"The Buntline Special" by Mike Resnick

320 pages

The year is 1881. The Mississippi River divides the United States from the Indian nations of the West. The only thing keeping the US from expanding is the magic of powerful Indian medicine men. The America government is desperate to expand its territory (since it's the "destiny" of the US and all), so it sends Thomas Edison out West to the town of Tombstone, Arizona, to discover a scientific answer to the Indians' magic. When he arrives, he brings some of his other inventions to the town: horseless carriages, electric streetlights, and *ahem* robotic prostitutes. Meanwhile, Wyatt Earp and his brothers are hired to protect the genius. Problem is, Edison and Earp have enemies who make the Indian threat seem tame--the Clayton gang. When they find themselves in over their heads, Earp's old friends Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson ride into help. Though you'd think they'd get some good-karma by offering their assistance, Bat is turned into--what else--a bat and Doc is stalked by a zombie gunslinger. The gang will have to do some quick thinking--and shooting--to get out of this one.

I enjoyed every bit of this fast-paced story. Usually I want some more character development than what this one has, but because it's so action-oriented I was okay with a little less info in that department. I loved all the funky steampunkness and the wacky dialogue. The book kept me guessing about what was going to happen next and made me laugh as well. Fun, fun, fun!

The Virginian

by Owen Wister
306 pages

This is a Western classic.  The Virginian is a true cowboy, but he's got the heart and soul of a true gentleman.  He lives by the Western code of honor, which is very different from that of the East.  Unfortunately, his code of honor causes conflict with his sweetheart's Eastern sensibilities and threatens to destroy their future together.

I LOVED this book.  I never thought I'd say that about a western, but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down.  My only complaint is that the southern dialect of the Virginian is a bit hard to understand in places, but this book is so beautifully written that it makes up for it.  Wister really made me think about ethics and whether things are always as black and white as we make them.  This book has given me a lot to think about, and I may re-read it at some point in order to digest it more fully.

Conagher by Louis L'Amour

1969/133 pgs

About the Book: Evie Teale has just moved out west with her husband and two children. But the long journey takes it toll on the family and soon Evie finds herself without a husband and a small income. It's only with the help of the drifter Conagher that the Teale's will survive.

Sarah Teenlibrarian Says: I read this for my adult lit class and I can now say that westerns are no my genre of choice! The story started out OK, but I soon found it a bit boring.

The book starts out with the story of the Teale family. Evie and her children are trying to make it in the west and they happen to be settled near the stagecoach which brings passengers here and there with a small income. This part of the story I found interesting enough, but after a few chapters the story changes from Evie to Conagher.

Conagher is a drifter and somewhat of a fighter. He spends a lot of the book being intimidating and threatening the bad guys. Conagher takes a job at a cattle ranch and he starts to find notes in the tumbleweeds written by a lonely woman. The author gives so many hints about how lonely Evie is and how lonely Conn is, I guess he felt there's no need to develop anything between them. We get several chapters of Conn and it's like we've forgotten about Evie and the kids altogether until she randomly shows up in Conn's drifter path again.

The story tries to alternate between Evie and Conagher, but it never pulls it off successfully. It's like we had two different stories going on that never really met. The stories try to come together, but it's so sudden it feels a bit forced.

The end is a bit of a rush and I didn't think there was really any character development at all. It's a simple story with a few fights between the good and bad guys with the good guy winning and getting the girl. For fans of westerns it might be good, but it wasn't for me.