The Great Steamer Riot of 1936
DESCRIPTION:
“The Great Steamer Riot of 1936,” Tales from the Otherverse, Rough Edges Press, 2015
Other times, other places, other stories than the ones we know…These are the Tales From the Otherverse, where anything is possible and things never work out quite the way you’d expect. Some of today’s top talents in popular fiction turn their hands to tales of alternate history. Featuring new stories by bestselling, award-winning authors Bill Crider, Lou Antonelli, Scott A. Cupp, Robert E. Vardeman, James Reasoner, and more. Explore the Otherverse and see what might have been!
PRAISE FOR TALES FROM THE OTHERVERSE
James Reasoner has assembled a set of alternate history tales not limited to any era or place. That gives this anthology a lot of variety. A few of these have delightfully unexpected twists.
Two of my personal favorites were “The Great Steamer Riot of 1936” by Scott Dennis Parker and “The Assassination of President Broussard” by Keith West. Parker’s poignant tale concerns a swing jazz band with a trumpeter who is a little too perfect. West takes a page out of what almost came to pass and makes it real ; the American hippo meat market and its rivalry with the steer meat market that sets off old animosities and an attempted presidential assassination.
–Paul R. McNamee, Amazon Reviewer
Available: May 2023
Excerpt:
“I might have an idea about that,” Carter said. He was about to continue but a low sound traveled over the countryside and burrowed in his ears. At one point, it wasn’t there. The next moment, it was all he could hear.
“What’s that?” Aurora asked. Her head was cocked to one side, her hair curled around an ear to hear better.
“Not sure. Train? Is there one due tonight?”
“Don’t think so. I don’t have all the schedules memorized, but we don’t typically get a train coming from New Mexico at night.”
The sound grew louder, the deep rumble vibrating the air. From their position on the flat area near the burned out husk of the way station, Carter pinpointed the sound as coming from around the rock outcropping. He waited, fully expecting to see the illumination of the headlamp on the tracks. Right then, the only light on the tracks came from the stars.
A chuff of steam escaped from a smoke stack. The billowed cloud rose over the outcropping but the machine that emitted it still remained out of sight. The sound of machinery grew increasingly close and loud.
But not loud enough to mask the rataplan of horse hooves. Carter turned his attention away from the outcropping and up to the rise. The line of ground was a shade darker than the night sky. At the moment, nothing was visible atop the rise, but he knew the sounds of hoof beats likely weren’t a good thing, especially since they came from the direction opposite the town.
“Put out your lamp,” he muttered. Aurora didn’t immediately comply. She appeared stunned and scared, rooted to the ground. In response, Carter reached out and snatched the lantern from her grasp and flung it on the ground. The small amount of light they had was extinguished.
“Hey,” Aurora said. “That was my…”
She never completed her sentence. From over the rise came horsemen, silhouetted against the night sky. Starlight glinted off metal components of the bridles and riders. A lead man raised his hand above his head as he brought his mount to a halt. The other riders—Carter estimated them to number seven total—all complied. Aurora’s hand shot out and grasped Carter’s arm.
“Damn,” Carter muttered. He shoved his hand into his jacket and pulled out his Colt. Six bullets and seven riders. Those weren’t good odds. Out of his peripheral vision, he calculated the distance to his horse and Aurora’s horse. The roan had meandered over to her horse so at least they were close. But the thirty yards or so between where the humans stood and where the horses grazed might be too much distance if the bandits caught sight of them.
But it was the only option.
“Listen,” Carter said, having to raise his voice a bit to be heard over the low rumble of the approaching machine, “we’re gonna have to make a run for the horses.”
“Then what?”
“Ride like hell.”