Terror at Tierra de Cobre by Michael Merriam
I would like to thank Queen of Swords press for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Queen of Swords Press
Published – Out Now
Price- £7.99 paperback £2.95 Kindle eBook
An ancient evil has awakened... Strong women, ancient magic and the walking dead make for a heady mix. In Michael Merriam's tale, seven women are called to protect a small mining town in the New Mexico Territory, Tierra De Cobre, against an evil that has killed or stolen the town's men and is twisting the souls of the townswomen. The Sihuanaba is part siren, part shapeshifter, possessed of the body of a beautiful woman, her face a horse's skull with flaming eyes. Once she is freed from her copper prison in the mine, she feeds off the miners to regain her strength, then consumes or twists all the men who come to rescue them. Maria Garcia, recently widowed and quietly fierce, has the answer: hire women to fight the monster. And they do. Taking the classic Western "The Magnificent Seven" as a jumping off point, the town's defenders are assembled, all women from wildly different backgrounds, united by one mission: to defend the town and defeat the Sihuanaba. All the odds are against them, the price of failure is death or worse and all they have is each other.
The weird western is an interesting fantastical offshoot of the tales of the American West. The ideas of frontiers being places on the edge allows for stories where the supernatural can run free as with many a folktale found across the grove but this time with guns. Unlike the traditional western it also can sometimes avoid the problematical colonisation issues the classic westerns have created especially as modern writers start to play with the genre. One new example of this is Michael Merriam’s new novella Terror at Tierra de Cobre which tells a tale of a small town under a remote demonic threat and seven women are key to the world being saved.
Tierra De Cobre is a small mining town in the New Mexico territory but the local copper mine has set in motion a chain of events that has stolen the town’s miners ;and the rescue team sent to investigate and now the few surviving local men are being called to the mine never to be seen again. The women of the town are further unsettled as the men are coming back but as walking corpses. Three of the townswomen feel they need armed backup. By luck they meet Elizabeth and her partner Ophelia who regularly deal with the supernatural as well as armed battles. But this duo know more are needed and so a group of skilled women are recruited but the horror lurking in the wilderness is far more dangerous than anyone realised.
Yes, seven is a magic number and of course for westerns also has a magnificent sound to it. Merriam carries a small echo of this tale but it’s not a simple genderflip. For instance the focus of much of the tale is on a Mexican woman named Maria taking the initiative and she portrayed as a stronger character than some of the other townswomen we meet. Then we get former nun Elizabeth and her lover Ophelia a Back woman skilled with guns. For them magic is indeed real…as are werewolves… and this case is interesting and could pay well. We then get the build up of a wider team of people either skilled in guns or magic and this also includes a Native American woman named Kira who also knows more about this danger and how to stop it. They’re all very interesting -my only quibble with the tale is I’d had liked a little more time to get to know this group and see their skills a little more before the action really heats up; but you do end up caring a lot about their fates.
Merriam has a propulsive style moving from action sequence to action sequence. We get classic scenes such as high street duels but also zombie attacks and impressively the bigger terror behind it all is smart. It reacts to what the crew do and raises the threat. What soon becomes apparent is as a standalone the gang is not secure for the future and we soon realise that anyone can meet their end. That ramps up the danger and the death count in interesting ways to build up the drama.
Terror at Tierra de Cobre is a few action packed take with inventive characters and doesn’t feel dated at all. A lot of fun and definitely recommended!
