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Golgotha #1
The Six-Gun Tarot
Buffy meets Deadwood in a dark, wildly imaginative historical fantasy
Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides more than its share of unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker’s wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone’s business, may know more about the town’s true origins than he’s letting on.
A haven for the blessed and the damned, Golgotha has known many strange events, but nothing like the primordial darkness stirring in the abandoned silver mine overlooking the town. Bleeding midnight, an ancient evil is spilling into the world, and unless the sheriff and his posse can saddle up in time, Golgotha will have seen its last dawn…and so will all of Creation.
Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides more than its share of unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker’s wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone’s business, may know more about the town’s true origins than he’s letting on.
A haven for the blessed and the damned, Golgotha has known many strange events, but nothing like the primordial darkness stirring in the abandoned silver mine overlooking the town. Bleeding midnight, an ancient evil is spilling into the world, and unless the sheriff and his posse can saddle up in time, Golgotha will have seen its last dawn…and so will all of Creation.
365 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 22, 2013
339 people are currently reading
9402 people want to read
About the author
R.S. Belcher
34 books743 followersR.S. (Rod) Belcher is an award-winning newspaper and magazine editor and reporter.
Rod has been a private investigator, a DJ, a comic book store owner and has degrees in criminal law, psychology and justice and risk administration, from Virginia Commonwealth University. He's done Masters work in Forensic Science at The George Washington University, and worked with the Occult Crime Taskforce for the Virginia General Assembly.
He lives in Roanoke Virginia with his children: Jonathan and Emily .
Rod has been a private investigator, a DJ, a comic book store owner and has degrees in criminal law, psychology and justice and risk administration, from Virginia Commonwealth University. He's done Masters work in Forensic Science at The George Washington University, and worked with the Occult Crime Taskforce for the Virginia General Assembly.
He lives in Roanoke Virginia with his children: Jonathan and Emily .
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 694 reviews
August 28, 2018
The Six-Gun Tarot
Golgotha, Book 1
By: R. S. Belcher
Narrated by: Fleet Cooper
This is one amazing and creepy paranormal western book! There is a town in the desert that attracts the odd, the magical, the otherworldly, and often they don't know they are being attracted to the town. Every one here in the town of Golgotha has secrets, everyone.... And when someone tries to open the old silver mine, certain secrets cause a chain reaction. Lots of creepy but great stuff! Terrific imagination! I can't wait to get enough money to but book two!
The narrator was super awesome! He has a slightly western sounding gruff voice, and had the voices perfect! (Of course he made the ladies sound like ladies! He was quite talented!) Great with emotions and accents.
A must read/listen for fantasy lovers.
Golgotha, Book 1
By: R. S. Belcher
Narrated by: Fleet Cooper
This is one amazing and creepy paranormal western book! There is a town in the desert that attracts the odd, the magical, the otherworldly, and often they don't know they are being attracted to the town. Every one here in the town of Golgotha has secrets, everyone.... And when someone tries to open the old silver mine, certain secrets cause a chain reaction. Lots of creepy but great stuff! Terrific imagination! I can't wait to get enough money to but book two!
The narrator was super awesome! He has a slightly western sounding gruff voice, and had the voices perfect! (Of course he made the ladies sound like ladies! He was quite talented!) Great with emotions and accents.
A must read/listen for fantasy lovers.
April 1, 2020
⚠️ Three quarters Half of this non-review is not about this book. Thou hast been warned and stuff.
So. This could have been a Slightly Very Good Book (SVGB™). Only that it wasn't because, erm, you know, it wasn't and stuff. But yes, it could have been. Oh yes, it could have. But it wasn't...Sorry, what? You want me to cut thecrap crab and get on with it and stuff? Oh, fine. You puny humans really are no fun, you know that?
You tell 'em, my Filthy Little Pony of the Armor that has Seen Much Better Days.
Anyway, in a most revoltingly understanding mood I am, so cut the crab Ireluctantly shall. Oh, you know what? Actually I won’t. Because I just remembered something I’d forgotten and now that I’ve remembered it I might as well tell you about it and stuff. (Yeah yeah yeah, your life sucks, I know.) Anyway. What I just remembered is how I came to most courageously read this Almost Slightly Very Good Book (ASVG™) : here I was, reading the Ever Quite Titillating Tor Newsletter (EQTTN™), when I most serendipitously came upon this article about pirate fantasies. “Yum!” said I to my little nefarious self, and proceeded to read the piece post haste (because duh and stuff). Those of you who know me best probably would have expected me to pick up Danielle L. Jensen’s delightful YA fantasy the second I saw it on the list, but it turns out that my attention was quite uncharacteristically drawn to an adult fantasy (disgusting, I know), featuring, lo and behold and stuff, a woman pirate on the Quite Delicious Cover (QDC™):
Quite delicious indeed, ain’t it not?
This book is #3 in the Golgotha series, but Tor said it could be read as a standalone so I thought to my little self, “let’s be bold, let’s be audacious, let’s skip the first two books in the series!” Being extremely brave but only in moderation, I decided to ask mybeloved MacHalo serfs colleagues to join me in this foolhardy endeavor. They most readily and gleefully agreed (threatening to unleash my murderous kids on them may have helped) but their being OCD as fish (very much unlike me) resulted in us starting this series right from the bloody shrimping beginning. And here we are and stuff.
Ha. You should be so lucky.
So. We picked up the present little tale despite the misleading-as-fish cover (no, this is not one of those disgusting coming of age stories *shudders*) and the less-appealing-than-a-puny-human-stew-past-its-expiration-date-blurb (why this book would remind anyone of Buffy *convulses a little* is beyond nefarious little me). It was all quite wondrous at first, admit I must: An intriguingly intriguing premise (a western without John Wayne! Color me slightly flabbergasted and stuff!), pretty damn stellar characterisation (so many characters, so much complexity, very wow) and most scrumptious, creative world building (much richness and depth, very wow again). I may have been so slightly enthused at some point that I might even perhaps have uttered a few exuberant ooooohs and aaaaaahs. Mayhap. But then it all went downhill pretty fast and my despicable enthusiasm turned into an Unmitigated Meh Fest (UMF™).
Don’t worry, it’s not just you, I have no idea what this gif is doing here, either.
The problem with this book is that its strengths are also its weaknesses:
① Yes, Belcher does a fantastic job with his very many characters. But they are too very many. And so are their very detailed alternate POVs. Extended casts can be fun, but not when nearly every single shrimp in your book ends up being a main character. With his/her/it/whatever corresponding sub-plots. Which are not all Quite Very Fascinating (QVF™). Focusing on three or four characters instead ofway too many six or so would have worked much better and would have done wonders for the conciseness of the story, methinks.
② Yes, this is a very rich, multi-layered world. But it wasn’t necessary to lay it all out in the first book in the series. Save some scrumptiousness for later, my good man! If you behave like an Overly Ambitious Barnacle (OAB™) and squeeze it all in your first instalment, you are doomed to kill the pace of your plot dead. And unwillingly forceme your poor readers into subaquatic hibernation.
Oh, and also, it is a shameful shame indeed to utterly destroy all your darkly beautiful and beautifully dark build-up by doing the Multiple HEAs of Doom and Oblivion (MHEAoDaO™). Pretty sure this is punishable by law in some very developed places, actually.
Told ya.
➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): a wee bit sleepy this one made me feel, but come out of hibernation to read book 2 I shall. For paved withOCD-prone MacHalos who won’t let me skip straight to book 3 moderately good intentions the road to The Queen of Swords is.
👋 To be continued and stuff.
· Book 2: The Shotgun Arcana ★★★ or ★★★★ or ★★★★★, who the fish knows?
· Book 3: The Queen of Swords ★★
So. This could have been a Slightly Very Good Book (SVGB™). Only that it wasn't because, erm, you know, it wasn't and stuff. But yes, it could have been. Oh yes, it could have. But it wasn't...Sorry, what? You want me to cut the
You tell 'em, my Filthy Little Pony of the Armor that has Seen Much Better Days.
Anyway, in a most revoltingly understanding mood I am, so cut the crab I
Quite delicious indeed, ain’t it not?
This book is #3 in the Golgotha series, but Tor said it could be read as a standalone so I thought to my little self, “let’s be bold, let’s be audacious, let’s skip the first two books in the series!” Being extremely brave but only in moderation, I decided to ask my
Ha. You should be so lucky.
So. We picked up the present little tale despite the misleading-as-fish cover (no, this is not one of those disgusting coming of age stories *shudders*) and the less-appealing-than-a-puny-human-stew-past-its-expiration-date-blurb (why this book would remind anyone of Buffy *convulses a little* is beyond nefarious little me). It was all quite wondrous at first, admit I must: An intriguingly intriguing premise (a western without John Wayne! Color me slightly flabbergasted and stuff!), pretty damn stellar characterisation (so many characters, so much complexity, very wow) and most scrumptious, creative world building (much richness and depth, very wow again). I may have been so slightly enthused at some point that I might even perhaps have uttered a few exuberant ooooohs and aaaaaahs. Mayhap. But then it all went downhill pretty fast and my despicable enthusiasm turned into an Unmitigated Meh Fest (UMF™).
Don’t worry, it’s not just you, I have no idea what this gif is doing here, either.
The problem with this book is that its strengths are also its weaknesses:
① Yes, Belcher does a fantastic job with his very many characters. But they are too very many. And so are their very detailed alternate POVs. Extended casts can be fun, but not when nearly every single shrimp in your book ends up being a main character. With his/her/it/whatever corresponding sub-plots. Which are not all Quite Very Fascinating (QVF™). Focusing on three or four characters instead of
② Yes, this is a very rich, multi-layered world. But it wasn’t necessary to lay it all out in the first book in the series. Save some scrumptiousness for later, my good man! If you behave like an Overly Ambitious Barnacle (OAB™) and squeeze it all in your first instalment, you are doomed to kill the pace of your plot dead. And unwillingly force
Oh, and also, it is a shameful shame indeed to utterly destroy all your darkly beautiful and beautifully dark build-up by doing the Multiple HEAs of Doom and Oblivion (MHEAoDaO™). Pretty sure this is punishable by law in some very developed places, actually.
Told ya.
➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): a wee bit sleepy this one made me feel, but come out of hibernation to read book 2 I shall. For paved with
👋 To be continued and stuff.
· Book 2: The Shotgun Arcana ★★★ or ★★★★ or ★★★★★, who the fish knows?
· Book 3: The Queen of Swords ★★
April 23, 2015
One of the most enduring motifs of the Western genre is the town in the forsaken deserts of the West where people go to run from their past lives and to escape to a new one. In this novel, Golgotha is such a place, however the voice that leads travelers into its depths is a sinister, ageless one. A voice that also attracts all sort of supernatural phenomena.
Young Jim makes it to edge of this town, where the desert almost kills him and his beloved horse, Precious. His life is saved by a strange half-Indian man, Mutt, who turns out to be the town's deputy, and to have a supernatural heritage of his own. Jim gets hired to work for the Sheriff, Jon Highfather, a man who has cheated death again and again. A man who is the protector for the town from the supernatural evil always lurking in the dark.
Golgotha is full of strangeness, and also flawed humans, such as a wife and mother who has an incredible legacy. There is also a resident mad scientist, who has more interest in the dead than the living. And did I mention that Golgotha has a very large Mormon population? There might also be an angel lurking in the town. But I can't confirm or deny that.
The Six-Gun Tarot was very much a surprise find for me on the new arrival shelf at my library. I couldn't resist it, because I love the Weird West, and this book couldn't get any weirder. Many times, this book is more horrific than anything else. The deep, dark secret of this town is pretty darn harrowing, and the fact that its menace lurks behind a dark religious cult out to destroy the world as we know it.
There is a lot going on in this book. I think the author does a good job of holding it all together. The twisted threads of the story and the various character point of views come together as a cohesive whole that gave me a shuddery feeling as I read. I was glad I feverishly finished the last 160 pages during the day yesterday, trying to get it done, since it was due back at the library. It would have been a not so good thing to read before bed!
This isn't a feel good book, I must warn any who want to read it. It's dark fantasy/horror that seats itself very identifiably in the aesthetic of the Old West, where blood runs freely, and regret and prejudice are a part of the landscape. Where peoples of many heritages coexist uneasily, when they aren't at each others' throats, and the time comes to band together to face a darker, far from human threat which cares nothing for humanity, or anything right or decent. While not a feel good novel, the writing is very good and atmospheric. Belcher inspires empathy for the flawed characters in this novel. Their failures in some ways equip them for just the threat they face. There are many subtle references to works of weird fiction, such as a character who has Ashton Smith in his name, and quotes from Frankenstein by Mary E. Shelley. I want to read more stories in this town, since this threat they face in this book is neither the first, nor will it be the last.
If it's not obvious, I liked this book, even in its highly disarming moments. Good solid, weird fiction with a very credible Western setting and iconography. I'd recommend it to the brave reader who doesn't mind some tentacle, squirmy elements.
Young Jim makes it to edge of this town, where the desert almost kills him and his beloved horse, Precious. His life is saved by a strange half-Indian man, Mutt, who turns out to be the town's deputy, and to have a supernatural heritage of his own. Jim gets hired to work for the Sheriff, Jon Highfather, a man who has cheated death again and again. A man who is the protector for the town from the supernatural evil always lurking in the dark.
Golgotha is full of strangeness, and also flawed humans, such as a wife and mother who has an incredible legacy. There is also a resident mad scientist, who has more interest in the dead than the living. And did I mention that Golgotha has a very large Mormon population? There might also be an angel lurking in the town. But I can't confirm or deny that.
The Six-Gun Tarot was very much a surprise find for me on the new arrival shelf at my library. I couldn't resist it, because I love the Weird West, and this book couldn't get any weirder. Many times, this book is more horrific than anything else. The deep, dark secret of this town is pretty darn harrowing, and the fact that its menace lurks behind a dark religious cult out to destroy the world as we know it.
There is a lot going on in this book. I think the author does a good job of holding it all together. The twisted threads of the story and the various character point of views come together as a cohesive whole that gave me a shuddery feeling as I read. I was glad I feverishly finished the last 160 pages during the day yesterday, trying to get it done, since it was due back at the library. It would have been a not so good thing to read before bed!
This isn't a feel good book, I must warn any who want to read it. It's dark fantasy/horror that seats itself very identifiably in the aesthetic of the Old West, where blood runs freely, and regret and prejudice are a part of the landscape. Where peoples of many heritages coexist uneasily, when they aren't at each others' throats, and the time comes to band together to face a darker, far from human threat which cares nothing for humanity, or anything right or decent. While not a feel good novel, the writing is very good and atmospheric. Belcher inspires empathy for the flawed characters in this novel. Their failures in some ways equip them for just the threat they face. There are many subtle references to works of weird fiction, such as a character who has Ashton Smith in his name, and quotes from Frankenstein by Mary E. Shelley. I want to read more stories in this town, since this threat they face in this book is neither the first, nor will it be the last.
If it's not obvious, I liked this book, even in its highly disarming moments. Good solid, weird fiction with a very credible Western setting and iconography. I'd recommend it to the brave reader who doesn't mind some tentacle, squirmy elements.
March 1, 2013
Golgotha, Nevada 1869. Fifteen-year-old Jim finds himself in town after surviving the 40-Mile Desert, running from his past with just his horse and his father's magical jade eye in his pocket.
Golgotha has always had a way of attracting and drawing in the supernatural. With its history of unexplained occurrences, the old town is also home to many strange denizens, including Jonathan Highfather, the town's sheriff whose extraordinary luck has always preserved him despite many close shaves with death. Mutt, his deputy, is said to be the son of Coyote. Meek and prim Maude Stapleton, wife of a prominent banker, is actually a deadly trained assassin and a follower of the cult of Lilith.
It all comes to a head when an ancient evil deep beneath the old mines of the mountain is called forth into the world, and the town's motley crew of citizens must join together to defeat the sinister force and its tainted army.
On the surface, this may sound like another one of your familiar characters-get-together-to-save-the-world books, but I have to say in all honesty I've never read a book quite like The Six-Gun Tarot. And it's a great thing. I've always enjoyed westerns whenever I read them, especially when they are mixed with aspects of fantasy and the paranormal. This book was an interesting blend of all that goodness as well as elements of theology and horror.
What makes The Six-Gun Tarot stand out is its world-building and character development. Almost the entirety of the book takes place in Golgotha and its surroundings, with flashbacks to some of the characters' pasts. The town and its population is brought to life by many of these rich backstories.
In fact, at times the book almost feels overly ambitious in these areas. I think it was a good move for the author to keep a lot about the history of the town and its people unexplained to preserve a bit of mystery, but at the same time I was left with so many questions and a desire to know more.
Take Maude's past as an example. What really was the purpose of all her training? Did she put her skills to good use on any adventures between the short time she became initiated and the time she met her husband and got married? Or what about Clay the taxidermist and mad scientist tinkerer? What's the deal there and where was his backstory?
These questions were just a handful of the many that occurred to me while reading. It felt to me that there was so much potential there to be explored, and what didn't get expanded upon seemed like wasted opportunities. This book could have been longer if only to delve more into the history of these characters, since they were what made this book so unique. Perhaps then there would also have been less frequent jumping around of character perspectives, which often got distracting.
As a debut novel, however, I have to say this one was solid. I look forward to checking out more of R.S. Belcher's stuff in the future.
Golgotha has always had a way of attracting and drawing in the supernatural. With its history of unexplained occurrences, the old town is also home to many strange denizens, including Jonathan Highfather, the town's sheriff whose extraordinary luck has always preserved him despite many close shaves with death. Mutt, his deputy, is said to be the son of Coyote. Meek and prim Maude Stapleton, wife of a prominent banker, is actually a deadly trained assassin and a follower of the cult of Lilith.
It all comes to a head when an ancient evil deep beneath the old mines of the mountain is called forth into the world, and the town's motley crew of citizens must join together to defeat the sinister force and its tainted army.
On the surface, this may sound like another one of your familiar characters-get-together-to-save-the-world books, but I have to say in all honesty I've never read a book quite like The Six-Gun Tarot. And it's a great thing. I've always enjoyed westerns whenever I read them, especially when they are mixed with aspects of fantasy and the paranormal. This book was an interesting blend of all that goodness as well as elements of theology and horror.
What makes The Six-Gun Tarot stand out is its world-building and character development. Almost the entirety of the book takes place in Golgotha and its surroundings, with flashbacks to some of the characters' pasts. The town and its population is brought to life by many of these rich backstories.
In fact, at times the book almost feels overly ambitious in these areas. I think it was a good move for the author to keep a lot about the history of the town and its people unexplained to preserve a bit of mystery, but at the same time I was left with so many questions and a desire to know more.
Take Maude's past as an example. What really was the purpose of all her training? Did she put her skills to good use on any adventures between the short time she became initiated and the time she met her husband and got married? Or what about Clay the taxidermist and mad scientist tinkerer? What's the deal there and where was his backstory?
These questions were just a handful of the many that occurred to me while reading. It felt to me that there was so much potential there to be explored, and what didn't get expanded upon seemed like wasted opportunities. This book could have been longer if only to delve more into the history of these characters, since they were what made this book so unique. Perhaps then there would also have been less frequent jumping around of character perspectives, which often got distracting.
As a debut novel, however, I have to say this one was solid. I look forward to checking out more of R.S. Belcher's stuff in the future.
February 14, 2022
This is what would have happened if Sam Peckinpah (director of The Wild Bunch) had read the Cthulhu mythos and said “Yeah, that’s something I can work with."
...
Please read that again. If it did not sell you on the book, I really don't think I can do any more.
This is without a doubt the most fun book read I’ve had in quite some time. I won’t say it was perfect, but fun counts for a lot in my book, and this is pure entertainment from start to finish.
Sure, I could come up with som complaints. There are a lot of characters and some of them could have been fleshed out more. A few even felt like they were introduced as placeholders for future stories. The author also loves his flashbacks, and they happen a bit too frequently throughout the story… that said, all these complaints feel minor when I examine the book as a whole.
While the book could be interpreted as the literary equivalent of a popcorn movie (turn off your brain and enjoy the fight scenes), there are too many clever things for that. First off, the series (and town where it all takes place) is called Golgotha, which is a reference that not everyone may catch. Besides that, every chapter is named after a tarot card, and I don’t mean just the obvious ones like Death or Judgment (though they do make an appearance as well), but cards like The Six of Cups and The Two of Wands… and yes, if you know what the cards mean, they do tie into the chapter nicely.
All in all, this is a fun and fairly clever read. Fantasy and horror fans (as well as those who like westerns) should absolutely give it a shot.
Note: Goodreads has this listed as steampunk. It is not. While highly recommended, this is very firmly Weird Western fantasy/horror. No airships in sight. If you seek it out solely looking for a stempunk tale, disappointment will ensue.
...
Please read that again. If it did not sell you on the book, I really don't think I can do any more.
This is without a doubt the most fun book read I’ve had in quite some time. I won’t say it was perfect, but fun counts for a lot in my book, and this is pure entertainment from start to finish.
Sure, I could come up with som complaints. There are a lot of characters and some of them could have been fleshed out more. A few even felt like they were introduced as placeholders for future stories. The author also loves his flashbacks, and they happen a bit too frequently throughout the story… that said, all these complaints feel minor when I examine the book as a whole.
While the book could be interpreted as the literary equivalent of a popcorn movie (turn off your brain and enjoy the fight scenes), there are too many clever things for that. First off, the series (and town where it all takes place) is called Golgotha, which is a reference that not everyone may catch. Besides that, every chapter is named after a tarot card, and I don’t mean just the obvious ones like Death or Judgment (though they do make an appearance as well), but cards like The Six of Cups and The Two of Wands… and yes, if you know what the cards mean, they do tie into the chapter nicely.
