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Dark Trails Saga
Cold Slither: and other horrors of the weird west
PORTER ROCKWELL - DEVIL OF A SAINT Blessed by a holy man, Porter Rockwell was promised that if he never cut his hair-no bullet nor blade could harm him-but nobody mentioned all of the supernatural dangers he would run across. Ride along with Porter and the brilliant damsels not-so-in-distress that lend a helping hand as he faces off against sorcery and desperadoes, myth and legend, demons and dark gods. COLD SLITHER is the ultimate collection of weird western tales featuring Porter Rockwell, as only the master of literary pulp, David J. West, can write him. Spine-tingling horror and grim-dark humor go hand in hand with six-shooters in these adventures thru the old west. Praise for David J. West: "David J. West has created a fascinating and fun amalgam of fact and fiction," -. Dr. Michael R. Collings "combines an excellent prose style with a brilliant imagination to give us a solid collection of wonderful stories," - W. H. Pugmire "a strong voice in the field of Sword & Sorcery. His work is evocative, featuring deftly drawn characters, exotic locales and energetic tale spinning." - Bruce Durham "and he just keeps getting better," - Amazing Stories
252 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 20, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 3, 2017
Cold Slither is a collection of supernatural western stories starring Porter Rockwell, a real life cowboy who's myth-like story - blessed by a religious leader that he can't be hurt by bullet or blade - is used by the author to create a comic book like anti-hero. A man with special powers, his only weakness? A haircut... as long as his hair isn't cut he's safe. A sort of 19th century Samson... with guns... and monsters!
Throughout the book Porter takes on Werewolves, flying monsters, and other beasts. Author David J West makes these old monsters fresh with a western setting and engrossing flights. You'll get so into the nitty gritty of Rockwell's battles with monsters you'll completely buy the concept.
Having learnt a bit more about the real Rockwell it's fun to spot little easter eggs or see the nugget of truth that West used for his stories but the series works without needing to know anything about the man.
I chose to read each short story between serious non-fiction books so it was always a nice palette cleanser. In that amount of time I see West has written several more books about Rockwell so its great for people that like to binge read a series.
Throughout the book Porter takes on Werewolves, flying monsters, and other beasts. Author David J West makes these old monsters fresh with a western setting and engrossing flights. You'll get so into the nitty gritty of Rockwell's battles with monsters you'll completely buy the concept.
Having learnt a bit more about the real Rockwell it's fun to spot little easter eggs or see the nugget of truth that West used for his stories but the series works without needing to know anything about the man.
I chose to read each short story between serious non-fiction books so it was always a nice palette cleanser. In that amount of time I see West has written several more books about Rockwell so its great for people that like to binge read a series.
November 24, 2016
Travel back in time to the 19th century and discover a weird west world full of more cultists, zombies, and blood-drinking Aztec gods than Deadlands and Jonah Hex's bastard brothers. Mormon Danite and Orrin Porter Rockwell are the two unlucky souls who are constantly on the run from horrors beyond imagination. Despite this, the book is mostly pure fun with everything from T-Rexes to Jackalopes. You won't be disappointed with this work.
One thing I respect in this book is that it has a strong sense of humor without ever really diluting the drama. The characters find themselves in ridiculous situations but this doesn't mean the situation is treated as ridiculous. Instead, it's all played horrifyingly straight and that adds a lot of flavor. It's a bit like The Evil Dead or Return of the Living Dead movies in that respect--only with Kurt Russell-esque characters.
One thing I respect in this book is that it has a strong sense of humor without ever really diluting the drama. The characters find themselves in ridiculous situations but this doesn't mean the situation is treated as ridiculous. Instead, it's all played horrifyingly straight and that adds a lot of flavor. It's a bit like The Evil Dead or Return of the Living Dead movies in that respect--only with Kurt Russell-esque characters.
August 27, 2017
David J. West has created his own Weird Western niche by crafting tales of the historic figure, Porter Rockwell. West weaves Native American myths, monsters, legends, tall tales, and touches of cryptozoology and lost civilizations into a fun and original tapestry. Rockwell strides through this collection of stories. Not to be missed if you're a fan of Weird West tales, action, wry humor, and monsters.
May 3, 2026
"Cold Slither" is a weird west collection of short stories featuring a Mormon named Porter Rockwell. It is a self-published book. I enjoyed the stories, but was disconcerted by the number of grammar and spelling errors.
