Two friends are mining the rich vein of “Weird West” ore with new writings. Duncan McGeary, who owns a delightful pop-culture bookstore in Bend called Pegasus Books, has published several fantasy novels and has now ventured out into the Weird West frontier.
I have just started “Led to the Slaughter.” The Donner Party. With Werewolves. Let Duncan explain…
“It’s a historical novel. I’ve tried my best to stick to the historical facts. I’ve had to adjust a few timelines slightly, maybe move the geography just a little bit, but mostly it’s how it really happened.
“The werewolves aren’t treated as a gimmicks. I treat them as natural creatures. They manipulate the Donner Party into taking “short-cuts” which leads them to being trapped in the mountains. But it’s the worst winter ever and the werewolves end up being as trapped as the humans.
“My protagonist is a 15-year-old girl named Virginia Reed, who is an indomitable and resourceful character, as well other other heroes of the journey, and I tell it from the viewpoint of ‘journals.’”
*****
Eccentric Cowboy has announced “Primal Frontier.” He plans works “in the form of short stories or novellas very much like the Robert E. Howard stories. Short but dense and fast paced.” Oh, yeah! Tell me more…
“Alright ladies and gentlemen, behold the upcoming series! Primal Frontier! This is the brainchild that I’ve been gestating for almost three years now and finally getting rolling.
“Primal Frontier is a Weird West alternate history setting in the 1860’s and 1870’s on a massive continent that is populated by all sorts of exotic creatures from our past, the most prominent being dinosaurs. It is a primitive and savage land, bristling with dangerous animals and hostile natives. This land of mystery and peril has been only scarcely explored. But brave men and women will venture into the unknown and encounter all manner of adventures.
“Magna Terra is a monster continent occupying the space that North and South America used to take up, and even with all of the dangers that are present, the allure of adventure or starting a new life brings all sorts of people from the lands of Europe and Asia to explore its depths.
“Enterprising hunters glide through the woods for dangerous prey in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Prospectors probe the hills and mountains for precious gold and opals. Miners dig into the earth for iron and copper. Railroads begin snaking across the countryside with their puffing locomotives. Bounty hunters and lawmen try to find deadly criminals. Militia try to fend off hostile tribals who thirst for blood. Daring sailors and river boatmen brave the murky waters that are alive with fierce water beasts and pirates. There are criminals hoping to escape organized law in the scattered lands while governments vie for control and expansion.
“This series will have everything from men fighting man-eating dinosaurs to train robberies, miners fighting off bandits to sea reptiles attacking pirates, natives riding domesticated dinosaurs to archeologists discovering lost civilizations. Folks, I’ve thrown everything but the kitchen sink into building up this world and I hope it will be as immersive as I find it to be.”
Hats off to you keyboard-peckin’ Weird Westerners!
Lane Batot says
Sounds intriguing–I’ll havta look for it! I like a good werewolf story, though I do tend to nit-pick them like I do other things utilizing animals that aren’t behaviourally accurate, as I mentioned about “The Ghost And The Darkness”. But “ACCURACY regarding WEREWOLVES?” you might ask? Well, after running in the woods at night with a pack of wolf hybrids for several decades, I DO have some definite and likely more realistic views on that subject than yer average bloke……
JimC says
Ok, that requires some elaboration.
Lane Batot says
JimC–REALLY? You should know better by now than to ask ME to elaborate! But first, some background info–I acquired 5 wolf-hybrids of varying percentages many years ago–though I paid actual money for some, they were all sort of rescues of a sort. Don’t waste yer breath vilifying me–I’ve heard it ALL regarding the bizarre, ,ignorant, prejudiced negativity regarding these animals! And I would agree that most modern civilized people are NOT a good match, or provide a good home for them. However, I am NOT modern OR civilized in temperament or lifestyle. And I ALREADY did, and LOVE to do, things wolves love to do, so I was rather a good match, if I do say so myself. And all my animals were INTENSELY loyal and faithful to me till their last breaths in old age…. Anyway, the first place where I lived and had them was growing increasingly developed(in a civilized way, alas), and roaming with my pack created a few “incidents”, to the point we had, by necessity, to become more and more nocturnal in our habits to avoid humans and their damn stupid domestic stock! So in the process, I realized I was probably coming closer to ACTUALLY practicing LYCANTHROPY as one can realistically do! And garnished some thoughts on what the REAL werewolf legends were about…..to be continued…..
JimC says
I knew what I was getting into… More please!
Lane Batot says
….Incidentally, I eventually got EVICTED by my evil landlady at that one place for having so many animals(back in those sad “renting” days)–I also had ferrets and cats and various other dogs too–and was forced to move to an extremely isolated place on the N. C./Tennessee border, where luckily I could safely roam–day or night!– with my pack without worry of humans, livestock, or traffic of any sort! Mostly….There were a few incidents there, too……But, some of the TRUTHS about werewolves(other readers,you can skip this if I’ve already mentioned these to you–AHEM! Bodio…..). For ONE, the whole silver bullet thing–well, it’s true and it’s not. ANY bullet can kill a werewolf(of course)–it’s more a matter of strong economic INSTINCT rather than the effect of silver, specifically. You see, “werewolf fever” is A LOT more serious a matter than “buck fever” for obvious reasons. And with regular cheapo bullets, panicking humans tend to hit everything BUT the lycanthropes! However, greedy-arse humans have far stronger economic than mere survival instincts. Do you REALIZE how frikkin’ EXPENSIVE silver bullets are? Yeah, you can bet, any kind of panic/fear takes a backseat to making darn sure EVERY BULLET counts, in the case of SILVER!…..Second–the whole “Full Moon” deal? Nothing supernatural about it, Werewolves just can’t see in the dark very well, and they LOOK RIDICULOUS carrying around flashlights, or bumping into stuff if they don’t–hard for anyone to take a flashlight-wielding werewolf serious, know what I mean? So they tend to concentrate their nocturnal prowling during the bright, full moon……And that whole stupid idea that werewolves have some kind of amnesia or something and never remember what they do as werewolves–poppycock! This phenomenon DOES occur, but ONLY with werewolves with a DRINKING PROBLEM!…….And what is this confusion regarding just WHAT a werewolf looks like? Is it a WOLF, or some half-man, half-beastie looking thing, as portrayed in some movies? Both, actually. The half-arse transformations are by “newbies” who, because of greenhorn ineptitude, can’t transform completely, don’t you know. The temperments of these half-arse transformers are often rather bad, because they are rather insecure because of it, and trying to compensate…..I could go on, but that probably is enough “elaborating” for now……
Lane Batot says
….And I’m getting ready to be away from work(therefore the world of computers) for(count ’em!) 4 days(practicing lycanthropy as best I can), so any more elaborations/explanations will havta wait till I get back(yeah, I’m leaving RIGHT NOW!)…….
Lane Batot says
……I’m baaaaack! It WAS a full moon this past weekend, too, I might add. Ahem! Any further questions/comments, I stand here on all fours ready to answer now….. Something else that came to mind(to continue this scientific discussion), is the whole erroneous GARLIC as a repellant thing(brought to mind since I ate a truckload of garlic this weekend!)–Everybody needs to realize werewolves are like anybody–they are INDIVIDUALS! That garlic MIGHT(???) repel some werewolf somewhere–but NOT a good thing to bet on. Not to racially profile or anything here, but I can purty much GUARANTEE it WON’T WORK with ITALIAN werewolves! What PROBABLY happened to start this old wive’s tale is some old wife was bringing in some strings of garlic from the root cellar(once upon a time) to prepare supper, and got jumped by a werewolf, who then suddenly took off in obvious disgust, and the old wife made the erroneous connection it had something to do with the garlic. When in reality, she probably shat all over herself, and THAT’S what actually repelled the lycanthrope attack. Remember that–it is a REAL excellent repellent for ANY predator–just crap all over yourself–even liberally smearing it all over– and unless that predator is STARVING, it will likely look elsewhere for more palatable prey……