Paranormal Westerns?

Arislan

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I'm working on two paranormal westerns myself, am also a 'Supernatural' fan.

I don't see my westerns getting picked up though, unless I become a published author in a more marketable genre, because they're not purebred westerns.
 

Chase

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Can a western have spiritual/magical/paranormal themes and elements while remaining at it's heart a western?

Looks as though you're in good company, Miss.

In the dark '80s, a grad-school creative dissertations was Montana Stereoscope: Twelve Tall tales.

The frame anthology honored Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Bradbury's The Illustrated Man and dealt with dinosaurs, ghosts, werewolves, Sasquatches, mountain men and women, cowboys 'n' Indians, smokejumpers 'n' watersprites.
 

Snowstorm

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Just saw this thread, and all I can say is: Hot diggity! Oh, yeah, there's an audience. Your novel idea sounds good.

There's a lot of paranormal happening in the West. Even in my tiny mountain "ghost" town there's a lot of spirits here. I've "met" the first owner of my place, and a neighbor (a renowned scientist) has had experiences with native Americans, and another neighbor has encountered a female medical doctor who was here ages ago.

I think absolutely that you can write a western with paranormal themes. (It's been awhile since your original post, I hope you're still plugging away at your story.)
 

Nox the Many

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Resurrected again? (Hopefully!)

Writing one (or ten) now, hoping to start moving some paper soon.
 

FOTSGreg

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I've been working on a short story that's growing longer than 10k words for awhile now. It incorporates horror, fantasy, and western themes like magic, gunfighters, revenge, bounty hunting, orcs, dwarves, trolls, ghouls, etc. I really need to go back and finish up Porter's Way.

Zenna Henderson's The People series of novels could be thought of as western paranormal as it's set in an unnamed midwest area early in the 20th Century and is about a group of humanoid aliens with paranormal abilities (telepathy, telekinesis, etc.).

There's an RPG called Weird West available at DriveThruRPG and there was a game called DeadLands, I think, awhile back.
 

pezerp59

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I plan on writing a paranormal Western that is set in South Africa during the diamond rush days.
 

Dave Hardy

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I plan on writing a paranormal Western that is set in South Africa during the diamond rush days.

Interesting choice there. I've said elsewhere, but I'm happy to repeat myself, I think H Rider Haggard did a lot to lay the groundwork for fantasy-adventure in a way that can be put to good use by Western writers. Good luck!
 

pezerp59

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Interesting choice there. I've said elsewhere, but I'm happy to repeat myself, I think H Rider Haggard did a lot to lay the groundwork for fantasy-adventure in a way that can be put to good use by Western writers. Good luck!

Thanks. I think the boom town days of Kimberly, the desert and a massive diamond that mutates ants might be fun. Always been an admirer of Haggard, especially King Solomon's Mines.
 

jaheath

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Robert Howard wrote "The Horror from the Mound" back in 1932, so tales of the Weird West have been around awhile. I love a good spooky western. Shoot, look at High Plains Drifter. That's a ghost story.
 

Festus

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Paranormal is nothing new to westerns

Louis L'Amour, Robert Dean Foster, and many others have written paranormal westerns. It really isn't surprising because the West is full of stories of strange happenings and events, ranging from ghosts, flying saucers, magic, skin walkers to other worlds and planes.
 

Okelly65

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I guess I can dust off the one I started years ago and finish it now.
 

hauntedwriter

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I've written the beginning of a 'weird western' story and published it on my blog. It has received good reviews. I wasn't sure with it being a western that anyone would want to read it, but with the paranormal side, it's a good mix! It's called ALASTOR DENTON & HOTOTO: Ghosts of the Frontier. If it gets more views and 'likes' I may continue the series.
 

Reziac

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Well, here's the thing. I've come to dislike urban fantasy. But set the same story back somewhere in history, like a western, and all of a sudden it's a whole lot more interesting, at least to me.

Someone mentioned Cowboys and Aliens. I liked it well enough to buy the DVD.
 
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phantom000

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I wrote a radio play that was a western with super natural elements. A woman runs a gang who robs coaches moving through the territory. One day she gets contacted by a mysterious stranger who offers to pay her to leave one coach alone, she double crosses him thinking its got to be super valuable only to find what turns out to be an ancient book of spells.
 

blacbird

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There's always Richard Brautigan's Hawkline Monster, although he was so unique it's hard to classify it as "paranormal". Maybe "abnormal" would apply better.

caw
 

Jamesaritchie

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Louis L'Amour, Robert Dean Foster, and many others have written paranormal westerns. It really isn't surprising because the West is full of stories of strange happenings and events, ranging from ghosts, flying saucers, magic, skin walkers to other worlds and planes.

The only Louis L'Amour novel I can think of is Haunted Mesa. It's pretty strange, but I'm not sure I'd classify it as a paranormal. It's probably closer to SF than anything.
 

AW Admin

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Emma Bull. Territory.

Just as legends and fragments of history from ancient Britain became the Arthurian tales we know--the story of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the Clantons and others, told and retold in innumerable stories and dramatizations, has became a great American myth.
In Emma Bull's Territory, some of the mystery of that brooding, puzzling tale is accounted to the hitherto unrealized presence of magic. It is a story of power, of compulsion, and of consequences. If Roger Zelazny had written a western, or if Susanna Clarke had reimagined the myths and legends of the American West, the results might have been something like Territory. But only something like. Because nobody writes like Emma Bull.

That's the publisher blurb by Tor, but it really does fit.
 

vgunn

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Another vote for Emma Bull's Territory. Lansdale has been mentioned as well, but I will single out Flaming Zeppelins and Dead Man's Man. Red Country by Joe Abercrombie is a fantasy western. Two fun comics are The Secret of San Saba along with The Sixth Gun. For films, Dead Man starring Johnny Depp and High Plains Drifter with Clint Eastwood. There was also a rather decent made for TV movie called Purgatory.