All in all, this is a fun and fairly clever read. Fantasy and horror fans (as well as those who like westerns) should absolutely give it a shot.
Note: Goodreads has this listed as steampunk. It is not. While highly recommended, this is very firmly Weird Western fantasy/horror. No airships in sight. If you seek it out solely looking for a stempunk tale, disappointment will ensue.
July 24, 2016
I picked this book up thinking it was an urban fantasy in the Wild West, and what I read wasn’t far off from that impression. It’s a small town fantasy; not a big difference. Where I went wrong was thinking it would be exciting. It wasn’t — at all. The book was goddamn awful. It was so awful it took me 2-3 months to finish, speaking as a reader who in a motivated mood can finish 2-3 novels in a single day.
One chapter in and I already knew this book wasn’t going to be rated more than 2 stars. Two chapters in and I started to feel the urge to DNF. Three chapters, skim, I chanted to myself, skim in the way a woman giving birth chants to herself to push. To say the beginning was slow is an understatement; the beginning was DAMN FUCKING slow.
+ the plot
The ENTIRE BOOK was DAMN FUCKING slow because the flashbacks would not desist. The plot kept flashbacking all the way up to the middle of the fucking climax! The climax, I say! Every time the plot felt the whim to explain, it did so in flashbacks. Like buy 1 flashback, get 2 flashbacks free! And these were NOT short flashbacks. I get the point was to show, not tell, but this was showing beyond ridiculous. (Funny enough, I later read a book that was all tell and no show.) I swear, one-half to two-third of the book was flashbacks.
The multiple viewpoints exacerbated the problem. There were way too many of them as if it couldn’t be decided who were the main characters and who were the supporting characters; everyone needed their own fucking flashback. Let me tell you who the main characters were: runaway Jim, Deputy Mutt, housewife/assassin Maude, and Mayor Pratt. Everyone else needed to back off from the motherfucking stage, especially the angel dudes.
+ the characters
Every. single. character came with a goddamn sob story and a gold-pan full of secrets. “Look at me! Look at me! I have layers. I am complex.” The book wasn’t as pretentious as it just tried too hard. It was done in the belief that only characters with baggage are interesting and worth analyzing for literary value, e.g. Maude with feminism and domestic violence (domestic violence doesn’t discriminate against kickass immortal woman) or Pratt with religion and homosexuality (Mormon and gay, enough said). Characters couldn’t just be characters; they existed only for points to be made or things to be analyzed. Message heard loud and clear and bluntly smashed to the head for good measure.
Ironically, most of the characters were developed in a superficial manner and with self-defeated purpose. For example, Ch’eng, as a Chinese immigrant, lent the book more diversity and showed racism in a thought-provoking way that wasn’t your usual “white people back then were racists.” He was a Chinese mafia boss of the small town and he showed the reader racism on the Chinese side and how racism played a big role in survival on the American frontier, but in a respectful way that didn’t diminish the racism of the white characters and make it into a “but they did it too” whine. It was too damn bad that he got pigeonholed as the Magical Asian to dispense esoteric wisdom to ignorant white people, or in this case, to a white kid (Jim) like in The Karate Kid (the 1984 version). Bzzzzzz, subversion fail. And Ch’eng was only a supporting character. The main characters were greatly more problematic (this review goes in-depth about it).
Anyway, no surprise for me to say I did not connect with any of the characters and cared very little whether they lived or died. If anything, I wished more would die so there would be one less viewpoint I was forced to read, excuse me, skim through. The only character I had a handful of sympathy for was Jim because he was only an ordinary kid stuck in shitty situation forced upon by irresponsible adults. All right, and because Jim was the first character introduced and thus taking all the servings of my sympathy pie.
+ the world building
Not a big complaint in comparison to what has already been complained about, but it’s worth the discussion. I didn’t mind that the world building was Christian-oriented in the way TV show Supernatural or Sleepy Hollow is Christian-oriented. I was, however, disappointed that non-Christian religions were made subordinate to the Christian belief, token in their references, and that all of it comes back to the almighty G. Well, at least the book challenged the idea of blind faith.
Conclusion
I rate The Six-Gun Tarot 1-star for I didn’t like it. The book was ambitious, I can tell you that. It aimed for the moon; however, it missed and hit the fiery fatal sun instead. It was a total DISASTER and read like an unedited, overwritten self-published work.
The ending sucked. It was dreary and it unnecessarily left some things up in the air. It’s like there was a rule in the book that the characters could not simply be happy that they were still alive or have a fresh start. It’s like... what was the point of stopping the apocalypse? How pointless.
Please note that the book is shelved as steampunk on Goodreads, but there’s nothing that is steampunk or even steampunkish in this book.
One chapter in and I already knew this book wasn’t going to be rated more than 2 stars. Two chapters in and I started to feel the urge to DNF. Three chapters, skim, I chanted to myself, skim in the way a woman giving birth chants to herself to push. To say the beginning was slow is an understatement; the beginning was DAMN FUCKING slow.
+ the plot
The ENTIRE BOOK was DAMN FUCKING slow because the flashbacks would not desist. The plot kept flashbacking all the way up to the middle of the fucking climax! The climax, I say! Every time the plot felt the whim to explain, it did so in flashbacks. Like buy 1 flashback, get 2 flashbacks free! And these were NOT short flashbacks. I get the point was to show, not tell, but this was showing beyond ridiculous. (Funny enough, I later read a book that was all tell and no show.) I swear, one-half to two-third of the book was flashbacks.
The multiple viewpoints exacerbated the problem. There were way too many of them as if it couldn’t be decided who were the main characters and who were the supporting characters; everyone needed their own fucking flashback. Let me tell you who the main characters were: runaway Jim, Deputy Mutt, housewife/assassin Maude, and Mayor Pratt. Everyone else needed to back off from the motherfucking stage, especially the angel dudes.
+ the characters
Every. single. character came with a goddamn sob story and a gold-pan full of secrets. “Look at me! Look at me! I have layers. I am complex.” The book wasn’t as pretentious as it just tried too hard. It was done in the belief that only characters with baggage are interesting and worth analyzing for literary value, e.g. Maude with feminism and domestic violence (domestic violence doesn’t discriminate against kickass immortal woman) or Pratt with religion and homosexuality (Mormon and gay, enough said). Characters couldn’t just be characters; they existed only for points to be made or things to be analyzed. Message heard loud and clear and bluntly smashed to the head for good measure.
Ironically, most of the characters were developed in a superficial manner and with self-defeated purpose. For example, Ch’eng, as a Chinese immigrant, lent the book more diversity and showed racism in a thought-provoking way that wasn’t your usual “white people back then were racists.” He was a Chinese mafia boss of the small town and he showed the reader racism on the Chinese side and how racism played a big role in survival on the American frontier, but in a respectful way that didn’t diminish the racism of the white characters and make it into a “but they did it too” whine. It was too damn bad that he got pigeonholed as the Magical Asian to dispense esoteric wisdom to ignorant white people, or in this case, to a white kid (Jim) like in The Karate Kid (the 1984 version). Bzzzzzz, subversion fail. And Ch’eng was only a supporting character. The main characters were greatly more problematic (this review goes in-depth about it).
Anyway, no surprise for me to say I did not connect with any of the characters and cared very little whether they lived or died. If anything, I wished more would die so there would be one less viewpoint I was forced to read, excuse me, skim through. The only character I had a handful of sympathy for was Jim because he was only an ordinary kid stuck in shitty situation forced upon by irresponsible adults. All right, and because Jim was the first character introduced and thus taking all the servings of my sympathy pie.
+ the world building
Not a big complaint in comparison to what has already been complained about, but it’s worth the discussion. I didn’t mind that the world building was Christian-oriented in the way TV show Supernatural or Sleepy Hollow is Christian-oriented. I was, however, disappointed that non-Christian religions were made subordinate to the Christian belief, token in their references, and that all of it comes back to the almighty G. Well, at least the book challenged the idea of blind faith.
Conclusion
I rate The Six-Gun Tarot 1-star for I didn’t like it. The book was ambitious, I can tell you that. It aimed for the moon; however, it missed and hit the fiery fatal sun instead. It was a total DISASTER and read like an unedited, overwritten self-published work.
The ending sucked. It was dreary and it unnecessarily left some things up in the air. It’s like there was a rule in the book that the characters could not simply be happy that they were still alive or have a fresh start. It’s like... what was the point of stopping the apocalypse? How pointless.
Please note that the book is shelved as steampunk on Goodreads, but there’s nothing that is steampunk or even steampunkish in this book.
May 24, 2013
Ok I read this a while ago, and this isn't the kind of book that's easily summarized far away from reading, but I know that I enjoyed it, so that's good enough for a review. It's a fantastical mystery, if you've read Tim Powers then this is RIGHT up your alley. A strange town, lots of points of views, folklore and big bad evil people. A bit of George RR Martin with all the different characters and brutal death scenes, but really engrossing. Definitely one to read slowly, but if you love complex, fantastical worlds, this is very intriguing!
January 24, 2016
[4.5 Stars] What a strange and interesting book! I haven't read anything this weird or dark in a while, and I really loved it. The characters and the world building are truly the most unique part about this book. I found myself wanting to know more and more abut every single character we encountered, and I felt really attached to many of them. They're real. They're not without their problems, baggage, or darkness, but they are complex and so intriguing to read about. This is the first weird western I've read, and it did not disappoint. I think it is a genre I'm going to really enjoy, and I loved how it gave the entire book a rather eerie feel. Belcher's writing is atmospheric and really quite beautiful despite the dark unsettling nature of the story. Also, did I mention I adored all the mythologies and supernatural elements in this story? They were just so well done!
If I have anything negative to say about this book it is that the characters have so much potential, but in the end the plot was fairly straight forward. The mythology also didn't get woven enough into the story for me to consider this book a five star read, but it did come pretty close. I also think that some people might find this book a little slow. The first half of the book is really all about the characters, their development, and learning about the secrets of this weird town Golgotha. Some of these secrets never fully get explained, but they enchant you anyway. it is only in the second half of the book that we really figure out what is happening, and the way everything gets resolved seems slightly convenient.
That being said, I adored this book. It was weird and wonderful and dark. If you don't have a strong stomach and if you can't handle books with really dark themes and horror moments, then this book won't be fore you. If you are fine with those things, and like a book with complex characters, a complex setting, and a bunch of weird mythologies, this book is for you!
If I have anything negative to say about this book it is that the characters have so much potential, but in the end the plot was fairly straight forward. The mythology also didn't get woven enough into the story for me to consider this book a five star read, but it did come pretty close. I also think that some people might find this book a little slow. The first half of the book is really all about the characters, their development, and learning about the secrets of this weird town Golgotha. Some of these secrets never fully get explained, but they enchant you anyway. it is only in the second half of the book that we really figure out what is happening, and the way everything gets resolved seems slightly convenient.
