Dead Man's Hand: An Anthology of the Weird West

Otherworld Stories #0.00 - Bamboozled

by John Joseph Adams (Editor)

HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD!

From a kill-or-be-killed gunfight with a vampire to an encounter in a steampunk bordello, the weird western is a dark, gritty tale where the protagonist might be playing poker with a sorcerous deck of cards, or facing an alien on the streets of a dusty frontier town. Here are twenty-three original tales—stories of the Old West infused with elements of the fantastic—produced specifically for this volume by many of today’s finest writers.

Included are Orson Scott Card’s first “Alvin Maker” story in a decade, and an original adventure by Fred Van Lente, writer of Cowboys & Aliens. Other contributors include Tobias S. Buckell, David Farland, Alan Dean Foster, Jeffrey Ford, Laura Anne Gilman, Rajan Khanna, Mike Resnick, Beth Revis, Fred Van Lente, Walter Jon Williams, Ben H. Winters, Christie Yant, and Charles Yu, with an introduction by editor John Joseph Adams.


CONTENTS:

01 - Joe R. Lansdale, The Red-Headed Dead
02 - Ben H. Winters, The Old Slow Man and his Gold Gun from Space
03 - David Farland, Hellfire on the High Frontier
04 - Mike Resnick, The Hell-Bound Stagecoach
05 - Seanan McGuire, Stingers and Strangers
06 - Charles Yu, Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger
07 - Alan Dean Foster, Holy Jingle
08 - Beth Revis, The Man With No Heart
09 - Alastair Reynolds, Wrecking Party
10 - Hugh Howey, Hell from the East
11 - Rajan Khanna, Second Hand
12 - Orson Scott Card, Alvin and the Apple Tree
13 - Elizabeth Bear, Madam Damnable's Sewing Circle
14 - Tad Williams, Strong Medicine
15 - Jonathan Maberry, Red Dreams
16 - Kelley Armstrong, Bamboozled
17 - Tobias S. Buckell, Sundown
18 - Jeffrey Ford, La Madre del Oro
19 - Ken Liu, What I Assume You Shall Assume
20 - Laura Anne Gilman, The Devil's Jack
21 - Walter Jon Williams, The Golden Age
22 - Fred Van Lente, Neversleeps
23 - Christie Yant, Dead Man's Hand

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Westerns, Horror, Urban Fantasy, Fiction

409 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 2014

About the author

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisting of THE END IS NIGH, THE END IS NOW, and THE END HAS COME). Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated nine times), is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and served as a judge for the 2015 National Book Award. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines LIGHTSPEED and NIGHTMARE, and is a producer for Wired's THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY podcast. You can find him online at www.johnjosephadams.com and on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.

Reviews

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the exception of two or three stories which I didn't love as much as the rest, this is a great collection with a common theme: wild west.

Some have magic, others steam engines, and some have both; some have only one character in it with the exception of the thing they are fighting, others have battles; some are about the living, others are about the dead; some have only humans, others other creatures too; some are sad, some humorous. And this is only small part of it. I can keep going. This anthology shows just how grateful this theme is. You can do anything with it.

The Red-Headed Dead: A Reverend Jebediah Mercer Tale by Joe R. Lansdale
East Texas, 1880

A reluctant Hand of God, Reverend Jebediah Mercer from the dead of the west, is drawn to yet another fight against the evil. It is way too short, but I loved it. Where else could you read about fist fight with a vampiric monster?

The Old Slow Man And His Gold Gun From Space by Ben H. Winters
Sacramento, California, 1851

Crane and Caleb, two gold prospectors, get an opportunity of their lifetime when a strange old man offers him a very special deal. A story with a twist in the end.

Hellfire On The High Frontier by David Farland
Wyoming Territory, Circa 1876

Morgan Gray, a Texas ranger, is on a trail of a skin-walker when a Stranger who helped him out before calls in a favour. Morgan can't refuse. He has to go to the High Frontier, a city in the clouds discovered four years earlier. You won't know where this story would take you judging by its beginning.

The Hell-Bound Stagecoach by Mike Resnick
Arizona Territory, Circa 1885

Four people are travelling together and only when they start talking do they realize that their coach isn't an ordinary one. Great ending. The coachman shouldn't have put those four together.

Stingers And Strangers by Seanan McGuire
Passing through Nevada, Westbound on the Southern Pacific Railway, 1931

Thanks to this story I got this anthology. Fran and Jonathan are on their way 'to determine the reason that the local Apraxis swarms have been moving during their settled season'. The Apraxis isn't the only thing they find. There is an annoying scene with a very beautiful woman they meet, but the ending saved it.

Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger Charles Yu
Lost Springs, Wyoming, 1890

A young man accidentally finds himself in a role he never expected. He also never expected an extraordinary gift.

Holy Jingle by Alan Dean Foster
Carson City, Nevada Territory, 1863

Something strange happened to Monk's young friend. He can't get him out of the brothel. So Monk finds a special man for the job. Great story and great ending.

The Man With No Heart by Beth Revis
Arizona Territory, 1882

Ray Malcolm needs answers about his origin, the truth about why his bones are made of metal and why he doesn't seem to have a heart. Following the trail of mechanical spiders, he finds everything he needs.

Wrecking Party Alastair Reynolds
Arizona Territory, 1896

A dirty wanderer is caught 'wrecking the horseless carriage on Main Street a little after two in the morning.' The sheriff recognizes him as his old friend and partner and allows him to tell his story. Why is he attacking machines?

Hell From The East by Hugh Howey
The Free Territory of Colorado, 1868

To be honest, this one was a bit boring. An officer goes mad and kills a bunch of his soldiers. The narrator tells us of his attempt to understand what happened.

Second Hand by Rajan Khanna
Wyoming Territory, Circa 1874

A story with a great idea: cards that can be used magically either as weapons or something else. The two characters from the story are in the town to talk to one of the Card Sharp old-timers, but everything goes wrong.

Alvin And The Apple Tree by Orson Scott Card
The State of Hio, 1820

Alvin comes to a village where every person blames themselves for one sin or another. Being a Maker, he fixes it in the end. I'll just leave two quotes from this story and most would understand why: 'Certainty is how you feel about your opinions. Knowledge implies that you’re pretty sure, but that you’re also right. Certainty doesn’t require that you be right.' And this one: 'Making other people ashamed of themselves so you can feel proud of being better. Those are sinful kinds of pride.'


Madam Damnable’s Sewing Circle by Elizabeth Bear
Seattle, Washington, 1899

A setup that is too long for something that isn't really a story, but rather an episode in a brothel. While the world seems more than interesting (a villain has some kind of device strapped on his arm and it makes people do what he wants), it is just an episode.Next, an Indian female character doesn't have to be Priya. I want to know why Madam Damnable is so formidable.
Still, it is funny how the narrator presents her 'sewing' business.

Strong Medicine by Tad Williams
Medicine Dance, Arizona Territory, 1899

Medicine Dance is a very special place. Every thirty nine years something happens to the town and it needs any help it can get. And every thirty nine years, on Midsummer's Day a stranger comes to their aid.

Red Dreams by Jonathan Maberry
Wyoming Territory, 1875

When a story features a man who participated in the Sand Creek massacre, it is impossible to empathize. it starts with him being the only survivor in a battle. He starts hearing strange sounds and even strangers things start happening around him. Then Walking Bear came.

Bamboozled by Kelley Armstrong
Dakota Territory, 1877

Nate and Lily and their group of thieves are on another job where she has to pretend to be something she is not. Nothing is as it seems. Great twist in the end. Loved it.

Sundown by Tobias S. Buckell
State of Colorado, 1877

Willie Kennard, a Marshall, comes to Duffy in pursuit of a man who killed a group of miners whom he was guarding. Another great story with a twist and a satisfying ending.

La Madre Del Oro by Jeffrey Ford
New Mexico Territory, 1856

A young man gets deputized by a sheriff's deputy for a posse to catch a murderer of a young girl. The man isn't just a killer - they say he also ate her. So the deputy, one former gunslinger, our young narrator, and their guide are after Bastard George. Only, George isn't the greatest danger out there.

What I Assume You Shall Assume by Ken Liu
Idaho Territory, Circa 1890

A story of a power of words. Chinese are being hunted all around the area out main character is passing through. A Chinese woman stumbles into his camp.
I didn't really like all the switching between the present and the past, but it helped me accept the ending. After thinking about how this story ends, I realized it ended as it was supposed to.

