I’m looking for new examples of Weird West stories – fiction set in the Wild West with gunslingers, Indians, and so forth, but with some major genre twist. The differences can be from the more typical horror/supernatural, science fiction, mystery but also outright mythology, superhero or the like.
A few examples: The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.; Firefly (although Space Westerns probably don’t really qualify); Tex Arcana; Generation Hex; the Deadlands role-playing game.
Anyone have any favorites they’d like to recommend? The more obscure, old (I’m especially interested in the earliest examples) and just plain weird it is, the better.
Oh, and some info beyond just the title is welcome, but if there are any spoilers please put them in spoiler tags.
Mark Frost, co-creator of Hill Street Blues and Twin Peaks, wrote The List of Seven. In which young doctor A Conan Doyle investigates occult shenanigans & is drawn into eldrich events. He also assists a remarkable character who inspires his later literary work. A ripping yarn–set in England.
In the sequel, The Six Messiahs, Doyle encounters the uncanny while on an American tour–mostly, Out West. I didn’t love this book as much as the previous one, but do wish a series had followed.
Frost is now writing books about golf…
ETA: S P Somtow’s Moon Dance tells about werewolves in the Old West! Grim & Gory!
*Devil’s Tower *and Devil’s Engine, by Mike Sumner, are very much like Deadlands in background. During the Civil War, magic started working again. A few people are very powerful. This does not contribute to society stability in the West.
Grim Prarie Tales starring James Earl Jones isn’t the greatest movie in the world but it fits the criteria. It’s about two folks on the prarie telling one another wild west tales of the macabre.
Odesio
Dead in the West by Joe Lansdale is a fine little zombie western.
Tim Lebbon has written a couple of weird western novellas that I liked a lot – Pieces of Hate and Dead Man’s Hand.
Incident at Twenty Mile by Trevanian isn’t quite “weird”, but it has a psycho serial killer and it’s a good read.
The Flight of Michael McBride by Midori Snyder takes a long time to get to the west, but when it does, it rocks. It’s only slightly supernatural though.
While we’re at it, the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, was partly set in Utah.
On a completely different note, there’s a short story (I think by LeGuin) called “Buffalo gals won’t you come out tonight”, that takes place mostly in the spirit world of the animals.
Dead Man, as mentioned above, all time great masterpiece.
Also:
The Burrowers: astonishingly stylish and entertaining western horror film: cowboys versus monsters that come out of the ground at night. Lots of racism–the cowboys assume for the first half of the movie that “Burrowers” is the name of an Indian tribe. One of this year’s best straight-to-video indie films.
The Valley of Gwangi: the best Cowboys-vs-Dinosaurs movie ever made. (Thanks to Cervaise, I think, for introducing me to this, uh, gem.)
Also, Sukiyaki Western Django, one of last year’s most insanely entertaining movies, is a hyperviolent, surreal, Japanese Spaghetti Western. Includes a cameo of Quentin Tarantino talking in a thick Japanese accent.
Mad Amos by Alan Dean Foster features the mountain man Mad Amos, mostly in the Old West. He encounters a lot of weirdness ( like a displaced Chinese dragon ), and knows an incredible amount of interesting lore.