# "Weird West" recommendations please **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520 "2009-04-27T17:13:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/21 "2009-04-27T23:59:03Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > Maybe, Clint Eastwood’s **The Beguiled**. > > [Beguiled - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beguiled) Or better still, Eastwood’s [**High Plains Drifter**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068699/). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/22 "2009-04-28T00:15:54Z")
Emma Bull’s [Territory](http://www.amazon.com/Territory-Emma-Bull/dp/0812548361) certainly qualifies, although I wasn’t crazy about it. Other folks seemed to have liked it a lot, judging from the reviews. [Blood Meridian](http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Meridian-Evening-Redness-Library/dp/0679641041/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240877692&sr=1-1) is like Cthulhu horror set in the Old West, only there’s nothing remotely supernatural or extraterrestrial in it, which just makes the alien horror so much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/23 "2009-04-28T00:47:24Z")
> [@malkavia](#): > > What about The Dark Tower series? Particularly, The Gunslinger. I popped in to mention this one, too. Both The Gunslinger (with its wonderfully evocative opening sentence “The Man in Black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed”) and Wolves of the Calla are pretty damn westerny, but in very twisted ways. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/24 "2009-04-28T01:12:15Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > \*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. A really, really cool setting…and the first book was very well done. The second, not as much, but still a fun read. I wish he would write a third. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/25 "2009-04-28T03:49:00Z")
[Dead Man’s Gun](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140735/). A Showtime series about a cursed gun which ran for two seasons. Unfortunately not available on DVD; I wish it was, because there were some pretty good episodes. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/26 "2009-04-28T03:54:21Z")
Timerider. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/27 "2009-04-28T04:00:57Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. Another vote for these two books. Now if you can find copies, I’d also recommned the short stories “Spud and Cochise” by Oliver LaFarge (look for a copy of _The Best of All Possible Worlds_, edited by Spider Robinson) and “Manifest Destiny” by Joe Haldeman (look for his short story collection _Dealing in Futures_). ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/28 "2009-04-28T14:28:03Z")
Thanks for the recommendations. I have read a few of the mentioned ones already (for instance Six-Gun Gorilla is starting to become famous for being obscure, which makes him less obscure of course), but other people reading this are probably interested too. Keep the suggestions coming. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/29 "2009-04-28T16:08:59Z")
How about _Westworld_, the 1973 movie? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/30 "2009-04-28T16:14:35Z")
Haven’t seen _Ravenous_, very loosely based on the Donner Party tragedy, but there are those who love it: [Ravenous - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravenous) Maybe not as far west as you have in mind, but George R.R. Martin’s novel _Fevre Dream_ is terrific. It’s about vampires along the Mississippi before and just after the Civil War. If Bram Stoker and Mark Twain had written a novel together, this would be it. Can’t recommend it highly enough. It’d make a great movie: [Fevre Dream - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fevre_Dream) As for _Dead Man_, meh. Didn’t do anything for me. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/31 "2009-04-29T16:51:47Z")
[The Phantom Empire](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026867/), 1935, starring Gene Autry. Read the imdb listing. You wouldn’t believe me if I tried to describe it. It was re-made in 1979 as [The Secret Empire](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078684/), part of the _Cliffhangers_ TV series. [House II: The Second Story](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093220/) is more “adventure” than “western”, but the villain and one of the heroes are from the Wild West, resurrected as zombies in the 20th Century. During the late 1980s or early 1990s, DC Comics put out a couple of _Johah Hex_ comics that had supernatural elements in a Wild West setting. The comic book _Preacher_ was set in the present day, but had some Western motifs. The title character was raised in east Texas, and got spiritual guidance from the ghost of John Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/32 "2009-04-29T16:55:54Z")
[Rustlers’ Rhapsody](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089945/). ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/33 "2009-04-29T22:26:54Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > [The Phantom Empire](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026867/), 1935, starring Gene Autry. Read the imdb listing. You wouldn’t believe me if I tried to describe it. > > . By Prime! I remember that! And it was insane! Stranger than _The Valley Of Gwangi_. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/34 "2009-04-29T23:25:23Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > [Rustlers’ Rhapsody](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089945/). Ooh, I forgot about that. It does some breaking-the-fourth-wall stuff, but I’m not sure I’d call it Weird West. Fun movie, though. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/35 "2009-04-30T01:36:33Z")
I can’t believe that I am the first one two mention these two classics : [Jesse James meets Frankenstein’s daughter](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060558/) and [Billy the Kid versus Dracula](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060168/) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/36 "2009-05-01T15:01:24Z")
Reviving this semi-moribund thread with news of **High Plains Invaders** , starring James Marsters. It’s a SciSyWhatever Channel Original Movie to air this summer. The original title was **Alien Western**. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/37 "2009-05-01T15:55:56Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > …During the late 1980s or early 1990s, DC Comics put out a couple of _Johah Hex_ comics that had supernatural elements in a Wild West setting… They’re making a movie now: [Jonah Hex (film) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_Hex_(film)) ---
**Author:** ![Anduinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Anduinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduinel)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/38 "2009-05-02T01:37:43Z")
[Far West](http://www.amazon.com/Far-West-Richard-Moore/dp/156163297X) - A series of collected comics by Richard Moore. Our main characters are Meg, a half-breed elf bounty hunter, and her partner, Phil the bear. Sexy, ruthless, rough-and-tumble comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/39 "2009-05-02T02:13:10Z")
**Red Sun** is a Western + Samurai film with Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune and Ursula Andress. **Once Upon A Time In China And America** was about the 6th of the “Once Upon A Time In China” movies featuring Jet Li as Wong Fei Hung. Directed by Sammo Hung. WFH goes to the Old West. Came out in 1997, well before Jackie Chan’s “Shanghai Noon”. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520/40 "2009-05-02T05:50:22Z")
_ **The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl** _ by Tim Pratt. Weird, funny and good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-west-recommendations-please/494520.md?page=1)