The Devil’s Jack by Laura Anne Gilman
The Territory, Three Days’ Ride Northeast of the Canyon, July 1801

Jack played against the devil and lost. The story finds him sixteen years into that job trying to outrun his master's call. He will play again, but not for himself.

The Golden Age by Walter Jon Williams
Alta California, Spring 1852

A humorous and at the same time a bit sad story of superheroes and super-villains of the Wild West.

Neversleeps by Fred Van Lente
Monument Valley, Near Navajo Territory, Northbound on the Northwest Pacific Express, 120 years after the Awakening

I don' think I'll ever read 'Leviathan' (one: it is YA so I won't lose much; two: I don't like how Nikola Tesla is depicted there . yes, I've read the reviews). But now I know that I won't mind a female character Tesla. Not the Tesla, but a descendant.
The world in this story is a world where science and electricity are banned, everyone turned to magic, dragons are used to pull trains, etc. The title refers to government Pinkerton agents who hunt down anyone who uses the forbidden items or electricity or anything else the government judges inconvenient. 'Nicola Tesla had been the West’s most wanted Science Criminal, with a million-dollar bounty on her head.'

Dead Man’s Hand by Christie Yant
Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 1876

Various and often contrary accounts on what happened to Wild Bill Hickok.

Overall, this has been a great collection of stories with only a couple of those that weren't as strong as others.

[Sarah]

I'm not marking this as read or giving it a rating yet because I've currently only read one short story from the anthology. I do intend to come back to it and read the rest at some point though so I'll update this review when I get around to it.

3 stars for Stingers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire:
Read: 11th May 2016
Stingers and Strangers is Seanan McGuire's contribution to the Dead Man's Hand anthology. Fran and Jonathan have now been working together for 3 years (& I have to admit that the jump in the timeline was a little jarring since the previous three stories have followed on one immediately after the other) and their latest case has them travelling to Colorado to investigate the strange behaviour of the local Apraxis Hives.

Considering Apraxis wasps are the size of a man's shoe and as intelligent as the humans they feed on (in fact, they absorb the memories of the humans that they consume!) they're a pretty terrifying creature. So anything that has them running scared has got to be of nightmare proportions and that is the creature that Fran and Jonathan have been sent to deal with.

Although I enjoyed this short it seemed a little odd that the couple's relationship had changed so little in three whole years (this actually felt more like it was several months after the previous story) but I loved the progress they make here. The wasps were suitably creepy but I think the show down with the main monster fell just a little bit flat, I would have liked that section to have been just a few pages longer and more detailed. This wasn't my favourite story about this couple but it was well worth reading if you're a fan of the previous ones and I'm looking forward to spending more time with them both.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read Stingers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire.

I'm a little surprised that 3 years have passed since we last saw Jonathan and Fran. But beyond that, this was an awesome story with a lot of fun little glimpses into the further cryptid world and species.

I particularly enjoyed the moments between Fran and Jonathan which seemed to really deepen their relationship.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and fun, with enough action, humor ... and romance too.

“Very well, then: let me tell you about the Apraxis wasp. First, picture a yellow jacket the size of a shoe.”
“My shoe or yours?” she asked.
“Mine.”
Fran shuddered. “Pictured.”
“Good. Now, give that yellow jacket human intelligence.”
“You’re messin’ with me,” Fran said.”


Three years after their fateful meeting in Tempe, Arizona, Jonathan and Fran are still working together. Their new case takes them (and a bag-full of Aeslin mice) to Boggsville, Colorado ... something is scarring off the dangerous Apraxis wasps, of course those two will stick their neck in the middle of that hive. Giant wasps, dragon-princesses and a mind-scrambler.... just the average day of work for our couple.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read Stingers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire, because INCRYPTID!

[Blodeuedd Finland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am going to do this short, because they stories are just that, some very short, and if I say too much, then I have said it all.

Introduction—John Joseph Adams
Now I know what weird western is

The Red-Headed Dead—Joe R. Lansdale
Short story about a priest. Ok but really short.

The Old Slow Man and His Gold Gun From Space—Ben H. Winters
Weird, short and had a nice twist

Hellfire on the High Frontier—David Farland
Maybe they work cos they are short, interesting. Anyway, I liked the stuff at the end. very cool

The Hell-Bound Stagecoach—Mike Resnick
A nice weird one. I liked it

Stingers and Strangers—Seanan McGuire
InCryptic tale. You can follow along even if you have read nothing from that "world"

Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger—Charles Yu
I did feel a bit confused with this one

Holy Jingle—Alan Dean Foster
A bit so and so.

The Man With No Heart—Beth Revis
I wondered where this one was going and at the end I totally wanted a book about him. Cool.

Wrecking Party—Alastair Reynolds
Scary future for all of us, nice sense of doom

Hell from the East—Hugh Howey
I read it 30 min ago and have forgotten it already *checks* Right, sun dance. Ok the concept was interesting of what is to come

Second Hand—Rajan Khanna
Same with this one *check* Right, cards. Needed more explaining

Alvin and the Apple Tree—Orson Scott Card
I have not read the Alvin books so..who is Alvin? Anyway freaky town!

Madam Damnable’s Sewing Circle—Elizabeth Bear
Not that much happened, I know they are short but still

Strong Medicine—Tad Williams
Now this was one weird place. Very nice.

Red Dreams—Jonathan Maberry
Freaky end, I do like freaky endings.

Bamboolzed—Kelley Armstrong
A good story

Sundown—Tobias S. Buckell
I could have needed some more explanations here, it should have been longer

La Madre Del Oro—Jeffrey Ford
Ohhh, the end, I need more, what was that?! Awesome, creepy.

What I Assume You Shall Assume—Ken Liu
Eh, I mean ok, but I would rather have read this set in China and not a backstory

The Devil’s Jack—Laura Anne Gilman
Interesting fellow this Jack.

The Golden Age—Walter Jon Williams
Ha, this one was weird too, but hey that is why they are weird westerns. Got to love that

Neversleeps—Fred Van Lente
Hey they mentioned Tesla, that is always good, cos booo Edison, Tesla rules! Could have been even more interesting fully fleshed out.

Dead Man’s Hand—Christie Yant
I did not get this one. Was it even a story?

And like always, some were good, some were ok, some I still remember, some I forgot. It's an anthology after all and every story will not be to my taste, they never are. But what they all had in common was that even if I was not a fan, they were still interesting. So weird cool stories set in a west you have not seen before.

[Jasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

originally posted at: http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2014...

One sub genre that isn't the mainstream when it comes down to fantasy and science fiction is the western genre. I have come across a few books that do feature some great western stories, those of Joe Abercrombie, Mike Resnick and Guy Adams. Westerns, be it steampunk influenced, classical or with a tinge of science fiction all do pique my interest so when I found out that Titan books was releasing not one but twenty three western stories, be it in a anthology I was more than stoked to get reading. The story of the Dead Man's Hand anthology were picked out by John Joseph Adams, he is a critically acclaimed editor of many anthologies and various science fiction fantasy magazine, one of his anthologies The Living Dead was nominated for a World Fantasy Award! So the premise of diverse western stories and a renown editor this had to be one awesome read, and it sure as proved to be one! A lot of readers do shy away from anthologies but Dead Man's Hand is really, really one wild weird west ride.

The stories that make up the Dead Man's Hand anthology are all original stories and the list is as follows:


1. The Red-Headed Dead by Joe R. Lansdale

2. The Old Slow Man and His Gold Gun From Space by Ben H. Winters

3. Hellfire on the High Frontier by David Farland

4. The Hell-Bound Stagecoach by Mike Resnick

5. Stingers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire

6. Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger by Charles Yu

7. Holy Jingle by Alan Dean Foster

8. The Man With No Heart by Beth Revis

9. Wrecking Party by Alastair Reynolds

10. Hell from the East by Hugh Howey

11. Second Hand by Rajan Khanna

12. Alvin and the Apple Tree by Orson Scott Card

13. Madam Damnable’s Sewing Circle by Elizabeth Bear

14. Strong Medicine by Tad Williams

15. Red Dreams by Jonathan Maberry

16. Bamboolzed by Kelley Armstrong

17. Sundown by Tobias S. Buckell

18. La Madre Del Oro by Jeffrey Ford

19. What I Assume You Shall Assume by Ken Liu

20. The Devil’s Jack by Laura Anne Gilman

21. The Golden Age by Walter Jon Williams

22. Neversleeps by Fred Van Lente

23. Dead Man’s Hand by Christie Yant

As you can see from the list above there are some well known and a bit lesser known authors (at least for me) that feature in Death Man's Hand. As what I normally do when I review an anthology I pick a few stories that really caught my eye and that I thoroughly enjoyed, this doesn't mean that I didn't like the other ones its just that writing something about every story would turn this into a too lengthy review. (I am going to spill some beans on the bold ones)

One thing that falls to note when you are a few stories into Dead Man's Hand is the diversity of the featured stories. Like I mentioned above they come in many forms. Like a supernatural story where vampire hunting holymen take the central stage to killer wasps down to aliens and back to a classic showdown and magical cards. John Joseph Adams has selected some terrific stories from his anthology and yes this is the first anthology that I read of him, but still there are some stories in this anthology that really put you to the edge of your seat and some that are for me ready to be translated into a full length novel as well.

