For fans of Edward M. Erdelac's work, he's back with two more tales from the Weird West!
I hate to admit it, but I have yet to read Ed's first book in the Merkabah Rider series, Merkabah Rider: Tales Of A High Planes Drifter.....but in my defense, I'm a terrible book reader. My mind is always running around, and I'm always doing something. So sitting down to read a book takes a bit of a commitment.....I think I have a bit of ADD (or maybe I just drink too much caffeine).....but regardless, a good friend of mine DID read Merkabah Rider 1, and he said it was GREAT.
Well fans of the series have something to be happy about as the adventures of The Rider continue in Merkabah Rider: The Mensch With No Name
Damnation books describes it like this:
The Merkabah Rider continues his journey across the American Southwest of 1880 in search of the renegade teacher who destroyed his mystic Jewish order in the 2nd volume of this acclaimed weird western series. As the Rider unravels more of the mystery of the Hour of the Incursion, demons are the least of his troubles.
The book is once again an anthology, made up of 4 Short stories, The Infernal Napolean, The Damned Dingus, The Outlaw Gods, and The Pandaemonium Ride. These make up episodes 5 though 8 and tell the ongoing adventures of Erdelac's hero.
The book has been released as an ebook through the publisher's website and should be released in hard copy form within the next few weeks.
Also, for a comprehensive review of Mensch With No Name, head on over to Paul Green's Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns site where he actually reads books and doesn't drink too much caffeine!
And speaking of websites, if fans of Ed Erdelac's work haven't been going over to his blog, Delirium Tremens you are missing out. He writes up some fascinating explanations about his work and the inspirations behind his stories. There is a write up about Mensch With No Name, but what I'm specifically thinking of is the second story he released recently, The Blood Bay.
The Blood Bay is one of the short stories in the new Midnight Diner collection. Erdelac describes the story like this:
My own story is about a boy (Jonas) who comes to live on his father’s ranch following the violent death of his estranged mother in a freak accident. His father has remarried, and although Jonas takes to life on a horse ranch, he cannot bring himself to accept his father and stepmother. Then, in an attempt to win his son’s love, Jonas’ father brings him a skittish, wall-eyed blood colored mare and tells the boy he can keep it so long as he can get it to eat...
He also explains that his influences were John Steinbeck's The Red Pony (the bane of many a High School English students) and the Greek Myths of Diomedes and his Man-eating Mares. Particularly "Xanthos (or Xanthus, meaning ‘blonde’ or sometimes ‘bay’).....whom Hercules captured as his eighth labor."
I don't know about you but I think this sounds like a fantastic idea for a short story.....sort of The Red Pony in Hell! Edward talks about his inspirations at length in his article HERE, or if you want to be surprised the Midnight Diner collection can be found HERE, although I haven't been able to find a release date, but they are taking pre-orders.
UPDATE: Merkabah Rider: The Mensch With No Name is available now in both ebook and hard copy formats. They can be bought HERE
