New Review Low Noon

There's a new review of Low Noon out on SF Site. Low Noon: Tales of Horror & Dark Fantasy from the Weird Weird West
edited by David B. Riley
Science Fiction Trails, 277 pages
David B. Riley David B. Riley has been writing for a very long time. He decided to put together some of his earlier stories into a collection. For some reason, his earlier works seem centered around the subject of flying saucers. ISFDB Bibliography: David B. Riley SF Site Review: The Devil Draws Two SF Site Review: Six-Guns Straight from Hell SF Site Review: Flying Saucer Stories	A review by Mario Guslandi Advertisement Weird Western horror anthologies are becoming increasingly popular and by now constitute a definite subgenre with its devoted fans. Low Noon is the third installment in a series including Six Guns Straight From Hell and Showdown at Midnight. I missed the first two volumes, but I guess they were successful enough to warrant a further volume and, most likely, even more accomplished than this one. Editor David B. Riley has assembled a dozen stories by not terribly famous authors, who try their best to address the subject with uneven, but not extraordinary results. In other words the reader will spend a pleasant time browsing the book, but certainly won't find therein any memorable tale. Among the various stories, however, some are worth mentioning as more interesting than the rest. Matthew Baugh's "Trail of the Brujo" is a very entertaining cross between a western movie script and a paranormal tale, quite the ideal story for the present anthology. "Before All This Modern Stuff" by Lyn McConchie is a vivid, well told story of power and revenge about a rich farmer and his difficult relationship with local Indians, while "Feeding Pluto" by C.J. Killmer is a grand guignolesque horror piece where two cold-blooded murderers finally get what they deserve. In the extremely enjoyable "A Quarter Past Death" by Henrik Ramsager, a bunch of gunmen come to a village to exact revenge, have to face a not too natural situation while in the creepy "Realgar" by Jackson Kuhl, an abandoned mine hides dark secrets which are better left unrevealed. Sam Kepfield contributes "Hell Home on the Range," a gruesome noir story inspired by real events where murders are brought about by greed. If you're not looking for literary masterpieces but just for some good fiction to keep you entertained, then this is the book for you although I doubt it the subject has steam enough to produce a further volume in the future. Copyright © 2012 by Mario Guslandi Mario Guslandi lives in Milan, Italy, and is a long-time fan of dark fiction. His book reviews have appeared on a number of genre websites such as The Alien Online, Infinity Plus, Necropsy, The Agony Column and Horrorwold