I don't know what it is about self-published books, but so many of them are written by people who can speak English, but can't write in English. Have some friends do a read-through for grammar. I do some beta-reading for some traditionally-published authors, and their drafts never have errors like self-published authors have. I get that it's hard to self-edit (the author knows what he or she is saying, so the errors get ignored), so have someone do it for you. Most of these errors would be detected by virtually any writing software (like Word), so there is really no excuse. This book had three main types of errors: plural/possessive errors; comma errors; weird or inappropriate spellings.
His main problem is that he cannot distinguish between a plural and a possessive form of a word. They are pronounced the same, thus why I say he seems to be able to speak English, but can't write it properly. Sometimes possessives are written like plurals, and sometimes plurals are written like possessives, and sometimes he gets them correct. I'll give an example: He has a range of mountains called the Henry Mountains in the stories. He calls them the Henry's. That is incorrect. It's the Henries. Just like how the Rocky Mountains are called the Rockies, not the Rocky's. Another example is "He was a close friend of your late fathers" (page 76). Sounds like she has multiple dead dads. It could be "He was a close friend of your late father's." He possessed a close friend, so it is technically possessive, but it would be more correct in English to just say "He was a close friend of your late father." The plural is absolutely incorrect, though.
He also makes comma errors, usually by either putting them in the wrong places or leaving them out entirely when they are needed. There were many places where the meaning of the sentence changes depending on where one puts the comma! "You didn't ask Agnes" (page 75) sounds like someone didn't ask Agnes' permission, but what he meant was "You didn't ask, Agnes." He was talking to Agnes. Commas matter! On page 103, he has "Three men, dogged his trail." That sentence did not need a comma. Again, most writing software catches these errors, so I don't understand how these go uncaught before publication.
He also just has some straight-out spelling errors. His biggest one was the word "through," which he uniformly spells "thru." "Thru" is a cutesy marketing way of writing something, like a "Drive-Thru." It's also text-talk, or shorthand. It's as bad as saying "Porter LOLed when he heard that." He also spells "marshal" like the name "Marshall." Maybe a bit more understandable as both are spelled correctly, but just the wrong form of the word - like using "principle" instead of "principal" when talking about the head of a school. He also writes "thanks" as "thanks'" with an apostrophe after it - which makes it possessive. He also struggles with hyphenation, often not using hyphens on compound words that need them. Again, most software catches this, so I don't get the excuse.
To show how ubiquitous these errors are, as I review each story, I'll just note how many of each kind of error I found in each story so I can focus on the actual story review without ranting forever about the errors.
"Cold Slither" was the first story. It began with a great quote from Willa Cather (a favorite author of mine), and introduces the character of Orrin Porter Rockwell. It had interesting characters, a weird situation, and a thrilling adventure. Aside from the errors, which kept knocking me out of the story, this was a strong start to the book.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 10 - Comma Errors 5 - Spelling Errors 1 - Other 3. [0.43 errors per page]
"Black Wings in the Moonlight" was the next story. This was a decent story about a supernatural bird and a ghost. I like the character of Porter. So many near misses, though, in various shooting incidents.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 9 - Comma Errors 1 [0.77 errors per page]
"Soma for the Destroying Angels Soul" was next. Although I am trying not to focus so much on the spelling errors, note the spelling error in the title. "Angels" is plural - It should be "Angel's," which is possessive. It is the Destroying Angel's soul - something the angel possesses. Anyway, the author does great with Western dialect and dialogue in general. This one was about a supernatural plague, zuvembies (shades of "Pigeons from Hell" by REH), and sorcerers. It honestly was too busy. I liked the overall story, but it felt like a draft version. It was TOO fast-paced, leaving me confused as to the action and plot at times. At one point, Porter says the US cavalry was there, and I didn't read about them showing up, so I had to backtrack, and all there was to indicate someone new on the scene was the sound of a trumpet - which could have been anything, especially when the Bockkor was described as a "black magic piper." At the end of the story, Porter shoots "Joshua." No one named Joshua was in the story, so I have no idea who Porter shot. But I like what the author was trying to do. The jail scene was excellent, and the threat was palpable and, frankly, horrifying. I'd love to see a revised version of this story where the descriptions of what is going on was stronger, and "Joshua" identified. This story took forever to read because I kept having to re-read sections to figure out what was going on, and sometimes that didn't even help. This story needs to be tightened up.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 6 - Comma Errors 7 - Spelling Errors 1 - Other 1. [0.94 errors per page]
"Rolling in the Deep" was the next story. I have started noting that that the author likes to have Porter's guns leer at people from his belt. "Leer." That's a weird word choice, usually meant for lascivious or creepy looks. Anyway, Porter breaks his vow and cuts his hair, and gets shanghaied onto a ship. I enjoyed the story, but it had a deus ex machina ending, with Porter not really doing anything to extricate himself from the situation, but letting God handle it.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 4 - Comma Errors 7 - Spelling Errors 4 [1.5 errors per page]
"Tangle Crowned Demon." It was a pretty basic story, without a lot of stakes, but it was okay.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 4 - Comma Errors 12 - Spelling Errors 4 - Other 1 [1.75 errors per page]. Notice how his errors-per-page score is steadily increasing.
