Sixguns & Sorcery: The Weird Western

Territory

Emma Bull practically invented the urban fantasy genre with War for the Oaks, so it’s perhaps fitting that she would take a shot at mixing fantasy and westerns. I’ve talked about Territory before in this column, but it’s still a great example of the genre. Territory is set in Tombstone, Arizona, around the time of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral. While it includes all of the well-known figures from that famous showdown, it focuses on the enigmatic Jesse Fox and Mrs. Mildred Benjamin, a writer. Bull captures the feel of the western while injecting a wonderful sense of magic as well. As I mentioned last time, a sequel, Claim, is coming, but I haven’t seen a release date mentioned yet. 

Liminal States

I talked about Liminal States back in my Back to School post and it’s really more of a science fiction novel if we want to be strict about it, but the first part of the novel is about as Weird West as it gets. Gripping, well-described, and with some truly strange elements, Liminal States opens with Warren Groves, a lawman, and Gideon Long, a rich, bitter criminal, both of whom are in love with the same woman, Warren’s wife Annie. When Gideon’s attempt at a train robbery goes wrong, things start to spin out of control, pitting Gideon against Warren. But things take a turn for the weird when Gideon discovers a strange, abandoned Pueblo village out in the desert and the strange pool that it contains. The novel eventually leaves the Wild West to jump ahead in time, but the western parts are some of the best weird western fiction that I’ve read.

The Half-Made World

Felix Gilman’s take on the Wild West is the only one on this list that doesn’t take place in a version of our world. Gilman reimagines the Wild West where the western frontier isn’t just unexplored and wild, it’s actually unmade. Doctor Liv Alverhuysen, out East, takes an offer to to help cure soldiers traumatized in the war out West at the House of Dolorous. Also heading to the House of Dolorous is John Creedmore, an Agent of the Gun. The Gun is at war with the Line, a group focused on industrial developments, including trains and weapons. One of the more original works on this list. A sequel came out last year, The Rise of Ransom City.

The Sixth Gun

The Sixth Gun is a comic, but it embodies the concept of the weird western. The title refers to one of six guns, all with dark powers. Becky Montcrief inherits one from her grandfather, and people come looking for it. One of these men is Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with a dark past. Also looking for it are the bearers of the other five guns, under the leadership of the resurrected General Oleander Hume. Cullen Bunn’s writing is spot-on here, and it brought him to the attention of Marvel Comics. Brian Hurtt’s artwork captures the look and feel of the period with plenty of detail to help give it life. If comics aren’t your thing, you can hopefully check out The Sixth Gun when it comes to television. NBC recently ordered a pilot to be made. 

The Six-Gun Tarot

A recent release, The Six Gun Tarot is a sprawling story that centers on the town of Golgotha, a silver mining town that is a magnet for the strange and supernatural. Each chapter is named for a different card of the Tarot and jumps around visiting different characters and even different times (such as angels at the dawn of Creation). Young Jim Negrey comes to Golgotha fleeing the law, with a strange jade eye in his possession. He soon becomes caught up in the activities of the townsfolk, many of whom seem to be under the influence of something strange. He teams up with others in the town--the unkillable sheriff, the shapechanging deputy, and others, to help stop what’s happening.