El Mosaico, Vol. 1: Scarred Souls

By Michael Panush

Clayton Cane was made – not born – in the Civil War.

A Confederate plantation owner-turned-madman stitched pieces from a dozen different body parts together and then used Voodoo magic, depraved science and arcane power to bring the patchwork soldier to life – and as Union river cruisers shelled the plantation, the patchwork man escaped and ran into the swamp.

Since then, Clayton Cane has been traveling the brutal frontier of the American West, living by the gun as the bounty hunter known and feared by his scarred face and the nickname El Mosaico.

Cane is a brutal gunslinger, bounty hunter, mercenary and soldier of fortune and his adventures bring him into contact with a West as wild and monstrous as he is. From the monster-haunted bayous to the foggy streets of Victorian London, Cane remains a violent force trying his best to capture his target and survive. With only his two revolvers at his side, he takes on cannibal cultists, vengeful ghosts, the living dead and more bizarre and terrible foes – all in the name of getting his bounty.

But is there more to Clayton Cane than blood and gun smoke?

Throughout his journey along the trail of the bounty hunter, he begins to wonder if he is more than just a monster created to kill. And as he encounters other odd and haunted individuals along his travels, Cane begins to wish that he could change. As he struggles to make peace with his own nature, Cane finds himself on the road to a town called Hellfire – and a showdown with his own creator.

Only one thing is certain – there will be blood spilled by the end.

Included in Anthology:

1. Bayou Bloodshed: A wealthy Southern plantation-owner hires Cane to find a servant of his, who escaped to the muddy island of Le Croix, deep in swampy bayou country. Cane soon discovers that the residents of Le Croix are rival gangs of monsters – but the man who hired him may be worse still.
2. Red Blades in Whitechapel: Cane is hired to uncover a blood-crazed killer murdering his way though Victorian London. Cane joins up with a fiery female Fenian and discovers a dark conspiracy leading to the coal-black heart of London.
3. Dead Man’s Band: Cane is transporting notorious outlaw occultist Professor Montague Black through the woods of the Ozarks when the professor’s gang arrives to rescue their master – even if though they’re already dead.
4. Monster Men of Malachite Flats: Traveling snake oil salesman Orestes Coyle angers powerful mad scientist Dr. Vitus Vulcher. When the mad scientist kidnaps Coyle’s young nephew Maxwell, the boy’s only hope is the bounty hunter Clayton Cane.
5. Tomb of Kings: in a war torn Sudan, Clayton Cane is hired to protect a British archaeological expedition from native rebels. But there is evil lurking in the excavation and soon the natives are the least of Cane’s worries.
6. Ghost Dances: An old Lakota shaman flees his massacred village and Cane is hired to stop him before he opens a passage to the world of the dead. Cane finds himself on a bloody trail, to a showdown with the shaman that is far from what he expects.
7. Tarantula: Cane is forced to ride with a bellicose Mexican bandit named Tarantula after a remorseless outlaw in search of an ancient Aztec treasure. But Cane discovers something else on his hunt, which he thought impossible – a friend and counterpart in Tarantula.
8. Valiant Dead: Cane is hired by a Scandinavian folklore professor to stop a crazed cult which has stolen an artifact that may bring about Ragnorak — the end of the world. But another hunter is after the artifact, an ageless Viking warrior with a deep connection to Clayton Cane.

Web Reviews

“This is a crazy, Weird West serial collection of shorts stories. It’s a wild ride if you love cross genre work.” ~James Wymore @ Amazon()