Fortunate SF readers will have encountered William Sanders' earlier novels _Journey to Fusang_, a fine, funny-serious, alternate history about a North American colonized by the Chinese instead of the Europeans, and _The Wild Blue and the Grey_, another alternate history about Indians from an independent state as pilots in World War I. Even more fortunate folk may have encountered some of Sanders' other work, published in a variety of categories.

Sanders has recently returned to writing SF, mostly in shorter forms. He has published such excellent stories as "Elvis Bearpaw's Luck", "The Undiscovered" (which was nominated for both the Nebula and the Hugo), and "Jennifer, Just Before Midnight". He has also published a new SF/Fantasy novel, _The Ballad of Billy Badass and the Rose of Turkestan_. Even more recently he has published a fine mystery, _Smoke_, and an excellent science fiction novel, _J._ -- both are very well worth finding.

This is a very fine contemporary fantasy, with an exciting story in the forefront, as well an involving love story, plenty of humor, and even a message. The message doesn't get in the way of the story: instead, the story supports the message, and the message is a passionately presented and definitely worth hearing.

The title characters are Billy Badwater, a Cherokee and a Gulf War veteran, and Janna Turonova, a doctor from Kazakhstan. Janna is in the US partly to alert people to the terrible environmental damage done in Kazakhstan by Soviet nuclear testing and toxic waste. Billy meets her at a powwow, and they fall in love. Soon Billy finds himself chasing this woman across the western U. S., and on a reservation in Nevada he finds evidence that much as the Soviets used the Asian people's land as dumping grounds and testing grounds, the U. S. has used Native American land in the same way. The fantasy element arises from a monster that is called forth by the toxic waste in Nevada. Billy, aided by Janna and some other friends, especially his dead Grandfather, is pushed to use Indian magic in battle against the monster. The story is exciting and involving throughout, and the love story is convincing and sexy.

This gem of a genre-bending book defies catagorization. It's grand! There really is a Ballad of Billy in this book, and it goes like this:
"Billy Badass was a warrior
From Oklahoma way
A hero of his nation
Who had wore the Green Beret.
He met the purtiest lady
She was from a fur-off land
And Billy Badass fell in love
With the Rose of Turkestan"
Jerry Dwayne, of Jerry Dwayne Austin and the Piss-Cutters
House Band of "The Last Church of Naked City, Losers Welcome" Las Vegas, Nevada.

Billy Badass is our hero's nickname. His enrollment card in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma states his name as William E. Badwater. And the Rose of Turkestan is Janna Turanova , of Kazakhstan, part of the former Soviet Union. A bunch of yonegs have been messin' with stuff they don't understand, causing all manner of real radioactive nightmares out in the Nevada desert. And Billy and the Rose become embroiled in the imbroglio.

Notwithstanding the impending destruction of the planet, Sanders and his characters maintain a sense of humour. There are dealings with a minor bureaucrat in the INS, threatening mean and nasty things regarding Janna's VISA (the immigration status - not the Credit Card.) Bureaucrat says: "We don't just hand out the Green Card to everyone who asks. There are criteria to be met, guidelines to be followed - do you have any idea how many people want to come to America to live?" To which Billy responds "Some of us already ran into that problem." And regarding the flawed, lone law enforcement officer on the Bucktail Springs Reservation: "Leonard isn't exactly your Tony Hillerman breed of Indian cop."

And this isn't exactly a typical Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror/ Mystery/Action/Romance. It's a uniquely delightful brew!

BALLAD is brilliant, as is its author, William Sanders. This book is a must-read for any fan of contemporary literature. A fascinating blend of SF/Fantasy, Horror and social commentary, BILLY takes you to places you'll love -- heights of which you've only dreamed, and depths of darkness in which you might fear to tread. But Sanders safely guides you through it all with the talent and imagination of a master storyteller. The book contains everything that makes life worthwhile: true love, heroism, motorcycles and monsters. Who could ask for anything more?

Billy Badwater is one of the most appealing fictional characters I've ever met. In fact, all of the characters in THE BALLAD OF BILLY BADASS AND THE ROSE OF TURKESTAN are so fully realized that the book is replete with major characters and rich lives that continue well beyond the page. There are almost no minor characters because any character that comes under Sanders' skillful pen for a couple of sentences springs to life by such adept description and wise choice of detail as to defy understanding of quite how the hell Sanders manages to invest so much in each character time after time.

The book wove the seriousness of its subject matter brilliantly with generous, laugh-out-loud humor. Grandfather has to be the sweetest dead curmudgeon in all of literature. I'll never look at a crow again without wishing that Grandfather would suddenly say something insulting from the crow's beak and ride on my shoulder for a few sarcastic miles.

A wonderful romance takes place in the midst of intense action that keeps gathering momentum and doesn't let go of its grip on the reader as the story avalanches down an unearthly mountain of terror and something eerily vulnerable and wholly of this world while being altogether unworldly rises to battle the threat of chaos with the frailest and most potent of powers.

Best of all, even better than the fabulous characters, the heartwarming romance, a dead grandfather anyone would love to posthumously adopt, and a kickass plot, best of all is the overall sustained level of incredibly terrific writing. It would be a disservice to merely call William Sanders a great writer because he surely deserves the appellation of one of the world's greatest living writers. Grandfather, if looking over my shoulder, would dryly remark "One of the greatest, dead or alive, for that matter." And Grandfather knows his stuff.

I have read most of William Sanders books, and have enjoyed them all. The Ballad of Billy Badass and the Rose of Turkestan did not disappoint me one bit. This book should be on everyone's bookshelf, and in every public library.

