Horses, bandits, desperados, cowboys, wise natives, prostitutes in petticoats dancing to piano songs in wooden saloons, rangers, scorching heat, guns, dust, grave diggers, Sheriffs and Reverends, public hangings, even Chinese railroad workers and wandering medicine men?
Well, Hot Iron and Cold Blood adds flesh eating birds, vampires, worshipers of Yog-Sothoth, revenge spells, headless warriors, ghost dinosaurs, spirits, crazy pimps, and speaking holes to that, and so here we have one of the most original and well-done anthologies of the past decade which absolutely succeeds in wonderfully integrating the weird, the unsettling as well as the horror and terror into this intrinsically surreal and hostile, but at the same time free and hopeful environment.
The idea of living in a time without my dentist and Nine Inch Nails is terrifying to me. Any historical story set in a time without these is principally uninteresting to me, let alone a time where guns, violence and horses or whatever the fascination with the Wild West is, set the tone. BUT there are of course exceptions and excellent writing or an ingenious plot or concept or some kind of appeal can make me read it. This anthology here does all of it – Believe me, every single story is so well chosen, well written, so well incorporated into the theme that even though I'm still no fan of the wild west, I loved this book. I really hope to find more of such wonderful anthologies.
As usual, I do have highlights that stood out for me. Here they are;
Holes
by Brennan LaFaro; an unpopular ex-sheriff who lives an isolated life
discovers holes in his land which he first attributes to critters.
But then, they begin to TALK...
Soiled Doves by Vivian
Kasley; assuming she won't be able to work if she falls pregnant, a
young saloon girl takes a powder given to her by the madame of the rival
saloon. Surely this can't go well...
The Deviltry of Elemental Valence
by Edward Lee; in the (almost) present time a grave digger is overjoyed
by the promise of earning some money on the side and buying sex workers
by opening a grave out of the record for a rich client. What comes out
and the direction this story goes is unexpected to say the least.
Sedalia by David J. Schow
“More than the end of the world, Americans dislike inconvenience.”
A
time in which dinosaurs make a re-appearance (alongside the honorable
Godzilla) and a group of cowboys observing them, all from different
backgrounds.
I'm pretty sure that Schow will be asked to write a
full-sized book out of this story, which is already on the longer side.
And it would deserve to be written out, it was amazing.
Rope and Limb
by Jeff Strand; if you're familiar with Strand's writing, you probably
can guess the kind of humor in this story. We follow a guy about to be
hanged (and the reason he's being prosecuted is grotesque enough),
arguing for a proper execution to which the cheap-ass frugal mayor
opposes.
Dread Creek by Briana Morgan; a group of
travelers are in serious trouble when they drink water from a dubious
source and pay for it, like really brutally.
Old Habits
by L. M. Labat; a young man who has a complicated relationship to his
father, a quack doctor, receives unexpected supernatural help to finally
break free.
Hungry by Jess Allen Champion; Chinese
workers aren't necessarily that first thing the come to mind by the mention of the Wild West, especially for Non-Americans. But they
actually built the Transcontinental Railroad, and it was an unexpected
pleasure to find a story set among these workers.
The Redheaded Death
by Joe R. Lansdale; redheaded vampires and a Reverend? Sign me up
immediately! Seeing all the awesome short stories Lansdale writes for
various horror anthologies, it has been an itch of mine to read a full
book by him, maybe this story will finally give me that push.
Hot Iron and Cold Blood is a strong candidate for the best anthology of the year, people! Go read it, now.
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