Remembering Resnick: Santiago Turns 35

I was introduced to the legend that was Michael Diamond Resnick in college, by a cousin of mine whom I thought far too cool to be into pulp sci-fi. It was Resnick’s criminally unheralded novel [easyazon_link identifier="B07Q2838ZJ" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Walpurgis III[/easyazon_link], which sees bounty hunter Jericho tracking the criminal cult leader Conrad Bland to the titular planet, where all residents are Satanists. It served as a good introduction into the kinds of stories Resnick was known for: deadly gunmen whose morality ran the gamut, larger than life antagonists, and side characters so richly written they begged for spinoffs in their own right.

Over the course of his life, Mike Resnick wrote dozens of great novels cut from this same cloth. He was nominated for more than three dozen Hugo awards, winning five. The man certainly had his sentimental side, and many have praised his Mil-Sci series Starship (I haven’t read it), but one work stands above all else in his bibliography; his space western masterwork [easyazon_link identifier="B00LICWBKQ" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future[/easyazon_link].

This year it celebrates its 35th anniversary, and while the sci-fi blogosphere seems shamefully keen to let the legacy of this seminal work go unremarked, not so here at UR, my friends. Not so.

The story

The plot itself is fairly straightforward: somewhere in the furthest reaches of The Rim, a legend resides. Man, myth, savior, monster, he is Santiago: rumored to have never been seen, that he’s murdered thousands, that he’s saved entire worlds, that he can’t be killed. Despite this, the bounty on his head has just reached it’s highest ever, and that’s got more vagabonds, thieves and killers converging on him than ever.

The book is divided into six parts and follows several characters who cross paths in this quest. Our MC is Sebastian Nightingale Cain, a former revolutionary turned bounty hunter. While he’s a likeable enough protagonist, he’s almost overshadowed by the story’s outstanding supporting cast.

The characters

Resnick plays on western tall tale tropes as only he can.  Cain is a former soldier with a lot of innocent blood on his hands. He hopes taking down Santiago will get him out of his dangerous line of work and into a nice boring retirement. Along the way he joins up with the likes of Father William, a tentpole preacher who travels the galaxy spreading the gospel and is quicker with a laser pistol than he looks. The Jolly Swagman is a thief who’d love to get his hands on a few pieces of Santiago’s art collection, and Virtue McKenzie is a hyper-ambitious journalist in almost suicidal pursuit of landing an interview with the elusive figure. That’s if they can survive crossing paths with The Angel, a cold, methodical near-legendary assassin who’s also been hired to take out Santiago.

There are other lesser figures that fill in the adventure, from the tragic cyborg Schussler, the great bard Black Orpheus, the deceptively dull hitman Simple Simon, Man Mountain Bates, who legend has it can juggle planets and wrestle black holes, to the sweet and pure barmaid Moonripple. Each of them flavors the adventure in their own unique way. The entire book drips atmosphere, adventure and character that’s distinctly Resnick, and sets him apart as a master of the genre bar none.

The world

Although planetary governments do exist, the arm of the law in Resnick’s spacefaring adventures tends to weaken the further out into the vast expanse of space it goes. To think of it as a frontier is about right; most of his heroes tend to be (chaotic good) killers, smugglers and bandits, and Santiago serves this up in spades. Gunfights can break out anytime and chance encounters can turn fortunes as various characters encounter each other in pursuit of their goals. Despite the heroes often having rough edges, there’s never any mistake about who you’re supposed to be rooting for or against.

The politics

None.

Content warning

Almost none. You'll find spaceship battles and gunfights aplenty, but sex and violence are described briefly and without much attention to blood or gore.

Who is it for?

Anyone who’d love to dive into a galaxy-spanning adventure that feels epic but neatly wraps up in one book. While technically part of Resnick’s Far Future trilogy, [easyazon_link identifier="073943215X" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Santiago[/easyazon_link]stands up just fine as a self-contained work, and is the clear best of the series. It spawned a sequel, was written into a Pathfinder RPG adventure and at one time was optioned for a motion picture. Check around online and you’ll see fans call it the inspiration for Firefly and Serenity. To this day it holds a lofty place among Resnick’s impressive body of work, and remains (in this humble reviewer’s estimation) his magnum opus of pulp.

Why read it?

I’ve gone over the merits of Resnick’s pulp style, but his books are also easy to get into. While he was a big fan of trilogies and multi-novel sagas, many of his books can be read without the reader getting lost for lack of backstory. If you haven’t set course for Resnick’s universe yet, you owe it to yourself to set your coordinates now. And if you’re wondering where to start, if you only read ONE book by him-- you can’t go wrong with Santiago.