What's wrong with stories set in the Old West

Someone who purchased my anthology, "Blood Picnic and other stories" asked why I didn't include one FridayFlash story she particularly liked. It was a creepy Western, complete with a dusty saloon, a mysterious stranger, an arrogant rancher and a strong dose of the supernatural.

Why didn't I include it? What's wrong with stories set in the Old West?

Well, nothing, really. I wrote that story to try my hand at the genre. The story came out alright, but that's not really a setting that speaks to me, so I don't have much of a body of work in that vein. The stories in "Blood Picnic" are divided into fantasy, horror, literary fiction and magical realism. Slotting in one western was problematic, even with the supernatural element.

I'm working on putting together an anthology devoted exclusively to science fiction. It'll be priced the same, $2.99, and will be about the same length, 28K words. It should be out soon.

Honestly, though, unless I get a call from a publisher asking me to do one, don't expect an anthology of western stories.

===== Feel free to comment on this or any other post.

1 comment:

  1. So my brain is tinkering with a #FridayFlash idea for this week inspired by the weekends events. I just wasn't sure how to bring the different thoughts together. Fantasy, SciFi and modern times just didn't seem right, and I was at a loss. Until you, just now, reminded me of Westerns.

    *click*

    Thanks Tony!

    ReplyDelete

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