Reviewed by Steve Johnson.
26 August 2012
Large size anthology, 9 stories, edited by David B. Riley, weird western theme.
I got back from a week in Wellington to find that this anthology had been dropped off for me to review, and I’ve had some amusement doing that. I like a good WW story and this anthology has some excellent tales – and none that weren’t good.
Commodities of Nature by David Lee Summers manages to combine canals, Martian influences, Tesla, and the art of compromise, in one solid story. It is a little-used aspect of westerns that this tale featured a man able to accept that someone else’s POV might also be valid and I liked that. Then, not to be influenced, but I thought that Lyn’s
A Day Out Shopping really fitted the ‘Weird” part of the anthology. It’s difficult to describe because it’s a very odd story, but quite fascinating to read because you have no idea where this plot is going until you arrive.
Go West, Young Martian, Go West by Laura Givens made me laugh. I could just see the Martian trying to establish telepathic rapport with a wagon team and finding that the horses simply didn’t want to hurry up. But it’s a very pleasant tale about prejudice, and finding that those who are really different may still have a lot to contribute. Sam Kepfield’s
The Treasure of Vallis Marinaris is a riff on the old theme that ‘a treasure isn’t always gold and jewels,’ and is none the worse for that. A well-written variation.
I enjoyed the remainder of the stories but don’t have anything more specific to say about them.I can add that I liked the large size format, by which I mean that this anthology isn’t thicker, it’s several sizes up from a normal softcover, closer to large comic book dimensions. But with that size and the vivid attractive cover, it catches the reader’s eye, and that’s always a good thing.
Although the genre magazine era has pretty much passed, there are
still a handful of interesting titles appearing for those who are willing to
look for them. The first of these is thematically consistent, science fiction
stories with settings in the Old West. It’s attractively packaged and very
readable. Several of the stories this time involve alternate histories. Lou
Antonelli and James Wymore have the most interesting contributions. The second
title is new, a digest sized magazine with four stories and a number of poems
and reviews, as well as interviews and articles. The story by D.L. Chance is the
high point of the issue. Although I found much of the nonfiction interesting, I
thought it diluted the magazine substantially. An interesting and potentially
worthwhile addition to the genre but I think it needs a sharper focus. Interzone
is a more predictable and established title, obviously, and has fine stories by
Aliette de Bodard and Sean McMullen, along with quite readable stories by other
writers and associated materials. A slightly better than average issue. Black
Static has less lineage but is well established now and this issue has several
nice stories, although I found it slightly below average. The articles, on the
other hand, were quite good this time around. The magazine world is not healthy
and I don’t expect it ever will be again, but as long as titles like these keep
appearing, it will continue to be worth investigating. 
