Coyote Cal

Tales from the Weird West

By: Milo James Fowler

Narrated by: Rich Brennan

There's trouble on the range.

In these thrilling tales from yesteryear, Coyote Cal and his trusty sidekick Big Yap encounter a wizard able to change his shape at will, a scheming witch, a confused zombie, la chupacabra grande, bloodthirsty vampyres, and other sordid fiends. Our heroes will have to rely on their wits, skills, and loads of hot lead to ensure justice prevails.

©2014 Milo James Fowler (P)2023 Milo James Fowler

supernatural western short stories

Coyote Cal: Tales from the Weird West is a collection of short stories all featuring the titular Coyote Cal.

Each story starts out like a normal Western, with bandits and six shooters, but they end with a supernatural twist. This twist is pretty predictable to those who know their monster lore. The fun though is watching Cal and his sidekick figure it out.

Each story is a fun pulp adventure, but I would have preferred them in chronological order rather than publication order.

The narrator was a fine reader, but I found the sound effects he used a bit distracting. If the text says they are on a horse I don't need to hear the clopping of hooves.

Blazing Saddles meets Twilight Zone!

Blazing Saddles meets Twilight Zone! I enjoyed another AUDIO narration, this time of a delightful set of short stories based on all your favorite cowboy heroes plus sidekicks with the added twist of witches, werewolves and other paranormal creatures from the beyond--Wild West morphing into Weird West. Laugh-out-loud funny, they are captivatingly read with a twang, some excellent characterizations and . . . interesting . . . pronunciations of some of the vocabulary. Add a sound track worthy of a Road Runner cartoon and plan to enjoy the highly addictive and delicious sense of humor!

Pulp Fiction Fun

Coyote Cal is a perfect blend of horror and humor. If you grew up watching reruns of The Lone Ranger and The Cisco Kid, Coyote Cal was written for you. Coyote Cal and his sidekick Big Yap battle one supernatural enemy after another saving the hapless citizens from horrible fates at the hands of wizards, witches, werewolves, vampires, and other monsters. The series is laughably self-aware. Big Yap frequently reminds us and all the characters that Coyote Cal is the hero of these tales. Both Cal and Yap lament the passage of the Old West into the Weird West, but ride into the new landscape without fear. In true hero fashion, Cal accepts no monetary reward for his good deeds--a sore point with Yap--but does accept a kiss or two from grateful damsels. Coyote Cal is pulp fiction fun at its best.

The audio version of the tales include various sound effects which give the narration the feel of a vintage radio program.

Even heroes gotta eat.

Deliciously satirical rendering of the Weird West, which has taken over from the Wild, whilst still retaining all the basic hallmarks: the horse riding attractive sharp shooting hero and his slightly less glamorous sidekick, the madcap posse gangs, bounty hunters, bars and brothels and lots of desert. But in the Weird West there are a few added extras.

The book comprises several stories of young Coyote Cal and his sidekick, Big Yap (think the Lone Ranger and Tonto, but with Tonto older and the Ranger little more than a kid), including a great story about how the met and became a team. All of the stories are fun but made superb in this audio production by the excellent lagubrious narration of Rick Brennan, who still somehow manages to infuse a smile into every word as he tells the stories and individually voices each character. And he has to do all of this, with perfect pacing and clarity, over a continuous comic soundtrack background throughout the entire book. Amazing.

The combination of story, soundtrack and narration make this a comedic book not to be missed - even if, like me, the listener is not a cowboy genre fan. Believe me, this is so much more.

A comedy western mixed with comedy horror

Coyote Cal reminds me of a cross between an old western and The Night Gallery. the storyline is full of one liners and nicely written. The narrator Rich Brennan is incredibly talented with all the different voices. I highly recommend this book to anyone over the age of 16.

One of the quirkiest and funniest book that ever l

I think the first story was my favorite, but then again it was the first story when I realized what a great book I had got. Do you stories are so quirky and so funny and sometimes so unexpected. I highly recommend these books if you love westerns and funny you’ll love this book. They have every trope from the paranormal Genre in the western genre. I can’t recommend this book enough I loved it!

intriguing

The weird west was an apt name. Imagine the old west on psychotropics in a supernatural world snd you've got it!! Fast paced and humorous. Bring your fantasies with you as you listen. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a good job of bringing it to life.

Solid 3-1/2 - 4 stars

The good:
1) I enjoyed the stories, some more than others - which is not at all uncommon in collections. It's written very much in a serialized pulp fiction style. I could envision these tales being published in a chapter-a-month format ("How's our hero going to get out of this fix? Find out next month!") -- which is not a knock against them, as that's how Sherlock Holmes was originally published. Hero + sidekick + bad guys + unnatural creatures + (often) a beautiful woman = entertainment.
2) It's weird west. How could I not enjoy that? Even bad weird west is still good IMHO, and these are *not* bad tales.
3) The narrator's voice is pleasant and he speaks clearly.

The bad:
1) There are a few bits that are somewhat trite, even for the genre. However, YMMV, as the saying goes.
2) Not-quite-fourth-wall-breaking self-referential comments. ("He's the hero.") If you're going to break that wall, go full-on Deadpool.
3) I really wanted to hand the narrator a dictionary, as there are more than a few common words he mispronounced (like "verdant" and "glower"). And the way he read, I could almost see the line breaks in sentences within paragraphs.

A collection of strange, silly, and weird Western stories

Coyote Cal is a collection of strange and silly Western adventures with the titular hero and his faithful sidekick. The pair are a bit of a parody of Western heroes like the Lone Ranger. The stories throw in some supernatural goings on, because this is the weird West after all.

The narrator brings out the humor and fun of the stories.

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Not for me.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

If you like the old 1950 and 1960 tv cowboy shows and a blending of paranormal, then this is the book/audio book for you!

Would you ever listen to anything by Milo James Fowler again?

Maybe. He was ok, but the loud music included was very distracting and then just became annoying.

Any additional comments?

There were some funny parts. It just wasn't my cup of tea. If you go into it expecting Hopalong Cassidy meets Mr. Werewolf, you might really enjoy it.