Haxan (25 page)

Kenneth Mark Hoover is a professional writer living in Dallas, TX. He has sold over sixty short stories and is a member of SFWA and HWA. His fiction has appeared in
Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Strange Horizons,
and many others. You can read more at
kennethmarkhoover.com
, or follow his blog at
kennethmarkhoover.me

“In the Haxan series, Kenneth Mark Hoover is recreating the Old West. Or rather he would be, if the Old West was equal parts
Gunsmoke
and John Brunner’s
Traveler in Black
. . . . Fans of the western and dark fantasy genres alike should give this series a serious look.”

—Richard Parks, author of
Yamada Monogatari:
Demon Hunter
and
To Break the Demon Gate

“. . . Kenneth Mark Hoover’s
Haxan
is a classic pulp western with something coiled and wintry nesting at its heart. . . . The result is pure entertainment, mesmerizing moment by moment, surprisingly moving in retrospect.”

—Gemma Files, author of The Hexslinger Trilogy

“The
Haxan
universe is rich with character, history, and mythology. Every story is a joy to read.”

—Jennifer Brozek

“You know those terrible Z-grade horror movies? Imagine if Sam Peckinpah directed one, and brought his aesthetic of poetic violence to the proceedings. That’s
Haxan
.”

—Nick Mamatas, author of
Love is the Law
and
Bullettime

“Kenneth Mark Hoover’s worlds are real, and the people in them are just as real. It’s only when you hear them speak that you realize that their world is not necessarily the same one you call home . . . but you’ll be so enthralled, you’ll wish you could join them.”

—Duke Pennell, editor of
Frontier
Tales

“Mark Hoover’s writing style and his dark fantasy Western novel combine to create a magic that draws readers inside and keeps them there, allowing no escape until the thrilling conclusion.”

—Matthew Pizzolato, editor of
The Western Online

Haxan
© 2014 by Kenneth Mark Hoover
Cover artwork © 2014 by Erik Mohr
Cover and interior design by © 2014 by Samantha Beiko

All rights reserved.

Published by ChiZine Publications

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

EPub Edition JUNE 2014 ISBN: 978-1-77148-176-2

All rights reserved under all applicable International Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen.

No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

CHIZINE PUBLICATIONS
Toronto, Canada
www.chizinepub.com
[email protected]

Edited by Andrew Wilmot
Proofread by Michael Matheson

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada.

Published with the generous assistance of the Ontario Arts Council.

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