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The Winnowing Draw
A 13 year old city kid wanted for murder, a fastidious and psychopathic bounty hunter, and an army officer drunk on destructive power. An ancient evil draws them to the wound of the old west: a place of strange creatures and unfathomable geography - that may devour them.
335 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 17, 204
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 7, 2024
First off, I do not like Westerns. No, siree Bob, not at all.
I’ve read a few horror westerns—one was ok, the rest, I couldn’t finish. I’m just not a fan of the brand. In fact, for the genre overall, the only thing I actually enjoyed was Clint Eastwood’s movie Unforgiven. Why? A variety of imperfect, believable characters filled the movie.
Then came The Winnowing Draw.
Michael fills his story with flawed, realistic characters. Some struggle to find their place, their purpose, or a new identity in the unknown West. Others are there as government-sponsored land grabbers, on a mission to destroy what they don’t understand in the name of a Christian god and America’s “progress.” And then there are those whose way of life has been destroyed by the greed of imperialistic capitalism known as the westward expansion.
And through it all is the Draw. Whether cosmic horror or ancient gods, they are strange, fantastic, and terrifying. And with a pang of great sadness, they are dispatched without a modicum of respect for the ways of the Other and their beliefs. We don’t need to know why these creatures exist. All we need to do is mourn their passing.
I follow Michael on Twitter and read about his dedication and relentless efforts in researching the subject matter for this book and how the push west had affected not only those trespassed upon but also the trespassers themselves.
Michael’s prose is beautiful and sweet. It carries a message of understanding for his characters on both sides, seeing them for what they are at that moment and in the larger context of history.
As a debut novel, I am utterly floored. And I guarantee you that if this is to be the future of Western horror, count me in as a fan. 🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠
I’ve read a few horror westerns—one was ok, the rest, I couldn’t finish. I’m just not a fan of the brand. In fact, for the genre overall, the only thing I actually enjoyed was Clint Eastwood’s movie Unforgiven. Why? A variety of imperfect, believable characters filled the movie.
Then came The Winnowing Draw.
Michael fills his story with flawed, realistic characters. Some struggle to find their place, their purpose, or a new identity in the unknown West. Others are there as government-sponsored land grabbers, on a mission to destroy what they don’t understand in the name of a Christian god and America’s “progress.” And then there are those whose way of life has been destroyed by the greed of imperialistic capitalism known as the westward expansion.
And through it all is the Draw. Whether cosmic horror or ancient gods, they are strange, fantastic, and terrifying. And with a pang of great sadness, they are dispatched without a modicum of respect for the ways of the Other and their beliefs. We don’t need to know why these creatures exist. All we need to do is mourn their passing.
I follow Michael on Twitter and read about his dedication and relentless efforts in researching the subject matter for this book and how the push west had affected not only those trespassed upon but also the trespassers themselves.
Michael’s prose is beautiful and sweet. It carries a message of understanding for his characters on both sides, seeing them for what they are at that moment and in the larger context of history.
As a debut novel, I am utterly floored. And I guarantee you that if this is to be the future of Western horror, count me in as a fan. 🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠
July 18, 2024
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.
This was my first western and I am not sure if this is going to be one of my go-to genres to read.
The Winnowing Draw follow the story of three men whose paths happen to cross at some point in the story while their ambitious journeys towards the west for various purposes.
The whole idea of brutally hunting mythical creatures that might exist in those jungles, forests, and deserts, of killing other human beings either accidentally or intentionally and justifying those acts, the idea of bounty hunting or being a paid private assassin; all the discussed quite in detail.
But idk why, it felt flat to me. I couldn’t connect to the characters as much as I would have liked and I also couldn’t come to terms with the ending. The way a child or a teenage boy could outwit every single person was beyond my grasp. The General and his addictions and ravings, the concept of plundering and murdering without remorse; everything was well written but it felt monotonous. It was never-ending.
The pace is quite slow at times. But I guess, if you love reading western novels, with a copious amount of gore and murder and mutilated bodies of humans and animals, then you will love reading this one.
This was my first western and I am not sure if this is going to be one of my go-to genres to read.
The Winnowing Draw follow the story of three men whose paths happen to cross at some point in the story while their ambitious journeys towards the west for various purposes.
The whole idea of brutally hunting mythical creatures that might exist in those jungles, forests, and deserts, of killing other human beings either accidentally or intentionally and justifying those acts, the idea of bounty hunting or being a paid private assassin; all the discussed quite in detail.