1. The Red-Headed Death by Joe R. Lansdale

An anthology always needs one powerful story to kick off the book and this is exactly what Joe R. Lansdale's, The Red-Headed Death does. Some people might call the idea behind this story cliche but you know what it rocks. The Red-Headed Death is a supernatural vampire story. It's a relatively short story only a few pages long, but that is all it needs. The Reverend, one Jebediah Mercer, is send on another task by God. He is a holy man and one thing that doesn't fit in this picture is of course the supernatural entities. He soon discovers some weird things going on in a cemetery and when he sets out to investigate it proves more than true and he has to deal with the blood-sucking kind of supernaturals. But Jebediah isn't only armed with some garlic, wooden stakes and a sprinkle of holy water, no he is packing some serious heat! .44 Colts just to name one. Now you can guess just the direction that The Red-Headed Death will go into I reckon, one gunslinging showdown! THe shortness of this particular story really works in it's favor it's exactly enough to produce one single short storie, get you on the edge of your seat and trigger you to find out just what kind of stories the remained of the anthology has in store for you!

2. The Hell-Bound Stagecoach by Mike Resnick

I know Mike Resnick solely for his own Weird Western Tales, the steampunk, alternative history mash-up series. In it he has already shown that he has a creative mind when it comes down to using the western theme. So when I read that one of his stories featured into this anthology I did got my hopes up to see Doc Holliday make an appearance, but Mike Resnick goes into a different direction with The Hell-Bound Stagecoach. The story is based on an already published one but Mike Resnick translates this into a bit more horrific and weird western story. One thing that is tricky when it comes down to short stories is info dumping, The Hell-Bound Stagecoach has definitely influences of a strong character plot but Mike Resnick slowly reveals more and more about the different characters and just their role in the plot itself. as you can probably make up from the titles, there is only one direction to which this stagecoach is going, and that is straight to Hell. However it's not only about the destination perse, it's about the journey and this aspect, is what Mike Resnick shows in a creative way. It is a pretty weird story but in the few sentences everything falls into place.

3. Stingers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire

A lot of readers will know that Seanan McGuire also goes by the name of Mira Grant and this is where I know her from, she has shown her self to be able to freak out people completely with her Newsflesh and Parasitology series. Stinger and Strangers however follows up on a different series that she is still currently working on: InCryptid. Now I am not familiar with this series but I could understand everything that featured in Stingers and Strangers to enjoy it completely. Stingers and Strangers tells the story of Jonathan and Frances who are making their travels through Colorado in the 1930's to check in with an Apraxis swarm . Apraxis are gigantic wasps that have the level of intelligence of human beings. Its this latter part that makes them a top predator instead of a simple insect, well that and given the fact that they are of a giant size. The cryptozoologists Jonathan and Fran (in-training) have their hand full to quell this threat. This is not a typical shoot-out western but I am always in for some science/biology in my stories and this is what Seanan McGuire shows. Dangerous and just a bit bizarre creatures that pose a threat to mankind.

4. Bookkeeper, Narrator and Gunslinger by Charles Yu

Bookkeeper, Narrator and Gunslinger is a classic showdown, who is the fastest draw in the west kind of story. But well calling it classic is not possible since it features in a weird west anthology, so it does have a twist! The story is written in a first person narration and this really helped to create a much more engaging feeling it. In the little town where Bookkeeper, Narrator and Gunslinger takes place there were three people termed the fastest gunslingers Fallon, Ratface and Pete. They exactly new who was the fastest but place two and three remained to be guessed. The person we follow, the narrator is basically the narrator of the town and does some bookkeeping on the side but you know, some people are just to bit of a smartiepants for others and soon the match gets changed...it isn't Pete vs. Fallon anymore but Fallon vs. out protagonist. Which adds to the last bit of the title. This is one of those stories that readily sucks you in as you read everything that the main protagonist is going though, leading up and doing the eventual 40 meter staredown and pray that you are the fastest one!

5. Second Hand by Rajan Khanna

As I have said before there are well known and lesser known author in the Dead Man's hand anthology and sorry to say this but I haven't read anything by Rajan Khanna before, but finishing Second Hand I am in for a full length book of it! This is one of those stories that has a lot of promise to it. You are thrown directly into the heat once you start reading Second Hand, you see one of the character, Hiram, playing a card and not completely according to the general rules. His chaperon and trainer, Quentin quietly observers and sees Hiram make a stupid mistake. What directly felt to note were the capitalized words Cards and Played, once you read them you know that they have a much bigger meaning to them and soon you do find out just what it all means and this put a big smile on my face! I read stories like Wild Cards which are totally awesome but Rajan Khanna gives a completely new meaning to the words Card Sharps. Because the Cards that both Quentin and Hiram use have a supernatural tinge to it and basically makes them a bit like mages, I have to stop here from telling more but its really cool stuff and a great idea to use in a story. Anyway, Quentin and Hiram are for a specific purpose in the city, they have to find a certain someone to help them understand, but one the said person is located it all turns to the very bad very soon. Rajan Khanna has started to build a great premise in Second Hand that will hopefully be featured in more stories or a full length book!

6. Strong Medicine by Tad Williams

Tad Williams is one of the big names in the anthology and I have been a big fan of his stories for a long time, my fantasy reading began with his Otherland series. If you think about a weird western tale, than Strong Medicine fits the bill spot-on. The story takes place in Medicine Dance, Arizona here once every thirthy-nine years during midsummer something weird happens to the town of Medicine Dance. Time stops for a moment, or I should be saying goes back a few million decades... The dinosaurs, other reptiles and even mammoths make a brief reappearance during these midsummers days. The story however is just far from a simple quell the threat, protect the city type of story, it's more on the contrary, it shows a strong character driven story, one thing that I have come to enjoy from Tad William's other stories. Just as with the story of Charles Yu, Bookkeeper, Narrator and Gunslinger, Strong Medicine is also written in the first person perspective and this time we follow a stranger who is "just visiting" the town of Strong Medicine. Now on the first read through I had a lot of questions about what exactly was going on in the first few pages, is this guy really a stranger or what, it seems that some townpeople do know him and other don't, also he has a lot of knowledge about the midsummer events... All along the way there are some interesting things happening between this stranger and several of the townpeople and it seems that he has a heart for a few but what exactly remains to be seen, just untill the last page where Tad Williams give you one major plot twist, I didn't see this coming at all and I quickly read the story again and now it makes a ton of sense. I am a big fan of just these kind of stories, totally unexpected, a terrific read.

7. Dead Man's Hand by Christie Yant

Christie Yant's Dead Man's Hand (not the anthology) is the last story of the anthology and just as where The Red-Headed Death gave the kick-off sign, Dead Man's Hand nicely decelerates the anthology. In Dead Man's Hand the story of James Butler Hickok by John McCall is being retold. It mentions briefly in the beginning "Your card are dealt anew every moment of the day. So are the card of the other players". And this is precisely what happens, it doesn't only feature the stories of James Butler Hickok and John McCall but also some other saloon proprietors. It took me a while, re-reading the story two or three times to full get the grasp of the story. But once understood it packs a powerful punch. A solid closing of the Dead Man's Hand anthology.

I have only highlighted seven of the twenty-three stories but I can safely say that the remaining stories are just a great as the once that I have written about. Just like I mentioned on top and what you can hopefully make up from the explanations is that the stories are very diverse. But they do all have one thing in common they are a made up of good and solid idea's, some did take a rereading of me to fully grasp the story but once I did I smiled even more, there are some mighty clever and interesting stories hidden within Dead Man's Hand. This is my first John Joseph Adams anthology and I am more than pleased with the high quality of stories that he has collected, I will be definitely keeping an eye out on his next anthology to come. So far one of the best anthologies that I have read this year.

[Nyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up specifically for Stingers and Strangers but decided to read all 23 stories.
Combined Rating: 3.96 (Rounded to 4)
Here are my thoughts:

The Red-Headed Dead (A Reverend Jebediah Mercer Tale) by Joe R. Lansdale ~ 4 Stars ~ In a word-bizarre. But it grabbed and kept my attention. Unfortunately, I searched for more Rev. Mercer tales but found conflicting results.

The Old Slow Man and His Gold Gun From Space by Ben H. Winters ~ 3 Star ~ Started out boring as sin; but what an ending!

Hellfire on the High Frontier by David Farland ~ 3 Stars ~ Both interesting and depressing.

The Hell-Bound Stagecoach by Mike Resnick ~ 5 Stars ~ Well that was entertaining; LOL.

Stringers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire ~ 4 Stars ~ Nothing like chasing one preditor just to discover another! I wish we had learned more about the latter. I wonder if the like will make another appearance.

Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger by Charles Yu ~ 4 Stars ~ Engrossing.

Holy Jingle (A Mad Amos Malone Tale) by Alan Dean Foster ~ 3 Stars ~ So let me get this straight.. He f***ed her to death? I'm so confused.

The Man With No Heart by Beth Revis ~ 5 Stars ~ Subtle. Understated. Unexpected. Good Read.

Wrecking Party by Alastair Reynolds ~ 4 Stars ~ Intresting; would have appreciated more.

Hell from the East by Hugh Howey ~ 3 Stars ~ There are lessons here.

Second Hand (A Card Sharp Story) by Rajan Khanna ~ 5 Stars ~ I enjoyed this story but couldn't find the series anywhere, which is unfortunate.

Alvin and the Apple Tree (A Tale of Alvin Maker) by Orson Scott Card ~ 3 Stars ~ *Shrug*

Madam Damnable's Sewing Circle by Elizabeth Bear ~ 4 Stars ~ Again, I wish there was more. It would be nice to know if that horrible man ever got his comeuppance.

Strong Medicine by Tad Williams ~ 5 Stars ~ Good Read. I wish we could see what happened 39 years later.

Red Dreams by Jonathan Maberry ~ 3 Stars ~ There are lessons here, too, but I don't think they were meant for me. I read, listened, and sympathized, but I did not empathize. They killed us, too, but we were not represented in this story.

Bamboozled by Kelly Armstrong ~ 4 Stars ~ That was gruesomly amusing.

Sundown by Tobias S. Buckell ~ 5 Stars ~ Fredrick M*****F****** Douglas!! Orator, Abolitionist, Marshall, Gunslining Monster Hunter! Willie was cool, too, being the main character and all! Lol Good Read.

La Madre Del Oro by Jeffrey Ford ~ 3 Stars ~ It's an interesting story but seems to have no point.

What I Assume You Shall Assume by Ken Lu ~ 4 Stars ~ What a curious tale with an unusual magic system.

The Devil's Jack (A Story of the Devil's West) by Laura Anne Gilman ~ 4 Stars ~Interesting concept; I might give the series a try.

The Golden Age by Walter Jon Williams ~ 5 Stars ~ Fun tale even when somber; definitely grabs (and keeps) ones attention.

Neversleeps by Fred Van Lente ~ 4 Stars ~ Interesting and amusing; we meet Nikola Tesla’s great-great granddaughter Nikola Tesla.

Dead Man's Hand by Christie Yant~ 4 Stars ~ Morbidly fascinating.

[Cathy]

I only read Stingers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire. This story is the fourth in a series of short stories about Jonathan Healy and Francis Brown from the author's InCryptid series. A couple have appeared in anthologies, as this one does, and a couple are available for free on the author's website. This story starts 3 years after the last story, in 1931, back on a train headed west and then in a town in Colorado. I don't know, as much as I like the idea of using a common world or series as the foundation for stories that will appear in magazines and anthologies, it's really tricky to make it work too. Aliette de Bodard does it as well with her Xuya universe, but they're only loosely related most of the time, those stories stand on their more. And there were still times when reading Xuya stories where I felt like the impact would be lost for people who didn't know the history or importance of a theme or idea. But this is trickier. If I didn't know who the Healys were, what a dragon princess was, what the Aeslin mice were, I don't think I'd like this much, I'd feel lost and I wouldn't feel connected to these characters. But I did know and it was a very Healy romance (guns, knives, crypt ids and danger) and I enjoyed it.

Some of the other stories in the book looked like they might be good, but I have too many other anthologies on my kindle and on my to-read list, I just couldn't spend the time on one who's theme didn't do it for me.

[Matthew Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason, my reading preferences never led me towards Westerns. I read just about everything else genre-related (well, except for romance), but never got into that area. I’m not sure why. I guess horror dominated my tastes. So imagine my surprise and delight when Titan Books released DEAD MAN’S HAND, an anthology of the Weird West. I was intrigued to say the least, but I had no idea the treasures this book held in store for me. Within its pages are a vast array of bizarre and horrific stories that will enthrall even the staunchest of genre fans. And I will bet there’s something in there for non-fans as well.

I am so proud to own a copy of this book. It is chocked full of mesmerizing tales that will stun and engage readers of every kind. And it boasts some highbrow talent as well, including a few of my favorites: Tobias S. Buckell, Alan Dean Foster, Tad Williams, and Jonathan Maberry.

Every story in DEAD MAN’S HAND is written well and carefully crafted for maximum impact. The wide variety of talent showcases a multitude of unique voices and highlights each author’s distinctive style of storytelling. As a result, it is very easy to jump from one story to the next.

This great diversity of writers is one major aspect of what makes this book so enjoyable. I liked every story in this collection, obviously some more than others. But each one was a pleasure to read, and in doing so, I found a few more authors who I plan on checking out in the future.

One of my favorite stories in DEAD MAN’S HAND is “Strong Medicine” by Tad Williams. In this tale, a man arrives in town in order to help them…but nobody in town knows what he’s supposed to help with? As sundown approaches, strange things start to happen, and only the stranger knows what is going on. I love this tale because it caught me off guard; I never expected the events that were to happen within it, and the surprise is a lot of fun.

DEAD MAN’S HAND is an excellent anthology, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good, unique story. There’s so much to like in this book, including science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. As such, I would wager there’s something for everybody here. Give it a look for sure.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of Led Astray: The Best of Kelley Armstrong. An Otherworld Universe Story: Werewolves in the Wild West. Good story, plot and characters.

[Sana Zameer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

[Tarl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird West Anthologies are always a kind of mixed bag for me. Sometimes they are the same ol' clichés, while others manage to mix the proper amount of weird westerns so that the reader manages to stay engaged throughout the entire collection.

Dead Man's Hand of one of the latter.
Adams has done a remarkable job bringing a large variety of stories into this collection. There are weird westerns of very genre (ie: steampunk) as well as new and interesting storylines outside of the usual gunslinger cliché.

In this collection, there were a few stories that stood out for me.

“Karen Memory” by Elizabeth Bear was a good story, though at the time, I was unaware it was actually the opening chapters to Karen Memory. The piece of story that Bear presents in the anthology itself is fairly solid, her writing being as masterful as ever, but because it is only a piece of a longer work, a lot is left unanswered by the end of the story. Still, Bear's excellent writing makes this a unique and interesting story.

“Alvin and the Apple Tree” by Orson Scott Card stood out for another reason. Though Card's writing was fairly skillful in this story, and the premise was unique, I couldn't get behind it. I am not sure if it was just the characters and their powers, or their interactions, but something about them bothered me and kept me from enjoying the story itself. Still, it was a unique idea and helped mix things up.

“The Red-Headed Dead” by Joe R. Lansdale is a sheer pleasure to read, despite not being as engaging or as entertaining as his previous stories. This story reads like a fight stretched out longer than perhaps it should have been, but it is engaging and by a master of the genre before weird wests were a thing. That said, it ended up being overshadowed by some of the other stories in this anthology.

“Dead Man's Hand” by Christie Yant was by far the most usual stories in this collection, and yet one of the most artistic. Presenting differing ways a certain scenario plays out by also mixing in various versions of the 'Dead Man's Hand' made for a very interesting read.

All in all, there were very few disappointing stories in this anthology and they are greatly overshadowed by the positive stories. If someone was to ask me what they should read to understand the weird west genre, I would recommend this book. Adams did a good job here, and his joy in the genre shines through.