That being said, I adored this book. It was weird and wonderful and dark. If you don't have a strong stomach and if you can't handle books with really dark themes and horror moments, then this book won't be fore you. If you are fine with those things, and like a book with complex characters, a complex setting, and a bunch of weird mythologies, this book is for you!
April 24, 2013
Full review over at Fantasy Book Critic
ANALYSIS: Six Gun Tarot is a debut that almost flew under my radar; it was thanks to Cindy, my fellow blogger that I was able to read it. The blurb details give you a small inkling about the book’s story but truly nothing truly prepares for the actual story. There are many POV characters in this story and as each chapter begins we are introduced to each and every one of them along with their backstory, motivations and futures. Jim is the young kid who’s on the run from law and his past life on a farm; he has a jade eye, which is the sole memory of his father. Mutt is a deputy policeman who is a Native American and despised by both his people and the white Americans. Sheriff Jon Highfather is the head of the law enforcement and is reputed to be the man who can’t die as he has survived three attempts on his life. Then there’s Maude Stapleton who is a quiet wife but whose silence masks secrets that are without a doubt legendary. There’s also the town mayor Harry Pratt who is hiding a personal secret while managing his Mormon faith and all the secrets and history that his family entails due to their name.
There’s also Augustus Schultz who yearns for his wife and perhaps will do anything to be with her. There’s also the angel Biqa who perhaps doubts the meaning of life, his existence as a servant to the almighty and the importance of the task he’s been given. There are many more characters however these are the main ones who power the story’s threads and make it reach an epic conclusion. Firstly hats off to the author for writing such a massive story, and let me explain what I mean by “massive”. Its not massive in length but in its scope, combining the birth of the universe and earth, mixing that with mysticism from the orient, Mormon theology, native American legends, western story settings along with Lovecraftian horror elements is no simple task. To make a coherent story by mixing these various elements is a herculean one and to be successful at it is even more lustrous. Lastly to have it as your debut story means that you are heralding yourself as a talent to watch out for.
Rod S. Belcher does that emphatically and with some substance, his prose and characterization upends this tale from simply a fantastic idea onto a fantastic story. The characters even though numerous hold their own and each of them alternatively convince the reader of their importance. Each thread feels like it is the most vital one however as soon as the next one begins, one gets drawn into that character’s emotional vortex and thus so forth. I might sound a little too fan-boyish however in some cases it’s justified like last year’s Blood Song and in this case the author’s imagination has to be admired. The storyline begins on a rather slow note and takes a while to pick up its pace as the author introduces each and every character and sets up their plotline.
Then there’s the meshwork of plotlines and character arcs as each continue to spin on their own and in the latter half start becoming synchronized to come together in a confusing and addictive mosaic that the writers of Lost often aspired to but ultimately failed. The storyline is huge and simply epic because of the all the elements involved and the reader will learn how it all comes together and hopefully be enthralled by the author’s ingenuity. Another thing that I would like to highlight is the fact that author doesn’t whitewash the world with modern sensibilities. It’s set after the events of the US civil war and is set in a small Nevada town and the characters behave as we have read in the histories, they are bigoted. Xenophobic, chauvinistic and all other things that was common in those times. The hatred and disparity between whites, and the Chinese or Native Americans is amply presented without any reservations and this move was a good one by the author to make the tale seem authentic.
The only point that I would say went against the story’s awesomeness is its slow pace throughout the first half of the story as the author lays out all the parts and develops the character plots. This might be a tad confusing for many readers as each chapter rings us a new person with newer predicaments. I would ask readers to persevere as the tale amply pays off in the second half. An apt comparison might be the POV structure of ASOIAF novels by George R. R. Martin, and by that I mean the number of POV characters and complexity of the story. The author has leagues to go before he reaches GRRM’s skills in prose, plotting and characterization however seeing the start I’m very much pleased and will have colossal expectations from next time onwards.
Six Gun Tarot might be an odd sounding name and may seem to be an odd story however it is a gem frankly. An amalgamated gem that manages to blow expectations and showcase amazing skills on the author’s part, and making itself a strong contender for my year-end lists. Very very recommend for those who like epic fantasy, weird fiction, western historicals or basically an amalgamation of all these with a few more twists and turns to make this debut special indeed.
April 6, 2016
Wow! Absolutely loved this...paranormal Western sounds unlikely as a winning combination but it worked fabulously. I hope the next in the series is as good.
March 3, 2016
Faith gives a thing power. Belief is one of the most powerful assets mankind possesses. It's a damn shame so few folks take advantage of it. Of course the world is set up to make it hard to believe-that's part of the elegant trap of it.
A really good weird western set in Nevada just beyond the 40-Mile Desert in the town of Golgotha(great name). The book is a mashup of ideas and POVs, western, supernatural, horror, a bit of Lovecraft, fallen angels, the Chinese creation story of Pangu, shapeshifters, a sheriff that supposedly can't be killed, a young teen running from a heartbreaking past, a brief instance of steampunk, a whiff of romance...you name it, it's in here.
That's probably what holds the story back from being a five star read for me, there's almost too much going on to keep track. It does come together well in the end but there were moments early on where the storyline seemed a little muddled. That being said, I still enjoyed the book and even though there were many characters I thought the author did a great job with development.
If you have an interest in any of the ideas listed above I recommend giving this book a try. The second book has already been released and I will definitely be digging into it in the near future.
BTW Thanks to Mpauli for the heads up!
A really good weird western set in Nevada just beyond the 40-Mile Desert in the town of Golgotha(great name). The book is a mashup of ideas and POVs, western, supernatural, horror, a bit of Lovecraft, fallen angels, the Chinese creation story of Pangu, shapeshifters, a sheriff that supposedly can't be killed, a young teen running from a heartbreaking past, a brief instance of steampunk, a whiff of romance...you name it, it's in here.
That's probably what holds the story back from being a five star read for me, there's almost too much going on to keep track. It does come together well in the end but there were moments early on where the storyline seemed a little muddled. That being said, I still enjoyed the book and even though there were many characters I thought the author did a great job with development.
If you have an interest in any of the ideas listed above I recommend giving this book a try. The second book has already been released and I will definitely be digging into it in the near future.
BTW Thanks to Mpauli for the heads up!
April 27, 2019
I actually loved the premise and characters in this. The problem was the plot felt too slow. I put it down to pick up another day and then never really felt like it. I do want to try more of author's work though. Arrr!
May 13, 2014
Book Info: Genre: Weird Western
Reading Level: Adult (although one of the main characters, Jim, is 15 and his coming-of-age is part of the story, I still think it's more of an adult story)
Recommended for: Fans of Lovecraftian literature, Weird Westerns, urban Fantasy
Trigger Warnings: murder, domestic violence against wife and daughter, slavery (during the part set prior to the civil war)
Animals Injured: Horse injures leg badly, had to push on through desert with no water for days (she's okay); two coyotes killed after they attack
My Thoughts: While at DragonCon 2013, I spent a good bit of time in the dealers' rooms looking at books and talking to authors. One of the books I noticed was The Six-Gun Tarot, a steampunk-influenced Weird Western with strong Lovecraftian ties. As it turned out, the author—R.S. Belcher—was there at the time and took a few moments to talk to me about the book. While I didn't buy a copy right then (as I've been spending profligately enough and my bag was full to bursting), I did note it and put it onto my wishlist as soon as I came home that night. Finally I picked it up this winter with some of the many gift certificates various friends sent me to help cheer me up after my cancer diagnosis.
Some of the imagery in this is pretty amazing (especially the Lovecraftian bits), like this rant from a madman:
As I said, I really liked how Lilith is presented in this book, and the handing down of Her secret purpose (the Load) over the generations as protectors of the Earth and the Mother. “I am the Mother's blade, the Mother's wrath... You have poisoned her, raped her and her children. Left her to die. Now you will suffer, you will die.” Really hardcore stuff, you know?
This is set in Nevada shortly after the Civil War. There is (of course) a lot of strife with the Native American peoples, and the Mormon/Latter Day Saints were a fairly new religion. Most of the more wealthy people who live in Golgotha in the book are Mormons, and I was startled by how much and how often most of the ones we spend any time with in the story drank. The only character who paid any respect to the rules was Sarah, who offered Harry coffee, even though it was a sin. My understanding is that Mormons are not supposed to drink alcohol or caffeine, or smoke, or otherwise pollute their bodies with drugs of any kind. That doesn't necessarily mean that is what happens, of course, but a lot of the drinking was being done by fairly high-ranking and prominent individuals and it surprised me that they didn't at least try to hide it. While this is the first book in the series, events from the past are frequently referred to (and I hope someday the author will write some of these prequels). It is also obvious that people who live in Golgotha are aware of the weirdness and danger in the area, especially the sheriff. Check out his armory:
For those readers who are familiar with the tarot, each chapter heading is a card's name, and either refers to a person or event in that chapter. I think it would be cool if a tarot deck was created to match this universe. As it is, those familiar with the cards and their meanings can have some fun by working out how the specific card applies to any given chapter.
Fans of Lovecraftian stories, Weird Westerns, and urban fantasies should enjoy this book. I really enjoyed reading it; it held me engrossed right to the end, and I highly recommend it to anyone who might be interested.
Series Information: Golgotha Series
Book 1: The Six-Gun Tarot
Book 2: The Shotgun Arcana, expected publication October 7, 2014 by Tor
Disclosure: I bought this book for myself after seeing it and talking to the author about it at DragonCon last fall. All opinions are my own.
Synopsis: Buffy meets Deadwood in a dark, wildly imaginative historical fantasy
Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides more than its share of unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker’s wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone’s business, may know more about the town’s true origins than he’s letting on.
A haven for the blessed and the damned, Golgotha has known many strange events, but nothing like the primordial darkness stirring in the abandoned silver mine overlooking the town. Bleeding midnight, an ancient evil is spilling into the world, and unless the sheriff and his posse can saddle up in time, Golgotha will have seen its last dawn… and so will all of Creation.
Reading Level: Adult (although one of the main characters, Jim, is 15 and his coming-of-age is part of the story, I still think it's more of an adult story)
Recommended for: Fans of Lovecraftian literature, Weird Westerns, urban Fantasy
Trigger Warnings: murder, domestic violence against wife and daughter, slavery (during the part set prior to the civil war)
Animals Injured: Horse injures leg badly, had to push on through desert with no water for days (she's okay); two coyotes killed after they attack
My Thoughts: While at DragonCon 2013, I spent a good bit of time in the dealers' rooms looking at books and talking to authors. One of the books I noticed was The Six-Gun Tarot, a steampunk-influenced Weird Western with strong Lovecraftian ties. As it turned out, the author—R.S. Belcher—was there at the time and took a few moments to talk to me about the book. While I didn't buy a copy right then (as I've been spending profligately enough and my bag was full to bursting), I did note it and put it onto my wishlist as soon as I came home that night. Finally I picked it up this winter with some of the many gift certificates various friends sent me to help cheer me up after my cancer diagnosis.
