From the magnificently
massive archive here at Casa Tipple and Home Eatery Library ….
Blending a
bit----and sometimes a lot--- of the supernatural with the western, author
Heath Lowrance created Hawthorne Tales Of A Weirder West. This is
a west long before it became civilized when things moved in the night. Native peoples knew what areas to stay away
from and did so while the white man failed to see the signs. A west of old
where one man with a cross cut into the top of his head made it his mission to
destroy evil in its many forms.
After an
introduction by author James Reasoner, the book is primarily broken into four
parts before being concluded with a short story. Each part contains a story further split into
two parts or chapters. As Reasoner tellingly notes in the introduction “Sharp
things lurk ahead.”
He neglected to
mention they will often be foul and disgusting or that Hawthorne really needed
a big time flame thrower instead of a Smith & Wesson Schofield .45. There
are very bad things out there and Hawthorne is almost always the only one
dealing with some seriously evil things.
It begins with
“That Damned Coyote Hill.” Hawthorne had been warned in the last town not to go
to the next town called Coyote Hill. That there were things there with demons,
black magic, and maybe way more than that. Even though he saw something in the
surrounding desert that should have scared off anyone, Hawthorne kept going
right into town. Before long a fight, a
kidnapping, and out of this world justice and more play out in this complicated
two part tale.
“The Long Black
Train” features a large man who just boarded the Denver & Rio Grande train
in Denver. He also carries a large rat on his shoulder that is unseen by anyone
else. While the rat may or may not exist, the man has serious plans for everyone
on board the train, including Hawthorne when he intervenes in this two part
tale.
Hawthorne finds
what is left of the Lakota camp in the Black Hills one fall afternoon. It
initially appears to him that it was the work of the Army. After he examines a
couple of the bodies he realizes something else is at work in “The Spider
Tribe.” He will need the help of the two remaining survivors if he and they are
to survive in this very creepy two part tale.
The final part
is titled “Bad Sanctuary” and involves a two part story set in the ruins of
Fort Mason. Plague drove the Army out of the fort the year before and never
came back. The local Indian population, the Utes, don’t come within ten miles
of the place. A few outlaws and others
make the abandoned fort home because they don’t have the smarts the Indians
had. Hawthorne knows there is something evil at the fort. Whether it has
anything to do with the man he is tracking is another thing.
The stories end
with the short tale “The Unholy; Or, How the Gowan Gang Died” that tells the
quick story of what happened and why. Compared to the rest of the stories in
the book the violence depicted is tame by comparison as is the supernatural
angle. The story flows quickly and wraps up the book nicely.
Combing the western with plenty of flat out strange Hawthorne Tales Of A Weirder West is heavy into the weird. Those who are very much into horror will find plenty to like about this read. Those of us who aren’t, will appreciate more the science fiction and fantasy elements at work here. The tales are good ones and will burn their images though your brain. That is when you are not laughing from time to time at the dark humor dryly present in each tale.
Material supplied by the publisher a long time ago for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple
©2014, 2022
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