[Sophie]

"Stingers and Strangers" by Seanan McGuire

This is a good one, y'all. Fran and Jonathan travel to Colorado to find out what's been scaring the giant wasps, and in the process they finally, FINALLY admit their true feelings for each other. Took them long enough! I guess I assumed that they got together after Frances moved in with the Healys, but I find the idea that they've been dancing around the question for THREE YEARS fucking hilarious.

Anyway. Listen, I DON'T LIKE WASPS. Maybe it's the fact that I read The Fairy Rebel at an impressionable age, but wasps are EVIL. Giant-sized ones that possess human-level intelligence and want to lay eggs in you and harvest your brain for memories? NOT OKAY. Seanan is so GOOD at horror.

But even giant fucking wasps are afraid of something. If you've read any of the full-length InCryptid books, you know what that something is, but Frances and Jonathan won't find out for another couple of stories. In the meantime, they're gonna get married! Yay!

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Western, as a literary or cinematic genre, has a very strong hold over the American psyche. It has shaped the evolution of science fiction and horror in US to a great extent. This book, bringing a large number of 'weird' westerns, prove the fact.
Like every other anthology this one was also a mixed bag. My favourites were:
1. The Old Slow Man and His Gold Gun From Space— Ben H. Winters
2. The Hell-Bound Stagecoach— Mike Resnick
3. Stingers and Strangers— Seanan McGuire
4. Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger— Charles Yu
5. Holy Jingle— Alan Dean Foster
6. The Man With No Heart— Beth Revis
7. Wrecking Party— Alastair Reynolds
8. Strong Medicine— Tad Williams
9. Bamboozled— Kelley Armstrong
10. What I Assume You Shall Assume— Ken Liu
Most of the other stories had too little humour or context that might appeal to readers who are not exactly obsessed with Nevada or Texas.
Readable anthology. That's all.

[Bronwyn Knox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of Western-themed short stories, blended with science fiction/fantasy. Many would fall into the subgenre of Steampunk, which compliments the Western very well.

They were generally fun to read, mostly action-oriented narratives featuring outlaws or lawmen (and some women). For my taste, they could have been far “weirder” and gone a bit deeper.

Two that stood out to me were:

"Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger" by Charles Yu, a story that played meta games with the conventions of the “gunslinger” type of charter, and "Alvin and the Apple Tree" by Orson Scott Card, which read like a religious parable.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book full of shorts. I only read the incrypted, Stingers and Strangers, and while it was good, not quite up to her usual standards.

[Brok3n · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonathan and Fran Healy

To begin, let me lay out what I will be reviewing here. Seanan McGuire's website has a page entitled Incryptid Short Stories. About two dozen stories are listed here. These stories are also listed as books in the Goodreads Incryptid Series page. Neither of these lists is complete: McGuire has also published many stories on her Patreon site. They can be found in the Bibliography page on her site. I don't know if the Bibliography is complete with respect to Patreon stories.

Most of the stories on the Short Stories page are available for free download there. Some of them, however, were published in anthologies, and to get these you need to buy or borrow the book. For access to the Patreon stories you need to sign up as a supporter at Patreon. The minimum charge is $1.50. That's a recurring charge, but you only need to sign up once for access to all currently available stories. The Short Stories page is organized by the primary characters and time period. Here I will be reviewing the stories listed under the heading Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown (1928-1945). These are:

The Flower of Arizona (published in Westward Weird)
One Hell of a Ride (free download)
No Place Like Home (free download)
Stingers and Strangers (published in Dead Man's Hand: An Anthology of the Weird West)
Married in Green (free download)
Sweet Poison Wine (free download)
The First Fall (free download)
Loch and Key (free download)
We Both Go Down Together (free download)
Oh Pretty Bird (free download)
Bury Me In Satin (free download)
Broken Paper Hearts (free download)
The Star of New Mexico (free download)

As you can see, there's a lot of material here. Even though it is formatted as stories, the stories in totality (in the order listed) are pretty much a novel about Jonathan and Fran. Of the two anthologized stories, which you would have to buy or borrow, the first, The Flower of Arizona, is entirely dispensible. You will read most of it in the other stories. Stingers and Strangers, in contrast, is a substantial story and important both to the continuity of the Jonathan and Fran stories and to the Incryptid series as a whole. What's more, the anthology Dead Man's Hand: An Anthology of the Weird West is pretty good, with a star-studded list of science fiction authors. So, if you're going to buy or borrow something, I would recommend it.

Well, how are the stories? They're excellent, of course. If you really want the backstory on the Healy/Price family, this is the place to look. Although the stories focus on Jonathan and Fran (more Fran than Jonathan), Jonathan's parents Alexander and Enid Healy are important characters as well, and you will pick up several hints about their backstories. Fran doesn't have a regular family, but the members of the circus/carnival where she performed before Jonathan swept her away are also important characters.

Of the main Incryptid novels, I have only read Discount Armageddon, and I was a bit surprised by the Jonathan and Fran stories. They are not as light-hearted as Discount Armageddon. Although McGuire's trademark humor and irreverence permeate the stories, they are more somber than I expected. In fact, there is tragedy, especially in the so-short-it-is-barely-there Broken Paper Hearts. I was also surprised at how important the Aeslin Mice were. In Discount Armageddon they are mostly just comic relief -- delightful, but not terribly necessary to the plot. In the Jonathan and Fran stories I can think of at least three occasions where they play crucial roles in the plot. The most important occurs when Alice, The Exceptionally Noisy Priestess, is born.

So, yeah, if you're into the Incryptid books, you should definitely read these stories.

[Craig Childs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology brings together 23 short stories of the weird western variety-- that is, action-adventure stories featuring cowboys, gunslingers, Indians, and lawmen fighting ghouls, aliens, robots, demons, and werewolves. This book feels like a refurbished version of Weird Tales for the 21st century. This modern sub-genre was popularized by Joe R. Lansdale's 1980 novel Dead in the West; a sequel short story to that book is included here.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross. Here are my individual story reviews ordered from most- to least-liked:

"Alvin and the Apple Tree" by Orson Scott Card -- Alvin Maker visits a city whose inhabitants are so pious they believe their souls are too sinful to be saved. They have eaten of a Tree of Knowledge planted by a deranged Johnny Appleseed. This is the first and only Alvin Maker story since 2003 … I am still waiting for the author to write the final book in the series!

"Hellfire on the High Frontier" by David Farland -- In this steampunk tale of gunslingers and outlaws, Morgan pursues an Arapaho skinwalker and a murderous automaton known as the Clockwork Gambler. The chase starts on the Wyoming frontier and ends in gunfire in High Frontier, a city in the clouds inhabited by feral angels.

"Dead Man's Hand" by Christie Yant -- This story postulates several ways Wild Bill Hickok's life might have ended, if those Aces & Eights had turned up just a little bit differently.

"Stingers and strangers" by Seanan McGuire -- The Arizona Territory is infested with Apraxis Wasps that are as intelligent as humans and as large as a grown man's foot. That's bad. What is worse is that a new unknown predator is moving in and scaring them off. Part of the author's InCryptid series, which may be worth checking out.

"Red Dreams" by Jonathan Maberry --McCall provides security for wagon trains and cattle barons, but he harbors no delusions about his role on the frontier--he is an Indian killer, plain and simple… until the spirit of one of his victims Chief Walking Bear visits him one night. This is a surreal dream-tale that emphasizes the horrors of the Native American story.

"Hell From the East" by Hugh Howey -- A lieutenant returns to Fort Morgan from patrol and kills five of his men for no apparent reason. The secret of his madness is seemingly tied to an ancient Arapaho sun dance ritual. A taut, noir mystery. "Trials and spectacles are afforded a man before his chest is riddled by a firing squad."

"Madre del Oro" by Jeffrey Ford -- A young drifter is deputized into a posse to hunt the cannibal Bastard George. This is a tight noir Western, reminiscent of Lansdale's The Thicket; the "weird" supernatural element is only revealed near the end.

"Madame Damnable's Sewing Circle" by Elizabeth Bear -- The title refers to a cathouse in 1899 in what is now the Seattle Underground (when it was still above ground). The girls take in two runaway prostitutes and protect them from a rival pimp in a short story with light steampunk trappings. Later expanded into the novel Karen Memory.

"The Red-Headed Dead" by Joe R. Lansdale -- Rev. Jebediah Mercer vanquishes a vampire descended from the line of Judas Iscariot. Retains the gothic atmosphere of the rest of the series, while emulating the style of Robert E. Howard.

