Beneath Ceaseless Skies #399, January 25, 2024

“The Angel Azrael and the Dead Man’s Hand” by Peter Darbyshire

“A Return to the Fragrant Mountain” by Jonathan Louis Duckworth

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

Two stories featuring characters who wander through fantasy worlds with guns appear in this issue.

“The Angel Azrael and the Dead Man’s Hand” by Peter Darbyshire is one of a series of stories about a fallen angel riding a zombie horse through a setting resembling a supernatural version of the Old West. In this adventure, he comes across a town in which the inhabitants are trapped unless they can beat a poker player who always wins. Once they run out of personal items to wager, they give up their lives. The angel finds out that not everything is as it seems.

The story perfectly captures the mood of the Weird West. Unlike some tales in the series, which often outdid spaghetti Westerns in their level of violence, this one features more investigation and less gunplay. There is, however, a climax that could have come straight out of a horror movie. Readers may find this bloody conclusion less effective than the intriguing setup.

In “A Return to the Fragrant Mountain” by Jonathan Louis Duckworth, a warrior who uses a special gun hires a woman from her brother as his companion. The woman has a partial twin sister in her body. Because of this, she also has the unwanted power to kill with her voice. Having accidentally slain her parents, she speaks only through a magical paper bird. The warrior intends to use her in a way that threatens her life, but changes his mind.

This oversimplified synopsis makes it clear that the story has a great deal of fantasy content. For example, I have not mentioned that fact that sister and brother can communicate over long distances by drawing images in sand. The generous amount of magic found in the plot holds the reader’s interest. The warrior’s actions seem inconsistent, even for a complex character. I also found it difficult to believe that the woman would not use her deadly power, no matter how much she hates it, when she faces the probability of a particularly horrible death.

Victoria Silverwolf has never touched a firearm.