Five books that show us the weirder side of the wild west

Sam Reader is a writer and conventions editor for The Geek Initiative. He also writes literary criticism and reviews at strangelibrary.com. One of his top five books that show us the weirder side of the wild, wild west, as shared at the B & N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog:

Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest

The first volume of a steampunk alternate history universe called “Clockwork Century,” this is the story of an alternate Seattle, where it wasn’t a massive earthquake that created the infamous Underground, but a massive steam-powered drill invented by a man named Leviticus Blue that ripped through downtown Seattle, uncovering a deposit of “blight gas” and creating an infestation of zombies (and wrecking a large portion of the city in the process). Years later, Blue’s widow Briar Wilkes ventures into the walled city to retrieve her son Zeke, who hopes to find evidence to clear his family’s name. Priest’s stated intent was to give steampunk a “magnum opus,” and Boneshaker delivers with exhaustive worldbuilding, vivid detail, and a ton of atmosphere.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue