Temple City Strange: A Weird Western

Wyatt Quake - gambler and outlaw by profession, lover and rascal by temperament - knows one thing: whether the Marshals Posse of the Arizona Territory catches him, or the U.S. Calvary does - can’t matter a whole a lot - he'll swing from a high gallows either way.

Or so he supposes, at least, until he encounters a lonely settlement rising out of the Nevada wasteland. Temple City, town of fallow silver mines and broken dreams.

A town run by Harmony Darrow - saloonkeeper, land baroness, and (not incidentally) sheriff. A singular woman with a task that needs performing by just such a man as Wyatt: a man with more bravado than brains, and more pluck than luck.

A simple task really: just steal the bejeweled and hexed skull which sits atop an ancient war ax, guarding the local gates of Hell.

Now devil hordes rise, and demon magic reigns in the desert.

And a nice clean noose doesn't sound so bad, after all.

Michael Canfield writes about monsters, superheroes, couples, bank robbers, babies, astronauts, paranoids, background artists, hobbyists, and other people. He has published mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror, or just-plain-odd stories on StrangeHorizons, futurismic, EscapePod, M–Brane SF, magazines including Realms of Fantasy, Talebones, Black Gate, Flytrap and other places. His novelette “Super-Villains” was republished in the prestigious Fantasy: The Year’s Best series, edited by Rich Horton. Born in Las Vegas, he now lives, works, plays, writes, and watches television in Seattle.