Okay, I’m really excited about this one!
My story, “The Pearce Shootout,” is just out in Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Issue #13.
I finished this story a few years ago and have just been waiting for it to hit. Here’s a few reasons:
- It’s a sci-fi/western involving a unique form of time travel (well, I think it’s unique and haven’t seen the idea used before).
- It’s a western and there’s a shootout!
- It’s a unique concoction of the sci-fi/western/time travel tropes and I’m quite sure you’ll find something you haven’t seen before.
- One of the characters was inspired by a dear friend that is no longer with us.
I think that last bullet deserves a little more attention. This story was a bit of an experiment, the progenitor of my Campfire Tale program I did back in 2019. For a charity auction, I created a gift certificate entitling the winner to have me write a short story to order.
A friend of ours won the gift certificate and asked that I write a story that involved a ghost town and a character named Gayle in honor of his late wife.
Gayle was a very good friend of ours and her loss was a hard one, so invoking her name for this story set the bar quite high. She gifted me the very thoughtful gift of a poseable Edgar Allan Poe figurine that is watching me as I type right now.
This story features a character named Gayle who (not coincidentally) looks rather like our friend and has a fierce spirit and a big heart (also not coincidentally). Given the circumstances of the story (it takes place in 1893) this character is not our friend but a tribute to her.
I like to think it turned out pretty well and am so excited it found a home at Pulphouse Magazine and is finally out! Take a look and let me know what you think.
