spooky western
Dates: 2/26/02,4:42 PM through 2/26/02,5:34 PM (2 postings)
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FROM: "Martha Garbison" <[removed]@denver.lib.co.us>
REC'D: 2/26/02, 4:42 PM
I have a customer who read a short story that is set in the wild west.
It is a story of a gunman who kills a judge's son and has goaded 11
others into unfair gunfights and killed them as well. The gunman appears
in court and his jury ends up being his 12 victims and he tells the
judge it isn't fair; the judge responds with "was it fair when you
goaded them into an unequal gun fight? The judge points at the gunman,
pronounces him "Guilty!" and the jury shoots him. The gunman finds
himself back on his horse, approaching the courthouse. At the door, he
is greeted by the judge and proceeds to explain that he has just had a
strange dream, when the judge interrupts him and says... " a dream? It
was real...Just as it is going to be real these next eleven times!" and
once again the jury shoots him...
Our customer thinks this was published about 1967 and it may have been
called "Night Court." It may have been published in a magazine or as a
short story in a horror/suspense collection...
Any takers???
Thanks in advance!!
Martha Garbison, Senior Librarian
Virginia Village Branch
Denver Public Library
FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 2/26/02, 5:34 PM
There's a horror story by Mary Elizabeth Counselman called "Night
Court" which has been reprinted several times (it first appeared
in WEIRD TALES in March 1953). I haven't read it in twenty years,
but *if* I'm remembering the right story, it does involve an
after-death "trial" but is *not* set in the west--the person on
trial is a drunk or careless auto driver of some sort, I think.
But maybe I'm wrong:
Night Court, (nv) Weird Tales Mar 53
Witches Brew, ed. Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini, Macmillan, 1984
Dixie Ghosts, ed. Frank D. McSherry, Jr., Charles G. Waugh &
Martin H. Greenberg, Rutledge Hill, 1988
Great American Ghost Stories, ed. Frank D. McSherry, Jr., Charles
G. Waugh & Martin H. Greenberg,
Rutledge Hill Press, 1991
Great American Ghost Stories, Volume Two, ed. Frank D. McSherry,
Jr., Charles G. Waugh & Martin H.
Greenberg, Berkley, 1993
There's also a story called "Night Court" by one Norman Arkawy,
published in the June 1956 issue of IF magazine and seemingly
never reprinted since. I can check my copy at home tonight and
see if this is a hit, but it seems a long shot.
There are literally hundreds of sf/f/horror stories called
"Night <something or other>," unfortunately.
As for "horror westerns," I know of two relevant anthologies:
Razored Saddles ed. Joe R. Lansdale & Patrick LoBrutto (Dark Harvest
0-913165-49-2, Sep 89 [Aug 89], $19.95,
268pp, hc); Original anthology of 17 western horror and fantasy stories,
illustrated by Rick Araluce.
11 Introduction: The Cowpunk Anthology Joe R. Lansdale & Patrick
LoBrutto in
15 Black Boots Robert R. McCammon ss *
29 Thirteen Days of Glory Scott A. Cupp ss *
37 Gold Lewis Shiner nv *
71 The Tenth Toe F. Paul Wilson ss *
89 Sedalia David J. Schow nv *
111 Trapline Ardath Mayhar ss *
119 Trail of the Chromium Bandits Al Sarrantonio ss *
129 Dinkers Pond Richard Laymon ss *
143 Stampede Melissa Mia Hall ss *
161 Razored Saddles Robert Petitt ss *
175 Empty Places Gary L. Raisor ss *
183 Tony Red Dog Neal Barrett, Jr. nv *
211 The Passing of the Western Howard Waldrop ss *
225 Eldons Penitente Lenore Carroll ss *
237 The Job Joe R. Lansdale ss *
241 Im Always Here Richard Christian Matheson ss *
249 Yore Skins Jess Soft n Purty... He Said. (Page 243) Chet
Williamson ss *
I read this one a few years, and remember about half of the stories.
I believe "Black Boots," the opener, is another "protagonist who
doesn't realize he's dead and in hell" story, but I don't think it
matches the plot described (no courtroom etc.). But maybe someone
could take a look at the anthology (there was also a paperback
reprint) and see if any of these might fit.
The other one is quite recent, and while I've got it I've not yet
read it: SKULL FULL OF SPURS. I don't have a contents list, but
several reviews are findable on the net. I think all of the
stories are new (no reprints), though, and if so it's too recent.
http://www.frii.com/~bovberg/spurs.htm
for one example.
There are a few fantasies included in the more general western
short story collection THE NEW FRONTIER; again I've read it and
remember several of the stories in it, but not all; none that I
do remember match the plot:
The New Frontier ed. Joe R. Lansdale (Doubleday 0-385-24569-6, May 89,
$12.95, 180pp, hc); Associational; original
western anthology of 18 stories and a poem with an introduction by Lansdale
and an afterword to a lost Max Brand story
by William F. Nolan. At least four of the stories are fantasy.
ix Introduction Joe R. Lansdale in
1 A First Blooding [from the unfinished novel Wycherley] Max Brand
ex *
13 Afterword to Max Brands A First Blooding William F. Nolan
aw *
14 Steam Engine Time Lewis Shiner ss *
21 Trooper Story Lenore Carroll ss *
29 Uncle Harrys Flying Saucer Swimming Pool John Keefauver ss *
34 Mountain Laurel Betty Taylor Gyenes ss *
40 Distant Thunder Gary L. Raisor nv *
63 A Cold Way Home Ardath Mayhar ss *
67 Hells Substation Roy Lee Fish ss *
79 The Ballad of Sweeneys Last Ride Lee Schultz pm *
82 Hell on the Draw Loren D. Estleman ss *
94 Hansels Finger Leif Enger ss *
101 First Dawning Robert Easton ss *
108 Jimmy and Me and the Nigger Man Scott A. Cupp ss *
119 Calamity Melissa Mia Hall ss *
131 Chief Wooden Teeth Lee Sullenger vi *
132 The Wild One Max Evans ss *
149 Mourning Old Spareribs LoLo Westrich ss *
160 The Indian Summer of Nancy Redwing Harry W. Paige ss *
164 Winter on the Belle Fourche Neal Barrett, Jr. ss *
The subgenre of horror western is sometimes known as "cowpunk" (at
least the subgenre of gruesome, over-the-top horror western), but
the term has also been used for music and film etc. of same sort.
The big name in cowpunk fiction is Joe R. Lansdale.
Hope this helps a little, or supplies some places to start looking,
at least.
Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
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