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Dead Man's Hand: Five Tales of the Weird West
Black Hats & Black Hearts
Enter the Old West as interpreted by acclaimed horror author Nancy A. Collins. Dead Man's Hand collects the novellas "Walking Wolf" and "Lynch," the short stories "Calaverada" and "The Tortuga Hill Gang's Last Ride," and completes the five-card draw with the all-new vampire Western novella "Hell Come Sundown." The West has never been better or weirder.
About the Author
Nancy A. Collins is the author of Sunglasses After Dark , Darkest Heart and Dead Roses for a Blue Lady . She is a past recipient of the Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Iecarus Awards, and a nominee for the 2003 Stoker and International Horror Guild Awards.
Enter the Old West as interpreted by acclaimed horror author Nancy A. Collins. Dead Man's Hand collects the novellas "Walking Wolf" and "Lynch," the short stories "Calaverada" and "The Tortuga Hill Gang's Last Ride," and completes the five-card draw with the all-new vampire Western novella "Hell Come Sundown." The West has never been better or weirder.
About the Author
Nancy A. Collins is the author of Sunglasses After Dark , Darkest Heart and Dead Roses for a Blue Lady . She is a past recipient of the Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Iecarus Awards, and a nominee for the 2003 Stoker and International Horror Guild Awards.
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2004
2 people are currently reading
373 people want to read
About the author
Nancy A. Collins
337 books671 followersNancy A. Collins (born 10 September 1959) is a United States horror fiction writer best known for her series of vampire novels featuring her character Sonja Blue. Collins has also written for comic books, including the Swamp Thing series, Jason Vs. Leatherface, Predator: Hell Come A Walkin and her own one-shot Dhampire: Stillborn.
Collins was born in McGehee, Arkansas, United States. She lived in New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1980s; after time in New York City and Atlanta, Georgia she settled in Wilmington, North Carolina in the late 2000s.
Collins has written twenty novels since 1989, many of which refer to and directly include races of creatures the author calls Pretenders, monsters from myth and legend passing as human to better hunt their prey.
Collins has also written a number of highly acclaimed Southern Gothic short stories and novellas, most of which are set in Seven Devils, Arkansas, a highly fictionalized version of her hometown.
Most recently, she has focused her attention onto the Golgotham urban fantasy series,published by Penguin. Golgotham is the 'supernatural' ghetto of New York City, where creatures from myth and folklore--including witches,shapeshifters,leprechauns and centaurs--live and work in uneasy alliance with mankind.
Collins was born in McGehee, Arkansas, United States. She lived in New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1980s; after time in New York City and Atlanta, Georgia she settled in Wilmington, North Carolina in the late 2000s.
Collins has written twenty novels since 1989, many of which refer to and directly include races of creatures the author calls Pretenders, monsters from myth and legend passing as human to better hunt their prey.
Collins has also written a number of highly acclaimed Southern Gothic short stories and novellas, most of which are set in Seven Devils, Arkansas, a highly fictionalized version of her hometown.
Most recently, she has focused her attention onto the Golgotham urban fantasy series,published by Penguin. Golgotham is the 'supernatural' ghetto of New York City, where creatures from myth and folklore--including witches,shapeshifters,leprechauns and centaurs--live and work in uneasy alliance with mankind.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 13, 2015
This was an awesome collection from an author I've only read one story from before. I enjoyed every story and love the weird west setting.
Below are note on each story that may contain SPOILERS. These are more for my notes.
Hell Come Sundown - 7.0 - Cool, vampire hero story set in weird west.
Lynch - 8.0 - Very cool, gets raised by frankenstien's partner, gets revenge on this killers. Not sure what happened to the really cool pistols he had. They seemed like they could have been really cool but got forgotten about.
Walking Wolf - 6.5 - Pretty cool, vampires and werewolves in the wild west but then it turned into the history of the American Indians, which is cool but kind of jolting and it made the story really long. Not super happy with the ending either.
The Tortuga Hill Gang's Last Ride - 7.5 - This was fun, loved the characters.
Calaverada - 6.5 - Short but good lite/bloody fun.
Below are note on each story that may contain SPOILERS. These are more for my notes.
