Dead Man's Hand by John Joseph Adams HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD!
From a kill-or-be-killed gunfight with a vampire to an encounter in a steampunk bordello, the weird western is a dark, gritty tale where the protagonist might be playing poker with a sorcerous deck of cards, or facing an alien on the streets of a dusty frontier town.
Here are twenty-three original tales—stories of the Old West infused with elements of the fantastic—produced specifically for this volume by many of today’s finest writers. Included are Orson Scott Card’s first “Alvin Maker” story in a decade, and an original adventure by Fred Van Lente, writer of Cowboys & Aliens.
One sub genre that isn't the mainstream when it comes down to fantasy and science fiction is the western genre. I have come across a few books that do feature some great western stories, those of Joe Abercrombie, Mike Resnick and Guy Adams. Westerns, be it steampunk influenced, classical or with a tinge of science fiction all do pique my interest so when I found out that Titan books was releasing not one but twenty three western stories, be it in a anthology I was more than stoked to get reading. The story of the Dead Man's Hand anthology were picked out by John Joseph Adams, he is a critically acclaimed editor of many anthologies and various science fiction fantasy magazine, one of his anthologies The Living Dead was nominated for a World Fantasy Award! So the premise of diverse western stories and a renown editor this had to be one awesome read, and it sure as proved to be one! A lot of readers do shy away from anthologies but Dead Man's Hand is really, really one wild weird west ride.
The stories that make up the Dead Man's Hand anthology are all original stories and the list is as follows:
1.
The Red-Headed Dead by Joe R. Lansdale
2.
The Old Slow Man and His Gold Gun From Space by Ben H. Winters
3.
Hellfire on the High Frontier by David Farland
4.
The Hell-Bound Stagecoach by Mike Resnick
5.
Stingers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire
6.
Bookkeeper, Narrator, Gunslinger by Charles Yu
7.
Holy Jingle by Alan Dean Foster
8.
The Man With No Heart by Beth Revis
9.
Wrecking Party by Alastair Reynolds
10.
Hell from the East by Hugh Howey
11.
Second Hand by Rajan Khanna
12.
Alvin and the Apple Tree by Orson Scott Card
13.
Madam Damnable’s Sewing Circle by Elizabeth Bear
14.
Strong Medicine by Tad Williams
15.
Red Dreams by Jonathan Maberry
16.
Bamboolzed by Kelley Armstrong
17.
Sundown by Tobias S. Buckell
18.
La Madre Del Oro by Jeffrey Ford
19.
What I Assume You Shall Assume by Ken Liu
20.
The Devil’s Jack by Laura Anne Gilman
21.
The Golden Age by Walter Jon Williams
22.
Neversleeps by Fred Van Lente
23. Dead Man’s
Hand by Christie Yant
One thing that falls to note when you are a few stories into Dead Man's Hand is the diversity of the featured stories. Like I mentioned above they come in many forms. Like a supernatural story where vampire hunting holymen take the central stage to killer wasps down to aliens and back to a classic showdown and magical cards. John Joseph Adams has selected some terrific stories from his anthology and yes this is the first anthology that I read of him, but still there are some stories in this anthology that really put you to the edge of your seat and some that are for me ready to be translated into a full length novel as well.
1. The Red-Headed Death by Joe R. Lansdale
An anthology always needs one powerful story to kick off the book and this is exactly what Joe R. Lansdale's, The Red-Headed Death does. Some people might call the idea behind this story cliche but you know what it rocks. The Red-Headed Death is a supernatural vampire story. It's a relatively short story only a few pages long, but that is all it needs. The Reverend, one Jebediah Mercer, is send on another task by God. He is a holy man and one thing that doesn't fit in this picture is of course the supernatural entities. He soon discovers some weird things going on in a cemetery and when he sets out to investigate it proves more than true and he has to deal with the blood-sucking kind of supernaturals. But Jebediah isn't only armed with some garlic, wooden stakes and a sprinkle of holy water, no he is packing some serious heat! .44 Colts just to name one. Now you can guess just the direction that The Red-Headed Death will go into I reckon, one gunslinging showdown! THe shortness of this particular story really works in it's favor it's exactly enough to produce one single short storie, get you on the edge of your seat and trigger you to find out just what kind of stories the remained of the anthology has in store for you!
2. The Hell-Bound Stagecoach by Mike Resnick
I know Mike Resnick solely for his own Weird Western Tales, the steampunk, alternative history mash-up series. In it he has already shown that he has a creative mind when it comes down to using the western theme. So when I read that one of his stories featured into this anthology I did got my hopes up to see Doc Holliday make an appearance, but Mike Resnick goes into a different direction with The Hell-Bound Stagecoach. The story is based on an already published one but Mike Resnick translates this into a bit more horrific and weird western story. One thing that is tricky when it comes down to short stories is info dumping, The Hell-Bound Stagecoach has definitely influences of a strong character plot but Mike Resnick slowly reveals more and more about the different characters and just their role in the plot itself. as you can probably make up from the titles, there is only one direction to which this stagecoach is going, and that is straight to Hell. However it's not only about the destination perse, it's about the journey and this aspect, is what Mike Resnick shows in a creative way. It is a pretty weird story but in the few sentences everything falls into place.