But idk why, it felt flat to me. I couldn’t connect to the characters as much as I would have liked and I also couldn’t come to terms with the ending. The way a child or a teenage boy could outwit every single person was beyond my grasp. The General and his addictions and ravings, the concept of plundering and murdering without remorse; everything was well written but it felt monotonous. It was never-ending.
The pace is quite slow at times. But I guess, if you love reading western novels, with a copious amount of gore and murder and mutilated bodies of humans and animals, then you will love reading this one.
May 26, 2024
An absolutely incredible novel. I can’t recommend this highly enough. I will be reading everything Michael Tichy writes and I hope he writes a lot.
February 16, 2024
Notes From a decaying Millennial-
A big thank you Castaigne Publishing for graciously providing an ARC of this book.
It's been a bout an hour since i finished reading Michael Tichy's haunting novel The Winnowing Draw . I think I will be processing this book for awhile...
This is not a Paid Review
-
I was roughly half way through this book when my heart broke. The Winnowing Draw takes it tole on the characters, but it also slices away at the core of the reader. Hot vivid emotions spout forth from those wounds. We find ourselves feeling even more invested in story. Even as we pause, to take a breath, and wipe away tears.
Tichy's prose are unto a great and terrible loom, on which the rough, bloodied threads of this story are woven. The characters and their deeds are patterns, playing out against the greater sprawling tragedy of The United States, in the late 19th century.
It is a time when the shambling pale beast that is the USA, having fowled its eastern nest, and therein supped of its own flesh. Now in 1883, we see this behemoth striding further towards the Pacific. The foot prints of western expansion leaving deep gouges in the land. These gouges unearth sleeping things. The wounds in the earth welling up with blood. Blood of mankind, and of these other, older things.
In this story we see wonders, magic even, woven by people, and manifested by the earth itself. It's that magic that causes the pain to cut so deep. The horror of the Winnowing Draw is not wrought by wild animals, either known or unknown. It is by the hand of men. The cruelty and relentless drive of the colonizer. The deeds of the men that personify "Manifest Destiny".
The Winnowing draw is told in a voice that is fresh and sweet, like rushing wind through tall prairie grasses. It is also raw, and bone dry. It is the voice of the long memory. Michael's characters speak and act in ways true to their time, yet very accessible to modern readers. They are haunted, wounded, full of dreams. Each is capable of measures of kindness and passion, at the most surprising times.
While a work of horror fiction, Tichy's novel can be presented as a fresh alternative to the larger cultural narrative of Western Fiction, presented by Louis L'Amour, Zane Grey and others. Tichy's writing is grounded in the complex, often uncomfortable, and deeply Queer truths of the historic "American West".
This is not Michael Tichy's first book, and I sincerely hope it is not his last. While The Winnowing Draw was at times, an emotionally painful read, it was also incredibly beautiful. The balance stuck between the beauty and the pain, just serve to solidify my appreciation for the work and the author.
A big thank you Castaigne Publishing for graciously providing an ARC of this book.
It's been a bout an hour since i finished reading Michael Tichy's haunting novel The Winnowing Draw . I think I will be processing this book for awhile...
This is not a Paid Review
-
I was roughly half way through this book when my heart broke. The Winnowing Draw takes it tole on the characters, but it also slices away at the core of the reader. Hot vivid emotions spout forth from those wounds. We find ourselves feeling even more invested in story. Even as we pause, to take a breath, and wipe away tears.
Tichy's prose are unto a great and terrible loom, on which the rough, bloodied threads of this story are woven. The characters and their deeds are patterns, playing out against the greater sprawling tragedy of The United States, in the late 19th century.
It is a time when the shambling pale beast that is the USA, having fowled its eastern nest, and therein supped of its own flesh. Now in 1883, we see this behemoth striding further towards the Pacific. The foot prints of western expansion leaving deep gouges in the land. These gouges unearth sleeping things. The wounds in the earth welling up with blood. Blood of mankind, and of these other, older things.
In this story we see wonders, magic even, woven by people, and manifested by the earth itself. It's that magic that causes the pain to cut so deep. The horror of the Winnowing Draw is not wrought by wild animals, either known or unknown. It is by the hand of men. The cruelty and relentless drive of the colonizer. The deeds of the men that personify "Manifest Destiny".
The Winnowing draw is told in a voice that is fresh and sweet, like rushing wind through tall prairie grasses. It is also raw, and bone dry. It is the voice of the long memory. Michael's characters speak and act in ways true to their time, yet very accessible to modern readers. They are haunted, wounded, full of dreams. Each is capable of measures of kindness and passion, at the most surprising times.
