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The Reaping (Wyrd West Chronicles #5)

Diane Morrison,

Sable Aradia

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Dec 16, 2017 Sable rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

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This is the fifth novella in a serial I'm writing that's geared primarily for e-platforms. Publication schedule will include one every two months, with a print collection intended for once a year with all of that year's stories included.

What is a serial? A serial is a series of stories published sequentially. In many cases they would end with cliffhangers that would encourage you to get the next one. I don't like ending things on cliffhangers, but they are designed to be read sequentially and co This is the fifth novella in a serial I'm writing that's geared primarily for e-platforms. Publication schedule will include one every two months, with a print collection intended for once a year with all of that year's stories included.

What is a serial? A serial is a series of stories published sequentially. In many cases they would end with cliffhangers that would encourage you to get the next one. I don't like ending things on cliffhangers, but they are designed to be read sequentially and continue more or less where the last one left off. Each is a complete story in and of itself, and each year's stories will have a consistent story arc between them.

In this installment of the Wyrd West Chronicles, the posse finally tracks their foe, a necromancer, to a well-attended public country fair. I think this begins to illustrate why necromancers are such a bad thing and why the Gunslingers pursue them. If I've done my job, you'll be angry by the end of it. Sorry.

The Wyrd West Chronicles are a genre-bender and a mixture of a lot of things, so they're not likely to be for everybody. In essence, it's what happens when a high fantasy meets a Western, set in a post-apocalyptic magical world that's a little bit steampunk (or cattlepunk, if you're familiar with that term). I guess the closest description of its genre is Weird West, where Western meets the supernatural. However, the supernatural element in Weird Westerns tends to be geared towards horror; vampires and zombies and the like. Mine is more like Tolkien meets Tombstone.

I think, however, that you could still legitimately call it a Western. The themes are based in Western themes; standing up for what you believe is right, rugged individualism, determined survivalists; that kind of thing. A dedicated Western fan will recognize a lot of tropes that they know and love (without the stereotypes, I hope; though that may not be evident right away.) This is a mythic West. Yet, all the tropes that remain exist for a reason that I think is consistent within the world I've constructed. Firefly fans might appreciate what I'm trying to do.

The setting is a post-apocalyptic Canadian West which has an American Midwestern presence. What was the Cataclysm that I speak of in the book? Why are things the way they are in this world? Don't worry, I will explain all that; just not right away. ;) ...more

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