"Fangs of the Dragon," which, overall, was a good story, with an interesting betrayal and set-up. However, the scene where Porter makes friends with the giant dragon-snake felt more appropriate for a humorous tall tale than for the tone these stories tend to have. It was a bit over-the top, feeling incongruously outlandish and ridiculous. It also had a weird WTF moment where Porter was given the means to kill the monster, but in the heat of the moment he forgot all about it. That was some heavy-handed plotting to ensure Porter makes friends with the monster instead.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 6 - Comma Errors 18 - Spelling Errors 3 - Other 2 [2.42 errors per page]
"Garden of Legion" was the next story, which I loved. Holy cow, demonic tumble weeds! This may be one of my favorite stories in the collection. This story was a lot of fun. I was not expecting demonic tumble weeds.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 2 - Comma Errors 2 [0.26 errors per page - much better edited]
"Red Wolf Moon" was a decent enough werewolf story, but it didn't rise up much past that.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 23 - Comma Errors 3 - Spelling Errors 1 - Other 1 [1.87 errors per page]
"Killer Instinct" ranked right up there with "Garden of Legion" and I loved it. I mean, dinosaurs in the Old West? I'm totally on board with that.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 2 - Comma Errors 2 - Other 2 [0.40 errors per page; interestingly all six errors were actually just on one page]
"Right Hand Man" was a strange, noisy tale. Lots of telling and little showing, but it was a first person account, so maybe that was appropriate, but it made for a difficult, detached read. Little dialogue, just reports about what was discussed and by whom. I think this made for a good draft, but could have been a better story than it was.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 4 - Comma Errors 11 - Spelling Errors 4 [0.76 errors per page]
"Striding Through Darkness" was the final story. I think this was the first time in the book that the author spelled "through" correctly (instead of "thru"). Interestingly, the story refers to a 2nd Nephi, Chapter 10, and even quotes it. It's wrong. 2 Nephi, Chapter 10 is basically about how America should never have a king and should never go directly to war with Zion (Israel). The passage he refers to several times (and quotes) is from 2 Nephi Chapter 23. No wonder Brother Henslow didn't get the reference Brother Worby made to 2 Nephi chapter 10! Aside from that attribution error, this was an EXCELLENT story. Very chilling, and atmospheric.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 6 - Comma Errors 5 - Spelling Errors 5 - Other 1 [0.68 errors per page]
Not counting the attribution error from the Book of Mormon, that leaves the final count as - Possessive/Plural Errors: 67 - Comma Errors 71 - Spelling Errors 23 - Other 11 [0.72 errors per page]. This is what gives self-publishing a bad name. It's a shame, because these were solid stories. Sure, a few of them felt like they were drafts to me, but most of them were solid and a few of them excelled!
I liked the Mormon background of the stories. I don't know a lot about Mormons or Mormonism. All I really know is from some missionaries who sat and talked to me for a while and gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon (which is why I let them sit and talk for a while - I am not one to turn down a free book!), and one time when I managed a pizza store, I had a Mormon delivery guy work for me. So, it was neat learning about the Godbeites, Valley-Tan whiskey, and the various named persons in the stories. I thought that was fabulous. It gave me a lot to look up, read, and research, and I like when a book creates that.
Honestly, if it weren't for all the grammatical errors, this book might have rated a 4 or 5 with me. The errors earn it a single star, so I am going to average it out to 3 stars. If you like imaginative, weird fiction (and are not bothered by grammar and punctuation errors), I highly recommend this. If you (like me) are bothered by numerous (and I do mean numerous) grammatical and punctuation errors, then proceed with caution: you'll find yourself constantly irritated, even when you are enjoying the story.
I don't know what it is about self-published books, but so many of them are written by people who can speak English, but can't write in English. Have some friends do a read-through for grammar. I do some beta-reading for some traditionally-published authors, and their drafts never have errors like self-published authors have. I get that it's hard to self-edit (the author knows what he or she is saying, so the errors get ignored), so have someone do it for you. Most of these errors would be detected by virtually any writing software (like Word), so there is really no excuse. This book had three main types of errors: plural/possessive errors; comma errors; weird or inappropriate spellings.
