FRONTIER EARTH

Bruce Boxleitner mixes science fiction and shoot-outs in this genre hybrid.

By Frank Garcia     March 29, 2000

In his debut science fiction novel ,actor Bruce Boxleitner (BABYON 5) has assembled a rare, multi-genre hybrid in hopes that he can attract two vastly different audiences. He has written an adventure that straddles the fence of pure SF and that popular favorite the Western. In this cinematically visual novel, two humans from an alien frontier, who are heading for Earth during the in the year 1881, are shot down by enemy aliens. Ma'khleen and his companion Doree are determined to warn the population of an impending alien invasion. But when Ma'khleen crashes, his injuries are so severe that he's amnesiac and does not recall that he is an alien with a desperate mission. He arrives at Tombstone, Arizona, and adopts the name Macklin just in time to meet all of the important characters who will soon have a historic gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Unknown to him, as he tries to recover his memory, two powerful alien hunters with shape-shifting capabilities have also landed on Earth. Their goal kill the two survivors at any cost.
Bruce Boxleitner has created an entertaining yarn for fans of both genres. Prospective readers should realize they are buying the first of two novels; the second is already written and scheduled to appear in Winter 2000. Boxleitner's story is well written and plotted and, at times, surprisingly adult. Even if you don't like Westerns, you might be interested in the SF elements of the story.
FRONTIER EARTH, Ace, 1999. 336 pp. $21.95.