"Devil's Jack" by Laura Anne Gilman -- Jack loses a poker game with the Devil and is doomed to serve "seven years, and seven, and seven more". If he dies during that spell, he will belong to Satan forever. He crosses the Territory in 1801 battling demons, magicians, and the souls of the damned. Part of the author's Devil's West series.

"The Hell-Bound Stagecoach" by Mike Resnick -- Two gunslingers, a white Apache warrior, and a proper schoolmarm find themselves unexpected traveling companions on Old Scratch's stagecoach to hell. A sardonic comedy told almost entirely through dialogue.

"Bamboozled" by Kelley Armstrong -- A pickpocketing actress and her Lycanthropic beau encounter a group of half-demons in a frontier town. A fun standalone story set in the same universe as the author's Otherworld series.

"Holy Jingle" by Alan Dean Foster -- A giant mountain man must drive a succubus demon out of the body of a Japanese prostitute. Part of the author's Amos Malone series.

"Strong Medicine" by Tad Williams -- Every 39 years during the summer solstice, the town of Medicine Dance, Arizona becomes unstuck in time for 24 hours. In 1899, it drifts to the Late Cretaceous period, and an ageless fighter appears to help the town fend off dinosaur attacks. A fun premise, even if the dinosaur fights get monotonous by the end.

"Sundown" by Tobias S. Buckell -- A Black marshal joins forces with famed abolitionist Frederick Douglas to fight an alien infestation that is taking over the West.

"Man With No Heart" by Beth Revis -- Ray Malcolm is a betting man who never shoots first in a gunfight. When he sees evidence of mechanical clockwork spiders from the Grand Canyon, his curiosity compels him to trek down to the Colorado River to learn more.

"Wrecking Party" by Alastair Reynolds -- At the turn of the century, a sheriff arrests Abel McCreedy for destroying a horseless carriage. Abel's story about the coming war between man and machine sounds too far-fetched to be anything other than the delusions of a mad man, but the arrival of an android soon raises doubts.

"Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger" by Charles Yu -- A telepath discovers he is the fastest gun in town. The tone of this story veers from slapstick to contemplative.

"Golden Age" by Walter Jon Williams -- A masked crusader for justice known as the Condor tries to tame alter-California during the Gold Rush of 1849. The disreputable Commodore and his band of pirates--the Gentlemen of Leisure--fight back. This unfocused, madcap adventure has a bit of everything--alternate history, superheroes, steampunk, and hints of magic. It reminds me a lot of the author's story "Unto the Sixth Generation" from Aces High.

"Neversleeps" by Fred Van Lente -- 120 years ago the magic of the Indians and Chinese immigrants returned to North America during the Awakening. All science and technology is outlawed. Secret agent Simon Lindsey is loyal to the White City and the atomists who follow the teachings of Edison. His mission is to rescue the grandniece of Nikola Tesla. This story has an intriguing premise, but it never really invests the reader in the characters themselves.

"What I Assume You Shall Assume" by Ken Liu -- Amos, a former abolitionist and Union soldier, tries to rescue Yun, a Chinese witch in the Idaho Territory. Yun uses magic based on written words, which functions as a heavy-handed metaphor about the power of free speech and new ideas. She is also a former rebel against the Manchu empire, and they bond over shared ideology about freedom: "I have seen words free the minds of men who believed they were slaves."

"Second Hand" by Rajan Khanna -- Quentin and Byron roam an Old West, falling in and out of scrapes, dominated by a complicated form of magic channeled through playing cards. The rules are complicated, and the battles fierce.

"The Old Slow Man and His Gold Gun from Space" by Ben H. Winters -- Caleb and Crane are not the luckiest--or the smartest--miners in the Gold Rush. Their fortunes may change, however, when an old man claiming to be from the dark side of Neptune introduces them to extraterrestrial technology.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent anthology of "weird west" fiction - often similar to steampunk or gaslight fantasy genres -, these stories feature clockwork gunfighters, aliens, demons and devils, time travel, vampires, magicians, dinosaurs, werewolvef bounty hunters, weird science, assorted cryptids, and zombies, as well as more conventional wild west characters (some real, some fictional). This collection included more robots and aliens that I had expected and isn't overburdened with steampunk technology. While native Americans feature in a number of the tales, none are the protagonist in any, which came as a surprise to me, although Ken Liu's "What I Assume You Shall Assume" features a Chinese woman fleeing the collapse of the Taiping rebellion (as well as an interesting take on the power of the written word). This book also includes one of Joe Lansdale's *Reverend Jedediah Mercer tales "The Red-Headed Dead" (a character I've had a soft spot for after reading "Deadman's Road" in Penzler's Zombie collection. Note: the good reverend seems to go through A LOT of bibles in these stories). an account of 19th Century superheroes and villains during the California gold rush ("Golden Age" by Walter Jon Williams), a magical system based around playing cards ("Second Hand" by Rajan Khanna), secret agent Frederick Douglass fighting insect aliens (""Sundown" by Tobias Buckell), as well as a 19th Century US where magic is normal and technology illegal (Fred Van Lente's "Neversleeps" - which, by the way has a very creepy twist on the Pinkertons). Some of these stories are interesting or fun but none of them are amazing- and a number are mediocre, so in all honesty and can't give this collection more than 3 stars.

*As I have recently discovered, the author of the novella "Bubba Hotep" that inspired the cult classic.

[Ronnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average rating: 3.4

The Read-Headed Dead I will say off the hop that I did not enjoy this writing style. There were sentences that had way too any "ands" and if he referred to the vampire one more time as "the thing" I might have screamed. But the Reverend and his take on God were super interesting, and I'm tempted to pick up "Dead in the West" because of it. (3*)

The Old Slow Man and His Gold Gun from Space Repetitive, sometimes to great effect, more often to its detriment. The twist at the end was well done though. (3*)

Hellfire on the High Frontier Nothing like reading a story written by a white dude in 2014 that refers to a woman exclusively by a sexist racial slur and talks all about evil scalpers and skin-walkers with absolutely zero plot relevance. The worst part was the story almost had promise outside of all that bullshit. (1*)

The Hell-Bound Stagecoach This was kind of fun. I expected it to go somewhere else, like maybe Abigail was a poisoner, and by the time it ended the whole story seemed pointless, but it was fun. (2.5*)

Stingers and Strangers This was definitely the story that made me pick up this anthology. It's fun to see the Aeslin mice put to use, even if this apparently didn't learn any information worth being mentioned in the narrative. Of course it took Johnny and Franny three eyars to finally confess their love. Loved the parallel of the Aprix wasps and the cuckoo, which is related somehow to wasps (as we learn in the main InCryptid series). Wasps and memories, huh? Over all, lots of action and character development. (5*)

Bookkeper, Narrator, Gunslinger This story started out laugh out loud funny, and ended almost poignantly. I definitely enjoyed it. (4.5*)

Holy Jingle Ahh, the power of a man's dick in expelling evil curses. I found the language a mite pretentious and overall, I didn't love it. His horse was cool though. (2.5*)

The Man With No Heart: This, I really liked. Fun twist at the end there. Smooth writing style, and a very satisfying ending. (4*)

Wrecking Party: This was a fairly enjoyable story, though there was a lot of unanswered questions. Short stories don't always have to answer all the questions, and this one, I guess, did a good explanation to why they weren't answered, but I would have liked more of a resolution (3.5*)

Hell from the East: I don't really know how I feel about this one. The entire scene where he was staring at the sun made me squirm, so good use of the English language there. (3*)

Second Hand: I liked this one so much that half way through, I stopped reading so that I could find the first story and read that, and once I was done I found the third story and read it as well. Great world-building, unique concept, and well written. (5*)

Alvin and the Apple Tree Really well written, but holy balls was it preachy. (3*)

Madame Damnable's Sewing Circle It took me a while to warm up to this one, but once I did, I was hooked. It's a story that definitely demands a second part though, and I really want to read it. (5*)

Strong Medicine Dinosaurs in the midwest! I rather enjoyed this one, tough sometime's the timing felt off (Like how Edwards parents were apparently courting during the last trip through time, when he can't have been much older than 20? I guess it could work though, if they had him really late in life) (4*)

Red Dreams I started off really enjoying this story as a morality tale about the aboriginal genocide, and I was even okay with it turning more into a morality tale about the general violence of man, but by the time it got to the 'violence of dinosaurs' or whatever, I felt like it had lost nearly all of his impact and wound up just being ... well, kind of pointless. I'm also confused about how he saw Bob's exit wounds if the horse had already galloped off. (3*)

Bamboozled That was a fun read. Nice little twist at the end there. (4*)

