 It’s the author’s smart pacing that keeps the reader cemented to the page; I found myself putting off going to sleep each night just so I could continue on to the next chapter. Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger by KC Grifant ASIN : B0BNWR19WN Publisher : Brigids Gate Press, LLC (2 Feb. 2023) Language : English A Horror Book Review by Rebecca Rowland Like any epic worth its salt, Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger begins in medias res, right in the heart of the battle: Melinda never missed, not in her twenty-eight years of gunslinging. But then again, she had never dealt with giant, flying scorpions before. KC Grifant’s horror western hits the road at top speed and never takes its foot off the accelerator, making the book a perfect fit for readers who like their horror weird and their action plentiful. Grifant’s heroine is a delicious amalgamation of Ash Williams in wise-cracking bravado and Ellen Ripley in triumphant fearlessness, two creature-battling icons who would feel right at home in West’s world. Here, “edge creatures,” mutant versions of our everyday baddies (such as rats, centipedes, and hornets) plague humankind, poisoning their victims with their venom and in some cases, stealing their very souls. After taking out a nest, Melinda and her faithful sidekick Lance bunk at an old friend’s house but are ambushed by a swarm of particularly gruesome arachnids. Believing herself responsible for a serious injury that befalls one of her companions, Melinda sets off to retrieve the soul that the creatures snatch, setting in motion an even more dangerous quest. One of the most difficult tasks a speculative fiction author undertakes is creating a world that is simultaneously believable and escapist by balancing the realm of the fantastic with the mesmerism required to make a reader believe it to be true. Grifant does this in spades, allowing her prose to flow as easily as a hot knife through butter, and it’s difficult not to become attached to Melinda and invested in the adventure from the get go: Melinda kept her pistol trained at Eloise’s chest and leaned to the right. Lance went behind her to the left so they’d both have a clear shot. Something about Eloise giving up was too easy. Maybe another bluff. “Awful calm for someone who’s going to jail for a long time,” Lance called from behind Melinda. Eloise smiled, her eyes calculating despite her cocky shrug. “What can I say? Even the best have to face the music sometime.” “Stop, outlaw!” A voice shouted behind them. Before Melinda could turn, a noise exploded, making them instinctively duck. A gun shot. They weren’t alone. It’s the author’s smart pacing that keeps the reader cemented to the page; I found myself putting off going to sleep each night just so I could continue on to the next chapter. Grifant, known for her shape-shifting skills beneath the speculative fiction umbrella—she’s previously penned winners in feminist dark fiction, gothic horror, Lovecraftian fantasy, and science fiction, masters the hybrid of shoot ‘em up Western and creature feature like an old pro. I went into Monster Gunslinger already an ardent fan of the author’s writing style but not an aficionado of the Weird West, but Grifant quickly warmed me to the genre. Demons, take heed: there’s a new boomstick in town, and something tells me we haven’t seen the last of her. Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger |
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