What do you think?
Rate this book
Lost Trails: Forgotten Tales of the Weird West
Ah, the "Western frontier"!
We learned all about it as children. We learned it was full of brave white American pioneer men killing the native inhabitants, who didn't realize the land they'd occupied for millennia belonged to the newcomers.
We learned it was full of heroic white American gunmen shooting each other in high noon standoffs. Those few characters who didn't fit the above roles were generally helpless Mexican peasants; treacherous Mexican bandits; or the occasional rancher's wife, school marm, or prostitute.
Omitted from the history lessons and the movies and TV shows were—the whole wide world. Well pull up a seat next to the fire and we'll tell you those stories—follow the Lost Trails of those who were omitted as they tell us their stories of the Weird West.
We learned all about it as children. We learned it was full of brave white American pioneer men killing the native inhabitants, who didn't realize the land they'd occupied for millennia belonged to the newcomers.
We learned it was full of heroic white American gunmen shooting each other in high noon standoffs. Those few characters who didn't fit the above roles were generally helpless Mexican peasants; treacherous Mexican bandits; or the occasional rancher's wife, school marm, or prostitute.
Omitted from the history lessons and the movies and TV shows were—the whole wide world. Well pull up a seat next to the fire and we'll tell you those stories—follow the Lost Trails of those who were omitted as they tell us their stories of the Weird West.
316 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 13, 2015
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 16, 2015
A wide variety of Western writing can be found in the enjoyable “Lost Trails: Forgotten Tales of the Weird West - Volume 1,” recently published by WolfSinger Publications. Editor Cynthia Ward has brought together an eclectic mix of reprints and originals from authors ranging from Connie Wilkins to Ken Liu, all exploring the nooks and crannies of the West from refreshingly strange and varied perspectives.
Ranging from strange tentacles that make saloon girls gunslingers, to Catholic priests aided by indigenous magic and gender-/race-bending of savior tropes, “Lost Trails” guides readers along the trackless wastes of the West to point out the long-ignored depots half-buried in the desert sand.
Delightful stand-outs for me were “How Five-Gashes-Tumbling Chaneco Earned the Nickname,” Rudy Ch. García’s rollicking tale of mestizo naguales and their 16th-century encounter with the Havasupai people of Arizona; Ken Liu’s “All the Flavors,” in which the Chinese God of War finds himself smack in the middle of the Gold Rush; “Midnight at the Lariat Lounge,” by Kathleen Alcala, in which an interstellar nomad is drawn by the uranium bust of the 1980s; and “Pancho Villa’s Flying Circus,” a gonzo steampunk by Ernest Hogan that features the remnants of the Mexican general’s airship-borne, laser-wielding army invading Hollywood.
Chock full of these and even weirder pieces, “Lost Trails” is worth saddling up for.
Ranging from strange tentacles that make saloon girls gunslingers, to Catholic priests aided by indigenous magic and gender-/race-bending of savior tropes, “Lost Trails” guides readers along the trackless wastes of the West to point out the long-ignored depots half-buried in the desert sand.
Delightful stand-outs for me were “How Five-Gashes-Tumbling Chaneco Earned the Nickname,” Rudy Ch. García’s rollicking tale of mestizo naguales and their 16th-century encounter with the Havasupai people of Arizona; Ken Liu’s “All the Flavors,” in which the Chinese God of War finds himself smack in the middle of the Gold Rush; “Midnight at the Lariat Lounge,” by Kathleen Alcala, in which an interstellar nomad is drawn by the uranium bust of the 1980s; and “Pancho Villa’s Flying Circus,” a gonzo steampunk by Ernest Hogan that features the remnants of the Mexican general’s airship-borne, laser-wielding army invading Hollywood.
Chock full of these and even weirder pieces, “Lost Trails” is worth saddling up for.
August 6, 2021
Lost Trails forgotten tales of the weird west by Cynthia Ward
I’m rereading these short stories in between other books and enjoying again the electric mix of authors and time periods which taken together prove that the Wild West has always been Weird. I was just reminded that there is a second collection, Lost Trails 2: Forgotten Tales of the Weird West. It’s now on my TBR list!
I’m rereading these short stories in between other books and enjoying again the electric mix of authors and time periods which taken together prove that the Wild West has always been Weird. I was just reminded that there is a second collection, Lost Trails 2: Forgotten Tales of the Weird West. It’s now on my TBR list!
October 1, 2015
An impressively diverse collection of weird stories about the West that opens up new imaginative frontiers. Oh yeah, there's a story by me . . .
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews