Today’s topic comes from QSFer Cynthia Ward: “LGBT Weird Westerns? I would think Weird Western fantasies of any subgenre would cover a lot of WW territory? (supernatural horror, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, magic realism, occult, high fantasy, steampunk fantasy, fantastic bizarro, fantastique, fairytale, fantasy surrealism, etc).”
OK, I’m game. One of my favorite underrated sci fi movies of the last ten years was Cowboys and Aliens. I was hooked from the moment I heard the titles, and I may have been the only one, but I thought the movie was awesome.
Then, of course, there’s Firefly, the ultimate Western in space, and of course, Star Wars has its own Western aspects.
But then again, I’m a fan of genre mixing – taking bits and pieces of various genres and merging them together into a frankenstein mess, like my recent werewolves and spaceman story. So I may not be very objective here.
So my questions to you today – how would you take the traditional western and make it weird? Of course, steampunk is one way to go. But how about some more out-there ideas, with an LGBT twist? And have you read anything that does just that? As always, watch out for the plot bunnies underfoot.