Some of the imagery in this is pretty amazing (especially the Lovecraftian bits), like this rant from a madman:
“You don't know what they do up there on that mountain, do you, Sheriff? It's tossing and turning. It eats the heart of the world, like a worm burrowing an apple! Maybe the preacher's right and my faith is just shivering, weak—is it wrong for me to try to keep them from hollowing me out from inside? I should just blow all of you stupid bastards back to Kingdom Come, while it's still there! Before they burn down Heaven and feast on the corpse. Maybe we should all die now, better that way!”Then we have Gran Bonny, whose ideas are blasphemous and often extremely funny, like this one:
“Guns are like men—only useful for a little while. They can go off at a moment's notice when you don't want them to and they make a lot of damn fool noise doing it.”The blasphemous part comes here:
“The tyrant-father of Heaven, the one who created, hated and drove out the first woman, yoked men with a horrible curse, far worse than any imagined to have been handed down to Eve. Men were told they were masters of this world, of their mates, of the beasts and fish, of the land and sea and sky. How ridiculous! That's like telling a little boy he's in charge of the house when his da is gone. It's silly!I really like the use of Lilith in the history of this world, and the idea of the Load. I wish we had spent more time with Gran Bonny, heard more of her stories. That would actually be a pretty cool spin-off series—give us Gran Bonny's life story! But I digress...
"And like that little boy, men have tried to live up to the unreasonable demands of their mute, wayward, celestial father. They have enslaved and dominated, conquered and killed, all in the name of shepherding, of protecting, of ruling the world. They spend their lives trying to do what they think is right, what their father on high would want of them. The bastard.”
As I said, I really liked how Lilith is presented in this book, and the handing down of Her secret purpose (the Load) over the generations as protectors of the Earth and the Mother. “I am the Mother's blade, the Mother's wrath... You have poisoned her, raped her and her children. Left her to die. Now you will suffer, you will die.” Really hardcore stuff, you know?
This is set in Nevada shortly after the Civil War. There is (of course) a lot of strife with the Native American peoples, and the Mormon/Latter Day Saints were a fairly new religion. Most of the more wealthy people who live in Golgotha in the book are Mormons, and I was startled by how much and how often most of the ones we spend any time with in the story drank. The only character who paid any respect to the rules was Sarah, who offered Harry coffee, even though it was a sin. My understanding is that Mormons are not supposed to drink alcohol or caffeine, or smoke, or otherwise pollute their bodies with drugs of any kind. That doesn't necessarily mean that is what happens, of course, but a lot of the drinking was being done by fairly high-ranking and prominent individuals and it surprised me that they didn't at least try to hide it. While this is the first book in the series, events from the past are frequently referred to (and I hope someday the author will write some of these prequels). It is also obvious that people who live in Golgotha are aware of the weirdness and danger in the area, especially the sheriff. Check out his armory:
“He [Jon] cleaned and oiled the collection of rifles, scatterguns and pistols that were caged in iron bars behind his desk. He also made sure the other objects locked in the gun cage—wooden stakes, silver bullets, various Indian and Chinese charms and amulets, a crucifix and several vials of holy water, blessed by the Holy Father himself all the way from Rome—were all in equally good condition.As you can see, Jon is ready for just about anything the town can throw at him, and I for one would love to know some of the stories of how and why.
For those readers who are familiar with the tarot, each chapter heading is a card's name, and either refers to a person or event in that chapter. I think it would be cool if a tarot deck was created to match this universe. As it is, those familiar with the cards and their meanings can have some fun by working out how the specific card applies to any given chapter.
Fans of Lovecraftian stories, Weird Westerns, and urban fantasies should enjoy this book. I really enjoyed reading it; it held me engrossed right to the end, and I highly recommend it to anyone who might be interested.
Series Information: Golgotha Series
Book 1: The Six-Gun Tarot
Book 2: The Shotgun Arcana, expected publication October 7, 2014 by Tor
Disclosure: I bought this book for myself after seeing it and talking to the author about it at DragonCon last fall. All opinions are my own.
Synopsis: Buffy meets Deadwood in a dark, wildly imaginative historical fantasy
Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides more than its share of unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker’s wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone’s business, may know more about the town’s true origins than he’s letting on.
A haven for the blessed and the damned, Golgotha has known many strange events, but nothing like the primordial darkness stirring in the abandoned silver mine overlooking the town. Bleeding midnight, an ancient evil is spilling into the world, and unless the sheriff and his posse can saddle up in time, Golgotha will have seen its last dawn… and so will all of Creation.
November 1, 2024
I can’t say that I have read many, if any Westerns. And I definitely haven’t ever read a supernatural/paranormal themed Western novel. The Six Gun Tarot was a new and unique experience for me, and definitely one I would happily repeat. Golgotha initially seems like a small, typical mid-Western town of the late 19th century, but soon it is clear that it is a magnet for all that is unusual.
The main character, Jim, ends up in Golgotha after trekking through the 40-Mile Desert, fleeing a crime he committed and perhaps others. The sheriff is a man who has evaded death countless times, his deputy seems to have an affinity with coyotes, the mayor hides ancient treasures and a respected lady of the town is not quite who she seems. The Six Gun Tarot has a wide range of interesting and diverse characters, each of whom have some kind of secret. Jim, whilst shown as the main protagonist, is often put aside in favour of the other denizens of Golgotha, and this is not a bad thing in the slightest. I have to say that my favourite character was definitely Maude Stapleton, a respected lady of Golgotha who is trained in the art of assassination. Belcher really focuses on the back story of each major character, bringing them all vividly to life.
The evil blight that overtakes the town reminded me a little of something from Leviathan Wakes, and the origins all tie in nicely with the religious beliefs of that particular period and location. However, the religious elements are not overpowering and do not feel at all ‘preachy’ – this was important to me, as someone who would find that a complete turnoff. It felt like, whilst this was happening to Golgotha now, it was not the first time something out of the ordinary had taken place in the town. Additionally, the author also recognised social issues that would have taken place in that era, such as sexism and many of the inhabitants’ prejudice against Mutt, a Native American character.
I’m so glad I finally got round to checking out The Six Gun Tarot – several months after it was chosen as my book group’s Book of the Month! I will definitely be looking out for the next book in the series, and may have to delve further into this newly discovered, rather niche genre.
I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.
The main character, Jim, ends up in Golgotha after trekking through the 40-Mile Desert, fleeing a crime he committed and perhaps others. The sheriff is a man who has evaded death countless times, his deputy seems to have an affinity with coyotes, the mayor hides ancient treasures and a respected lady of the town is not quite who she seems. The Six Gun Tarot has a wide range of interesting and diverse characters, each of whom have some kind of secret. Jim, whilst shown as the main protagonist, is often put aside in favour of the other denizens of Golgotha, and this is not a bad thing in the slightest. I have to say that my favourite character was definitely Maude Stapleton, a respected lady of Golgotha who is trained in the art of assassination. Belcher really focuses on the back story of each major character, bringing them all vividly to life.
The evil blight that overtakes the town reminded me a little of something from Leviathan Wakes, and the origins all tie in nicely with the religious beliefs of that particular period and location. However, the religious elements are not overpowering and do not feel at all ‘preachy’ – this was important to me, as someone who would find that a complete turnoff. It felt like, whilst this was happening to Golgotha now, it was not the first time something out of the ordinary had taken place in the town. Additionally, the author also recognised social issues that would have taken place in that era, such as sexism and many of the inhabitants’ prejudice against Mutt, a Native American character.
I’m so glad I finally got round to checking out The Six Gun Tarot – several months after it was chosen as my book group’s Book of the Month! I will definitely be looking out for the next book in the series, and may have to delve further into this newly discovered, rather niche genre.
I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.
March 16, 2021
"There was something, something moving silently through Golgotha like a poisonous rumor. It lurked in the narrow, muddy streets, and in the shadows of the temples and the churches. It had no name..."
I wasn't too sure what to expect from this book but it had turned out to be fantastic! The storyline actually reminds me of "The Tommyknockers" by Stephen King...you have a small town in the middle of nowhere (in this case the Nevada desert) that is slowly being taken over by a very ancient evil. And the Evil, if no one stops it, can destroy the entire world. So many things go wrong in this town it's not funny. The town of Golgotha is like a focus point for supernatural energy and power...and the town holds so many huge secrets. Many different types of creatures actually make their home here, the local humans being totally unaware. This is the kind of town where the local sheriff actually keeps silver bullets in stock and weird things have been known to happen.
I found this to be a thrilling read. Yes, it's a page turner with lots of action, danger, surprises of all types, guns and fistfights, dirty deals, murders, heroes and villians plus nasty things that go shriek in the night while spitting horrid black goo! Oh and horses! You can't have a western without horses! Expect unique terms like cowpuncher and muleskinner too (that last one sounds rather horrid, doesn't it... muleskinner? But it's just someone who drives mules. No actual skinning is involved... luckily!). You also have east meets west in here too. Did you notice the glowing kanji on the book's cover over the glass eye?
I got really caught up in reading this adventure story and had a great time. And I loved the characters too. The stakes couldn't get any higher. And the characters have well thought out back stories too. Oh, and did I mention magic items? That's in here too! Never a dull moment in this one! It's full gallop ahead!
I originally chose to read this book because I needed a western with a brown cover for a challenge and I'm glad I chose this one because it's grand and exciting! Plus I just found out there are more books in this series so I have something to look forward to reading.
I wasn't too sure what to expect from this book but it had turned out to be fantastic! The storyline actually reminds me of "The Tommyknockers" by Stephen King...you have a small town in the middle of nowhere (in this case the Nevada desert) that is slowly being taken over by a very ancient evil. And the Evil, if no one stops it, can destroy the entire world. So many things go wrong in this town it's not funny. The town of Golgotha is like a focus point for supernatural energy and power...and the town holds so many huge secrets. Many different types of creatures actually make their home here, the local humans being totally unaware. This is the kind of town where the local sheriff actually keeps silver bullets in stock and weird things have been known to happen.
I found this to be a thrilling read. Yes, it's a page turner with lots of action, danger, surprises of all types, guns and fistfights, dirty deals, murders, heroes and villians plus nasty things that go shriek in the night while spitting horrid black goo! Oh and horses! You can't have a western without horses! Expect unique terms like cowpuncher and muleskinner too (that last one sounds rather horrid, doesn't it... muleskinner? But it's just someone who drives mules. No actual skinning is involved... luckily!). You also have east meets west in here too. Did you notice the glowing kanji on the book's cover over the glass eye?
I got really caught up in reading this adventure story and had a great time. And I loved the characters too. The stakes couldn't get any higher. And the characters have well thought out back stories too. Oh, and did I mention magic items? That's in here too! Never a dull moment in this one! It's full gallop ahead!
I originally chose to read this book because I needed a western with a brown cover for a challenge and I'm glad I chose this one because it's grand and exciting! Plus I just found out there are more books in this series so I have something to look forward to reading.