No one writes about American Indians better than William Sanders--and that's because he is one, yes, yet it's also a credit to the power of his talent. Sanders proves that again with THE BALLAD OF BILLY BADASS AND THE ROSE OF TURKESTAN, a remarkable novel that effortlessly blends mystery, romance, humor, suspense and bone-chilling, supernatural horror.

Billy Badwater and Janna Turanova are the most unique and intriguing pair of lovers I've ever had the pleasure to spend time with. Life has been hard for both Billy and Janna; but no matter what life has been for any of the people in this story, all paths lead to the Nevada drylands, and the terror that has awakened there--and none who walk away will be untouched or unchanged, including those who read this novel.

Who are these people who must save the world, and therefore, save you and me? A Cherokee man of no ambition, recently discharged from the more shadowy regions of the U.S. Army, with a passion for big motorcycles and small, beautiful women; and a highly-educated, independent-minded, sweetly desperate woman already at war with the faceless governments who have poisoned the earth and victimized us all, regardless of where you live and who you believe you are.

Seamless prose, detailing so intricate it takes your breath away, and original, memorable characters are only some of the hallmarks of this wonderful book. I will especially never forget the craziest, zaniest, loveliest wedding; and THE best grandfather, either living or dead, whether a blue jay or a crow.

Let William Sanders take you on this extraordinary journey. He is a writer so gifted, wise, honest and brilliant it's a road you will always remember traveling.

Nasgi nusdi, as the Cherokee say: That's how it is.

Who would have thought Fort Worth would be the site of one of Broadway's legendary producers biggest triumphs. Anyone interested in the world of 1930's showbiz and the freewheeling politics of Texas during the depression this book is a goldmine.

excellent! just excellent! The content of this book and unexpected history of ft.worth astonished me!

Charming Billy is a book you may want to think twice about before picking up, not because it is a difficult read in the sense of language but because of the construction of the book. The author, Alice Dermott, might be charming at times with her colorful insights, vivid images and creative phrasing, but this book certainly was far from charming. McDermott is an accomplished writer, but in this book she tells the story completely backwards making it awkward at times and quite difficult to follow. I had to read a good fifty pages before I even had a clue as to what was going on in this book and who the character was who was being talked about. Not to mention that each chapter almost retells what the one before it did with maybe one more added detail to the story. So in essence, the reader might read the same sentences a dozen times. This book is not at all challenging with its very bland wording and frankly is quite boring with not a stagnant plot but a complete lack of one. The characters never get a chance to develop because the story never goes anywhere. I only finished reading the book because every once in a great while McDermott explodes in an intricate and almost poetic phrasing with the prize for finishing this book being that the end is the only part that can be considered good.

Obviously this book's main character is a man named Billy, who fell in love at a young age with a girl name Eva after coming back from war with his cousin, Dennis. Billy was fooled by his cousin into thinking she died of pneumonia and so Billy tries to live his life and go on without her. Dennis only tells Billy this lie to cover up for the fact that Eva moved on and got married to someone else. Dennis does not want his cousin to know that Eva used Billy's money, which was intended for other purposes, to start a business for her new husband. After years of struggling with the brutal lie that Eva died, Billy marries a woman named Maeve. Unfortunally, Billy could never see her the way he saw his first and true love Eva. Billy struggles with the demons of his past while trying to move on to a new life, which is why this book captures the struggles and pitfalls of depression and alcoholism portrayed through Billy's emotional character so well. This book is not the actual living of Billy, but rather others telling the stories that made up his life. I find it very interesting how McDermott does not make the book about mourning Billy's death but about celebrating his life. This book starts out very creatively in a pub in New York after Billy's funeral as guest reminisce about old times they had with Billy and about how Eva forever changed Billy's life when she broke his heart by dying.

I would recommend this book to any readers who thoroughly enjoy a challenge in figuring out story lines. I also think this book would be a must for any psychology majors because of how deep this book goes into the realm of life's struggles, depression, and the battle over the addiction of alcoholism. I give this book a two star rating and not a three only because I have read books that are average and this book just falls short of being an average book. There is insight into this book; the main problem is there simply is no plot or action of any kind and that the book flip-flops from present to past constantly losing the reader.

This novel, which reflects on the life of now deceased alcoholic Billy, is told from the point of view of the daughter of Billy's best friend. This point of view, although seemingly removed from the situation, makes for a strongly constructed novel and allows us to peak into Billy's world through a somewhat objective observer. There is a tragedy to Billy's hopelessness that is difficult to ignore. Alice McDermott does a fine job of describing the losses in Billy's life, namely that of his first love, a young Irish woman whom Billy courts during her short stay as a nanny. Billy learns of her death shortly after her return to Ireland and the devastation never leaves him. The point of contention seems to lie in the cause of Billy's alcoholism: would he have been an alcoholic even if she had not been lost? The truth of course adds to the tragedy: she was not dead but had in fact married someone else. McDermott takes on this tendentious subject with skill. There is a subtlety to the book which allows it to avoid becoming melodramatic. Billy is characterized as all too human: he is both charming and obnoxious, both kind and cruel. Even with all of these strengths, I found the book lacked a proper development of Billy. McDermott teases us by presenting Billy the way she does. It makes us want to know much more than she gives us.

A quiet, reflective story about an alcoholic man's death. His friends and family reminisce, and whispered voices are heard from the past. I liked the way this book was written. 'Quiet' is the best way to put it. Read it!