WEIRD WILD WEST
Part 1 Hell Dorado
Part 2 The Good, The Bad and The Zombie
A New Novel by CARTER RYDYR
and ETHAN SOMERVILLE
Wraparound cover by Dave Heinrich
Interior illustrations by SCAR
Published in 2018 by
ISBN-13: 978-1947654402
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SYNOPSIS
Imagine a wild west that isn’t just full of cowboys and outlaws, saloon girls and gamblers.
Imagine a wild west that isn’t just cacti, tumbleweeds and rolling desert as far as the eye can see.
Imagine a wild west of mechanical horses, mutant killer plants, flying dinosaurs, headless indians and fearsome zombie gunslingers hell-bent on revenge.
Imagine the Weird Wild West.
Six colourful characters, some not entirely human, embark on a perilous journey south from Sunbleached Plains to Kellyville. A dapper dentist, a southern belle, a wealthy madam, a retired banker turned gambler, an orphaned boy and a travelling body-parts salesman all trade their various stories to pass the time.
Driving the carriage is one Zeke “the Freak” Sarandon, a retired soldier with more than one strange, nervous habit. Although he is an experienced traveller, and the only one insane enough to take the most direct route south, even he cannot prevent his passengers from each meeting their grisly demise, one by one.
Hot on the trail of the coach, astride an ancient mechanical horse blowing sparks and belching out toxic clouds of smoke, is a zombie gunslinger, the risen corpse of a murdered prospector.
For on the carriage is the one who killed him, and he must have his horrible, bloody revenge.
4-Star Review by Dave Dye June 13, 2018
Incredible imagination and art!
Weird Wild West (WWW) is just "that" ie weird, wild and West. Anyone who has experienced the work of S.C.A.R. (Steve Carter and Antoinette Rydyr) will know what they are in for when they decide to read something created by them. I have mostly been exposed to their graphic novels and comic stories which are invariably full of horrifying grotesque creatures and strong sexy women. WWW is no exception. It appears Ethan Somerville shares their penchant for weird critters and strange worlds.
WWW is set in some sort of parallel world that is inhabited by the weirdest creatures I think I've ever encountered in a novel. A zombie gunslinger is hell bent on pursuing the person who is the cause of his current situation. For the sake of spoilers I dare not say much more than that but he pursues his quarry across the baddest, meanest, weirdest country this side of Hell. The horrors that are revealed are highly imaginative and well thought out. Hats off to the authors for never allowing the story to get into any ho-hum moments of repetitive tropes or stale story telling. Of course there is the typical Western tropes of stage coaches, gunslingers, saloon trollops, etc but they are all existing in an entirely original (to me at least) universe.
Just when you think things can't get any weirder, guess what - they get even weirder. There are two stories in this volume, so if you think the first story is weird you're in for another wild ride with the second story. The second story is a sequel to the first and involves a few of the surviving characters from the first story and a few of the characters who didn't survive. Huh? Yep, I told you it was weird. I haven't mentioned the mechanical horses, Siamese triplets and robotic whores yet.
This book is ideal reading for someone who doesn't take life too seriously and can enjoy a laugh while having their stomachs turned upside down and inside out. Great reading and highly entertaining.
The stories are also illustrated with a sprinkling of fantastic drawings by SCAR.
