Territory.

EXCELLENT

The really Wild West.

In the 1880s, some residents of the small mining town of Tombstone, Arizona, have more than just their guns to rely on. When a stagecoach is robbed, blame falls on Wyatt Earp, a master sorcerer, and Doc Holliday. Then Jesse Fox, an eastern transplant and horse tamer also possessing magical skills, enters Tombstone. He befriends Chinese physician Lung and the young, imaginative widow Mildred Benjamin, who typesets for the town's newspaper and writes lurid tales for eastern readers. Strange events follow. When the Earps and Holliday imprison one of the alleged stagecoach robbers, Mildred, with the help of Fox, frees the man. But soon, shifting allegiances, dark power plays, and a supernatural battle for the frontier West begin.

Tor. 320 pages. $24.95. ISBN: 0312857357

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SciFi Weekly CLASSIC

"Emma Bull has conjured up a truly great American novel from the reality and myth of the Old West. From romance to gunplay, political intrigue to betrayal, Bull writes in a seamless, beautifully muscular style that will captivate any reader." JEF VANDERMEER

Green Man Review EXCELLENT

"Bull makes an interesting decision to put the Earps themselves on the back burner, letting readers see more of their wives than of the men themselves, though it does help to build an air of mystery and distance around Wyatt. ... To best enjoy this novel is to set aside what you know--or think you know about the history of that day and just enjoy Bull's delightful characters and descriptions of a bustling western town." APRIL GUTIEREZ

San Francisco Chronicle EXCELLENT

"Mixing the occult into what seems to be a familiar tale of the Old West has its risks, but Bull makes the gamble work to her advantage. ... The narrative stops dead well before what has to be its ultimate climax, leaving the unwary reader off-balance and frustrated." MICHAEL BERY

CRITICAL SUMMARY

Territory retells the story of the 1881 shootout at Tombstone's O.K. Corral, but no writer has yet approached the event with the same compelling mix of history and fantasy as Emma Bull. She blends historical and fictional characters to great effect; although the story is packed with suspense, romance, violence, and action, the psychologically deep, larger-than-life characters drive the narrative. Bull's spare use of magic and sorcery adds a welcome dimension to this often-told story. Simply put, says SciFi Weekly, Territory is "a classic in the making." The only complaint? Readers may not be aware that the novel is the first in a two-part series, so the narrative ends abruptly.

ALSO BY THE AUTHOR

War for the Oa ks (1987): F Loc us Awar d for Best First Novel. When down-and-out musician Eddi McCandry learns of her role in a faerie battle, her world turns upside down.

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By Emma Bull, illustrated by John Jude Palencar