August 21, 2015
There are layers to a cake and then there is this handcrafted, masterful art of a seven-layer cake called The Six-Gun Tarot. An orgasmic, literary cake. I stuffed my face with it and I regret nothing. In fact, I think that I will force feed it to everyone I know.
This cake is not a lie.
It takes a special talent to genre blend. When talking to my boss about this book and its many genres, he commented that it sounded too messy. That is not the case here. R.S. Belcher is a sorcerer. Everything flows together so well that sometimes you have to sit back and think about what you read. For example: I just read an exquisite horror paragraph followed by an epic old fashioned western brawl and it was brilliant.
Fantasy, historical fiction, murder mystery, steampunk, mythology, paranormal, horror, and western. Fucking name it, it's probably in there.
Jim is a fifteen year old boy trying to find his way through the desert, on his little mustang Promise, running from his past. He ends up where all the people hiding from their troubles end up, Golgotha. Once a booming mining town, it is now mostly filled with Mormons, chinese workers, and poor people in slums that used to work in the mines.
He is immediately accepted by an Injun deputy and the town sheriff who just doesn't die. But as soon as he arrives strange things begin happening in Golgotha. Stranger than the usual (mysterious rat people). An ancient evil is struggling to free itself from the chains that tie it to the earth below this small, strange town. Jim can help or he can run back to the desert.
There are multiple POVs and each one is great. I can't pick a favorite. Each adds so much depth to the story (layers, so many fucking layers!)
Read it. If you don't love it, we'll have a good ol' fashioned gunslinger face off to determine the winner. (I'll win.)
This cake is not a lie.
It takes a special talent to genre blend. When talking to my boss about this book and its many genres, he commented that it sounded too messy. That is not the case here. R.S. Belcher is a sorcerer. Everything flows together so well that sometimes you have to sit back and think about what you read. For example: I just read an exquisite horror paragraph followed by an epic old fashioned western brawl and it was brilliant.
Fantasy, historical fiction, murder mystery, steampunk, mythology, paranormal, horror, and western. Fucking name it, it's probably in there.
Jim is a fifteen year old boy trying to find his way through the desert, on his little mustang Promise, running from his past. He ends up where all the people hiding from their troubles end up, Golgotha. Once a booming mining town, it is now mostly filled with Mormons, chinese workers, and poor people in slums that used to work in the mines.
He is immediately accepted by an Injun deputy and the town sheriff who just doesn't die. But as soon as he arrives strange things begin happening in Golgotha. Stranger than the usual (mysterious rat people). An ancient evil is struggling to free itself from the chains that tie it to the earth below this small, strange town. Jim can help or he can run back to the desert.
There are multiple POVs and each one is great. I can't pick a favorite. Each adds so much depth to the story (layers, so many fucking layers!)
Read it. If you don't love it, we'll have a good ol' fashioned gunslinger face off to determine the winner. (I'll win.)
May 6, 2015
I have not read such absurd senseless demented twaddle in some time.
'Six Gun Tarot' by R. S. Belcher has a literary tone and a veneer of scholarly metaphysical research, but don't be fooled - a simplified politically-correct unification of all world beliefs into one face of god and one face of evil becomes a ridiculous and contrived irrational novel which fits together as chaotically as if one tried to put together one picture from ten different puzzles.
The reader will not be too disappointed, I hope, that while the chapters and book title have tarot card names, the story itself never once brings in a single word regarding the art and lore of Tarot magic whatsoever. I think the people involved in this book wanted to somehow bring in every abridged metaphysical Hollywood horror myth Americans enjoy, even if they couldn't figure out where to paste it in appropriately.
Frankly, dear reader, I can't recommend this book. Besides being total twaddle, it is idiotic, brainless, obtuse, irrational, nonsensical, half-witted, unintelligent, stupid, silly, ridiculous, fatuous, senseless, ludicrous, daft, farcical, risible, preposterous, unbelievable, insane, moronic, nutty, loony, dotty, hare-brained, screwy, whacky, cuckoo, crazy, illogical, puerile, addle-pated, cretinous, barmy, crack-brained, sophomoric, bird-brained, flaky, gaga, kooky, bonkers, inconsistent, grotesque, derisory, improbable, implausible, paradoxical, batty, buffoonish, loco, poppycock and pure crapulous hokum.
What I don't think it is, is a satire. Unfortunately.
January 5, 2018
Revolver Tarot beginnt, wie ein Western-Jugendbuch, zeigt aber sehr bald, dass es viel mehr als nur ein Gesicht hat: Der wilde Genre-Mix aus Western, Steampunk, Fantasy und Horror lebt von seinen zahlreichen Handlungssträngen und diversen Charakteren, die alles sind, nur keine Stereotypen. Im Mittelteil war ich etwas überwältigt von der Masse an Handlung und kam an manch einer Stelle nicht allzu schnell durch das Buch, doch irgendwann findet man einen wunderbaren roten Faden darin und ab diesem Punkt konnte ich das Buch einfach nicht mehr aus der Hand legen. Der Autor wagt hier einen Ausbruch aus dem Mainstream, der mich schlussendlich sehr begeistern konnte und mit erfrischender Andersartigkeit glänzt - besonders im Young-Adult- und Erwachsenenfantasybereich. Eine sehr runde Sache, der ich trotz des kleinen Hängers im Mittelteil sehr gern 4,5 Sterne gebe und die ich insbesondere Fantasy- und Thrillerfans, die Abwechslung suchen, sehr ans Herz legen kann.
June 5, 2014
This last 12 months I've concentrated mainly on the horror genre and as a result almost stumbled across an affinity for the western, initially starting with Tim Curran but there’s some fantastic stuff out there bred by some far from balanced imaginations.
Six Gun Tarot attempts an awful lot in this début novel, it’s an enjoyable read but the author may just have crammed too much into the story, there’s some fantastic characters, too many really and as he adds depth to them all, the pace of the story suffers a little.
There’s just too many POV characters, I can think of 8 of the top of my head and there could be a couple of others I've forgotten, it all deflects the momentum slightly from an otherwise promising story.
Set in 1869 in the town of Golgotha, the western town storyline entwines with a battle of God’s warriors against an evil barely contained and eventually chained beneath the earth, desperate to break free.
The story starts with Jim Negrey, a young man with secrets, to be honest every character in this book has a barrel load of secrets but Jim is struggling across the 40mile desert, or hell’s foyer, when his lucks runs out, both he and his horse collapsed, waiting for the end. When he’s rescued by the Indian deputy of Golgotha, a man named Mutt. Mutt is drawn by something powerful, something that Jim holds dear and unbeknownst to them both, a deadly battle is heading their way.
A religious sect led by the mysterious reverend Ambrose and his deadly deacon, Phillips, have re-opened the silver mine and are digging beneath Argent Mountain with renewed vigour, proclaiming all glory to the Greate Olde Wurm and it seems they have a purpose, a catastrophic purpose.
It then pretty much boils down to the various heroes hiding in Golgotha, of which it turns out there’s quite a few, to fight a horde of zombie like infected townsfolk and something evil and powerful beyond comprehension.
That’s the bare bones of it, there’s a lot more going on and a lot more characters including a Sherriff that it seems is impossible to kill and a female assassin type with the blood of Lilith. There’s also some intriguing supernatural elements that definitely add to the reading experience.
Overall this debut novel shows a lot of promise and I would certainly read the follow up to see if the promise translates into something even better, which I've got a feeling could well be the case and I did enjoy this despite some flaws.
A 3.5 rating rounded up,
Six Gun Tarot attempts an awful lot in this début novel, it’s an enjoyable read but the author may just have crammed too much into the story, there’s some fantastic characters, too many really and as he adds depth to them all, the pace of the story suffers a little.
There’s just too many POV characters, I can think of 8 of the top of my head and there could be a couple of others I've forgotten, it all deflects the momentum slightly from an otherwise promising story.
Set in 1869 in the town of Golgotha, the western town storyline entwines with a battle of God’s warriors against an evil barely contained and eventually chained beneath the earth, desperate to break free.
The story starts with Jim Negrey, a young man with secrets, to be honest every character in this book has a barrel load of secrets but Jim is struggling across the 40mile desert, or hell’s foyer, when his lucks runs out, both he and his horse collapsed, waiting for the end. When he’s rescued by the Indian deputy of Golgotha, a man named Mutt. Mutt is drawn by something powerful, something that Jim holds dear and unbeknownst to them both, a deadly battle is heading their way.
A religious sect led by the mysterious reverend Ambrose and his deadly deacon, Phillips, have re-opened the silver mine and are digging beneath Argent Mountain with renewed vigour, proclaiming all glory to the Greate Olde Wurm and it seems they have a purpose, a catastrophic purpose.
It then pretty much boils down to the various heroes hiding in Golgotha, of which it turns out there’s quite a few, to fight a horde of zombie like infected townsfolk and something evil and powerful beyond comprehension.
That’s the bare bones of it, there’s a lot more going on and a lot more characters including a Sherriff that it seems is impossible to kill and a female assassin type with the blood of Lilith. There’s also some intriguing supernatural elements that definitely add to the reading experience.
Overall this debut novel shows a lot of promise and I would certainly read the follow up to see if the promise translates into something even better, which I've got a feeling could well be the case and I did enjoy this despite some flaws.
A 3.5 rating rounded up,
January 16, 2021
Wild-west supernatural fantasy set during the gold/silver rush in America. I enjoyed it. This is one of those books which would do pretty well as a tv series. There's an action-oriented plot and interesting characters, and a setting that will definitely appeal to Spaghetti Westerns fans.
There was an excitement regarding the pace of the story, but the element of suspense and mystery was missing which I wanted in a supernatural fantasy novel. I could absolutely predict what's going to happen and how the story was going to end. But, the characters were complex and intriguing enough to give weight to the story and compell me to read on.
I liked how Belcher has weaved the native American, Biblical, and Asian mythology into his story. I loved the perspectives of the two angels of God, and the cosmology about creation and stuff. The secret women assassin cabal was pretty cool and awesome, and I'm all for it. I also loved how the theology is presented in an egalitarian manner.
Belcher portrays his characters grey, but with certain moral standards, and the town of Golgotha compliments them. Every character is a kind of outcast, and of dubious personality which gives a grittier feel to the story. It was ambitious, the scope, and Belcher has a lot of potential regarding the supernatural world he's trying to create.
There was an excitement regarding the pace of the story, but the element of suspense and mystery was missing which I wanted in a supernatural fantasy novel. I could absolutely predict what's going to happen and how the story was going to end. But, the characters were complex and intriguing enough to give weight to the story and compell me to read on.
I liked how Belcher has weaved the native American, Biblical, and Asian mythology into his story. I loved the perspectives of the two angels of God, and the cosmology about creation and stuff. The secret women assassin cabal was pretty cool and awesome, and I'm all for it. I also loved how the theology is presented in an egalitarian manner.
