The Origins of a Frankenstein Cowboy

Hello there, I'm Michael Panush and my new book, El Mosaico, Volume 3: Hellfire, just came out from Curiosity Quills. Even though it's the third volume of El Mosaico stories, I wrote it to be completely stand-alone. The first two are anthologies of short stories, but this one is a novel with a few bonus short as well. It's a Weird Western tale about the strange Texas town of Hellfire, Texas, with plenty of gunfights, monsters, and the oncoming force of modernization arriving on the frontier. I'd like to talk about the main character of these books, El Mosaico himself – the scarred gunslinger Clayton Cane. When I'm talking about El Mosaico, I always start with Cane, and he's what gets the most attention. The reason for that is simple – Clayton Cane is a Frankenstein Cowboy, a Wild West gunslinger who was sewn together from the bodies of dead men and animated with dark magic. 

That's a fun elevator pitch, but the truth behind Cane is more complex. He was created during the Civil War by a mad Confederate doctor eager to make more soldiers for the South. The doctor used pieces of bodies from Union and Confederate soldiers, sewed them together, and added some zombie Voodoo and Germanic magic to give the patchwork creation life. But before he could make Cane a loyal soldier of the Confederate States of America, a Union cannon volley struck the plantation house, and Cane escaped into the swamps. Since then, he's traveled the world as a bounty hunter, gunslinger, and soldier of fortune. War is ingrained into his bones and he can't imagine another life – until he finally decides to settle down as sheriff of Hellfire. His scarred face has given him the nickname of El Mosaico.  

I actually came up with Cane in a sort of round-about way. I first started with another character – a soldier in WWII, who had been created from the pieces of dead paratroopers, sewn together by Nazi mad scientists, who would later become an occult detective in 1950s LA. Nazis, mad science, and the occult are a peanut butter and chocolate situation, and the Frankenstein story even has its basis in Germany, so it seemed a natural fit. Then I wondered if other patchwork men had been built in such a way, like one during the era of the Old West, and Clayton Cane was born. And while I worked on Cane, I continued to think of other patchwork warriors appearing throughout history. I even gave them a name – the Einherjer, taken from the dead warriors of Norse myth. I have a Viking Einherjer show up in the first book of El Mosaico stories, and Hellfire includes a novella about Cane becoming the mentor for a Cold War-Era Einherjer who is a Mexican luchador, or masked wrestler. Other Einherjer appear throughout the remaining books, but I don't want to spoil them now. 

Cane has succeeded because, even though he's fantastic, he's rooted in real world concerns. He's built to be a soldier, a killer, and has trouble trying to live in a peaceful world. That's a problem that all veterans have, after the wars are over and they return home. After all, in the American West, many Civil War veterans went west and lived by the gun as lawmen and outlaws. Cane struggles with his own character, trying to abandon his past and forge something better – even as violence surrounds him. That's a common theme in many Western stories, including the Clint Eastwood classic Unforgiven,  I mix it with another major element in Hellfire – capitalism and modernization coming against Cane in the form of a powerful corporation called the Noble Combine. 

Overall, I think Hellfire is a fun Western story, and even though it can be summed up as Cowboy Frankenstein, it's got some deep themes that resonate with a violent and legendary part of American history. I do hope you check it out. 

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Summary: 

Hellfire, Texas is a strange town that needs a strange sheriff. Standing in the shadow of Silver Mesa, an otherworldly chunk of gleaming rock with strange properties, Hellfire is a magnet for trouble and danger. 

Clayton Cane–a patchwork man assembled from the bodies of dead soldiers and brought to life with dark magic–may be the perfect gunslinger to wear the town sheriff's badge. After years of working as the violent bounty hunter known as El Mosaico, Cane would like nothing more than to settle down and begin a new life as Hellfire’s stalwart peacekeeper.

But, as Cane soon discovers, being a sheriff has its own challenges. He’s got to deal with caterwauling temperance marchers, an inquisitive newspaperman and Nelly Needles, his fiery, sharp-tongued new deputy. And something worse is coming to Hellfire–a foe more terrible than any outlaw or monster that Cane has battled in the past: industry, commerce and modernization. 

Powerful business tycoon Gaspar Noble wants Silver Mesa–and the town of Hellfire–for himself. Cane decides to stand against him, in a battle that may be more than Hellfire–and Clayton Cane–can possibly bear.

 My website: panusher

Hellfire is available at the Amazon.com Kindle Store