Weird Wild West

The Weird Wild West: A Penny Dreadful Review

            I love a bit of magic and weirdness in my frontier towns. Last December, eSpec Books released an anthology that delivers that in spades. The Weird Wild West, edited by Misty Massey, Emily Lavin Leverett, and Margaret St. Graw, contains many, many great tales of odd goings on.

            There are a great many stories in this anthology, so you will not leave disappointed, no matter what you’re looking for. Aliens, vengeful ghosts, shapeshifters, mad science, and necromancy run rampant across the weird wests of the authors’ imaginations.

            If I had to pick a favorite, it would be a toss up between “Blood Tellings,” by Wendy Wagner, and “Frank and Earnest,” by Tonia Brown. The first is the tale of a boy mature beyond his years. He speaks with the spirits of the dead. The local sheriff needs his help solving a murder in a house haunted by a malicious entity. The ending is beautiful. The second story involves the worst outlaws in the west and a kitten who defeats a mad scientist.

            The variety in this anthology is fantastic. I highly recommend The Weird Wild West for bite-sized adventures in a frontier that isn’t quite ordinary. I rate it four gears out of five.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, A Penny Dreadful Review

            I do love a good mashup. Seth Grahame-Smith is the master of mashups, being the mastermind behind my beloved favourite Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. I found Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter to be an excellent example of this bizarre genre. How could I classify a smashing together of the modern concept of vampires and the life of one of the greatest presidents of the United States as Steampunk? Simple. A good mashup borrows from history and from modern day, combining ingredients until something entirely new is formed. Is this not the very base of Steampunk? A sort of modern nostalgia? A re-imagining of the past? A… mashup of old fashions and new values?

            At any rate, let me proceed with my review. According to this strange biography of President Lincoln, his troubles with vampires started from an early age. He saw the wasting death of his mother, which was caused by a vampire, and vowed revenge on these horrifying and powerful night creatures. His efforts against this scourge fit quite nicely into the biographical gaps in his youth, and provide extra motivation for his learning, log-splitting, and political efforts. For example, at one point, he discovers that vampires in the south are buying and selling slaves as one would buy and sell bacon: that is, with feasting in mind. This gives him extra fire as he runs for president and extra motivation to end the abhorrent slave trade once and for all.

            Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is well-crafted, well-researched, and a rollicking good read. I highly recommend it for any fan of American History. I give it four gears out of five.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny: A Penny Dreadful Review

            In the early 1800s, the United States of America purchased a giant, mysterious block of land. Tasked with recording and cataloguing this wilderness, Lewis and Clark explored parts of what would become the western United States. Of course, the historical journals we are taught about in school neglect to mention a tribe of enormous bison/human hybrids, parasitic plant zombies, and other unseemly creatures…

            Skybound Entertainment and Image Comics have combined to produce a fascinating take on American history. Behold: Manifest Destiny. The brainchild of Chris Dingess, who must be a very twisted person, this comic is unlike anything you have ever seen. There’s a secret mission, lots of action, and more than a nod to American History. Yes, Sacagawea is a character in the comic, and she is even more badass than her non-fictitious historical counterpart.

            This strange and engrossing story is brought to life by the dynamic art of Matthew Roberts and the vivid, almost tropical, colorwork of Owen Gieni. The dialogue almost isn’t necessary. Each panel is gorgeous, awe-inspiring, terrifying, or all three.

            I give Manifest Destiny four and a half gears out of five. While not exactly a Steampunk title, it is an alternative history worth having. I highly recommend this comic.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Boilerplate

Boilerplate: A Penny Dreadful Review

            Let me tell you about the most novel of novels.  Boilerplate, by Paul Guinean and Anina Bennett is an alternative history framed as a coffee table book, complete with historical documents and photographic evidence.

            This unique work chronicles the adventures of a mechanical soldier created in 1893 and his inventor Archibald Campion, from his unveiling in Chicago to his ultimate disappearance in World War One.

            I find it delightful that one must do careful research to determine which parts of this book are fabrication and which are reality.  The automaton has been seamlessly grafted into history, and the authors entirely nailed the tone and look of a history book.

            I give it four out of five gears for sheer ingenuity.  In a couple of places, the supposed chronology is unclear, and at one point I was confused by an apparent gap, but it all made sense in the end.  I recommend seeking out Boilerplate.

            See more at www.boilerplaterobot.com.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

The Peshawar Lancers

The Peshawar Lancers, by S. M. Sterling: A Penny Dreadful Review

            Steampunk happens all over the world. S. M. Sterling presents a future with its progress mangled by asteroids slamming the Earth in the late Victorian Era. The British Empire is still a world power, but its seat is now in India, the British Isles rendered uninhabitable by the impacts. Technology and social mores have in some ways out-developed our own, but in many ways lag far behind where we are today. I shan’t spoil it for your reading, but I will say that I love what they’ve done with airships. Just wait until you see the royal yacht!

            Something was lacking. It wasn’t the story – that was exciting, with all sorts of mysteries to be solved and betrayals to be uncovered. It wasn’t the world – that was fascinating and brilliant. I think it must have been the main character. Athelstane King seemed a little generic somehow. For all his magnificent surroundings, his character simply wasn’t as captivating as it ought to have been. He is a dashing, gallant hero, but not an interesting one.

            S.M. Sterling is clearly a talented and brilliant writer. The world he creates is nothing short of amazing. Many of the characters that people his fantastic world seem real and fascinating, but not all. Sometimes they seem like puppets at the mercy of the storyteller. It isn’t bad – it could just be better.

            I give this book four gears out of five, simply because the world is so unique and fascinating. Give it a read for a completely different flavor of Steampunk.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather