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Horror Q&A: Jason J. McCuiston (Something Wicked This Way Rides)

Chris Well

“Conflict is the lifeblood of a great story.”

Something Wicked This Way Rides (Dark Owl Publishing) is a new collection of weird western stories from some two-dozen authors. The anthology explores the Old West with a skewed view, showcasing the weird western genre through stories that explore the peculiar and fantastic, the wicked that was and could have been.

Author Jason J. McCuiston contributed two stories: "Tears of Winter" and "And Hell Followed With Him." Jason J. McCuiston was born in the wilds of southeast Tennessee, where he was raised on a healthy diet of old horror movies, westerns, comic books, sci-fi and fantasy novels, and, yes, Dungeons & Dragons.

In this interview, Jason talks about writing from a pulp western mindset, how his love of research informs his fiction, and why U.S. history doesn't come much darker than the Old West…

What’s your favorite thing about mashing up horror with the Old West?

I'm a huge history buff and a huge paranormal/horror nerd. The one thing I see that all great ghost stories have is a dark history, and in the U.S., history doesn't come much darker than the Old West. Lots of violence, lots of abuses, lots of atrocities, and lots of conflict. And conflict is the lifeblood of a great story.

Did you approach your two stories as “western” stories with elements of horror—or vice versa?

I've actually got two tales in SWTWR. In "Tears of Winter" I focused on a traditional ghost story with non-traditional settings and characters. There is no square-jawed, blue-eyed hero and no damsel in distress, just a real tragedy with painful paranormal repercussions.

With "And Hell Followed with Him" I approached the story more from a pulp western mindset: "What if the 'heroic' gunfighter was a supernatural monster?"

What inspired these particular stories of yours?

I've always been terribly moved by the massacre at Wounded Knee as well as fascinated by the history of the Buffalo Soldiers. With "Tears of Winter" I saw an opportunity to tell a story about both.

As for "Hell Followed with Him" I had this character, Gideon Kane, rolling (riding?) around in my head for a long time and finally decided to put him into a story.

I think the setting was inspired by an episode of Ghost Adventures. Don't judge me.

How do your stories in this anthology compare/contrast with your usual fiction?

Most of my stories are grounded if not entirely based in history -- I just love to research. So, in a way, the stories in SWTWR are more akin to my body of work than my The Last Star Warden series, which is my love letter to all things Science Fiction.

What do you want to tell Monster Complex readers about your latest or upcoming work?

I love horror and I truly believe that if a writer can nail good horror, he or she can write anything well. For that reason, even when I'm writing about spaceships and rogue planets or daring swordsmen and warrior princesses, there will always be an element of horror in my tales.

FIND THE AUTHOR ONLINE

ABOUT THE BOOK

Something Wicked This Way Rides

(Dark Owl Publishing)

An anthology of weird westerns and genre fiction in the Wild West

Click here for the Goodreads page!

This book is appropriate for teenagers.

The anthology Something Wicked This Way Rides explores the Old West with a skewed view, showcasing the weird western genre through stories that explore the peculiar and fantastic, the wicked that was and could have been. Experience spiritual nightmares, mythical monsters, cosmic outlaws, discerning gods, and science run amok. Even the North Pole Security Division isn't immune to the supernatural strangeness that stalks the late 1800s. In the tradition of pulp and western stories of a bygone era, these are thirty tales to intrigue, amaze, and perhaps downright spook readers out of their boots.

Includes stories from:

  • Gustavo Bondoni

  • Marilyn "Mattie" Brahen

  • Kenneth Bykerk

  • Dwain Campbell

  • Gregg Chamberlain

  • Vonnie Winslow Crist

  • Stuart Croskell

  • Lawrence Dagstine

  • J.B. Dane

  • Kevin M. Folliard

  • John A. Frochio

  • Steve Gladwin

  • L.L. Hill

  • Adrian Ludens

  • Stefan Markos

  • Jonathon Mast

  • Jason J. McCuiston

  • Gregory L. Norris

  • Q Parker

  • Peter Prellwitz

  • John B. Rosenman

  • Alistair Rey

  • Darrell Schweitzer

  • Bradley H. Sinor

  • Matias Travieso-Diaz

  • Charles Wilkinson

  • Martin Zeigler

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