While a work of horror fiction, Tichy's novel can be presented as a fresh alternative to the larger cultural narrative of Western Fiction, presented by Louis L'Amour, Zane Grey and others. Tichy's writing is grounded in the complex, often uncomfortable, and deeply Queer truths of the historic "American West".
This is not Michael Tichy's first book, and I sincerely hope it is not his last. While The Winnowing Draw was at times, an emotionally painful read, it was also incredibly beautiful. The balance stuck between the beauty and the pain, just serve to solidify my appreciation for the work and the author.
March 24, 2026
Michael Tichy's The Winnowing Draw is a weird/horror Western of broad scope and heartbreaking details. A story of murderous men chasing murderers, chasing creatures from nightmares and legends, and, ultimately, chasing their own ghosts, all of them watched - and fed - by a dark, timeless, hungry presence beneath the earth.
I was already a big fan of Michael's simultaneously bleak and beautiful stories, but The Winnowing Draw has cemented that completely. He has a great talent for writing about the harsh beauty of nature, and the harrowing terrain of the journey West is a character in itself here.
His other speciality is cataloguing the ways in which violent, amoral men drive themselves ever deeper into darkness on the road to Hell. Without wanting to give too much away - this is a book to experience with as few preconceptions as possible - no character is untouched by the violence of either the land itself or their fellow travellers, or indeed the violence they perpetrate themselves.
There are very sensitively handled threads in the book about the genocide perpetrated on Native Americans, as well as a trans character who plays a living link to both the dead and the magical creatures who populate the hidden corners of the land the white men seek to destroy and remake in their own hollow image.
The writing style suits the time period perfectly, and there is a sense of lean, rugged poetry about it throughout.
What an incredibly impressive novel this is, and doubly impressive for being the author's debut at this length. I look forward enormously to whatever Michael comes up with next.
I was already a big fan of Michael's simultaneously bleak and beautiful stories, but The Winnowing Draw has cemented that completely. He has a great talent for writing about the harsh beauty of nature, and the harrowing terrain of the journey West is a character in itself here.
His other speciality is cataloguing the ways in which violent, amoral men drive themselves ever deeper into darkness on the road to Hell. Without wanting to give too much away - this is a book to experience with as few preconceptions as possible - no character is untouched by the violence of either the land itself or their fellow travellers, or indeed the violence they perpetrate themselves.
There are very sensitively handled threads in the book about the genocide perpetrated on Native Americans, as well as a trans character who plays a living link to both the dead and the magical creatures who populate the hidden corners of the land the white men seek to destroy and remake in their own hollow image.
The writing style suits the time period perfectly, and there is a sense of lean, rugged poetry about it throughout.
What an incredibly impressive novel this is, and doubly impressive for being the author's debut at this length. I look forward enormously to whatever Michael comes up with next.
February 5, 2024
A unique horror, following a cast of interesting & morally "grey" (some of them are just a shade off black) characters in the expanding American frontier. Using mythology & the fear of the unknown to create a tense & dark setting.
It took me a little while to get into the book, the language felt a little overly flowery initially but quickly settled into a more comfortable rhythm. If you like Westerns you'll enjoy the setting of this book more than I did, I liked it (I'm a big horror fan), & it's a unique setting for a horror novel.
It took me a little while to get into the book, the language felt a little overly flowery initially but quickly settled into a more comfortable rhythm. If you like Westerns you'll enjoy the setting of this book more than I did, I liked it (I'm a big horror fan), & it's a unique setting for a horror novel.
March 25, 2024
A raw, weird, wild, and extremely violent examination of colonialism/American frontier expansion. The journey west is one of full of insane beasties posed as victims and resistance to the men who literally blaze their path forward, and their road wears away at what they think they are until their essential selves are revealed . . . and the unveiling isn’t necessarily kind to them.
Wouldn’t mind another hundred pages or thereabouts though. Some of the characters like Trixie didn’t feel like I was able to know them all that well, but the baddies specifically are a lot of fun to read.
Wouldn’t mind another hundred pages or thereabouts though. Some of the characters like Trixie didn’t feel like I was able to know them all that well, but the baddies specifically are a lot of fun to read.
November 4, 2025
This is an absolutely beautiful book. After reading it I was obsessed with all things Western for like 3 months. I must have watched Bone Tomahawk like 4 times, just wishing they could turn Winnowing Draw into a movie ASAP.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews