Published: March 09, 2011
Words: 21,358 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781452455372

Short description

Horror At Cold Springs is a steampunk novella that takes you by train into the heart of the Midwest plains, where the town of Cold Springs lies empty. Once it arrives, even the train refuses to budge. What sinister forces have caused the town's evacuation? And will the Colt revolvers be enough for the intrepid little group to engage the evils that lurk within it?

Extended description

Michael Merriam's steampunk novelette begins with a bunch of Englishmen at a steam fair in New York City and takes the reader on a journey west toward California. Story notables include the Duke of Wellington, several British Lords, and a spymaster . . . but not everyone arrives alive, courtesy of the monstrosity they encounter.

Tags

science fiction, steampunk, michael merriam, sams dot publsihing

Available ebook reading formats

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Reviews

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Review by: Voice Spider on Sep. 19, 2012 :
Steampunk, weird western, and horror. Three things that when combined can create amazing worlds and stories.

Merriam has created a very interesting world for this piece of fiction. Taking what starts off as a steampunk piece, he slowly adds other parts into it with a nice level of skill that allows for all the pieces to blend rather than compete with each other.

The characters are well done, each of their voices are fairly unique, as are their opinions and reactions to the events that take place. The way that various supernatural elements are brought into the story are just enough that they play a part yet are not overwhelming. This is where Merriam succeeds beautifully, in their characters. They draw you in, and they leave you wanting more stories from them.

That said, the characters are also one of the largest flaws for this tale. Written in first person, Merriam has decided to do it from everyone's point of view. This leads to jumping from one character to another to another to another. It leads to disorientation as the reader is left to puzzle out who's head they are in after each jump until some clue is given. This would have been fine had the story been from two people's point of view. But it's not. It's from far more. It bods the tale down and ruins what is overall an amazing tale.

I really enjoyed Merriam's story. I can't wait to see more of the same characters and their lives beyond what happened at Cold Springs. I think the story contained the right element of horror to everything else, and overall I recommend this to anyone who is interested in steampunk or weird west fiction.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Byron Paul on Jan. 03, 2012 :
decent horror. steampunkish, but still more 'horror' at heart and also weird-western
(reviewed long after purchase)

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