Belcher portrays his characters grey, but with certain moral standards, and the town of Golgotha compliments them. Every character is a kind of outcast, and of dubious personality which gives a grittier feel to the story. It was ambitious, the scope, and Belcher has a lot of potential regarding the supernatural world he's trying to create.
January 4, 2013
Forty miles in the middle of nowhere, there is a town called Golgotha. It sits in the middle of the desert. Silver mines once made this town thrive but now it is a collection of very unique residents. A boy with a magical eye, a man that can shift into a coyote, a mother and wife that is secretly a trained assassin, a shop keeper with a reanimated wife...Golgotha is quite distinctive.
Even in this unusual town even stranger things are happening. People are going missing, an ancient evil is coming and only the residents of Golgotha may be able to save the world and their small town.
The Six-Gun Tarot is a highly complex and intricate plot. This was not an easy read, my mind was constantly trying to figure out where this is all going and is it possible to get any more bizarre. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, in a mind blowing kind of way. It is just so beyond what you conceive as the norm it sucked me right in. Many different spiritual, cultural and religious beliefs are turned, twisted, convoluted and then woven into the fundamental fabric of this storyline. I couldn’t help but think The Six-Gun Tarot is the closest book I ever found to DUNE by Frank Herbert. This is a stimulating, mind boggling plot packed with fascinating and atypical characters that merge into a cohesive accounting in the end... 5 Stars
This ARC copy of The Six-Gun Tarot was given to me by Netgalley and Tor/Forge-Tor Books in exchange for an honest review. Published Date January 22, 2013.
Even in this unusual town even stranger things are happening. People are going missing, an ancient evil is coming and only the residents of Golgotha may be able to save the world and their small town.
The Six-Gun Tarot is a highly complex and intricate plot. This was not an easy read, my mind was constantly trying to figure out where this is all going and is it possible to get any more bizarre. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, in a mind blowing kind of way. It is just so beyond what you conceive as the norm it sucked me right in. Many different spiritual, cultural and religious beliefs are turned, twisted, convoluted and then woven into the fundamental fabric of this storyline. I couldn’t help but think The Six-Gun Tarot is the closest book I ever found to DUNE by Frank Herbert. This is a stimulating, mind boggling plot packed with fascinating and atypical characters that merge into a cohesive accounting in the end... 5 Stars
This ARC copy of The Six-Gun Tarot was given to me by Netgalley and Tor/Forge-Tor Books in exchange for an honest review. Published Date January 22, 2013.
February 1, 2016
4.5 Stars
The Six Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher is an awesome piece of new weird fiction. This book is one part western, another part horror, a smidgen of horror and fantasy, and a whole lot of fun. This is a dark fantasy like story that has a great deal of religious undertones at it's center. Of course no book like this today would not also be about the Apocalypse. The combination of an alternative western frontier thrown into the mix gives the story a great of interest and originality.
I loved this book even though it has some ups and downs with pacing. It really crosses many boundaries...
"“His future is built on the bones of the past. His Heaven is being constructed from the husks of those dead things—you know that, don’t you? Our homes are the corpses of those things in the Darkness. His precious Earth is being built of the same cadaverous matter as well.
“His will is not infallible, His dominion not absolute. He didn’t create them, did He?""
The writing is fun and detailed...
"“She looked at his offered gun, frowning. “Guns are like men—only useful for a little while. They can go off at a moment’s notice when you don’t want them to and they make a lot of foolish noise doing it. They tend to fail on you when you need them most. I do not rely on them,” she said.”"
A great start to a series that left me wanting to move on to the next book. Great stuff.
The Six Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher is an awesome piece of new weird fiction. This book is one part western, another part horror, a smidgen of horror and fantasy, and a whole lot of fun. This is a dark fantasy like story that has a great deal of religious undertones at it's center. Of course no book like this today would not also be about the Apocalypse. The combination of an alternative western frontier thrown into the mix gives the story a great of interest and originality.
I loved this book even though it has some ups and downs with pacing. It really crosses many boundaries...
"“His future is built on the bones of the past. His Heaven is being constructed from the husks of those dead things—you know that, don’t you? Our homes are the corpses of those things in the Darkness. His precious Earth is being built of the same cadaverous matter as well.
“His will is not infallible, His dominion not absolute. He didn’t create them, did He?""
The writing is fun and detailed...
"“She looked at his offered gun, frowning. “Guns are like men—only useful for a little while. They can go off at a moment’s notice when you don’t want them to and they make a lot of foolish noise doing it. They tend to fail on you when you need them most. I do not rely on them,” she said.”"
A great start to a series that left me wanting to move on to the next book. Great stuff.
September 5, 2025
OMG, enough with the religious lectures. They aren't even symbolic or allegoric. They're slap you in the face sermons. It's overshadowing a good weird west story. I'm a little over half-done with this, and I can't take it anymore.
March 1, 2019
3 Stars
Review:
This book was an interesting and fun Weird West (SFF + western) with a very unique set of characters, and it was those characters that really shone for me.
Jim was a great character and one I felt for in a protective sort of way. He was only 15, but he had to grow up fast and was already an outlaw. He found himself in Golgotha, looking for answers about his father's magical jade eye. He was eager and sweet, and I liked him from the very beginning when he gave his horse his last bit of water, deciding that either they would both make it to town alive, or neither of them would. He also provided a newcomer's perspective to the town, and his storyline was just interesting.
Jon, the sheriff, was also great and seems like a genuinely good person toward others.
Mutt was half Native American, among other things (non-human things), but the prejudice some people had didn't stop him from being deputy or from caring for his town and the people in it. Mutt turned out to be lovable despite his gruffness, and his total lack of smoothness with Maude was endearing.
Then there was Harry, the closeted gay mayor and protector of some sort of holy treasure cache. I felt awful for him. He struggled so much with his sexuality in a time when it wasn't accepted, and he felt guilty knowing he could never give his wife what she wanted. He was complex and imperfect, but he seemed like he was trying to be a good person.
Unfortunately I wasn't quite as interested in the rest of the characters. I still don't understand Maude's backstory or what it is that she's supposed to be/do. Auggie was keeping his dead wife's head alive in a jar, forcing her to live as just a head with no one to talk to but him, so he was instantly unlikeable. Biqa, the fallen angel, seemed interesting, but I didn't get to know enough about him.
The real problem I had was the writing. This book was kind of like a TV show with how it showed things going on all over town in lots of different characters' lives rather than having one clear protagonist, which would be ok even if not my preference, except that it was head-hopping chaos. Sometimes we'd go a while in one POV, but other times I felt like I was being thrown from one character's head to another's to the omniscient narrator's, sometimes from one sentence to the next. There was no clear delineation, and it was confusing.
As for the plot/pacing, it was a little slow at first---it felt like slice-of-life in a weird little town---but it eventually started to get more focused and picked up speed.
All that being said, I would like to read the next book because of how much I liked the characters and the friendships and relationships between them. Mutt didn't have a lot of friends, but the friendships he did have were sweet and loyal. The conversation between Harry and his lover when Harry was trying to warn him was just awwwww. The way Mutt immediately brought Jim into the fold and tore down his wanted poster was nice, and the little exchange between the two of them at the end was adorable. I love how Mutt and Jon have become kind of protective of him. Even Mutt and Harry went from snapping at each other to showing each other some respect. And Harry never seemed to like Jim, so it was nice when Jim did him a favor. Lots of good feelings all around.
So overall, though I found the writing confusing, I thought some of the characters really stood out and made this a worthwhile read.
Recommended For:
Anyone who likes sci-fi/fantasy, the Old West, good-hearted characters, and sweet friendships.
Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
---------------------
Initial Thoughts:
The writing was confusing, but I really liked some of the characters. Will probably do a full review soon.
Review:
This book was an interesting and fun Weird West (SFF + western) with a very unique set of characters, and it was those characters that really shone for me.
Jim was a great character and one I felt for in a protective sort of way. He was only 15, but he had to grow up fast and was already an outlaw. He found himself in Golgotha, looking for answers about his father's magical jade eye. He was eager and sweet, and I liked him from the very beginning when he gave his horse his last bit of water, deciding that either they would both make it to town alive, or neither of them would. He also provided a newcomer's perspective to the town, and his storyline was just interesting.
Jon, the sheriff, was also great and seems like a genuinely good person toward others.
Mutt was half Native American, among other things (non-human things), but the prejudice some people had didn't stop him from being deputy or from caring for his town and the people in it. Mutt turned out to be lovable despite his gruffness, and his total lack of smoothness with Maude was endearing.
Then there was Harry, the closeted gay mayor and protector of some sort of holy treasure cache. I felt awful for him. He struggled so much with his sexuality in a time when it wasn't accepted, and he felt guilty knowing he could never give his wife what she wanted. He was complex and imperfect, but he seemed like he was trying to be a good person.
Unfortunately I wasn't quite as interested in the rest of the characters. I still don't understand Maude's backstory or what it is that she's supposed to be/do. Auggie was keeping his dead wife's head alive in a jar, forcing her to live as just a head with no one to talk to but him, so he was instantly unlikeable. Biqa, the fallen angel, seemed interesting, but I didn't get to know enough about him.
The real problem I had was the writing. This book was kind of like a TV show with how it showed things going on all over town in lots of different characters' lives rather than having one clear protagonist, which would be ok even if not my preference, except that it was head-hopping chaos. Sometimes we'd go a while in one POV, but other times I felt like I was being thrown from one character's head to another's to the omniscient narrator's, sometimes from one sentence to the next. There was no clear delineation, and it was confusing.
As for the plot/pacing, it was a little slow at first---it felt like slice-of-life in a weird little town---but it eventually started to get more focused and picked up speed.
All that being said, I would like to read the next book because of how much I liked the characters and the friendships and relationships between them. Mutt didn't have a lot of friends, but the friendships he did have were sweet and loyal. The conversation between Harry and his lover when Harry was trying to warn him was just awwwww. The way Mutt immediately brought Jim into the fold and tore down his wanted poster was nice, and the little exchange between the two of them at the end was adorable. I love how Mutt and Jon have become kind of protective of him. Even Mutt and Harry went from snapping at each other to showing each other some respect. And Harry never seemed to like Jim, so it was nice when Jim did him a favor. Lots of good feelings all around.
So overall, though I found the writing confusing, I thought some of the characters really stood out and made this a worthwhile read.
Recommended For:
Anyone who likes sci-fi/fantasy, the Old West, good-hearted characters, and sweet friendships.
Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
---------------------
Initial Thoughts:
The writing was confusing, but I really liked some of the characters. Will probably do a full review soon.
January 2, 2015
The story has a few things that I am not really a fan of, such as third person retrospective narrative to tell us what happened to a character. Not all of them tell their story using that device though. The sheriff is still a mystery to me, even if he revealed part of his life to another. Still, as much as I didn't like that particular way of telling a story, it worked well here, but I had to read the whole book to see it. While I was reading, it was occasionally annoying to have the main story interrupted like that.
