HEATH LOWRANCE - HAWTHORNE: TALES OF A WEIRDER WEST

Synopsis/blurb……

There are monsters in the West. There is evil, lurking in the blood-soaked hills and bone-strewn plains. But there is also Hawthorne-scarred, enigmatic, deadly, driven by an all-consuming rage to seek out and destroy evil wherever he finds it. Without mercy.

But how long can one man fight the demons before becoming one himself?

HAWTHORNE: TALES OF A WEIRDER WEST features the stories "That Damned Coyote Hill," "The Long Black Train," "The Spider Tribe," "Bad Sanctuary," and "The Unholy" as well as an introduction by Western fiction legend James Reasoner.

About the Author

Heath Lowrance is the author of City of Heretics, The Bastard Hand, and the story collection Dig Ten Graves, as well as the Gideon Miles adventure "Miles to Little Ridge" and the Fight Card novella "Bluff City Brawler" (as Jack Tunney). He's lived in various places this side of the Mississippi River and currently calls Lansing, Michigan, his home (although the desolate wilds of Wyoming sound more and more appealing as he gets older). He's currently at work on more Hawthorne stories, another Gideon Miles tale, and a third full-length novel.

An Amazon freebie a few weeks ago and another new author for me to try as well as a trip into the territory of the western, albeit of the short story variety with the constant - Hawthorne as the main character.

Overall enjoyable, though if I’m honest the weird supernatural elements carry far less appeal for me than a conventional gunslinger rolling into town and wreaking havoc and mayhem and extracting a primitive level of justice on the bad guys.

An interesting main character, though not someone I feel compelled to read more about in the future. Great settings – Lowrance establishes a real sense of time and place. (Note to self – read a few more westerns soon.)

Favourite story had the travelling sharpies with their giant of a man-cum-boxer taking on all comers for money and swiftly despatching them, until Hawthorne takes his turn in the ring.  

Definitely an author to read more from in the future – which is just as well as he’s already sat on my kindle.

4 from 5

Heath Lowrance has an intriguingly titled website - Psychonoir blogspot