His main problem is that he cannot distinguish between a plural and a possessive form of a word. They are pronounced the same, thus why I say he seems to be able to speak English, but can't write it properly. Sometimes possessives are written like plurals, and sometimes plurals are written like possessives, and sometimes he gets them correct. I'll give an example: He has a range of mountains called the Henry Mountains in the stories. He calls them the Henry's. That is incorrect. It's the Henries. Just like how the Rocky Mountains are called the Rockies, not the Rocky's. Another example is "He was a close friend of your late fathers" (page 76). Sounds like she has multiple dead dads. It could be "He was a close friend of your late father's." He possessed a close friend, so it is technically possessive, but it would be more correct in English to just say "He was a close friend of your late father." The plural is absolutely incorrect, though.
He also makes comma errors, usually by either putting them in the wrong places or leaving them out entirely when they are needed. There were many places where the meaning of the sentence changes depending on where one puts the comma! "You didn't ask Agnes" (page 75) sounds like someone didn't ask Agnes' permission, but what he meant was "You didn't ask, Agnes." He was talking to Agnes. Commas matter! On page 103, he has "Three men, dogged his trail." That sentence did not need a comma. Again, most writing software catches these errors, so I don't understand how these go uncaught before publication.
He also just has some straight-out spelling errors. His biggest one was the word "through," which he uniformly spells "thru." "Thru" is a cutesy marketing way of writing something, like a "Drive-Thru." It's also text-talk, or shorthand. It's as bad as saying "Porter LOLed when he heard that." He also spells "marshal" like the name "Marshall." Maybe a bit more understandable as both are spelled correctly, but just the wrong form of the word - like using "principle" instead of "principal" when talking about the head of a school. He also writes "thanks" as "thanks'" with an apostrophe after it - which makes it possessive. He also struggles with hyphenation, often not using hyphens on compound words that need them. Again, most software catches this, so I don't get the excuse.
To show how ubiquitous these errors are, as I review each story, I'll just note how many of each kind of error I found in each story so I can focus on the actual story review without ranting forever about the errors.
"Cold Slither" was the first story. It began with a great quote from Willa Cather (a favorite author of mine), and introduces the character of Orrin Porter Rockwell. It had interesting characters, a weird situation, and a thrilling adventure. Aside from the errors, which kept knocking me out of the story, this was a strong start to the book.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 10 - Comma Errors 5 - Spelling Errors 1 - Other 3. [0.43 errors per page]
"Black Wings in the Moonlight" was the next story. This was a decent story about a supernatural bird and a ghost. I like the character of Porter. So many near misses, though, in various shooting incidents.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 9 - Comma Errors 1 [0.77 errors per page]
"Soma for the Destroying Angels Soul" was next. Although I am trying not to focus so much on the spelling errors, note the spelling error in the title. "Angels" is plural - It should be "Angel's," which is possessive. It is the Destroying Angel's soul - something the angel possesses. Anyway, the author does great with Western dialect and dialogue in general. This one was about a supernatural plague, zuvembies (shades of "Pigeons from Hell" by REH), and sorcerers. It honestly was too busy. I liked the overall story, but it felt like a draft version. It was TOO fast-paced, leaving me confused as to the action and plot at times. At one point, Porter says the US cavalry was there, and I didn't read about them showing up, so I had to backtrack, and all there was to indicate someone new on the scene was the sound of a trumpet - which could have been anything, especially when the Bockkor was described as a "black magic piper." At the end of the story, Porter shoots "Joshua." No one named Joshua was in the story, so I have no idea who Porter shot. But I like what the author was trying to do. The jail scene was excellent, and the threat was palpable and, frankly, horrifying. I'd love to see a revised version of this story where the descriptions of what is going on was stronger, and "Joshua" identified. This story took forever to read because I kept having to re-read sections to figure out what was going on, and sometimes that didn't even help. This story needs to be tightened up.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 6 - Comma Errors 7 - Spelling Errors 1 - Other 1. [0.94 errors per page]
"Rolling in the Deep" was the next story. I have started noting that that the author likes to have Porter's guns leer at people from his belt. "Leer." That's a weird word choice, usually meant for lascivious or creepy looks. Anyway, Porter breaks his vow and cuts his hair, and gets shanghaied onto a ship. I enjoyed the story, but it had a deus ex machina ending, with Porter not really doing anything to extricate himself from the situation, but letting God handle it.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 4 - Comma Errors 7 - Spelling Errors 4 [1.5 errors per page]
"Tangle Crowned Demon." It was a pretty basic story, without a lot of stakes, but it was okay.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 4 - Comma Errors 12 - Spelling Errors 4 - Other 1 [1.75 errors per page]. Notice how his errors-per-page score is steadily increasing.
