WEST OF HELL: WEIRD WESTERN HORROR STORIES by James A. Moore, R.B. Wood & Michael Burke – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

WEST OF HELL: WEIRD WESTERN HORROR STORIES by James A. Moore, R.B. Wood & Michael Burke – ReviewWest of Hell by James A. Moore, R.B. Wood, Michael Burke
Series: Dark Tide #2
Published by Crystal Lake Publishing on September 16 2022
Genres: Adult, Horror, Weird western
Pages: 96
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
three-half-stars

The nitty-gritty: Monsters, magic and murder take center stage in this trio of wild, weird and bloody stories.

I love a good weird western, and I have to say these stories scratched that itch for me. West of Hell contains three short novellas written by three different authors, and while I didn’t enjoy all of them equally, I did find elements I liked in all three. Here’s a breakdown of the stories:

DEAD MEN by James A. Moore

Lucas Slate and Jonathan Crowley are traveling companions and monster hunters. Crowley leads them to a desert town where the residents are complaining about “dancing ghosts,” Native American apparitions who appear at night in a certain spot and dance through the air. Meanwhile, the dead seem to be rising up and walking around, suggesting that someone or something might be using sorcery, and it’s up to Slate and Crowley to figure out who’s responsible.

This was a fairly light hearted tale with some violence and gore thrown in for good measure. I loved that Slate’s true identity isn’t what you think, and there’s a nice mystery surrounding Slate and Crowley. The story has some wry humor to it as well. There are several different people making deals and putting hits out on their enemies, and I thought it was a lot of fun.

THE TRICKSTER OF PARADISE by R.B. Wood

This was probably my least favorite of the three, but I still enjoyed it. The residents of Paradise are friends with the local Native Americans. Thaddeus’ best friend White Feather introduces him to the legend of the White Bison, a cave spirit who protects and grants wishes. When the town of Paradise is attacked and all the Natives are slaughtered, Thad seeks refuge in the caves and gets some unexpected help.

Most of the characters in this story are fairly unpleasant and extremely racist, although I suppose those elements aren’t surprising for the time period and setting. I loved the fun twist at the end, although I did struggle with the author’s writing style, which needed some editing, in my opinion. I can’t tell you how many times he used the phrase “young man” but it was a LOT. Other than that, this was a good example of the weird western with some great supernatural elements.

LAST SUNSET OF A DYING AGE by Michael Burke

This is the longest story of the bunch and it was also my favorite. The story takes place in an Arizona desert town called Copper City. Leland Meade is hoping he’s struck a new vein of copper in the local mine, which could entice the railroad to build a new line through town. But something is killing residents and livestock, something big and not quite of this world. When Ibuki Shibuya and Fronnie Camus team up to fight the monster and kill it, they realize it’s not going to be easy.

This story had a large cast of colorful characters that fit the mold of the “wild west” perfectly. I liked the way Burke incorporated the struggles of different ethnic groups during the late 1800s, including a Chinese and Japanese character who have trouble fitting into the mostly white town. There were a couple of fantastically drawn female characters who added a lot to the story as well. Plenty of gore, a lively monster attack and a nice twist at the end made this a very strong entry in the collection.

All in all, I had a bunch of fun with West of Hell, and I look forward to reading more in this series.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Posted August 29, 2022 by Tammy in 3 1/2 stars, Reviews / 24 Comments

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24 responses to “WEST OF HELL: WEIRD WESTERN HORROR STORIES by James A. Moore, R.B. Wood & Michael Burke – Review

  1. Oooh, I wanted this to be better – that second story sounds, you know……… now I’m kinda on the fence about getting it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts; collections/anthologies are always hit or miss.
    NawfalAQ recently posted…Mystery MileMy Profile

  2. Western horror is different and interesting. I want to try some Splatter Westerns as they call it, I actually have one I just need to try it…lol. 🙂

  3. I loved Dark Tide Book 1, and I can’t wait to finish reading Book 2, though it sounds like it’s not quite as good as the first anthology. Cool idea, though, a series of three novellas for each book.
    Priscilla Bettis recently posted…R.I.P. DaltonMy Profile

  4. Weird western is still one of those genres I really want to read more of, so glad I’ve seen your post as I’d not heard of this before. That last story sounds really good 😀 I don’t tend to read many short stories but this does sound like a collection that may be worth checking out.
    Pages and Tea recently posted…Reading Review: August 2022My Profile

  5. I’ve probably mentioned before that I’ve avoided weird western fearing I wouldn’t enjoy it as I’ve not been that drawn to westerns. But more and more I’m becoming curious to try some of these. The last story’s mention of copper mining in Arizona reminded me of when we took a tour through one of the old copper mines in Bisbee. I really enjoyed that.

  6. Probably not for me as shorter stories don’t usually work their magic on me but that cover is great and definitely draws the eye and, of course, some of these sound so good. Happy to see you enjoyed this and I am, at the moment, totoally on board with anything ‘western’ style too.

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