Richard Calder
The Twist

After the Venusians' arrival on Earth in the 1950s, a "psychogeographic event" split the American Wild West from the rest of the planet, creating a world in which gunslingers roam, Jerry Lee Lewis wails, and modern technology is useless. Now, trapped in this alien landscape between Venus and Earth, Nicola E. Newton, a precocious young girl just arrived in Tombstone, meets John Twist, a deadly shootist who must fight to keep them both out of Boot Hill. Twist is locked in a mortal dance with his sidekick and paramour, the stunning Venusian Miss Viva Venera — who hungers for nothing so much as to eat her lover's soul. The unlikely trio — Nicola, Twist, and Viva — form a strange alliance with the local "manitou," Cochise — and together they race to foil the diabolical plans of Queen Musidora, another very violent visiting Venusian, who intends to give the C.I.A. a secret weapon to defeat the Communists which will result in the destruction of the human race…. In the meantime, a number of assassins are on Twist's trail. And Nicola finds herself attracted, in more than a sisterly way, to both Viva and John Twist.

Will Viva eat her lover's soul? Will Musidora give the Q-bomb to the C.I.A.? How can Twist possibly escape the ruthless killers sworn to bring him in? Find out, and as you proceed on this journey full of twists of language and plot, enjoy the spectacular wordplay of one of the most innovative writers of science fiction and fantasy.

Richard Calder was born in London in 1956. His short stories and reviews have been published in Interzone, Science Fiction Eye, and Omni. He is the author of Frenzetta (Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002) and many other books.

PRAISE FOR RICHARD CALDER

"Calder's is in many ways a darker, necrous sibling of Ballard.… A bravura piece of writing.… For American readers unfamiliar with Calder, think of a story jointly written by Howard Waldrop, Paul Di Filippo and Lucius Shepard after dropping some acid, and you'll have a flavor of what Calder furnishes." —BestSF.net

"As rich, dense and intricate as any recent SF." —New York Review of Science Fiction

"One of the savviest, most uniquely talented writer of SF to appear in many a year." —Asimov's SF Magazine

"Calder's penchant for allusive wordplay redolent with references to B-movies and other SF stories produces scintillating dialogue … a fine stylist, a writer of undeniable talent." —Publishers Weekly

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