Transmission #3
Found Tattooed on a Sasquatch
Greetings, puny subscribers. Another turn of the cosmic orrery has seen fit to deposit you back here, listening as Black Hole Planet 3 shout our fury into the void!
We have one word for all of you: DOOM!
In all seriousness, the week has been busy as most of you probably gathered from the update board last week. All of my writing was devoted to either this new novelette for the project with Wesley Southard or the Untitled Apocalypse Novel for CLASH Books.
The former is coming along, but as its premise is more rooted in reality, I’m treading new ground as a writer. The latter has finally hit its own stride, with all the pieces connecting and engrossing a human condition that I feel is not focused on in modern media. We will see how the finished result goes.
In other news, edits continue for the new collection, especially on some of my older stuff that isn’t as well-written. I’ve even obtained a cover artist. As soon as the final cover is ready, I’ll be sure to announce it here.
The last bit of news, a big CONGRATULATIONS to Erik Smith for winning the contest in last week’s Transmission. It directly leads into what comes next.
The Magpie Coffin has undoubtedly been my most successful book to date. It was the first “official” Splatter Western and spawned a whole mythos for Salem Covington. A sequel is finished and on the way, a crossover is in the works, and the third and last novel to complete his story is planned…
Needless to say, I’m proud of it, despite naysayers claiming it’s the worst thing in years (I cry myself to sleep holding the award I won for it).
That being said, the Splatter Western subgenre has yet to have a clear definition of what exactly a Splatter Western is. To that end, here is a brief, but certainly not comprehensive definition and guide to writing your own.
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A SPLATTER WESTERN
A Treatise by Wile E. Young
I sat down to write this shortly after the release of my good friend Kristopher Triana’s Splatter Western sequel: BALLAD OF THE WEREVIXENS. For two years now Splatter Westerns have ridden across convention tables, Amazon carts, and TBR piles with seemingly no end in sight.
As it stands, there are thirteen “official” Splatter Westerns in print, with two either existing or forthcoming outside the numbered order, and a wave of fresh novels on the horizon for season two. It’s rare that we see the birth of a new subgenre, or should I say the defining of one.
It’s always been there in some form or fashion, whispering at the edges of Horror Westerns, Weird Westerns, Revisionist Westerns, etc…
There is a bit of theme in those subgenres, one word really, and that’s where this article comes in. I’m asked all the time, “What actually is a Splatter Western?”
Well hopefully this answers that question.
A Definition
So, we’re just going to dive right in on this one. And what better place to start than the words of Patrick Harrison III, who coined the term.
PC3: “I would say a Splatter Western is like a 60’s or 70s spaghetti western combined with 80s body horror… except there is no rating system to warn you of the madness and depravity you’re about to consume. Clint Eastwood+ David Cronenberg+ a big middle finger to soft horror fiction= Splatter Western.”
That definition is as good a place as any to begin. Patrick laid the framework down that the fourteen entries that have been released have generally followed, and is good to keep in mind as this subgenre develops and evolves. With that being said, here is my definition: “A Splatter Western is at heart still a Western. There are Weird Westerns and there are Horror stories set in the Wild West, but neither subgenre necessarily has to have a Western plot. For the prospective writer, I would look to the old school movies and books as a roadmap. Then add in extreme violence and no-holds-barred brutality, and you have a Splatter Western.”
Advice and Suggestions
The great thing about Splatter Westerns is that it allows writers to invert, deconstruct, and subvert the expectations of the traditional western story. The villain in another work is the protagonist in this one, or better yet have them win in the end. Perhaps the determined homesteaders of a wagon train seeking a better life are revealed to be depraved individuals just as bad as the place they’re escaping, etc.
The possibilities here could fill up book after book, just remember to not let the speculative parts of your plot overwhelm the core truth that at heart you’re writing a Western, not just a story set in the Wild West.
Another angle to focus on is to shift the narrative onto groups that were historically present but are usually underrepresented in Western stories. One forthcoming Splatter Western features a Jewish Sorcerer, while the ninth Splatter Western, Shadow of the Vulture, focused on a predominantly Hispanic cast and their struggles south of the border. These are just two examples, but there are more that have yet to be explored such as the Asian workers for the railroad, women as dry crusaders in rough and tumble towns, circuit judges, and of course the multitude of First Nation tribes.
After that, you create the setting, which should run the gamut from the dawn of the Wild West in the 1830s to the twilight of the same, around 1920 when the last saloon closed.
Have the courage to show the unflinching harshness and violence, and populate your setting with the morally bankrupt, and overall have something to say. For myself with The Magpie Coffin, it is futility and that sometimes our greatest strengths are nothing but our addictions.
What is your message going to be? What Splatter Western are we going to see from you?
This week’s recommendation for one of my works goes to Dust Bowl Children co-written with my wife, Emily Young.
Synopsis: Times are hard for folks and it’s even harder for siblings Calvin and Abigail Shepherd after the untimely death of their mother at the height of the Great Depression. With dust storms ravaging their home in Ross, Oklahoma, they wonder how they are going to make ends meet.
Already ostracized due to being children of an unwed and unusual mother, suspicion only grows when strange happenings begin to plague the town. Missing children, deformed animals, and strange deaths are only the beginning of this storm of the natural and supernatural.
As the dust blows, the Shepherd siblings find themselves stalked by an ancient evil that will stop at nothing to get what belongs to it, and that their mother might have had more secrets than they ever could’ve imagined in this dark retelling of Hansel and Gretel.
Available in Ebook, Audiobook, Hardback, and Paperback:Amazon
Currently Reading: The Consultant by Bentley Little (Have to get that done before the Amazon Prime show comes out.)
Currently Watching: Re-watch of The Good Place (this show has some of the best one-liners out there).
Currently Listening To: Hollywood Undead Spotify list. (It satisfies that edgy teenager part of me from fifteen years ago).
In conclusion, have a good week, and hug the cool unfeeling robot arm that you draw comfort from. I must go off and supervise the demolition of an asteroid to make room for a space parking structure.
-Wile E. Young
Coincidentally, or, perhaps not, I am also reading the Consultant, before the show comes out.