"For a Few Souls More" Book Review

The first of the infamous series of Splatter Westerns from Death’s Head Press, Wile E. Young’s The Magpie Coffin introduced readers to Salem Covington, the Black Magpie. A dark-souled gunslinger with a fulfilled vengeance, Salem’s life changes in this sequel when he meets a young outlaw named Amaya. Hunted by a group of riders who answer to one Granger Hyde, Amaya thrusts Salem into the most dangerous hunt of his life.

Young’s writing is a brutal sort of poetry. The West he writes of is a harsh place where life is cheap and death comes easy. To survive, let alone thrive, one must make themselves as hard a person as the world they inhabit. Salem’s head is not always a pleasant place to inhabit. He is not a monster save for necessity, but he holds human life as cheap and does not hesitate to kill when he must. He is a brutal man, tempered by a harsh life and deserving of his name Black Magpie.

The novel proceeds like an eerie rhapsody, a dark fever dream reminiscent of Spaghetti and Acid westerns. Young writes by way of High Plains Drifter as directed by Lucio Fulci, where dark specters prowl the land and darker rituals threaten to envelop his heroes. Young knows exactly when to ramp up the stakes and insert knuckle-biting action. But he also knows when to let the novel breathe and allow quieter scenes to speak for themselves.

For a Few Souls More is a masterclass on how to write a horror western. When the Black Magpie rides, hell and disaster follow with him. But when it’s this compelling, the reader cannot help but saddle up and go along for the ride.