Tag Archives: weird western

Discover Hadrosaur Productions

The annual Smashwords End of Year Sale is underway. Many of Hadrosaur’s titles are on sale and I’ll be highlighting them over the course of the next two weeks here at the Web Journal. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device or gift them to friends without worrying about what e-reader they prefer. If you are shopping for a friend, just click “Give as a Gift” when you visit the Smashwords links!

My company, Hadrosaur Productions, has long sought to introduce readers to great writers, but we understand choices about where to start when trying a new writer can be difficult. Today, I’m featuring some great books by our authors which serve as an introduction to their worlds. All of these books are 75% off the cover price.

Hybrid

Hybrid tells the story of Erik Knight, a small time private investigator, who always knew he was different from everybody else. Keener senses, heightened awareness and an enhanced physical strength that could be called upon by his sheer will. Erik becomes involved with a team of high profile investigators and local police trying to locate a girl who was kidnapped in the middle of a playground amongst dozens of adults and children. None of the adults saw anything and what the children claim to have seen is too farfetched to be believed. The search evolves into a full-scale manhunt into the dark and desolate woodlands of the Hopedale Mountain. After a lethal encounter and a fatality, Erik, the investigators and police realize that what they’re dealing with isn’t a man and possibly isn’t of this world. What they’re dealing with is a sentient evil that has an appetite for young children.

Hybrid is available at Smashwords all this month for 75% off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1086387. Coupon code SEY75 should be applied automatically on checkout.

Upstart Mystique

On its way to a distant colony world, the space vessel Marco P loses all power and an unknown force convinces the navigator that a distant, dead world is the vessel’s true destination. Commander Malcolm Carpenter orders the crew to abandon ship to protect them and to learn how to defeat whatever force has intercepted his ship. The crew discovers a small group of inhabitants, the only people on the planet who were not uploaded into a vast computer network—a computer network captivated by upstart humans and their imaginations. To free his crew and his navigator from the planetary network’s grip, Commander Carpenter must face a moral dilemma. Can he save his crew without condemning a planet’s inhabitants and their digital ancestors to death?

Get Upstart Mystique for 75% off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1010602. Coupon code SEY75 should be applied automatically on checkout.

The Way-Out Wild West

Lyn McConchie’s The Way-Out Wild West is a short story collection set in Bodie, Arizona along with a handful of other western locales.

Bodie, Arizona can be a difficult place to locate on a map. Some say it’s because Bodie has been home to inventors who meddled in things humans weren’t meant to know. Others say it’s the visitors from the stars who seem to frequent Bodie. It’s just possible Bodie has become unstuck in time, making it a difficult place to pinpoint. Being unstuck in time, Bodie may have drifted close to the boundaries between life and afterlife. Whatever the case, Bodie is a wild place. In this collection, Lyn McConchie chronicles the adventures of Bodie’s denizens and those of nearby towns, counties and states from the nineteenth century to the present. Saddle up for this collection of twenty-two tales where you will glimpse the way-out, wild west.

The Way-Out Wild West is available for 75% off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1125221. Coupon code SEY75 should be applied automatically on checkout.

A Deal on the Clockwork Legion Series

The annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale is underway. It gets its name because where I live in the northern hemisphere, readers are loading up their e-readers for great beach reading and vacations. In the southern hemisphere, it’s the middle of winter and people are spending time in a warm and cozy place reading. All of Hadrosaur’s titles are available at deep discounts this month and I’ll be highlighting them all month long here at the Web Journal. If you’re looking for a specific title, you don’t have to wait for me to highlight it, just visit https://www.hadrosaur.com/bookstore.php and click on the book you’re interested in. On its page is a link to Smashwords if its available there. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device.

I have a special treat for you this year. Since the Clockwork Legion series is now complete, I’m offering every book in the series for just 99 cents! That means you can get the whole series for about the price of one book at regular price! That’s definitely a steal Captain Onofre Cisneros would approve of!

Owl Dance

Owl Dance is set in 1876, Sheriff Ramon Morales of Socorro, New Mexico meets a beguiling woman named Fatemeh Karimi, who is looking to make a new start after escaping oppression in her homeland. When an ancient lifeform called Legion comes to Earth, they are pulled into a series of events that will change the history of the world as we know it. In their journeys, Ramon and Fatemeh encounter mad inventors, dangerous outlaws and pirates. Their resources are Ramon’s fast draw and Fatemeh’s uncanny ability to communicate with owls. The question is, will that be enough to save them when a fleet of airships from Czarist Russia invades the United States?

According to Richard Harland, the author of Worldshaker and Liberator, “Owl Dance has everything. Airships, owl-ornithopters, a clockwork wolf, a multiple alien entity, a fast-shooting sheriff, a Russian plot to conquer America, and a very sexy, eco-aware, Bahá’í Persian healer-woman – I mean everything! Heaps of fun!”

You can pick up a copy of Owl Dance for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1116949

Lightning Wolves

Lightning Wolves is set in 1877. The Russians have invaded the Pacific Northwest and are advancing into California. New weapons have proven ineffective or dangerously unstable and the one man who can help has disappeared into Apache Country, hunting ghosts. A healer and a former sheriff lead a band into the heart of the invasion to determine what makes the Russian forces so unstoppable while a young inventor attempts to unleash the power of the lightning wolves.

Deby Fredericks, author of The Seven Exalted Orders says Lightning Wolves depicts the “…Old West as we wish it had been. Full of adventure and crazy inventions but with some honesty about the prejudices and mores of the day. This is as much alternate history as adventure tale, with an ethnically diverse cast fighting battles that never were. Appearances by a few historical figures, like Geromino, add spice. There’s a poignant undercurrent on how inventions meant to lift humanity up can draw us into the same old quagmire of ambition and greed, plus an intriguing alien race trying to find its way through First Contact with humans. Nicely done.”

Lightning Wolves is available for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1119716

The Brazen Shark

In The Brazen Shark, pirate captain, inventor, and entrepreneur Onofre Cisneros sweeps his friends Fatemeh and Ramon Morales off to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Once there, a British agent makes Cisneros an offer he can’t refuse and the captain must travel to Japan. Wanting to see more of the world, Ramon and Fatemeh ask to accompany the captain only to find themselves embroiled in a plot by samurai who steal a Russian airship, hoping to overthrow the Japanese emperor.

Robert E. Vardeman, author of The Klingon Gambit and Gateway to Rust and Ruin says, “Airships battling! Samurai fomenting war with Russia! Historical characters and powerfully drawn fictional ones mixing it up with political intrigues make David Lee Summers’ The Brazen Shark a steampunk novel not to be missed. Put it at the top of your reading list. Now!”

The Brazen Shark is available for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1139224

Owl Riders

When Fatemeh Karimi married Ramon Morales, she neglected to share one small detail. She was already betrothed to a merchant named Hamid Farzan. She had no interest in Hamid or an arranged marriage. She wanted to live life on her own terms. Eight years after marrying Ramon, she assumed Hamid had long forgotten about her, as she had him.

Owl Riders finds Ramon and Fatemeh settled in New Orleans. Ramon works as an attorney, Fatemeh owns a pharmacy, and they’re proud parents of a precocious daughter. Out west, Apaches armed with powerful battle wagons have captured Fort Bowie and threaten Tucson. Businessmen with an interest in a peaceful solution ask Ramon to come west and settle the conflict. Meanwhile Hamid arrives in New Orleans and he has not forgotten Fatemeh or her vows to him.

Now, the famed Owl Riders must assemble once again to reunite Ramon and Fatemeh so they can tame the Wild West.

Pick up Owl Riders for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1148595

Five Years of the Clockwork Legion on Audio

It feels like the world shifted back in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began spreading through the United States and many businesses closed down. I would spend most of the next seven months working from home. Starting in October 2020, I resumed my commutes back to Kitt Peak National Observatory. As I’ve mentioned before, these are long commutes. Music, podcasts, and audio books often keep me company during my long drive.

Over the year and a half since I returned to work, I’ve noticed more and more cars on the road. I’m sure some are long distance travelers and some are making more regular work-related drives. That said, I know many people still work from home, whether by choice or not. In both cases, audio books can be a great way to spend some time, especially if you aren’t able to read a print book.

As I noted toward the end of 2021, rights to my Clockwork Legion novels were returned to me. One of the things I considered important in the discussions was that any rights return wouldn’t impact the audio editions of the first two novels. I know narrator Edward Mittelstedt put a lot of care into the books and I wanted to assure that those editions were still available. As this year begins, I notice that we’ll be celebrating the fifth anniversary of the audio book editions. So, this seemed a great time to remind people about the books. If you’re looking for a great audio book to enjoy during a commute or — presuming it’s not a distraction — while working at home or the office. Now that I do have the audio rights, one of the items on my very long “to-do” list is to consider creating audio editions of the next two books in the series. I’d love to hear if that’s something you’d like, or even if there are other books I’ve written you’d love to hear adapted to audio.

Owl Dance is set in1876, Sheriff Ramon Morales of Socorro, New Mexico meets a beguiling woman named Fatemeh Karimi of Persia, escaping oppression in her homeland. When an ancient lifeform called Legion comes to Earth, they are pulled into a series of events that will change the history of the world as we know it. In their journeys, Ramon and Fatemeh encounter mad inventors, dangerous outlaws and pirates. Their resources are Ramon’s fast draw and Fatemeh’s uncanny ability to communicate with owls. The question is, will that be enough to save them when a fleet of dirigibles from Czarist Russia invades the United States? You can click the links to find the audio book at Amazon or Audible. Or just search for Owl Dance in the Audiobook section of iTunes.

Lightning Wolves is set the following year, in 1877. Russians have invaded the Pacific Northwest and are advancing into California. New weapons have proven ineffective or dangerously unstable and the one man who can help has disappeared into Apache Country, hunting ghosts. A healer and a former sheriff lead a band into the heart of the invasion to determine what makes the Russian forces so unstoppable while a young inventor attempts to unleash the power of the lightning wolves. You can click the links to find the audio book at Amazon or Audible. Or just search for Lightning Wolves in the Audiobook section of iTunes.

In case you need another reason to go back and explore the Clockwork Legion novels, I have it on good authority that the Tucson Steampunk Society Book Club will be revisiting Owl Dance in September. The book club is now on line and hosted through video chat, so you can join in from wherever you are. I’ll have more details about the meeting and discussion closer to the event itself, but if you want to join in, this is a great time to grab the audio, ebook, or print copy and explore the world of the Clockwork Legion.

The Way-Out Wild West

I am excited to announce the publication of Hadrosaur Productions’ latest short story collection, The Way-Out Wild West by Lyn McConchie. I’ve been publishing Lyn’s work since Tales of the Talisman volume 8 in 2013. Ever since she started submitting to me, I’ve found it difficult to resist her tales. Our stories have also appeared together in the tables of contents of several anthologies and magazines including Six-Guns Straight From Hell, The Vampire’s Crypt, and Science Fiction Trails. I’ve been familiar with her writing since 2002 and I’m delighted to publish her latest book, which is a collection of twenty-two weird western tales, many of which are set in Bodie, Arizona.

Bodie, Arizona can be a difficult place to locate on a map. Some say it’s because Bodie has been home to inventors who meddled in things humans weren’t meant to know. Others say it’s the visitors from the stars who seem to frequent Bodie. It’s just possible Bodie has become unstuck in time, making it a difficult place to pinpoint. Being unstuck in time, Bodie may have drifted close to the boundaries between life and afterlife. Whatever the case, Bodie is a wild place. In this collection, Lyn McConchie chronicles the adventures of Bodie’s denizens and those of nearby towns, counties and states from the nineteenth century to the present and beyond. Saddle up for this collection of tales where you will glimpse the way-out, wild west.

In this collection, you’ll find tales of ghosts and tales of magic. You’ll also find science fictional tales. In some stories, aliens visit the wild west. In others, we see the wild west’s sensibility move out into the stars or even across universes. Lyn’s stories often focus on strong women, and many of these characters remind me of the women in my family who homesteaded in Texas and New Mexico. What’s more, Lyn has a strong connection the animals who were so important to the Western experience. Horses are almost ubiquitous in Western tales, but she also remembers the importance of cattle, sheep, chickens along with cats and dogs. When I acquire a book for publication, I know I’m going to read it many times over during the editorial process, so I always look for books that will be a delight to read. I saw something new and exciting in each of these tales every time I read the book. The Way-Out Wild West is a page-turning, magical collection.

Lyn McConchie started writing professionally in 1990, since then she has seen fifty of her books published and over three hundred short stories. She has written SF/F, but also true-life humor about her farm and animals (7 books known as the ‘Daze’ series), children’s books, a YA quartet set in her own New Zealand, a western, a dozen Sherlock Holmes pastiches, half a dozen post-apocalyptics, and one non-fiction. Lyn says her imagination is related to the Energizer Bunny, and she hopes to be writing for many years to come.

The Way Out Wild-West is available in print at:

The collection is available as an ebook at:

More online retailers will have the book soon! We will have copies of the book available for our dealer’s table at Wild Wild West Con in March.

Short Reads for the New Year

Happy New Year! The annual Smashwords End of Year Sale ends today. All of Hadrosaur’s titles are on sale and I’ve been highlighting many of them over the course of the sale right here at the Web Journal. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device or gift them to friends without worrying about what e-reader they prefer. If you are shopping for a friend, just click “Give as a Gift” when you visit the Smashwords links!

With the sale drawing to an end today, I thought I’d highlight some shorter books we’ve published. These can be a good way to read a book in a day or two before you start getting into the flow of the new year. Each of these books is half off the cover price.

Sugar Time is a collection of four connected short stories. Our protagonist’s name is Sugar. Sugar Sweet. But never EVER call her ‘Sweetie.’

When Sugar’s Uncle Max falls ill and his collaborators disappear, she investigates the old Victorian mansion where he conducted his research. She soon finds the collaborators—or what’s left of them—along with an angry Neanderthal. She also finds her uncle’s research project, a working time machine. Sugar must act quickly to unlock the secret of time travel so she can set things right and protect her uncle’s research.

Sugar Time is available for half off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/567992. The coupon code SEY50 should be automatically applied at checkout.

Revolution of Air and Rust is a stand-alone novella set in the Empires of Steam and Rust world created by Robert E. Vardeman and Stephen D. Sullivan. A story filled with military action, espionage and gadgetry that’s sure to satisfy fans of steampunk and alternate history.

1915. Teddy Roosevelt is building an empire. Only Pancho Villa stands in his way.

The American Expeditionary Force under the command of General “Black Jack” Pershing has invaded Northern Mexico. Pancho Villa leads his revolutionary army in a desperate raid against the American force only to be outflanked. Just as Pershing’s airships prepare to deliver the death blow, Pancho Villa is transported to a parallel Earth where he finds an unexpected ally and the technology that might just turn defeat into victory.

“This novella takes place in 1915 in a steampunk world where the Mexican rebel Pancho Villa is the good guy and his arch-enemy Black Jack Pershing is about to crush the Villa revolution. Pershing has a fleet of airships and an invading army and seems certain to win … That’s the basic situation in this fast moving and gripping story by David Lee Summers.” Neal Wilgus, The Supplement.

Revolution of Air and Rust is available for half off the cover price today at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/254622. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically at checkout.

Legends of the Dragon Cowboys brings you two short weird western adventures by authors David B. Riley and Laura Givens. Their heroes ride boldly out of the Far East to find their way in a mythic land of danger, romance, and adventure.

In “The Venerable Travels of Ling Fung” by David B. Riley, a wandering businessman encounters a Mayan god, crooked enterprises and Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, when all he really wants is to open a gun store. Ling Fung is not any ordinary Chinese entrepreneur–he’s highly skilled in Kung Fu and he can shoot good, too. While his heart is set on business, providence seems to have other plans for him.

Laura Givens brings wily acrobat Chin Song Ping to the Wild West in search of adventure and fortune. He finds little fortune, but plenty of adventure. Chin Song Ping is a scoundrel, a gambler and a trouble magnet. His heart of gold lands him in schemes to outwit would-be gods, cannibal ghosts, insane robots, Voodoo despots and the ultimate evil–bureaucrats. But he is a romantic, and the love of his life is the true treasure he seeks. The odds are always against him but if he survives he will become the Western legend he always was in his own mind.

The Wild West just got a lot wilder!

Midwest Book Review says, “These two Western novellas are seasoned a dash of exotic adventure, featuring cowboy protagonists who hail from the Far East and pursue their dreams in the tough-as-nails frontier. Riveting from first page to last, Legends of the Dragon Cowboys is enthusiastically recommended for public library collections and connoisseurs of the genre!”

Get the book for 50% off at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/751811. The discount code SEY50 should be automatically applied on discount.

Already read these, or just want to browse for something different? Every single Hadrosaur Productions ebook at Smashwords is on sale through 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time tonight. Find the complete listing at: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/davidleesummers.

Great Starter Books

The annual Smashwords End of Year Sale is underway. All of Hadrosaur’s titles are on sale and I’ll be highlighting many of them over the course of the sale here at the Web Journal. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device or gift them to friends without worrying about what e-reader they prefer. If you are shopping for a friend, just click “Give as a Gift” when you visit the Smashwords links!

My company, Hadrosaur Productions, has long sought to introduce readers to great writers, but we understand choices about where to start when trying a new writer can be difficult. Today, I’m featuring some great books by our authors which serve as an introduction to their worlds. All of these books are half off the cover price.

Hybrid

Hybrid tells the story of Erik Knight, a small time private investigator, who always knew he was different from everybody else. Keener senses, heightened awareness and an enhanced physical strength that could be called upon by his sheer will. Erik becomes involved with a team of high profile investigators and local police trying to locate a girl who was kidnapped in the middle of a playground amongst dozens of adults and children. None of the adults saw anything and what the children claim to have seen is too farfetched to be believed. The search evolves into a full-scale manhunt into the dark and desolate woodlands of the Hopedale Mountain. After a lethal encounter and a fatality, Erik, the investigators and police realize that what they’re dealing with isn’t a man and possibly isn’t of this world. What they’re dealing with is a sentient evil that has an appetite for young children.

Hybrid is available at Smashwords all this month for half off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1086387. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically on checkout.

Upstart Mystique

On its way to a distant colony world, the space vessel Marco P loses all power and an unknown force convinces the navigator that a distant, dead world is the vessel’s true destination. Commander Malcolm Carpenter orders the crew to abandon ship to protect them and to learn how to defeat whatever force has intercepted his ship. The crew discovers a small group of inhabitants, the only people on the planet who were not uploaded into a vast computer network—a computer network captivated by upstart humans and their imaginations. To free his crew and his navigator from the planetary network’s grip, Commander Carpenter must face a moral dilemma. Can he save his crew without condemning a planet’s inhabitants and their digital ancestors to death?

Get Upstart Mystique for half off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1010602. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically on checkout.

Fallen Angel

Fallen Angel is the story of Mabel, an angel from Hell, who accompanies General Grant’s army during the last days of the Civil War only to discover that Martians are watching the Earth with envious eyes and slowly drawing their plans against us. Not only that, but Mabel has to contend with her evil sister, who wants to have humans for dinner. Although Mabel and Grant get the upper hand before the war ends, the battle of good against evil isn’t won so quickly. Several years later, in San Francisco, Mabel just wants to have fun with her friend Miles O’Malley, when she discovers her sister and the Martians have joined forces with a college fraternity and humanity may be on the dinner menu.

Christine Wald-Hopkins of The Arizona Daily Star writes, “This quirky new novel by Tucsonan David B. Riley is a cross-genre romp, religious fantasy meets historical fiction, science fiction, zombie ‘Animal House.’”

Get the book for 50% off at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/924099. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically at checkout.

Already read these, or just want to browse for something different? Every single Hadrosaur Productions ebook at Smashwords is on sale through January 1. Find the complete listing at: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/davidleesummers.

Publishing Update, Autumn 2021

This autumn finds me in full-out editing and layout mode. I’m working on some of my own titles along with some books by other authors, all to be released through Hadrosaur Productions. I thought I’d take this opportunity to glimpse at the books that will be appearing in the coming months. Note, links in this post will take you to pages where you can learn more about the books I mention.

Greg Ballan should be no stranger to fans of Hadrosaur Productions. We recently published the second edition of his novel Hybrid featuring detective Erik Knight who learns he carries the DNA of an ancient warrior race and can literally transform into a super-powered being to protect the Earth. We also published Armageddon’s Son and Battle Lines, which form the Ethereal War duology in which Erik Knight literally battles forces of heaven and hell. I’m currently editing Greg’s novel Hybrid: Forced Vengence which bridges the gap between Hybrid and Armageddon’s Son. While Erik is on assignment overseas, his wife is killed. Erik is soon sent on another assignment to guard the daughter of France’s president from a suspected terrorist plot. While there, he starts picking up hints that his wife may not be dead after all. Instead, she might have been abducted for a sinister purpose.

Also in the wings is another book by Greg Ballan called Lost Sons: The Battle for Manhattan. While Greg’s Hybrid novels present his take on superheroes, the Lost Sons series combines elements of mythology, folktales and kaiju.

I’m also excited to be editing a new collection of short stories by Lyn McConchie called the Way Out Wild West. Like Greg, Lyn should be no stranger to Hadrosaur fans. Her stories have appeared in both Hadrosaur Tales and Tales of the Talisman. As you might imagine from the title, this is a wild assortment of weird western tales. If you like tales of ghosts, strange inventions, and mysterious happenings in the old west, you won’t want to miss this book, which should be available in early 2022.

While we’re talking about the weird and wild west, I can now announce that new editions of my Clockwork Legion novels will be appearing soon from Hadrosaur Productions. Sky Warrior Publishing has released the rights to me. As of this writing, I’ve completed typesetting of the new edition of Owl Dance and I just have a few finishing touches to put on Lightning Wolves. As soon as we’ve worked out a few behind-the-scenes details, I’ll be uploading the new editions to ebook and print vendors. I expect the new editions will be available by the end of the year and will make an announcement as soon as they’re available. New editions of The Brazen Shark and Owl Riders will also be forthcoming, but they will happen after I get a few of these other projects caught up.

For a while, I’ve also been working on revising and reissuing my Space Pirates’ Legacy novels. I’m currently working on the final novel in that series, Heirs of the New Earth. As with the other novels in this series, I’ve been sharing my analysis of the books and updated chapters with my patrons at https://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers. I was expecting Heirs to be complete by the end of the year, but these additional projects have slowed me down a little. Still, I’m making progress and expect to release updated edition in early 2022. If you want to help make any of these novels happen, be sure to visit my Patreon site. The money I earn there goes to pay cover artists and pay for expenses. One of those recent expenses did actually represent an exciting milestone. Way back in 1994 when we started Hadrosaur Productions, we purchased a block of 100 International Standard Book Numbers. We are coming to the end of the original set of numbers and actually had to purchase ten more to accommodate our forthcoming books!

Finally, there’s yet one more project in the wings. I can’t say much about it yet. What I can say is that in 1995, we started Hadrosaur Tales as a way to showcase the talents of authors. In 2005, we added beautiful artwork and a stronger sense of presentation to the mix and created Tales of the Talisman. This new project is a next step on the journey.

If you’ve kept count through this list, you’ll see we have nine books in various stages of production. I hope the first two of these will be out within the month and the rest should follow in the coming months. Watch this space to learn more about each of these projects as they’re released.

The Valley of Gwangi

Last month, Robert E. Vardeman mentioned that he’s a fan of the Ray Harryhausen film The Valley of Gwangi in a post on his Patreon site. A couple of weeks later, when I was on a panel discussing Weird Westerns with Jeff Mariotte at the virtual CoKoCon, the film came up again. Although I had been aware of the film and had seen clips, I’d never watched the whole thing before, so I took this as a sign that I should finally sit down and watch it.

Cowboys and dinosaurs meet in The Valley of Gwangi

The film starts off looking like it’ll be a pretty ordinary western. T.J. Breckinridge runs a struggling rodeo on tour through Mexico in the early 20th century. Her former boyfriend, Tuck Kirby, wants to buy her out, but she doesn’t want to sell. T.J. has an ace up her sleeve. Gypsies brought her a tiny horse from Forbidden Valley and she expects it will be a great attraction. A paleontologist named Horace Bromley, recognizes the animal as no ordinary horse. He declares it’s the prehistoric horse, Eohippus. The leader of the gypsies say the little horse is cursed and convince Bromley to capture the horse and return it to Forbidden Valley. Bromley, of course, is interested to see what other creatures might live there. To get the horse, the gypsies have to knock out one of T.J.’s men, Carlos.

Tuck sees the gypsies leaving and discovers they’ve taken the Eohippus. He sets out after them. Unfortunately, Carlos saw Tuck and thinks he’s responsible for the theft. T.J., Carlos, and several of the rodeo riders set out after Tuck. They all soon arrive just outside the Forbidden Valley. After sorting out what’s going on, Tuck nearly recaptures the Eohippus, only to have it disappear into a cave in the cliff face. T.J., Tuck, Horace, and the rodeo riders set out after it. It turns out the Eohippus didn’t go into a cave, but entered a passageway leading to the Forbidden Valley. The rodeo men clear out some rocks and soon our band goes riding into the valley.

Once in the valley, our heroes discover that Eohippus isn’t the only prehistoric creature living there. They’re soon attacked by a pteranodon. After dealing with the flying creature, they encounter a small plant eating dinosaur. The rodeo riders decide it would make an even better attraction than Eohippus, so they chase it, only to have the dinosaur snapped up in the jaws of Gwangi, an Allosaurus. From this point on, the movie becomes full-on cowboys versus beautiful Ray Harryhausen dinosaurs. Our rodeo riders take refuge in a cave that foreshadows the Land of the Lost TV series I watched as a kid. Eventually, the cowboys capture Gwangi and take him back to town. In a finale reminiscent of King Kong, Gwangi breaks free and rampages through the town where he corners T.J. and Tuck in a cathedral.

All in all, the movie is great fun and a terrific example of a Weird Western story. As always, Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion monsters are a marvel to behold. There’s a scene where the rodeo riders attempt to lasso Gwangi and Harryhausen seamlessly blended the live-action and stop-motion photography. The only real problem with the effects happened because the film’s post-production was rushed and Harryhausen was never allowed to color correct his footage. As a result, the dinosaurs have a tendency to change colors from purple to gray to green from scene to scene. While I’m not generally a fan of tinkering with old movies, I wouldn’t mind seeing a color-corrected special edition of this film where the dinosaurs are each a consistent color.

You can find Robert E. Vardeman’s Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/robertevardeman

As a friendly reminder, this blog is supported and kept ad-free in part by my Patreon, which is at: https://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers

Oz in the Wild West

The Oz novels of L. Frank Baum take the kinds of ideas that appeared in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and give them a distinctly American spin. One of the few ways Baum could have made them more uniquely American would have been to have put Oz in the Wild West. As it turns out, comic book writer and publisher Tom Hutchison of Big Dog Ink did just that with his series The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West. I met Tom at El Paso Comic Con a few years ago and bought the first two graphic novels in the series. Since then, I’ve purchased the next two. Given my read-through of Baum’s canon, I thought it was time to revisit Hutchison’s take on Oz.

The Volume 1 graphic novel largely follows the plot of Baum’s first novel and the 1939 MGM film. As one might expect from the premise, the settings and characters are changed to match the wild west setting. Dorothy is an adult and Toto is her horse. The Tin-Man is a Marshall who could really use a heart. The Scarecrow is a Native American “puppet” who is filled with straw and can’t speak. The Cowardly Lion moves more-or-less directly into the story, although he does wear make-up and a crown. The climactic showdown between Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West happens back on Dorothy’s farm in Kansas. Of course, it is presented as a western showdown, but water is still involved. I’ll leave it at that to avoid too many spoilers.

Volumes 2 through 4 of the series have largely followed the plot of the second novel, The Marvelous Land of Oz. Dorothy is on the sidelines of the action and we now follow the adventures of a boy named Tip. Although her adventures are on the sidelines, Dorothy’s arc is continuing the story as it wraps up in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Jack Pumpkinhead teams up with Tip. In this version, Jack is a former palace guard from the Emerald City who wears a pumpkin bandana to cover his disfigured face. Meanwhile, General Jinjur has taken over the Emerald City. Although the overall plot is inspired by The Marvelous Land of Oz, Hutchison draws in story elements and characters from several of the later Oz novels. We meet the Patchwork Girl and the glass cat along with their creator, Dr. Pipt. The Sawhorse has also entered the story.

Reading the Oz novels, it soon becomes clear that Baum did not plot any kind of story arc for the series as a whole. Each novel is written as something of a standalone story, though new characters introduced in earlier volumes appear in later volumes. One of the things I like about Hutchison’s adaptation is that he takes this vast universe of characters and weaves them into a tighter narrative arc. Hutchison recently ran a Kickstarter to fund the next few issues of Legend of Oz and I was one of his supporters. I’m looking forward to seeing where he takes the story after the first four volumes.

If you want to check out The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West, you can pick up the graphic novels at https://bigdogink.com. Also, watch Kickstarter. I gather Hutchison will be running another Legend of Oz campaign later this year and that can be an opportunity to pick up back issues. For those seeking out single issues, the Volume 1 graphic novel covers the original six issue mini-series. Volume 2 begins the on-going series with a new issue 1. The end of volume 4 coincides with issue 15. There are also two related mini-series. One covers the origin of the Scarecrow and the other is an adventure involving Tik-Tok.

Hadrosaur’s Weird Westerns on Sale

The annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale is underway. It gets its name because where I live in the northern hemisphere, readers are loading up their e-readers for great beach reading and vacations. In the southern hemisphere, it’s the middle of winter and people are spending time in a warm and cozy place reading. All of Hadrosaur’s titles are available at deep discounts this month and I’ll be highlighting them all month long here at the Web Journal. If you’re looking for a specific title, you don’t have to wait for me to highlight it, just visit http://www.hadrosaur.com/bookstore.php and click on the book you’re interested in. On its page is a link to Smashwords if its available there. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device.

Today, I’m wrapping up my series highlighting Hadrosaur’s titles on sale by featuring our two Weird Westerns. The first is the standalone novella, Fallen Angel by David B. Riley. The other, Legends of the Dragon Cowboys, contains a pair of novellas, one by David and the other by long-time Hadrosaur Productions cover artist Laura Givens. She created the cover image as well!

Fallen Angel is the story of Mabel, an angel from Hell, who accompanies General Grant’s army during the last days of the Civil War only to discover that Martians are watching the Earth with envious eyes and slowly drawing their plans against us. Not only that, but Mabel has to contend with her evil sister, who wants to have humans for dinner. Although Mabel and Grant get the upper hand before the war ends, the battle of good against evil isn’t won so quickly. Several years later, in San Francisco, Mabel just wants to have fun with her friend Miles O’Malley, when she discovers her sister and the Martians have joined forces with a college fraternity and humanity may be on the dinner menu.

Christine Wald-Hopkins of The Arizona Daily Star writes, “This quirky new novel by Tucsonan David B. Riley is a cross-genre romp, religious fantasy meets historical fiction, science fiction, zombie ‘Animal House.’”

Get the book for 50% off at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/924099

Legends of the Dragon Cowboys brings you two weird western adventures by authors David B. Riley and Laura Givens. Their heroes ride boldly out of the Far East to find their way in a mythic land of danger, romance, and adventure.

In “The Venerable Travels of Ling Fung” by David B. Riley, a wandering businessman encounters a Mayan god, crooked enterprises and Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, when all he really wants is to open a gun store. Ling Fung is not any ordinary Chinese entrepreneur–he’s highly skilled in Kung Fu and he can shoot good, too. While his heart is set on business, providence seems to have other plans for him.

Laura Givens brings wily acrobat Chin Song Ping to the Wild West in search of adventure and fortune. He finds little fortune, but plenty of adventure. Chin Song Ping is a scoundrel, a gambler and a trouble magnet. His heart of gold lands him in schemes to outwit would-be gods, cannibal ghosts, insane robots, Voodoo despots and the ultimate evil–bureaucrats. But he is a romantic, and the love of his life is the true treasure he seeks. The odds are always against him but if he survives he will become the Western legend he always was in his own mind.

The Wild West just got a lot wilder!

Midwest Book Review says, “These two Western novellas are seasoned a dash of exotic adventure, featuring cowboy protagonists who hail from the Far East and pursue their dreams in the tough-as-nails frontier. Riveting from first page to last, Legends of the Dragon Cowboys is enthusiastically recommended for public library collections and connoisseurs of the genre!”

Get the book for 50% off at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/751811