Dawn in Damnation
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
WELCOME TO DAMNATION . . .
where every living soul is as dead as a doornail. Except one.
Buddy Baker is a dead man. Literally. After gunning down more men than Billy the Kid—and being hung by a rope necktie for his crimes—the jolly, fast-drawing fugitive reckoned he’d earned himself a nonstop ticket to hell. Instead, he finds himself in Damnation: a gun-slinging ghost town located somewhere between heaven and hell.
There are no laws in Damnation. Only two simple rules: If you get shot, you go directly to hell. If you stay alive without shooting anyone for one year, you just might get into heaven.
Hardened outlaws pass the time in the saloon playing poker and wagering on who will get sent to hell next, while trying not to anger the town’s reclusive vampire or the quarrelsome werewolves. Buddy winds up in everyone’s crosshairs after swearing to protect a pretty gal who arrives in Damnation pregnant. Her child might end up a warm-blooded meal for the supernatural residents, or it could be a demon spawn on a mission to destroy them all.
“A cast of delightfully distinctive, authentically funny outlaws, butting heads in a lazy afterlife saloon somewhere between heaven and hell define the setting of Casey’s weird western debut.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Fueled by an out-of-this-world imagination, Clark Casey combines vampires, werewolves, the meanest of the mean, and the dumbest of the dumb into a very readable paranormal western.”—John Neely Davis, author of The Chapman Legacy
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A cast of delightfully distinctive, authentically funny outlaws, butting heads in a lazy afterlife saloon somewhere between heaven and hell, define the setting of Casey's weird western debut. Narrator Thomas has light involvement in the story but brings lots of period character; he documents the comings and goings in a place where annoying someone can get you shot and getting shot sends you straight to hell. When newly dead Sally Parker a pregnant woman who committed suicide shows up, she draws the attention of Buddy Baker, the newly anointed top man in town, as well as several of the longtime residents who crave female companionship. Her unborn baby awakens the hunger of both Damnation's reclusive, testy local vampire and the werewolf pack from the saloon down the road. A simple plot drives the character interactions at the heart of Casey's writing, and cantankerous dialogue shines with clever phrasing and unique voices. Though Casey's setting leans heavily on the masculine posturing that's typical of westerns, he is rarely gratuitously mean to his female characters. He establishes Damnation as timeless but eventful, with a mix of regulars and constant new arrivals. There could be many more stories to tell here.