Hell Come Sundown - 7.0 - Cool, vampire hero story set in weird west.
Lynch - 8.0 - Very cool, gets raised by frankenstien's partner, gets revenge on this killers. Not sure what happened to the really cool pistols he had. They seemed like they could have been really cool but got forgotten about.
Walking Wolf - 6.5 - Pretty cool, vampires and werewolves in the wild west but then it turned into the history of the American Indians, which is cool but kind of jolting and it made the story really long. Not super happy with the ending either.
The Tortuga Hill Gang's Last Ride - 7.5 - This was fun, loved the characters.
Calaverada - 6.5 - Short but good lite/bloody fun.
November 25, 2011
Each story by Nancy Collins is a page turner - honestly. Every single one had that gritty western appeal - tinged with a darker side that keeps you reading when you should be sleeping. Full of strange characters that you love to hate and hate to love, but you do. Sure, perhaps I'm a little bias because it's weird West... but seriously, not that much. Her writing style and ideas in these stories are unique and fantastic - yet not overly much so as to foul up the suspension of disbelief. The speech is also grand, the characters talk like they talked - yet not to a point of nonsensical idiomatic speech. All in all... this is an awesome collection of weird west stories.
November 2, 2022
I wanted to like this more. There is a lot of likable parts of these stories. This has one of the better werewolf stories I've read in a long time. The stories for the most part started off great but the ending can sometimes ruin everything.
December 5, 2023
“Hell Come Sundown,” “Lynch,” and “Calaverada” are entertaining stuff. The bulk of the book’s page count is taken up by “Walking Wolf,” a werewolf story where the protagonist is a cannibal rapist before he’s out of puberty, runs with the Comanche and Sioux and participated in an anal gang rape of Custer before they killed him, and is only sympathetic because Collins makes everyone that opposes him even more grotesque.
Collins came highly recommended by friends and authors I admire, but I’m going to need some reassurances that she’s got a plot-building tool in her toolbox that doesn’t involve quite such a routine use of sexual violence to motivate her male characters to act.
Collins came highly recommended by friends and authors I admire, but I’m going to need some reassurances that she’s got a plot-building tool in her toolbox that doesn’t involve quite such a routine use of sexual violence to motivate her male characters to act.
June 20, 2025
netter Zeitvertreib, nicht mehr, aber auch nicht weniger.
July 31, 2020
I didn't finish this but only read the first tale. It started out with a promising story of a boy having to fend off against the monster under his bed. But it derailed into a loping vampire story filled mostly with unbelievable dialogue, gross-creepiness, and a pace just above plodding. At least there was some decent adventure in the tale. But ... not for me.
MPAA ratings: R for violence
PG-13 for sexuality and language
MPAA ratings: R for violence
PG-13 for sexuality and language
July 11, 2010
I'm not really a fan of the western genre, but Nancy Collins made me like it with this collection of stories. I'm not the type to post spoilers in my reviews, so I'll just say that once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. Her first person narratives are tight and fast-paced, her characters fully realized entities who seem to take the story and make it all their own. A welcome addition to my bookshelf. Love this!
May 31, 2011
A good collection of Western themes short stories. I realized while reading it that one of the stories I already owned in hardcover as a single novel. And one of the other stories happened to be in the next book of hers I read - but it was still a good read.
October 12, 2011
Collins does a fine job evoking an authentic Old West that somehow manages to include elements of the supernatural like vampires, werewolves, spirits, etc. Excellent examples of Weird West at its finest.
September 20, 2016
What could be better than stories of the wild west?
How bout stories of the Wild West at it's wildest. Stories of gunslinging vampires and magical elixers that just might bring people back from the beyond, skinwalkers and yes, even the Sidhe make an appearance in this wildest of wild wests.
How bout stories of the Wild West at it's wildest. Stories of gunslinging vampires and magical elixers that just might bring people back from the beyond, skinwalkers and yes, even the Sidhe make an appearance in this wildest of wild wests.
April 30, 2013
IMHO Nancy is at her very best in her short fiction, though I have enjoyed all her work. This is simply some excellent writing. Love it.
April 7, 2014
Yea, they are weird tales! But still a quick and different kind of read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews