Encyclopedia of weird westerns; supernatural and science fiction elements in novels, pulps, comics, films, television and games.

9780786443901

Encyclopedia of weird westerns; supernatural and science fiction elements in novels, pulps, comics, films, television and games.

Green, Paul.

McFarland & Co.

2009

265 pages

$39.95

Paperback

PN1995

While many people are familiar with films and TV shows such as The Wild Wild West or Firefly, few realize that the Western genre has mixed it up with science fiction and the supernatural for more than a century. Covering a broad range of media, Green (an artist and television historian) has compiled an extensive listing of "Weird Westerns" that will introduce even the most knowledgeable genre aficionados to items that they've never heard of. Entries range from the dime novel Frank Reade and his Steam Man of the Plains; or The Terror of the West (1876), to the film Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966) and the manga work Cowboy Bebop (1997). Green also provides short bios of genre authors, including Gardner Fox, Robert A. Heinlein, Stan Lee, and Vincent Sullivan. The text is accompanied by numerous black-and-white illustrations, and an appendix breaks down the entries by genre and medium.

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