Westward Weird

4 out of 5 stars

From a Western circus where monsters and heroes collide to a Civil War robot that clanks into battle to a mining family that encounters parallel universes, "Westward Weird" features 13 original stories that open the Old West to new frontiers of science fiction and fantasy. 

A fun collection of stories for the end of a long week, when you’re too tired to tackle serious literature and your attention span is that of a gerbil.

Somehow, the mixture of science fiction and fantasy with the western is a genre mash-up made in heaven. I enjoyed all the stories in the volume, but I had specially chosen it for the Seanan McGuire offering, The Flower of Arizona. McGuire did not disappoint, although I did think that if you were new to the InCryptid world, you might not have the Aeslin mouse knowledge to fully appreciate the story.

Bonus points for the cover art, which would have attracted me without my having any clue what waited inside.