Sundown: Aother really good story. I have tow onder, though, how Willie knew the airship was filled with something flammable when hot air balloons - how it was described to him - are not. It really was your typical 'zombies in the old west' story, but the characters were enjoyable. (3.5*)

La Madre Del Oro Not particularly well-written, and the ending was entirely unsatisfying. (2*)

What I Assume You Shall Assume "I shall not regret the things I did, but the those I did not do." This story was chalk full of metaphors, symbolism, and beautiful imagery, which was something I suspected from the very first sentence: "The ray of light came over the eastern horizon like a sunrise, like the door to a dank jail cell cracking open, like the sweeping, fiery swordd before an angel of judgement." That one sentence carries a world of meaning and foreshadowing. There was not a wasted word, which is fitting for a story all about hte power of words. Chinese labourers is also a topic that is woefully underrepresented in westerns, and it was refreshing to read about. This might have been my favourite story in the whole anthology. (5*)

The Devil's Jack I enjoyed this. Jack was a pretty good, nuanced character. (3.5*)

The Golden Age: I fully admit to having a soft spot for superhero stories, but this was positively delightful. Super fun characters, well-written and humourous, and a well crafted plot. I wasn't sold on it immediately, but once I was, I was completely hooked and loved every minute of it. (5*)

Neversleeps: So, I guess that was a romance, but it wasn't a very well-developed one? Normally, I like a lot of world building, but there was far too much of it crammed into such a short story and it was way too busy. (2.5*)

Dead Man's Hand I think I must have been missing something since I'm pretty sure I just read different version of the same event over and over with nothing explaining anything? How did this same confrontation keep happening? How was this the story that made the title of the anthology?


Also, wow, does this anthology in general love the name McCall.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of odd tales from the weird west. It may not have knocked my boots off, but I felt them tugged from time to time. And really, what more can we ask from an anthology.

Stuffed with clockworks, vampires, dinosaurs, and aliens, John Joseph Adams (editor) has wrangled some fun stories. Each author strikes a unique set of harmonics on the scale of voice and tone, and yet the individuality of fellow contributors isn't lost, but rather merged into a larger, primarily singular melody suiting this particular subgenre

My top five IOP (In Order of Printing):
* "The Hell-Bound Stagecoach" by Mike Resnick
* "Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger" by Charles Yu
* "Second Hand" by Rajan Khanna
* "Red Dreams" by Jonathan Maberry
* "Dead Man’s Hand" by Christie Yant
* And honorable mention goes to the introduction. John Joseph Adams sets the table for the reader, establishing a foothold on the subgenre through brief and accessible historical context.

The audiobook consists of dueling narrators. Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross take turns, with Gigante reading the majority. And while Ross has a rich and pleasing voice, she lathers on too much thick Southern-sweet for the ear to wholly appreciate.


All in all, a fun anthology.
I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys tales set in the Ole West with a twist of odd fringed with funny.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve grown to enjoy subject-based genre anthologies, provided I like the underlying subject matter and John Joseph Adams has yet to produce an anthology that I have not admired. This collection is no exception as he has put together a nice assortment of “weird western” short stories, featuring some well-known authors such as Joe R. Lansdale, Mike Resnick, Orson Scott Card, Tad Williams, and Elizabeth Bear as well as others that were new to me. As always, I liked some better than others but there is not a clunker in the bunch.

There are 23 short stories in this collection, ranging from cowboy vampires to robot marshals, to aliens and steampunk adventure. The unifying theme is the Old West, but certainly nothing like the westerns that Zane Gray or Louis L’Amour would write. All in all, a fine collection that has, alas, added yet more authors to my “must read more of their work” list.

[Wyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book.

Most of the stories I found interesting and unique. I have been a Weird West fan before it was a "Thing". Steampunk is a fairly new territory for me but I have already found some good books from that Genre.

If you like the Wild West.. read this. If you like Steampunk... read this. If you like horror and sci-fi... read this. If you like weird... read this.

Just... read this!

[Michelle Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mini reviews of each story in this collection because otherwise this would just say “I liked some but didn’t like others.”

The Red-Headed Dead: 1/5 - I don’t particularly take a shine to stories that exist simply to fling insults at God, not to mention a horse gets killed in a super gory way, and the only other thing that happens is a blindingly mediocre fight with a vampire zombie thing. Nothing to like about it, really.

The Old Slow Man and His Gold Gun from Space: 5/5 - The cadence this writing has was so pleasing and playful, and the little twist at the end was not one I saw coming at all. Very amusing!

Hellfire on the High Frontier: 3/5 - Felt almost like an episode of the Twilight Zone, particularly one modeled after cautionary tales. Loved the blend of western, steampunk, and fantasy, but was ultimately dissatisfied by the ending.

The Hell-Bound Stagecoach: 5/5 - I started this one grumpy that the title was giving away the twist in the story, but it strangely turned into a sweet, funny, endearing little story, so it has earned a good solid 5 stars.

Stingers and Strangers: 4/5 - This seems to be the story that most people have read from this collection because they are already familiar with Seanan McGuire’s leads. I haven’t read any McGuire prior to this, and while I feel that prior familiarity would have been helpful, I very much enjoyed her writing and will seek out more of it in the future.

Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger: 5/5 - This was quite a little ride! Started out kind of funny, went into another Twilight Zone-esque direction, and came out with a tense, open end. Very good!

Holy Jingle: 2/5 - While I loved the masterful use of simile and found the story’s opening to be pretty funny, this took some pretty disgusting turns that knocked quite a few stars off.

The Man with No Heart: 4/5 - Good use of pacing to keep me on the hook! I’m still a little unclear on a few details, but I overall liked this one quite a bit.

Wrecking Party: 3/5 - This one seemed to fit the brief of “weird western” very well, with its sentient automata and whatnot, and I appreciate that the story’s narrator feels sad for inanimate objects (like an old car) that get smashed up, a trait we share. Can’t say it blew me away, though.

Hell from the East: 3/5 - This was a good western story, but I’m not sure it fits the brief. Also, if you have a migraine like I did when I read this one, skip it - it’s about a man staring directly into the sun, and my migraine-addled head had SO MUCH FUN imagining what that would be like.

Second Hand: 4/5 - While the writing style was a bit more simplistic than most others in this collection, this story had plenty of twists and turns and a thoroughly western magic system tied to using special playing Cards from special Decks to different effects. Very fun!

Alvin and the Apple Tree: 5/5 - That felt like a wonderful conversation about theology and mythology and history and psychology and all the little ways they intersect. Loved it!

Madam Damnable’s Sewing Circle: 4/5 - Tight and tense and had the metaphor “She was a great battleship of a woman,” which I LOVED.

Strong Medicine: 2/5 - That was a little weird, even for me. Maybe because it didn’t seem to flow very well as a believable story, by which I mean even the “weird” elements of a weird western didn’t seem to fit. Westerns and Jurassic Park don’t coexist nicely on the page.

Red Dreams: 4/5 - Let’s see how many times I can say “That reminded me of the Twilight Zone!” There was a very similar episode to this, with a procession of the dead. The twist in this one was not really a surprise to me, but it was a moving story nonetheless.

Bamboozled: 1/5 - Thanks to our Internet Age, the only thing I can think of when I hear that word is dog memes, and I gotta say, the dumbest dog meme in the world makes more sense than this story. I had no idea what was happening the whole time, and it had way too many characters for its length.

Sundown: 2/5 - Uhh? Not sure how I feel about turning Frederick Douglass into a zombie-fied townsperson/alien fighter? Like, putting him on the trigger of a Gatling gun and having him mow down hordes of alien-infected people doesn’t fit with the picture I have of him in my mind. But okay, whatever blows up your airship, I guess.

La Madre del Oro: 1/5 - I guess I don’t much shine with stories that are gross and disturbing only for the sake of being gross and disturbing. Also, “It was clear he had ridden [a horse] before” then describes a super stiff and unnatural way of sitting on the horse, lol

What I Assume You Shall Assume: 5/5 - Probably the best story in this whole collection. Amos and Yun were both so sympathetic for their own reasons, the troublesome history of American exploration of the Chinese during the settling of the West is touched upon, the magic of the written word is a plot feature, and the writing was just beautiful. I was transfixed by the story and moved by the characters. Absolutely lovely!

The Devil’s Jack: 3/5 - There was something about the somber tone and heavy weight to the writing that very much appealed to me, but overall, the story itself left a not-so-great taste in my mouth.

