Weird Westerns discussion
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What Was Your First Weird Western?
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Great genre. I came to it through one of my all-time favorite authors, Robert E. Howard. The same guy who introduced me to Sword & Sorcery influenced me to write both genres. Just published my first Weird Western, Gunslinger Greed.
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"Howard is definitely responsible for a lot of us."I daresay! REH is a huge influence on me as reader and writer.
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I daresay! REH is a huge influence on me as reader and writer."
I mean, he helped create the genre and his stories are still strong today. When I discovered him and Lovecraft around the same time, they both had a profound effect on me.
Just joined so figured I would pop in and say hello. Most of my weird western reading has been in comic book form. My first would have been some of the old DC Weird Western Tales and Jonah Hex. Sort of fell away from the genre for a few years then came across a web comic The Guns of Shadow Valley and The Sixth Gun, Vol. 1: Cold Dead Fingers from Oni Press. Read The Six-Gun Tarot a couple of months ago, really enjoyed it and have been looking for stuff to read since then. Came across a Reddit post a couple of days ago and here I am.
Welcome, Ctgt (IF that's your real name). The Guns of Shadow Valley is fantastic in graphic novel form, loved it.
Thanks John. I used to play a ton of board games when I was a kid and I always used the name Chris The Great on the score sheets (drove my sister crazy), so that's where it comes from. I was looking back over the earlier posts and saw you mention Hawken, I met Truman at a comic convention and he signed a Hawken print for me, it's hanging in my son's bedroom. Really nice guy to talk to as well.
A signed Truman print! That's a family heirloom! Glad to have you with us, Chris. Or should I say, Chris the Great. :)
Welcome Chris! You'll fit right in with the "Chris the Great" name, John there makes us call him "King John." I started on the Weird West with Jonah Hex as well. Still some of my favorite comics of all time!
Thanks King John ;) Thanks Quentin, I picked up Brackett Hollister: The Werewolf Pack a couple of weeks ago, hoping to get to it shortly....currently making my way through Lonesome Dove so it may be a bit before I get to anything else.
Ctgt wrote: "Thanks King John ;) Thanks Quentin, I picked up Brackett Hollister: The Werewolf Pack a couple of weeks ago, hoping to get to it shortly....currently making my way through [book:Lon..."Awesome Chris, hope you enjoy it!
King Jolly John? I don't know about that one lol What an awesome painting though! Nice!
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Hi there!probably no surprise, but my first weird western was The Gunslinger and has been where I pretty much set the standard for Weird Westerns lol. not a good thing by any means but yeah ^_^
I remember reading some Jonah Hex as a kid, and watching a lot of western TV shows and movies, particularly loving FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE. Then The Gunslinger hit and I fell in love with the setting and the genre. I think I've read or sampled most of the titles folks have mentioned, and want more from the genre. I think we're in the early days yet of indie publishing and we'll see a lot more WW coming. I think it's a severely under-served genre that needs more love.
same here Jim, and not only is it under-served but it's also one that's hard to execute perfectly
Michael, that raises a natural question--what does a WW need in order to be executed perfectly?
Over on Kindleboards today I saw a thread predicting the rise of Western/Fantasy books. Maybe that'll be a thing, I don't know. But a rising tide floats all boats!Oh, and getting back to the OP's question, I totally forgot "Valley of the Gwangi." It totally blew my little-kid mind.
That's a good question, Michael, especially as I plot out Ghost Marshal 2.
*waves to John* I enjoyed Ghost Marshal. Looking forward to #2. (And glad to hear it's on your radar!)
Thanks, Jim! Glad you liked it. I'm hard at work on book 2, and did a big research expedition to NM and TX this summer for the climax of book 3, some really special places not many people get to see. Jessie and Bill are going to have their hands full, for sure. :)
idk to be honest, it's weird. some I see are really great, and then I come across some not so great. all in my opinion of course, but the funny thing is I can't really say why this one was amazing, and this one was not. if that makes any sense. then again I am a picky reader ^_^" so it could just be me
For me, I need a sense of authentic Western action to go along with my weirdness factor. I'm reading "Vermillion" at the moment, and I'm having a real hard time getting through the middle. It started out fairly cool, with appropriate weird ghostly activity, but now it's just dragging. I need a shoot-out, or something, to keep it interesting. Half of the equation is "Western", after all. I have high hopes it'll pick up the pace, because I'm really enjoying the MC.
Yeah, for me, I need to see some of the classic western tropes (horses, gunfights, the setting as an important element if not a character in its own right, vivid characters and quirky supporting characters). With weirdness that makes sense given the world the writer is presenting.
I guess it has to be an even thing. Not too much of one or the other, for me at least
You could say that the Weird Western is the jackalope of literature. It has to be just the right amount of jackrabbit and antelope. :)
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Ashe wrote: "We need bigger jackalopes. Dog-sized at least."More Jackalopes, less Jackasses maybe? Or am I taking the analogy in the wrong direction o.O
Quentin wrote: "Ashe wrote: "We need bigger jackalopes. Dog-sized at least."More Jackalopes, less Jackasses maybe? Or am I taking the analogy in the wrong direction o.O"
wrong direction as usual lol
Weird Westerns
Books mentioned in this topic
The Gunslinger (other topics)The Werewolf Pack (other topics)
The Werewolf Pack (other topics)
Lonesome Dove (other topics)
The Guns of Shadow Valley (other topics)
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I Loved Six Gun Tarot. Started out a little clunky with all the flashbacks, but once it started moving it was really good. I've got a copy of the next book in the series, Shotgun Arcana, on the way (a real paper copy which says a lot about how much I liked the first one, I don't buy real books that much anymore)