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The Way-Out Wild West
Bodie, Arizona can be a difficult place to locate on a map. Some say it's because Bodie has been home to inventors who meddled in things humans weren't meant to know. Others say it's the visitors from the stars who seem to frequent Bodie. It's just possible Bodie has become unstuck in time, making it a difficult place to pinpoint. Being unstuck in time, Bodie may have drifted close to the boundaries between life and afterlife. Whatever the case, Bodie is a wild place. In this collection, Lyn McConchie chronicles the adventures of Bodie's denizens and those of nearby towns, counties and states from the nineteenth century to the present. Saddle up for this collection of twenty-two tales where you will glimpse the way-out, wild west.
214 pages, Paperback
Published January 5, 2022
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 12, 2024
An interesting collection of short stories from Lyn McConchie, set - as you might have gathered from the title - in the way-out wild west. McConchie captures the feel of western pulp fiction very well, I thought, but there's splashes of the futuristic and the paranormal blended in with the tales.
For my money, I think the strongest two stories in the book are the opening stories, "For Love of Maxie" and "Polly and Johnny" because they introduce the reader to "steamers" - mechanical horses that run on water. As a horse-lover all my life, the concept of steampunk horses intrigued me.
Other favourite stories were "Hounded", "Green Eyes" and "In Memory of Benny"
As this is a collection of similarly themed, but independent storiesm some of which have been previously published in a collection of anthologies and magazines, reading the stories from cover to cover can feel a bit disjointed at times ie "For Love of Maxie" feels like it's a suitable read for a primary school audience, whereas stories like "Hounded" are clearly aimed at a mature audience. This doesn't really detract from the overall reading pleasure, though. McConchie is an accomplished author, and it's good to have these stories collected together.
For my money, I think the strongest two stories in the book are the opening stories, "For Love of Maxie" and "Polly and Johnny" because they introduce the reader to "steamers" - mechanical horses that run on water. As a horse-lover all my life, the concept of steampunk horses intrigued me.
Other favourite stories were "Hounded", "Green Eyes" and "In Memory of Benny"
As this is a collection of similarly themed, but independent storiesm some of which have been previously published in a collection of anthologies and magazines, reading the stories from cover to cover can feel a bit disjointed at times ie "For Love of Maxie" feels like it's a suitable read for a primary school audience, whereas stories like "Hounded" are clearly aimed at a mature audience. This doesn't really detract from the overall reading pleasure, though. McConchie is an accomplished author, and it's good to have these stories collected together.
Displaying 1 of 1 review