Sooner or later, they vowed he would meet his fatea rope necklace. There was a mystery about Clung's birth, but none about his skill with weapons. Born to a Chinese father who would never admit to the mother's heritage, Clung grew up in the Southwest an enigmataller than any Chinese, weaker than the average man, with hands that were almost womanly, too delicate for fisticuffs but not for weapons. And Clung began his apprenticeship with guns as soon as he could walk. Growing up Chinese, even if only half Chinese, in the wild west meant only one thingdestiny as a laundry man, which Clung repeatedly waved off, enigmatically. One day a stranger rides into towna Mexican of some importance, with two compadres riding with him. When the stranger rouses Clung from his usual afternoon siesta, with a rough hand on the shoulder, Clung's response in self defense leads to the Mexican being shot between the eyes, and his compadres felled in like manner. The judge's dismissal of the case on grounds of self-defense comes with an admonition. By the end of the fifth week, Clung brings his tally of dead men up to four. Through the misadventures of a man who fits in nowhere because he comes from two races in collision, Brand paints a picture of the violent Southwest filled with the culture clashes fueled by Mexican and American homesteaders and outlaws, and Chinese gamblers who see life and death with different eyes.

Genre: Western