Dead Man's Hand: An Anthology of the Weird West

Written by John Joseph Adams (Editor)

The weird, wild west—an American frontier populated by gunslingers, rattlesnakes, outlaws, zombies, aliens, time travelers, and steampunk!

Twenty-three of science fiction and fantasy's hottest and most popular authors create all-new tales, written exclusively for this anthology. Aliens and monsters, magic and science are introduced to the old west, with explosive results.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: May 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480545144

John Joseph Adams (Editor)

Editor John Joseph Adams (www.johnjosephadams.com) - called "the reigning king of the anthology world" by Barnes & Noble.com - is the bestselling editor of many anthologies such as Epic: Legends of Fantasy, Wastelands, The Living Dead, By Blood We Live, Oz Reimagined, Federations, and The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He the editor of Fantasy Magazine and Lightspeed Magazine, which published two Nebula Award finalists and a Hugo Award finalist in its first year. John co-hosts Wired.com's The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

Reviews for Dead Man's Hand

[Zraitor · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

While I've certainly read weird Western stories that had found themselves randomly in other collections I've gone through, this was my first whole experience of it, and I gotta say, it's pretty darn good.

There was a huge, huge variety of plots and writing styles, which was a boon for this collection. I really, really appreciated this one, and I think I found a new genre to enjoy, along with my usual preference for horror/dark fiction.

Though the majority of the stories have a cowboy-like main character battling through the expected tropes of the Wild West, it never gets old and stays fresh throughout. This one has it all: giant insect monsters, magic, steampunk technology, other worlds, clockwork people, etc.

My two favorites were 'Second Hand,' people are able to gain a special deck of cards which they can perform all sorts of magic with, but once a card is used, it burns away, so they covet and guard their decks carefully. I would genuinely read a longer work of that, and it created a cool concept/world. And then, 'The Golden Age,' a fantastic story about a Batman-like character, The Condor, who hunts down criminals, unknowingly, or maybe not, turning them into supervillains. I found this not only to be the best in the collection but probably one of the best short stories I've ever read. It blew me away how good it was—so much fun.

It's a wonderful collection of stories. If you're at all interested, don't think any further about it; just do it.

[John Monty · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a great collection of stories, I devoured this book in three days while working. Great job by the narrator's too, they're now my favorites