3. Stingers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire
A lot of readers will know that Seanan McGuire also goes by the name of Mira Grant and this is where I know her from, she has shown her self to be able to freak out people completely with her Newsflesh and Parasitology series. Stinger and Strangers however follows up on a different series that she is still currently working on: InCryptid. Now I am not familiar with this series but I could understand everything that featured in Stingers and Strangers to enjoy it completely. Stingers and Strangers tells the story of Jonathan and Frances who are making their travels through Colorado in the 1930's to check in with an Apraxis swarm . Apraxis are gigantic wasps that have the level of intelligence of human beings. Its this latter part that makes them a top predator instead of a simple insect, well that and given the fact that they are of a giant size. The cryptozoologists Jonathan and Fran (in-training) have their hand full to quell this threat. This is not a typical shoot-out western but I am always in for some science/biology in my stories and this is what Seanan McGuire shows. Dangerous and just a bit bizarre creatures that pose a threat to mankind.
4. Bookkeeper, Narrator and Gunslinger by Charles Yu
Bookkeeper, Narrator and Gunslinger is a classic showdown, who is the fastest draw in the west kind of story. But well calling it classic is not possible since it features in a weird west anthology, so it does have a twist! The story is written in a first person narration and this really helped to create a much more engaging feeling it. In the little town where Bookkeeper, Narrator and Gunslinger takes place there were three people termed the fastest gunslingers Fallon, Ratface and Pete. They exactly new who was the fastest but place two and three remained to be guessed. The person we follow, the narrator is basically the narrator of the town and does some bookkeeping on the side but you know, some people are just to bit of a smartiepants for others and soon the match gets changed...it isn't Pete vs. Fallon anymore but Fallon vs. out protagonist. Which adds to the last bit of the title. This is one of those stories that readily sucks you in as you read everything that the main protagonist is going though, leading up and doing the eventual 40 meter staredown and pray that you are the fastest one!
5. Second Hand by Rajan Khanna
As I have said before there are well known and lesser known author in the Dead Man's hand anthology and sorry to say this but I haven't read anything by Rajan Khanna before, but finishing Second Hand I am in for a full length book of it! This is one of those stories that has a lot of promise to it. You are thrown directly into the heat once you start reading Second Hand, you see one of the character, Hiram, playing a card and not completely according to the general rules. His chaperon and trainer, Quentin quietly observers and sees Hiram make a stupid mistake. What directly felt to note were the capitalized words Cards and Played, once you read them you know that they have a much bigger meaning to them and soon you do find out just what it all means and this put a big smile on my face! I read stories like Wild Cards which are totally awesome but Rajan Khanna gives a completely new meaning to the words Card Sharps. Because the Cards that both Quentin and Hiram use have a supernatural tinge to it and basically makes them a bit like mages, I have to stop here from telling more but its really cool stuff and a great idea to use in a story. Anyway, Quentin and Hiram are for a specific purpose in the city, they have to find a certain someone to help them understand, but one the said person is located it all turns to the very bad very soon. Rajan Khanna has started to build a great premise in Second Hand that will hopefully be featured in more stories or a full length book!
6. Strong Medicine by Tad Williams
Tad Williams is one of the big names in the anthology and I have been a big fan of his stories for a long time, my fantasy reading began with his Otherland series. If you think about a weird western tale, than Strong Medicine fits the bill spot-on. The story takes place in Medicine Dance, Arizona here once every thirthy-nine years during midsummer something weird happens to the town of Medicine Dance. Time stops for a moment, or I should be saying goes back a few million decades... The dinosaurs, other reptiles and even mammoths make a brief reappearance during these midsummers days. The story however is just far from a simple quell the threat, protect the city type of story, it's more on the contrary, it shows a strong character driven story, one thing that I have come to enjoy from Tad William's other stories. Just as with the story of Charles Yu, Bookkeeper, Narrator and Gunslinger, Strong Medicine is also written in the first person perspective and this time we follow a stranger who is "just visiting" the town of Strong Medicine. Now on the first read through I had a lot of questions about what exactly was going on in the first few pages, is this guy really a stranger or what, it seems that some townpeople do know him and other don't, also he has a lot of knowledge about the midsummer events... All along the way there are some interesting things happening between this stranger and several of the townpeople and it seems that he has a heart for a few but what exactly remains to be seen, just untill the last page where Tad Williams give you one major plot twist, I didn't see this coming at all and I quickly read the story again and now it makes a ton of sense. I am a big fan of just these kind of stories, totally unexpected, a terrific read.
7. Dead Man's Hand by Christie Yant
Christie Yant's Dead Man's Hand (not the anthology) is the last story of the anthology and just as where The Red-Headed Death gave the kick-off sign, Dead Man's Hand nicely decelerates the anthology. In Dead Man's Hand the story of James Butler Hickok by John McCall is being retold. It mentions briefly in the beginning "Your card are dealt anew every moment of the day. So are the card of the other players". And this is precisely what happens, it doesn't only feature the stories of James Butler Hickok and John McCall but also some other saloon proprietors. It took me a while, re-reading the story two or three times to full get the grasp of the story. But once understood it packs a powerful punch. A solid closing of the Dead Man's Hand anthology.
I have only highlighted seven of the twenty-three stories but I can safely say that the remaining stories are just a great as the once that I have written about. Just like I mentioned on top and what you can hopefully make up from the explanations is that the stories are very diverse. But they do all have one thing in common they are a made up of good and solid idea's, some did take a rereading of me to fully grasp the story but once I did I smiled even more, there are some mighty clever and interesting stories hidden within Dead Man's Hand. This is my first John Joseph Adams anthology and I am more than pleased with the high quality of stories that he has collected, I will be definitely keeping an eye out on his next anthology to come. So far one of the best anthologies that I have read this year.
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