Santiago: a Myth of the Far Future

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 of the interstellar Democracy which humans have formed. The title character, Santiago, is the most sought-after outlaw of the Inner Frontier (the region toward the core of the Galaxy). 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.