Author(s): George R. R. Martin

Fantasy

A new benchmark in modern SF. A sharp, clever, funny morality tale that answers the biggest question of all: what makes us human?

A fight in an alley behind a bar: a visiting European is knifed by local thug Ramon Espejo and all hell breaks loose. The dead man was a diplomat on an important mission to Sao Paulo, and next day Ramon is on the run heading north in his van toward land that no one has ever explored, or even thought of exploring, land so far only glimpsed from orbit during the first colony surveys. There are women still alive on Sao Paulo who can recall the initial descent onto an untouched world. All the cities of the south have bloomed since then, like mold on a Petri dish. Ramon was among the second wave of colonists. He's gone from being nothing in the hills of Mexico to being nothing on this strange alien world. His only friend Griego tells Ramon God meant him to be poor, or he wouldn't have made him so mean. Ramon's rage has never deserted him. It was there in the alley behind the bar, but he can't actually remember why he killed the European.