Find it here!
When Old Murray, the town rainmaker, comes running out of the badlands, he’s moving like the devil himself is at his heels. It could be Diamondback Duggan, the notorious outlaw whom Sherrif Taylor rode out to capture days ago. But the badlands are silent in Murray’s wake…and is that a new crystal swinging among the gewgaws and talismans over the old man’s chest?
Wyrd Wizard West has arrived!
It’s no secret I’m a fan of the Old West and the Weird West, stories that take an occult—or even cosmic—spin on the old legends of exploration and expansion. Getting to share this story with the world is a special treat, and I can only hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
What to expect from this one: action and horror themes in an Old West setting. Wyrd Wizard West is aimed squarely at an all-ages audience, so I got to research some actual Western insults (It wasn’t all Deadwood, it seems!) and ramp up the action. My guiding light has been, “Would Stephen Sommers put it in a Brendan Faser Mummy movie?”
And there are other reasons to cheer this anthology! I’m excited to see two authors in the table of contents that I’ve appeared with before. One of my latest favorite authors, Rosetta York, kicks off the anthology. Rosetta’s “Tapping from the Tube” appears in Spirits and Spreadsheets, which also had my story “Daydreams and Nightmares.” I also see Aaron Frale in Wyrd Wizard West. Aaron authored “Containment Protocols” for Feral Lands. It’s an honor and a great pleasure to appear in the same pages as both of these writers, and I hope to see it happen again!
That’s enough jawing on my part, though. There’s something in the badlands outside Prairie Rock, and it’s not content to hunker down, waiting. Sun’s going down. Are those spurs I hear jangling outside the saloon doors? One thing about Old Murray, he don’t wear spurs…
Hope to find you in the Weird West!
What are you thinking?