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Tim Chessher's avatar

Brutal piece in such a good way :) I can feel the violence and the slump of the bounty as a weakened body on the page, and I thought this was well captured. I also think the desert scene was thoroughly imagined here. Glad to read a your take on a gun-slingin' western!

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Ed the Editor's avatar

Thank you! I’ve felt the oppressive desert heat and wind one too many times, I guess. 😂

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Walt Shuler's avatar

This was fantastic. Dead on with The Gunslinger vibes. And I really, really, really liked the anthropomorphism. I was confused/intrigued at first, then I thought I knew, but when you confirmed with the reveal, I was like "Oh hell yeah". Excellent job with not explaining any points and just letting the story roll and reveal what it will reveal. And, with that, I'm going to have to change the setting of my next short story. The Eater & the Eaten was going to be set in 1700s Wales, but, well, after this, it HAS to be a western.

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Ed the Editor's avatar

Thank you! Hearing I had the vibe from another Gunslinger fan feels great. Confusion or at least misdirection was the goal. I wasn’t sure how long it would last or how long it should.

My hope was that they world suspect it near the end and would be satisfied with the payoff.

Hell yeah! Let’s see some more Westerns!

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Ed the Editor's avatar

I also like dropping in points without explanation. Maybe I explain them later, maybe not. That fit the vibe 😁

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RM Greta's avatar

Hot damn! Yeehaw! Giddy up!

This was EXCELLENT! I am so curious about how he's losing his grip on reality. Some great lines in this one and I loved Red showing up! "Keep the reputation" was so bad ass

This did feel dreamy, especially with some of the repetition and the switching between collector and quick hand.

Ahhhh I am so excited that this is part of The Cog! I was going back and forth between Red or Snackbot in a western so it's cool that Red showed up.

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Ed the Editor's avatar

Thanks! I wasn’t sure how the reveal of Quick Hand would land. The misdirection and anthropomorphism’s felt very dream like.

I liked “keep the reputation” a lot too 😂

When Coty and Red were driving around, I imagined a desert. And Red was left alone a while. So he sprung to mind here.

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RM Greta's avatar

“keep the reputation” is an instant quotable line. Meme-worthy.

Red totally sees himself as the hero too. It was all a really good lead-up. It triggered my sense of “something’s off” and then lead further in right on time.

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