Something deadly has awakened on the remote planet Aletha III, a nightmare creature that shouldn’t exist, and no one except teenage cowboy Travis McClure believes it is real. Bored with his life on the terraforming project, herding cattle and doing homework, Travis longs for adventure but gets more than he bargains for when he is attacked by the creature. Now it’s kill or be killed as Travis is forced to defend himself and the other terraformers against a threat they don’t believe in. Armed only with his dad’s old rifle he heads into the wilderness to track down the beast before it kills again. It’s a deadly game and survival is the only prize.
Writer, rancher, musician and general creator of mayhem, Justin Stanchfield is the author of young adult science fiction novels Space Cowboy and Time Walker plus more than a hundred short stories which have appeared in magazines including Analog, Asimov’s, and Interzone as well as Boy’s Life, Cricket, and Cicada. Two of his stories were included in The Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies, as well as numerous other collections. He lives with his wife and extended family on a Montana cattle ranch with far too many dogs, cats, horses, and whatever other strays wander in.