Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future is a novel by American science fiction author Mike Resnick. It was first published in 1986 and reprinted in 2004. The story is essentially a tall tale, in the style of the Wild West, with lonely heroes, shoot-outs and faithless companions.
The setting of the novel is the Inner Frontier (the region toward the core of the Galaxy) of the interstellar Democracy which humans have formed. The title character, Santiago, is the most sought-after outlaw of the region if not the human universe.
The protagonist is a bounty hunter named Sebastian Nightingale Cain, who receives a very valuable piece of information: a hint to the whereabouts of Santiago. Cain crosses the paths of several others also hunting Santiago: besides competing bounty hunters, journalist Virtue Mackenzie wants an interview with Santiago to make her fortune, and master thief the Jolly Swagman covets some unique pieces of alien art in Santiago's possession.
The novel is divided into six parts, each named after one of the larger-than-life characters that populate the Inner Frontier, and headed by a quatrain, purportedly composed by another such character, the wandering balladeer Black Orpheus.
A sequel was published in 2003, The Return of Santiago. It is similar in structure to its predecessor.
Read more about Santiago: A Myth Of The Far Future: Reception, Other Works
Famous quotes containing the words myth and/or future:
“For the myth is the foundation of life; it is the timeless schema, the pious formula into which life flows when it reproduces its traits out of the unconscious.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that I can do.”
—George Linnaeus Banks (1821–1881)