Readers keen for a dark tale of violence and misery have found it.īen H. When the story resolves – and the protagonist rids East Texas of a ravening menace – the protagonist’s best hope is that his dry matches allow him to build a cooking fire for his slain horse. Mercer’s background and motivations are not exposed enough in this short story to suggest a more than merely physical conflict with the revenant, which may limit the tale’s appeal to those not familiar with the character or who are particularly attracted to vampires, the Weird West, or horror. The character’s adverse relationship with a god involved in mortal affairs is sketched as background, but story’s main conflict lies between the Reverend and a vampire newly loosed from a ruined graveyard. The protagonist’s base condition of privation – and his pessimism about the afterlife – make for a dreary outlook perfectly suited to this horror-fantasy. Lansdale’s East Texas and its malign God support a dark vibe illustrated by the Reverend’s motives: he’s not moved by love for his fellow man or for the God he serves he fulfills his divine mission because he can’t escape adversaries against which he’s unwillingly directed. Jebediah Mercer’s direct approach to problems over which he refuses to pray. Sixguns with blessed bullets warn of Rev.
Bad omens, foul weather, an unkempt graveyard, and a shattered shelter build a horror feel. Not the sexy vampires – ugly, awful ones. Howard of Conan fame, the tale pays its respects to sword-and-sorcery with a Weird West sixguns-and-vampires adventure. Lansdale sets “The Red-Headed Dead” in the same world as his 1986 Dead in the West. (Just, watch for clockwork gamblers: they count cards, all of them.) There’s frivolous adventure, and deep comment about the nature of man. Maybe you have a weakness for tales of men rescued by women – pick from clockwork women or live ones with lightning cannons – but if you want women rescued by men, there’s some of that, too.
There’s men taking charge, and there’s men helpless while clockwork automata overrun the world. There’s upbeat high-energy thriller action, and slow dark creepy weirdness. But the sheer range of Weird West worlds set forth between its covers makes it more of an extended tour of a well-curated zoological garden than just a bus pass to a neighborhood park. Some introductions are better skipped, but not this.ĭead Man’s Hand isn’t just a fantasy jaunt. Adams’ introduction also helps readers set contributors in the genre’s landscape. Describing its overlap with steampunk and differentiating it from space westerns helps set the genre in the literary landscape for readers who don’t know the pleasure of wondering what things would be like if the Ghost Dance had actually worked. Adams opens by explaining its title (for those who don’t play poker) and providing some background on what the Weird West is. “What I Assume You Shall Assume” by Ken LiuĮdited by John Joseph Adams, Dead Man’s Hand offers so much Weird West fiction, you’d hafta discard a pair not to bust twenty-one. “Madam Damnable’s Sewing Circle” by Elizabeth Bear “Alvin and the Apple Tree” by Orson Scott Card “Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger” by Charles Yu “Stingers and Strangers” by Seanan McGuire “The Hell-Bound Stagecoach” by Mike Resnick “Hellfire on the High Frontier” by David Farland “The Old Slow Man and his Gold Gun from Space” by Ben H.
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