The Golden Age: 5/5 - I never even suspected how much I could possibly enjoy a western-meets-steampunk-meets-superhero story, but I’ll be darned if that wasn’t the funniest crap I’ve read in a long time.

Neversleeps: 2/5 - I started out really liking this one, lost some respect when we got some EXTREMELY misogynistic talk about a super minor female character (obviously only existed for one reason), got back into it when there was some pulse-pounding action, lost a few more points when the syntax got in its own way of trying to be too cool and thus lost clarity, then finally got around to nearly hating it completely when the only other female character in the story, who started out as awesome, was turned into that one thing male writers like to use female characters for. So much potential wasted. Very disappointing.

Dead Man’s Hand: 5/5 - Definitely just pure western with no weird elements at all, but an interesting peek at the history of what we know today as the dead man’s hand.

Final score: 3.4/5 stars

[Bogdan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like expected mostly nothing out of the ordinary here.

There are some good and engaging story, but not quite enough to really appreciate this kind of stuff. To be frank I was interested mostly for the weird factor...

The Red-Headed Dead: A Reverend Jebediah Mercer Tale by Joe R. Lansdale ...ok... About the hunt for a vampire.

Hellfire On The High Frontier by David Farland... Interesting in the beginning, but not so, after one point.

The Hell-Bound Stagecoach by Mike Resnick ...ok...The title describes very well the main ideea here.

Stingers And Strangers by Seanan McGuire ...One of the best here. A good fantasy story set in the West. Dragon daughters, wasps, mind readers, etc

Holy Jingle by Alan Dean Foster . Better than others. Vampiresss.Again.

The Man With No Heart by Beth Revis ...Weird steampunk at it`s best!!!

Red Dreams by Jonathan Maberry ...ok...With ghosts.

La Madre Del Oro by Jeffrey Ford ...Hunting some kind of a dangerous creature.

The Devil’s Jack by Laura Anne Gilman ...ok...Our hero is one of the Devil servants after he looses in a cards game.

The other fourteen...meeehhhh not in my league!

[Chris Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a shining example of what a great editor, rich material and excellent contributors can do to make an outstanding anthology. The theme of "Weird Westerns" are not done often, but as with this collection, when done right, can be truly outstanding.

The stories run the table from Cthullu mashups to steampunk Westerns and everything in between. Not a single disappointing tale in the anthology.

Fans of virtually any kind of speculative fiction WILL find something to love in the pages.

My personal Top Three were;
"The Golden Age" - Walter John Williams
"Stingers and Strangers" - (Should be mandatory reading for any fan of McGuire's InCryptid series)
"Red Dreams" - Jonathon Maberry

Superb collection, overall.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's no doubt that Adams is a master anthologist- he consistently gets the best and brightest voices in SF/fantasy literature. The stories are usually fresh too- I'll rarely find one or two I've seen elsewhere. This collection, however, fell a little flat. Maybe it was the subject matter- I'm just not that into westerns, even with a twist, and by the end of the anthology I felt tired of it. There's something more, however. The stories didn't feel as transgressive as they usually did for an Adams anthology. They were all extremely similar, and I thought there was very little creativity in the subject matter. Everything was well written, but there's only so much reading about young to middle aged men with a gambling problem.

[Yev · Rating 2 out of 5]

All of these stories are original to this anthology, which means they were all published in 2014.

The Red-Headed Dead - Joe R. Lansdale [Reverend Jedediah Mercer]
1880 Texas. A dual-wielding gunslinger reverend has been commanded by God to destroy the spawn of Satan.
Meh

The Old Slow Man And His Gold Gun From Space - Ben H. Winters
1851 California. Two gold prospectors say, "tomorrow we'll strike it rich", but that tomorrow never comes, until the day the Neptunian with the magical golden space gun arrives.
Meh

Hellfire On The High Frontier - David Farland
1876 Wyoming. A man has been hunting a skinwalker for months, then is diverted to kill a clockwork gambler. The weird is commonplace for him as he heads to the floating Silver City of the High Frontier where feral angels roam now that God is Dead. It's an interesting setting that offers little else.
Meh

The Hell-Bound Stagecoach - Mike Resnick
1885 Arizona. A group of strangers converse with each other on the way to Hell.
Ok

Stingers And Strangers - Seanan McGuire [Incryptid]
1931 Nevada/Colorado. A man and woman are on their way to investigate what's agitating a swarm of large memory-eating wasps. He has a colony of talking mice and she's deadly. The Inn proprietress is a dragon princess, but she's far from the most unusual or dangerous in town.
Enjoyable

Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger - Charles Yu
1890 Wyoming. Our humble bookkeeper and narrator is challenged one day to a showdown, which he wins and has no idea why. They keep coming and he keeps killing them without knowing how. What's his secret? The story is moderately comedic. I think it teases too much at the end.
Enjoyable

Holy Jingle - Alan Dean Foster [Amos Malone]
1863 Nevada. A man is hired to retrieve another man literally ensnared by the charms of a woman. She tries to entrap him as well, but she's underestimated just how manly he is!
Blah

The Man With No Heart - Beth Revis
1882 Arizona. A man who comes across a mechanical spider finds where it came from, in this world anyway.
Meh

Wrecking Party - Alastair Reynolds
1896 Arizona. He was found wrecking an automobile and incoherently went on about a self-proclaimed machine intelligence from the Moon come to right the wrongs of her kind and how he was doing his part to prolong the existence of mankind.
Blah

Hell From The East - Hugh Howey
1868 Colorado. A former Confederate soldier enlists out West to hunt the natives and has a vision that sometime in the future all of mankind will be hunted.
Blah

Second Hand - Rajan Khanna [Card Sharp]
1874 Wyoming. Playing cards are magical. Their effects and potency depend on the suite and rank. Each user begins with a full deck and each play consumes the card until there aren't any left. Seeking to learn more about the cards, the duo go to a veteran with the hopes of learning more, but nothing is what it seems.
Enjoyable

Alvin And The Apple Tree - Orson Scott Card [The Alvin Maker Saga]
1820 Hio. Alvin Maker talks theology with Johnny Appleseed and they do religious metaphors.
Meh

Madam Damnable’s Sewing Circle - Elizabeth Bear [Karen Memory]
1899 Washington. Madam Damnable runs a voluntary brothel for teenage girls who don't have anywhere else to go. One day a teenage liberator of enslaved and prostituted children stumbles in seeking sanctuary.
Meh

Strong Medicine - Tad Williams
1899 Arizona. Every 39 years the town of Medicine Dance becomes violently unstuck in time for a short while. He arrives knowing this and prepares for the worst.
Ok

Red Dreams - Jonathan Maberry
1875 Wyoming. The sole survivor of his military troop sent to eradicate the natives sees a falling star, but it makes no sound upon impact, then visions begin and he can't believe his lying eyes.
Meh

Bamboozled - Kelley Armstrong [Otherworld]
1877 Dakota. A posse is on route to bamboozle a man looking for a new wife after the previous mysteriously died after she complained overly much. The woman to be his wife isn't concerned at all, because she knows her lover isn't quite human.
Ok

Sundown - Tobias S. Buckell
1877 Colorado. A Black Marshal comes into a town where the residents warn him that if he stays past dark he won't leave alive. He's on the search for the parasites that infect men and take over their bodies.
Meh

La Madre Del Oro - Jeffrey Ford
1856 New Mexico. A man is hired to be part of a posse hunting down Bastard George The Cannibal, but they find something far worse.
Meh

What I Assume You Shall Assume - Ken Liu
1890 Idaho. A Union deserter meets a Chinese woman who deserted the Taiping Rebellion and shows him that words are magical. They both recount stories of their time spent in war.
Ok

The Devil’s Jack - Laura Anne Gilman [The Devil's West]
1801 NE of the Canyon. He lost it all on a single gamble and now he did the devil's bidding, most of the time anyway.
Blah

The Golden Age - Walter Jon Williams
1852 California. What if the dynamics of the Golden Age superheroes, especially that of Batman, took place in the Old West? The story is told from perspective of one of the villains.
Enjoyable

Neversleeps - Fred Van Lente
Monument Valley, 120 years after the Awakening.
120 years ago magic returned to the world and much technology was outlawed. He's on a mission to rescue the greatest scientific criminal of their times, the woman known as Nicola Tesla.
Meh

Dead Man’s Hand - Christie Yant
Dakota 1876. A series of various ways that James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickock could've died or lived.
Ok

[Bea]

Stories by Kelley Armstrong, Laura Anne Gilman, Seanan McGuire, and other fantastic authors plus some new authors. I can't wait!