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)2026 Milo James Fowler

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!

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.

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.