I’m not sure how I missed this one when it came out last fall. Fred Blosser is an old friend, a fan and scholar of Robert E. Howard, and a fine writer. And that title! Well, that’s just pure pulp goodness and I am always the target audience for that.
Howard’s novella “The Vultures of Wahpeton” is one of my top three favorite stories
by him. (The other two are “Beyond the Black River” and “Wild Water”, in case
anyone is interested.) The protagonist of “The Vultures of Wahpeton” is
gunfighting Texan Steve Corcoran. The protagonist of “Sixgun Vixens of the
Terror Trail” is gunfighting Texan Steve Cochran. At least one of the
characters in this story believes them to be one and the same, that Cochran is
simply the notorious Steve Corcoran going by another name. Blosser doesn’t
resolve that one way or the other, but I’d say the evidence is pretty strong
that Cochran is really Corcoran.
But it doesn’t really matter. Cochran and a companion, a Papago Indian, set out
into the harsh landscape of Arizona in search of a fortune in silver that’s
supposed to be hidden in a lost and abandoned mission where a massacre took
place a couple of hundred years earlier. They run into trouble almost right
away, an ambush that proves deadly. Then things are complicated by the arrival
of two beautiful young women who hate each other but are attracted to Cochran—or
maybe they just want to get their hands on that silver, too.
Pursued by Apaches and bandits, Cochran finally arrives at the so-called Black
Mission, only to discover another surprise waiting for him there, and this is
the most dangerous and strangest of all. It’s fitting that a story written
mostly in homage to Robert E. Howard would have a little H.P. Lovecraft influence,
too.
Blosser really nails the pulpish tone of this story with its fast pace,
frequent gritty action, and a few spicy scenes with the so-called sixgun
vixens. It’s just great fun from start to finish. Then, as a bonus for REH
fans, Blosser wraps things up with an entertaining essay about Howard’s Western
fiction. If you’re a Howard fan or just enjoy a fine Western adventure yarn, I
give “Sixgun Vixens of the Terror Trail” a high recommendation. It’s available
on Amazon in e-book and trade paperback editions.