Jim, a thirteen year old is on the run from the law. He is trying to get as far away from his home as he could. His plan, as we find out, is to get to 'Virginia City and the mythical job with the railroad.' Instead, he ends up in a place a lot weirder than anything he could dream of. Golgotha is a special special place.
The introduction of a small group of major characters is really slow. You don't realize they are the most important people until later. The author took his time to introduce us to Maude, a woman whose life turned out to be something her strong grandmother had never expected. It would take the end of the world as we know it for her to remember herself.
Two of my favourites, the sheriff and his deputy Mutt (a coyote shifter), never disappointed. I wish there were more of them in the story.
Considering the place and time it is understandable that faith is one of the most important things in the story. Other, uglier things are part of it too - the blatant racism (Mutt gets a lot of that), homophobia (well incorporated into the story) and misogyny (Maude's part of the story). I spent a lot of time being angry and waiting for some of the characters to die. All this made this story pretty real even with paranormal and horror elements. Even if it was annoying and hard to read parts of it, the story is great. If you don't like weird stories that have a touch of Lovecraft combined with various religious mythos, then you might not like this.
Jim, a thirteen year old is on the run from the law. He is trying to get as far away from his home as he could. His plan, as we find out, is to get to 'Virginia City and the mythical job with the railroad.' Instead, he ends up in a place a lot weirder than anything he could dream of. Golgotha is a special special place.
'Why is Golgotha the town where the owls speak and the stones moan? Why is this the town that attracts monsters and saints, both mortal and preternatural? Why is our schoolhouse haunted? Why did Old Lady Bellamy wear the skins of corpses on the new moon? How did old Odd Tom's dolls come toe life and kill people? Why do you still pour a ring of salt around that unmarked grave and how did this little ditch of a town become the final resting place of some of Heaven's treasures?'This best depicts how special Golgotha is. In the course of the story you find out what exactly Jim had done back home, you get to see snippets of Golgotha's residents' lives, their loses, their fears and their hopes. There are no boring characters in Golgotha.
The introduction of a small group of major characters is really slow. You don't realize they are the most important people until later. The author took his time to introduce us to Maude, a woman whose life turned out to be something her strong grandmother had never expected. It would take the end of the world as we know it for her to remember herself.
Two of my favourites, the sheriff and his deputy Mutt (a coyote shifter), never disappointed. I wish there were more of them in the story.
"This is ridiculous! Is everyone with a badge in this dammed town crazy?" "It helps," Highfather said.There are a lot of Mormons in the town, the Mayor being one of them. At first I was afraid this story would become some kind of Mormon story, but fortunately I was wrong. They and their faith do play a role, but it isn't more important than faith of others in Golgotha. If I had to choose just one character to feel sorry for, it would have to be the mayor.
Considering the place and time it is understandable that faith is one of the most important things in the story. Other, uglier things are part of it too - the blatant racism (Mutt gets a lot of that), homophobia (well incorporated into the story) and misogyny (Maude's part of the story). I spent a lot of time being angry and waiting for some of the characters to die. All this made this story pretty real even with paranormal and horror elements. Even if it was annoying and hard to read parts of it, the story is great. If you don't like weird stories that have a touch of Lovecraft combined with various religious mythos, then you might not like this.
August 27, 2021
This has been a book I have been eyeing up to read for a while - although I never really got round to it, I guess in part from not knowing the author and only really being drawn to the cover (the UK edition as the US one is totally different).
However once I started reading it became apparent that although over 300 pages long (ironically I started on the Kindle but enjoyed it so much I switched to the paperback - UK edition obviously) I discovered the action happens at a real pace - surprisingly so.
Now I will say that I am sometimes sceptical with long but face paced books as they have a habit of trying to out pace themselves with the action and either peek to early or struggle to keep the tension. That is not the case here - all hell breaks looks 2/3 of the way through the book and just keeps on building and keeping the tension up to literally the last few pages no mean feat.
So yes I was impressed with how much I enjoyed this book (so much so I have bought the next two instalments) so here is to learning by now that I should follow my interests and read those books a lot sooner than I do.
However once I started reading it became apparent that although over 300 pages long (ironically I started on the Kindle but enjoyed it so much I switched to the paperback - UK edition obviously) I discovered the action happens at a real pace - surprisingly so.
Now I will say that I am sometimes sceptical with long but face paced books as they have a habit of trying to out pace themselves with the action and either peek to early or struggle to keep the tension. That is not the case here - all hell breaks looks 2/3 of the way through the book and just keeps on building and keeping the tension up to literally the last few pages no mean feat.
So yes I was impressed with how much I enjoyed this book (so much so I have bought the next two instalments) so here is to learning by now that I should follow my interests and read those books a lot sooner than I do.
April 25, 2022
Giving this a solid 4 stars. There is a lot of world and character building in the first half of the book. Some may call it a little slow, but knowing i have the next 2 in the trilogy made it ok.
Not sure why this was tagged as steampunk. There isn't anything of the sort in it. It's a weird western with some cosmic horror. If you've seen or played the Shadows of Brimstone board game by Flying Frog Productions, this could be a novel written after reading the box. I like that game so naturally I liked this book.
Looking forward to the next one in the series.
Not sure why this was tagged as steampunk. There isn't anything of the sort in it. It's a weird western with some cosmic horror. If you've seen or played the Shadows of Brimstone board game by Flying Frog Productions, this could be a novel written after reading the box. I like that game so naturally I liked this book.
Looking forward to the next one in the series.
October 31, 2021
I think The Six-Gun Tarot (Golgotha #1) by R.S. Belcher was almost exactly the kind fantasy western I needed. Historical fantasy is one of my favorite genres and I really liked how the author used the Old West. Plus, I really enjoyed getting to know the colorful cast of - as much as I liked Jim, I really liked Maude. I don't know about you, but I need to continue this series and return to the forsaken town of Golgotha in The Shotgun Arcana.
April 24, 2021
Belcher has created an exciting blend of paranormal and gritty Western. The story is sufficiently creepy and the characters, more than most in this genre, are interesting and engaging. A fun read and obviously the first in a series about this hard-scrabble, and creepy, desert town.
January 24, 2013
3.5-3.75
Another book where I sit here trying to categorize it, think who would be most interested in reading it, and how to describe it without veering off into spoiler land. It is a Western with fantasy elements. I really like the blend of Western and Fantasy, so I've been looking forward to this one for awhile.
Very interesting mix of mythologies and apocalyptic prophecies. We have angels, Lucifer (in a minor role), Coyote's son, a man who cannot die, a boy with a magical artifact, a priestess of Lilith, Chinese legends, Mormon legends all mixed together in the happy little town of Golgotha.
Considering Golgotha is pretty much synonymous with suffering and sacrifice, "happy" is relative.
The town is home to miners, a notorious saloon and mine owner, many Mormon families, and a very interesting team with the sheriff and his main deputy. Most of the characters are trapped in the societal cage they built for themselves, or at least helped to build. You have the priestess in a loveless, abusive marriage, the Mormon leader who hides his homosexuality behind his 3 wives, the Native American deputy who has been cast out by his tribe and the white world. This isn't a story about how they all rose above the constraints of society and fight to live freely. No, these characters fight even though they will still largely be in exactly the same place. Except it's the apocalypse, so failing means good night Irene.
There is some rape symbolism as the evil infects some of the townspeople. It was disturbing and horrific, as it is meant to be. I would say that what is going to happen is telegraphed quite a ways off, so if those scenes are too much for you, you can skip ahead without missing anything.
If you are good with the idea that belief itself is a power, more than the power being one particular belief, you might like this. Good for those who like their myths being mucked with. You know I do like it when things get mucked around.
There were A LOT of different POVs. Lots of flashbacks. While I liked some of the background info, it also got to be a bit much. Even though I was "shown" what happened in the past, given that it took away from the main story timeline, it felt off. I was itching to get back into the main story, and the asides made me think - Ooh, I'd like to hear more about that...but then you don't, because it is just a memory of what happened. A good chunk of the book is like this.
I also feel like there was more promise of ass-kicking than what was delivered. There was one character in particular that I wanted to see light a fire under some villain butt, but I didn't get it. There is action, but I wanted a little more.
Sometimes when you are in so many different heads, it can be difficult to get into the characters. I did like most of them. They were down-to-earth and I did hope that many of them would survive. There were so many characters though, that I lost track at one point of who was where.
I'm not sure if there will be more in this series. It is kind of set up to allow for more, although the main story is done. If there are more, I would hope for a little more "present", a lot less backstory.
[received review copy]
Another book where I sit here trying to categorize it, think who would be most interested in reading it, and how to describe it without veering off into spoiler land. It is a Western with fantasy elements. I really like the blend of Western and Fantasy, so I've been looking forward to this one for awhile.
Very interesting mix of mythologies and apocalyptic prophecies. We have angels, Lucifer (in a minor role), Coyote's son, a man who cannot die, a boy with a magical artifact, a priestess of Lilith, Chinese legends, Mormon legends all mixed together in the happy little town of Golgotha.
Considering Golgotha is pretty much synonymous with suffering and sacrifice, "happy" is relative.
The town is home to miners, a notorious saloon and mine owner, many Mormon families, and a very interesting team with the sheriff and his main deputy. Most of the characters are trapped in the societal cage they built for themselves, or at least helped to build. You have the priestess in a loveless, abusive marriage, the Mormon leader who hides his homosexuality behind his 3 wives, the Native American deputy who has been cast out by his tribe and the white world. This isn't a story about how they all rose above the constraints of society and fight to live freely. No, these characters fight even though they will still largely be in exactly the same place. Except it's the apocalypse, so failing means good night Irene.
There is some rape symbolism as the evil infects some of the townspeople. It was disturbing and horrific, as it is meant to be. I would say that what is going to happen is telegraphed quite a ways off, so if those scenes are too much for you, you can skip ahead without missing anything.
If you are good with the idea that belief itself is a power, more than the power being one particular belief, you might like this. Good for those who like their myths being mucked with. You know I do like it when things get mucked around.
There were A LOT of different POVs. Lots of flashbacks. While I liked some of the background info, it also got to be a bit much. Even though I was "shown" what happened in the past, given that it took away from the main story timeline, it felt off. I was itching to get back into the main story, and the asides made me think - Ooh, I'd like to hear more about that...but then you don't, because it is just a memory of what happened. A good chunk of the book is like this.
I also feel like there was more promise of ass-kicking than what was delivered. There was one character in particular that I wanted to see light a fire under some villain butt, but I didn't get it. There is action, but I wanted a little more.
Sometimes when you are in so many different heads, it can be difficult to get into the characters. I did like most of them. They were down-to-earth and I did hope that many of them would survive. There were so many characters though, that I lost track at one point of who was where.
I'm not sure if there will be more in this series. It is kind of set up to allow for more, although the main story is done. If there are more, I would hope for a little more "present", a lot less backstory.
[received review copy]
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