Customer Reviews

Dead Mans Hand (Two Wolf Press)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I hope those of you reading this review will forgive my giving my own work a 5 star rating. But I am very pleased with how this collection of Weird Western tales turned out. The cover art is striking--assuming it's ever posted so you can see it online. Also, the interior design is quite innovative, with the corners of the pages made to look like those of the poker cards that comprised Wild Bill Hickock's last hand.

My fondness for DEAD MAN'S HAND is also due to the fact that the stories collected within its covers were so much fun to write. Included are two previously published novellas, WALKING WOLF (about a European werewolf raised by American Indians), and LYNCH (a story of a gunslinger resurrected from the dead by a former student of Dr. Frankenstein), as well as two previously published short stories, "The Tortuga Hill Gang's Last Ride" (about a gang of outlaws who pick up a rather unusual companion-in-crime) and "Calaverada" (weird doings on the Mexican Day of the Dead).
There is also a brand new novella called HELL COME SUNDOWN, about a Texas Ranger who tracks down the vampire who destroyed his world. There is also an introduction by my good buddy JOE R. LANSDALE, who says a lot nice thinsg about. Some of which might actually be true.

So, if you like my stuff--or you enjoy weird tales of the Old West, or simply like stories that are one step outside the Usual, then you'll enjoy DEAD MAN'S HAND.

I am a big fan of Deadlands (the RPG), and so I was looking forward quite a bit for this book once I discovered it. I have two stories left to read - which means I have about 30 pages left in the book (roughly 290 pages read of 320 pages total).

A word on the stories thus far...

1. Hell Come Sundown - it's a bounty hunter-esque old west ranger story... Weird West style, of course. Without trying to ruin anything, it is a very good story and a good twist on a couple classic horror genres. i really enjoyed this one.

2. Lynch - something along the lines of a Weird West Frankenstein, this one had me hooked from the get-go. Great stuff.

3. Walking Wolf - this story had the most potential of the three main stories (which are Walking Wolf, Lynch, and Hell Come Sundown). However, i found it to be more of a commentary on the whites' crimes against Native Americans in the 19th century. It was an entertaining tale - what can go wrong with werewolves - but there is quite a bit to wade through to get to the meat of the story. It follows the same basic formula as Lynch to some degree (wronged man seeks revenge), but it is composed of so much historical information and commentary that you almost begin to wonder if you are reading propaganda or fiction. Nonetheless, i did really enjoy this story. The tale also includes an interesting view of a werewolf society that moved into the Wild West much for the same reason the average Joe did.

Overall, though i have two very short stories to finish and can only comment on the main stories in the book, i am glad i bought this book. It captures a good feel of the "Weird West" which is a genre that I think is greatly under-utilized. That said, the stories use fairly common formulas - in general, protagonist is wronged, usually horribly, and he seeks revenge. Toss with supernatural and undead, and voila, you have Dead Man's Hand. However, that should not discourage the potential buyer - if you like Weird West, then chances are you will enjoy this book. Quite honestly, i couldn't put it down - however, i do think it is due more to my love of the genre than my love for the writing.

Which brings me to the writing - Collins does possess (at least if this book is any indication) a fabulous writing style. Her wording is not repetitive or overly descriptive - yet, at the same time, it is rich and engaging. If i were more into pure vampire books, i'd probably check out her Sonja Blue (i think that's what it is called?) stories - but i'm not into that stuff. i do prefer Weird West, and she delivers here magnificently.

After reading a number of science-fiction and adventure-action books, I was in the mood to read something different, but I didn't know what type of book to read. I was browsing through the book store one day, and there was this dark cover on a book with interesting art work that caught my eye. From the looks of the cover, it appeared the book was a western; I was never big on western motifs, but like I mentioned, I was in the mood for something different. Remember when we were told as children to not judge a book by its cover? Well, I was glad to judge this book by its cover; because if I didn't pick this book up, I would have missed out on a series of short stories that were very entertaining to read! If you are in the mood for a western that is a little on the dark side, then look no further!

Dead Man's Hand is a pretty entertaining collection of short stories that take place in the Weird West. Collins takes the three iconic "Universal" monsters of vampires, Frankenstein's monster, and werewolves, and gives them each a lengthy story set in the old west. There are also two other much shorter stories, one about a Celtic fairy who wants to join a gang, and another involving mexican superstition surrounding Dio de los Muertos.

Of the five, Walking Wolf is the longest, and is pretty solid. About a white werewolf found and raised by Comanche and then ventures out to understand his white, and his werewolf, heritage. Overall its the best of the 3 long stories, mostly because it lacks the one element that damages the other two: a windy monologue dispelling all sense of mystery.

Both "Hell Comes Sundown" and "Lynch" were fairly solid pieces, but in each there is a character that embarks on a lengthy monologue that dispels all sense of awe or mystery involved with the story. The beauty of a short story is you dont need to explain everything. Things can be left mysterious and vague, as long as everything functions in a way we can understand. Having a multi page monologue on the origin of vampirism in the twilight of the aztec empire in the middle of a climactic scene really destroys the quick pacing of the story. In "Lynch" when the scientist alludes to his collegue Victor, anyone familiar with Frankenstein should be able to make the connection, OH, he's talking about Victor Van Frankenstein. But a few pages later, that allusion is destroyed by a lengthy over explanation that doesn't add to the feel of the story.

Both origins from those stories are unnecessary. If these were full novels, they would fit better, but should still be broken up and hinted at throughout the stories, not just lumped together for a multipage infodump that destroys pacing.

I enjoyed "Lynch" until the scientist described the process of reanimation and explained how Mary Shelly got the story of Frankenstein all wrong. I found it extremely disrespectful of Collins to copy Shelly's premise and in the same story spit on her work claiming it to be the wrong account of things.

The best stories wound up being the two extremely short stories at the end. They were so short they lacked the multi page monologues that ruined the first two stories.

OVERALL, its worth a read and is admittedly fairly entertaining, but don't expect high literature. I bought it used and suggest you do too.

Nancy Collins' ''Dead Man's Hand'' is a collection of five supernatural western stories which are only occasionally interesting. Included is a vampire story, a Frankenstein story, a werewolf story, and the remaining two shorter but less easily defined. The stories are uniformly adventure-oriented, and while sometimes gruesome they are not horror (which is not a strike, because the book never really claims to be). The real problem is that each of the stories comes in a very predictable, paint-by-numbers fashion. They are seldom original or inventive, and often rehash ideas and include redundant paragraphs. I'm willing to forgive certain tropes, as its hard to find new material in the world of vampire fiction (for example) but the author sometimes revisits the same ground repeatedly in the course of the stories.

Of the five, the best stories are "Lynch" and "Walking Wolf." The former is somewhat predictable and includes some intersections of chance that threaten the suspension of disbelief, but the best part comes in the form of a shaman who briefly and unexpectedly defies the tropes of the Frankenstein concept.

"Walking Wolf," the longest and best of the stories, concerns a werewolf whose destiny is intertwined with the fall of the Native American peoples. Collins provides a lengthy and detailed overview of the different historical players of the setting (including Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and Custer) that are insightful, educational, and amusing. The protagonist's tale is somewhat predictable but does manage to add a few interesting twists on the traditional werewolf concepts. It isn't clear which half of the story is primary and which the subplot, but in the end the historical material is actually more intriguing than the werewolf story, proving perhaps that truth is stranger than fiction. The two threads are thoroughly and neatly intertwined, and contains the book's crowning moment of hilarity.

I wrote the praise to follow the criticism because I don't want to paint the picture that the book is entirely bad. It's not. There are some genuinely entertaining moments, but you just have to have patience to mine them from the mediocrity. If you can find the book for cheap or get it from a library, read these two stories and skip the rest, because it is definitely not worth the $15 I paid for it on Amazon.

I love Nancy Collins work, but was VERY dissapointed in this book. The only good story is the first one, Hell COme Sundown, was in my opinion the only one worth reading. The 3rd story, Walking WOlf, was sooo hard to get through as it was just a story of a white Native American Werewolf and his woes. Very boring and loooong. This is just a book with a few dramas in it, not scary or even interesting. Pooh! The only great thing is the paper its printed on looks like a deck of cards. That was unique.