A young woman gets a history lesson that she'll never forget. * "A Glorious Enterprise." A fleet of colony ships sets out to tame a planet full of riches. * "Three Simple Questions." Whatever happened to Diamond Black Joe after Outlaw Galaxy 1: Trip and the Space Pirates? * "Hopes, Dreams, Fears." Trip thinks back to the adventures of Outlaw Galaxy 1: Trip and the Space Pirates. * From Bill Smith, author of Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels and Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bill Smith
• Release date: Jan 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370072439

Bill Smith

Bill Smith -- www.BillSmithBooks.com or www.OutlawGalaxy.com -- is the author of the Outlaw Galaxy series of space adventure stories, as well as the author of Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels (Del Rey Books), Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology (Del Rey Books) and Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition (West End Games). He lives in the foothills of New York's Adirondack Mountains and when not dreaming up stories of thrilling space fantasy, he can often be found at the local stock car tracks watching cars go around in a circle real fast. Visit his blog at BillSmithWeb.com or BillSmithBooks.blogspot.com

Book preview

Outlaw Galaxy 3: Hunter's Truth and Other Tales

by Bill Smith

www.BillSmithBooks.com

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010; Ebook edition published 2017 by Bill Smith

Outlaw Galaxy: Hunter's Truth and Other Tales

(Outlaw Galaxy 3, short story collection) Five short stories filled with the adventure and wonder of the Outlaw Galaxy universe!

Cover art by Charles Smith.

New Outlaw Galaxy Stories!

There are always new Outlaw Galaxy novels and stories coming out.

Please check your favorite ebook store for the latest Outlaw Galaxy stories or visit the author at BillSmithBooks.com or OutlawGalaxy.com to get the latest news and story previews.

Just some of the Outlaw Galaxy books available now:

Outlaw Galaxy: Trip and the Space Pirates (Outlaw Galaxy 1, stand-alone novel)

Outlaw Galaxy: Fugitive Among the Stars (Outlaw Galaxy 2, stand-alone novel)

Outlaw Galaxy: Hunter's Truth and Other Tales (Outlaw Galaxy 3, short story collection)

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Disclaimer

This Outlaw Galaxy book is a work of fiction (obviously).

Any resemblance between the fictional characters in this book and actual, real world cyborgs, aliens, or persons (living, dead, or undead) is purely coincidental. Locations and events depicted in this book, including alien worlds, cursed ancient treasures, and deep space battles, exist mostly in the author's imagination. Mostly.

No robots, genetically-engineered beasties, or magically-conjured entities were harmed in the writing of this book.

License Statement

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment.

If you know other people who would enjoy this book or others in the Outlaw Galaxy series, please direct them to their favorite ebook store, where they can read a sample and purchase their own copy.

This author expressly gives permission to make personal backup copies and to format shift for personal use.

As a small, independent author-publisher, every reader and every sale really matters! Your support and patronage is greatly appreciated!

Thank you for reading!

BillSmithBooks, Outlaw Galaxy, Outlaw Galaxy Tales, and Imagination Forge are trademarks of Bill Smith.

Table of Contents

In the Distant Future ...

Foreword

Hunter's Truth

A Glorious Enterprise

Hopes, Dreams, Fears

Just Names and Dates

Three Simple Questions

Chapter 1 * Penal Asteroid Sigurna D-162, at the Edge of the Capessia System

Chapter 2 * Diamond Black Joe's Story

Chapter 3 * Three Simple Questions

About the Author

A Note from Bill Smith

Other Outlaw Galaxy Adventures

In the Distant Future...

It is a time of legends and myths, of technology and magic, of epic struggles and journeys to the stars...

A time when great heroes confront the forces of darkness...

A time when adventure beckons across the Billion Worlds of Outlaw Galaxy!

Foreword

Let me tell you a story.

To me, there are no more magical worlds in the universe. (Save, perhaps, I love you or let me do you a favor or you've just won the lottery, all of which come with their own unique complications and challenges.)

Many readers are familiar with Outlaw Galaxy through the stories of Benjamin Trip Trippany, the main character in Outlaw Galaxy: Trip and the Space Pirates and Outlaw Galaxy: Fugitive Among the Stars. However, there's much more to the Outlaw Galaxy setting than the tales of a pre-angsty, fairly clever and oh-so-earnest teenager determined to right wrongs and look out for his friends.

I believe the Outlaw Galaxy crawl says it all:

In the distant future ...

It is a time of legends and myths, of technology and magic, of epic struggles and journeys to the stars ...

A time when great heroes confront the forces of darkness ...

A time when adventure beckons across the Billion Worlds of Outlaw Galaxy!

I started writing stories back when I was a child. Even then, my heart was captured by space adventure stories. I knew it was a genre that would always appeal to me. Aliens and robots and blasters, starships and strange worlds and fleets of ships trading laser cannon blasts in the darkness of space ... oh yeah, that is the stuff that makes my spirit soar.

No offense intended towards more conventional writers, but I find realistic stories set on our world just ... dull compared to the sense of wonder to be offered in a setting where amazing worlds lie just a hyperspace jump away, where history is measured in millennia instead of decades, and where fantastic futuristic technology, even if drab and dirty and quite banged-up, is complemented by a current of magic.

But most of all, I write space adventure because I believe in science fiction (even when dosed with a good measure of fantasy, as the Outlaw Galaxy saga is).

Believe in science fiction. What do I mean by that?

Science fiction is a literature of optimism. Its mere existence suggests that there will be a future. Perhaps not one as grand and glorious as the future of our utopian dreams ... but certainly not a future as dreary and dismal and frightening as the apocalyptic nightmares some of our contemporaries would have us believe in.

There are a lot of people who make a lot of money or try to win elections by getting us all riled up, by speaking endlessly about all the terrible things that happen in our world. They profit from fear and worry. They love to warn us that things could get even worse. End of the world any minute now -- don't change that channel!

To that, I say, Hogwash. Some people have been making money and getting attention and power by shouting about the impending end of the world since ... well, since the beginning of the world. Some people just love nothing more than to have something to be terrified about.

Personally, I look towards the future and I smile. Sure, I see the dangers, but even more, I see our dreams. I live in hope, not fear.

Science fiction is a literature all about hope. It is a literature of looking forward and upward, towards what we might become ... towards our potential ... instead of dwelling on past failings and our weaknesses. It is a literature that says we are worthy creatures, despite being imperfect and flawed and sometimes selfish and fearful and ignorant. These things are all true, now and most likely in the future, too. But science fiction also suggests that we are