The Sixth Gun, Vol.3 – “Bound” & Vol.4 – “A Town Call Penance” (Oni Press)

Volume Three. Still awesome.

Writer: Cullen Bunn | Artist: Brian Hurtt (#12-13, 15-17) & Tyler Crook (#14, #23) | Colors: Bill Crabtree

Traveling by secret railroad, Becky and Drake accompany an order of mysterious monks on a quest to bury General Hume’s body on holy ground. But malevolent forces spurred by a sinister necromancer stage a terrifying attack on the train. Drake vanishes without a trace. Alone, Becky continues her journey to a secluded mountain fortress where she discovers how deeply her fate is entwined with that of The Sixth Gun. Meanwhile, Gord revisits a haunted mansion from his past hoping to discover a means to destroy the Six, but the ghosts he stirs have no intention of letting his quest continue.

Vol.3 Collects: The Sixth Gun #12-17
Vol.4 Collects: The Sixth Gun #18-23

Ah, The Sixth Gun. Without a doubt, this is one of my favourite comics series. It blends Wild Western adventure with some supernatural shenanigans. There’s action, humour, spooky stuff, and a plot that will hook you from the very start. I loved both of these books.

Sixth Gun, Vol.2 – “Crossroads” (Oni Press)

Writer: Cullen Bunn | Artist: Brian Hurtt | Colors: Bill Crabtree

In the aftermath of the tragic battle of the Maw, Drake and company hide in the sprawling city of New Orleans. But as they plot their next move, they find themselves embroiled in another harrowing adventure. Unexpected threats, new enemies, and a host of strange spirits are already aligning against them.

Collects: Sixth Gun #7-11

This is just a really quick review – it’s actually been a while since I read this (and have since blitzed through the next two), but I wanted to mention it on the blog. The Sixth Gun is one of my favourite series, hands down. This makes it very tricky to review. So much of my enjoyment comes from the surprises and unexpected directions the story takes, as well as the excellent dialogue, plotting and artwork. Needless to say, if you like supernatural tales in a Wild West and 19th-Century American setting, then The Sixth Gun is a must-read.

The Sixth Gun, Vol.1 – “Cold Dead Fingers” (Oni)

Writer: Cullen Bunn | Art: Brian Hurtt

During the darkest days of the Civil War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six pistols of otherworldly power. In time the Sixth Gun, the most dangerous of the weapons, vanished. When the gun surfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Vile men thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the gun and killing the girl. Only Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with a shadowy past, stands in their way.

Collects: The Sixth Gun #1-6

I really enjoyed this book. I have a real fondness for the Wild West and related fiction, fantasy or whatever, and The Sixth Gun offers an addictive mix of a post-Civil War American West and some sinister, supernatural shenanigans. The writing is great, and the art superb, making this a comic that works on basically every level.

Upcoming: “Six-Gun Snow White” by Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean)

Coming at the end of January 2013, Catherynne M. Valente’s latest novella is a reinvention of one of the best known fairy tales, transposed onto the Old West:

A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the history of her parents – a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. With her mother’s death in childbirth, so begins a heroine’s tale equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have.

Filled with fascinating glimpses through the fabled looking glass and a close-up look at hard living in the gritty gun-slinging West, readers will be enchanted by this story at once familiar and entirely new.

I’m quite looking forward to this, and hope to make it part of my Weird Wild West series of reviews and interviews, which I’ll be highlighting throughout the year.

Also on CR: Interview with Catherynne Valente

Excerpt: “Blood Riders” by Michael P. Spradlin (Voyager)

Following on from yesterday’s interview with Michael Spradlin, today I bring you an excerpt from his latest Wild Western Fantasy, Blood Riders.

*   *   *

Chapter One

Eastern Wyoming Territory

August, 1876

It wasn’t right, that’s all Hollister could tell himself. Three hundred yards away two wagons were overturned and smoldering with arrow riddled bodies strewn about. Not far away from the still smoking campfire, a horse lay dead in the dust. He couldn’t tell if the dead people had been shot or scalped from this distance, but something was wrong.

Interview with MICHAEL P. SPRADLIN

I stumbled across Michael P. Spradlin’s latest novel, Blood Riders. This is not entirely surprising, given that this is his first book for adults (he has been writing books for children for a while). I’m pretty interested in the wave of Wild West-meets-Urban Fantasy novels that have been cropping up over the last year or so, and therefore became very interested in Blood Riders. In advance of a planned series of reviews and posts on this sub-genre, I get in touch with Michael to ask him about the novel…

“Clementine” by Cherie Priest (Tor/Subterranean)

A Steampunk Novella, Clockwork Century #2

Maria Isabella Boyd’s success as a Confederate spy has made her too famous for further espionage work, and now her employment options are slim. Exiled, widowed, and on the brink of poverty…she reluctantly goes to work for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago.

Adding insult to injury, her first big assignment is commissioned by the Union Army. In short, a federally sponsored transport dirigible is being violently pursued across the Rockies and Uncle Sam isn’t pleased. The Clementine is carrying a top secret load of military essentials — essentials which must be delivered to Louisville, Kentucky, without delay.

Intelligence suggests that the unrelenting pursuer is a runaway slave who’s been wanted by authorities on both sides of the Mason-Dixon for fifteen years. In that time, Captain Croggon Beauregard Hainey has felonied his way back and forth across the continent, leaving a trail of broken banks, stolen war machines, and illegally distributed weaponry from sea to shining sea.

And now it’s Maria’s job to go get him.

He’s dangerous quarry and she’s a dangerous woman, but when forces conspire against them both, they take a chance and form an alliance. She joins his crew, and he uses her connections. She follows his orders. He takes her advice.

And somebody, somewhere, is going to rue the day he crossed either one of them.

This is the second installment in Priest’s highly popular Clockwork Century steampunk series. Originally a limited edition novella published by Subterranean Press, Clementine has since been made available as an eBook first in the US and now in the UK. I have to admit that I while I enjoyed much of Boneshaker, the first in the series, I was never wholly won over by it. I nevertheless decided to give the rest of the series a try – especially since Tor UK picked up the rights to publish it in Blighty. Clementine does a good job of expanding Priest’s version of a steampunk Civil War-era United States. While still flawed, it is nevertheless an enjoyable book, one that kindled my interest in reading the rest of the series.

Coming up in 2013 from Solaris Books

The other day, Solaris released a handful of new cover images on their blog. Being the book magpie that I am, I decided to share them again over here, with any other information on the books I could find.

So, without further ado, here are the covers for Gaie Sebold’s Dangerous Gifts, James Lovegrove’s Age of Voodoo, and Guy Adams’s The Good, The Bad, and the Infernal.

“American Vampire” Vol.1 (Vertigo)

Vampirism Comes to America. And Evolves…

Writer: Scott Snyder & Stephen King | Artist: Rafael Albuquerque | Colours: McCaig

Introducing a new strain of vampire – a more vicious species, this series traces the creatures’ bloodline through decades of American history.

This book follows two inter-linked stories: one written by Snyder and one written by King. The first tale follows Pearl, a young woman living in 1920s Los Angeles, who is brutally turned into a vampire and sets out on a path of vengeance against the European monsters who tortured and abused her. The second story, set in the days of America’s Wild West, tells of the origin of Skinner Sweet, the original American vampire – a stronger, faster creature than any vampire ever seen before, with unique powers all his own, which set him not only apart from his European forebears, but maybe above them in the food-chain as well... I really enjoyed this.