"Fangs of the Dragon," which, overall, was a good story, with an interesting betrayal and set-up. However, the scene where Porter makes friends with the giant dragon-snake felt more appropriate for a humorous tall tale than for the tone these stories tend to have. It was a bit over-the top, feeling incongruously outlandish and ridiculous. It also had a weird WTF moment where Porter was given the means to kill the monster, but in the heat of the moment he forgot all about it. That was some heavy-handed plotting to ensure Porter makes friends with the monster instead.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 6 - Comma Errors 18 - Spelling Errors 3 - Other 2 [2.42 errors per page]
"Garden of Legion" was the next story, which I loved. Holy cow, demonic tumble weeds! This may be one of my favorite stories in the collection. This story was a lot of fun. I was not expecting demonic tumble weeds.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 2 - Comma Errors 2 [0.26 errors per page - much better edited]
"Red Wolf Moon" was a decent enough werewolf story, but it didn't rise up much past that.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 23 - Comma Errors 3 - Spelling Errors 1 - Other 1 [1.87 errors per page]
"Killer Instinct" ranked right up there with "Garden of Legion" and I loved it. I mean, dinosaurs in the Old West? I'm totally on board with that.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 2 - Comma Errors 2 - Other 2 [0.40 errors per page; interestingly all six errors were actually just on one page]
"Right Hand Man" was a strange, noisy tale. Lots of telling and little showing, but it was a first person account, so maybe that was appropriate, but it made for a difficult, detached read. Little dialogue, just reports about what was discussed and by whom. I think this made for a good draft, but could have been a better story than it was.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 4 - Comma Errors 11 - Spelling Errors 4 [0.76 errors per page]
"Striding Through Darkness" was the final story. I think this was the first time in the book that the author spelled "through" correctly (instead of "thru"). Interestingly, the story refers to a 2nd Nephi, Chapter 10, and even quotes it. It's wrong. 2 Nephi, Chapter 10 is basically about how America should never have a king and should never go directly to war with Zion (Israel). The passage he refers to several times (and quotes) is from 2 Nephi Chapter 23. No wonder Brother Henslow didn't get the reference Brother Worby made to 2 Nephi chapter 10! Aside from that attribution error, this was an EXCELLENT story. Very chilling, and atmospheric.
- Possessive/Plural Errors: 6 - Comma Errors 5 - Spelling Errors 5 - Other 1 [0.68 errors per page]
Not counting the attribution error from the Book of Mormon, that leaves the final count as - Possessive/Plural Errors: 67 - Comma Errors 71 - Spelling Errors 23 - Other 11 [0.72 errors per page]. This is what gives self-publishing a bad name. It's a shame, because these were solid stories. Sure, a few of them felt like they were drafts to me, but most of them were solid and a few of them excelled!
I liked the Mormon background of the stories. I don't know a lot about Mormons or Mormonism. All I really know is from some missionaries who sat and talked to me for a while and gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon (which is why I let them sit and talk for a while - I am not one to turn down a free book!), and one time when I managed a pizza store, I had a Mormon delivery guy work for me. So, it was neat learning about the Godbeites, Valley-Tan whiskey, and the various named persons in the stories. I thought that was fabulous. It gave me a lot to look up, read, and research, and I like when a book creates that.
Honestly, if it weren't for all the grammatical errors, this book might have rated a 4 or 5 with me. The errors earn it a single star, so I am going to average it out to 3 stars. If you like imaginative, weird fiction (and are not bothered by grammar and punctuation errors), I highly recommend this. If you (like me) are bothered by numerous (and I do mean numerous) grammatical and punctuation errors, then proceed with caution: you'll find yourself constantly irritated, even when you are enjoying the story.
February 14, 2017
Cold slither is an appropriate name for this collection of Mormon old west supernatural pulp fiction. I gave it 4 stars because this genre isn't supposed to be rated high. It isn't high art but it provided plenty of entertainment and laughs. I think I did actually give "King Solomon's mines" 5 stars but that was because of the added entertainment from the racism, sexism and a complete lack of morality when it came to shooting big game animals. No modern author will be able to get away with such a feat so David J West did the next best thing. This is a fine collection of stories. I did have an issue with the grammar in the second to last story though. The idiosyncratic nature made it hard for me to follow. Most of that was just me though since I do not focus well while reading fiction. I think my favorite of the stories was the first one followed by the one about the Bear Lake monster.
September 13, 2017
Two of my favorite reads western and horror combined! I really like the stories, I know some of the folklore David Writes about and it was fun to read about them in this book. I'll be reading more of David J. West's books.
June 27, 2017
If Robert E. Howard had been born Mormon, these are the stories he would have written.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews