Browsing all articles tagged with western.
Oh, That Shotgun Sky by Sarah Chorn
The other night I caught the Cohen Brothers’ remake of True Grit. When I saw it in the theater, I thought it a profound meditation on the price of freedom—that fabled freedom of the Old West, which comes at such a high cost that most of us would choose the safety and strictures of “civilization.” […]
Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn
Sarah Chorn’s western-inspired fantasy Of Honey and Wildfires digs deep into the soul and taps a well of emotion in a layered tale that examines artifice, reality, and the costs of love. At its core, the story revolves around a pair of fathers and the legacies they create for their children. Matthew Esco is a […]
The Coilhunter Chronicles by Dean F. Wilson – Spoiler Free Series Review
Steampunk Batman meets A Fistful of Dollars (and later, the Borg). Despite Fantasy-Faction originally being a British website, I am pretty sure that everyone knows Americans romanticize the Wild West: the freewheeling setting, the gunslinger vigilante who stands up to the bad guys when the government can’t. It might as well be the bedrock of […]
Firefly: A Traveler’s Companion to the ‘Verse
I am a huge Firefly nerd. Like, seriously huge. I’ve watched the show and the movie many times. I took a movie criticism class in college and compared Star Wars and Serenity, just because I could. When I left my first full-time job, my coworker gave me Firefly comics as a parting gift. When I […]
Malice of Crows by Lila Bowen
Spoiler Warning: This review contains spoilers for earlier books in the series, but nothing beyond what you’d see on the back covers of the books. Malice of Crows, book three of The Shadow series, by Lila Bowen (a.k.a. Delilah S. Dawson) was ranked among Fantasy-Faction’s Best Books of 2017 but somehow, we didn’t review it when […]
Devil’s Call by J. Danielle Dorn
“On a dark night in the summer of 1859, three men enter the home of Dr Matthew Callahan and shoot him dead in front of his pregnant wife. Unbeknownst to them, the mother of this unborn child hails from a long line of women gifted in ways that scare most folks – the witches of […]
The Cold Eye by Laura Anne Gilman
The Cold Eye by Laura Anne Gilman is the sequel to Silver on the Road. Isobel, along with her mentor Gabriel, rides the Territory as the Devil’s Left Hand, serving as his eyes and ears, helping those who live by the Devil’s rules and punishing those who would violate those rules. Like the first book, […]
Conspiracy of Ravens by Lila Bowen
Spoiler Warning: This review contains mild spoilers for Wake of Vultures. Please read with caution if you have yet to finish the first book. Conspiracy of Ravens, by Lila Bowen (AKA Delilah S. Dawson), gives me exactly what I want in a sequel. Everything I loved in book one of the series, Wake of Vultures, […]
Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente
Simply put, I loved Six-Gun Snow White. Although many have adapted fairy tales across a variety of media, very few have done it this well. This isn’t a simple retelling or putting an old tale in new set dressing; Catherynne M. Valente transforms the story of Snow White and tells it beautifully, painfully well. She […]
Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear
Call it what you will: a bordello, a brothel, or a whorehouse. No matter what your name for it, a building that holds prostitutes (or courtesans, Companions, or soiled doves) is a vital part of scenery for certain genres. Westerns in particular spring to mind, though I will admit that most of my knowledge of […]
The Builders by Daniel Polansky
“Is it true you killed High-Hand Lawrence and Hotpants the squirrel during the same card game?” Nothing from Cinnabar. No words, no change in his demeanor, no breathing, only the absolute stillness of which only a cold-blooded creature is capable. “I wonder if you’re as fast as they say,” Bessie Weasel chirruped, her hand slowly […]
Bloodmoon by Ben Galley
“Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of bloodrushing.” In the opening book of the Scarlet Star Trilogy, readers get to immerse themselves in an alternative Wild West, complete with deadly railwraiths, fairies and blood magic. In the sequel, Galley immerses us in circus life, even as he builds upon our understanding of Tonmerion Hark’s […]
