Portlandtown
A Tale of the Oregon Wyldes
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Welcome to Portlandtown, where no secret is safe---not even those buried beneath six feet of Oregon mud.
Joseph Wylde isn't afraid of the past, but he knows some truths are better left unspoken. When his father-in-law's grave-digging awakens more than just ghosts, Joseph invites him into their home hoping that a booming metropolis and two curious grandtwins will be enough to keep the former marshal out of trouble. Unfortunately, the old man's past soon follows, unleashing a terrible storm on a city already knee deep in floodwaters. As the dead mysteriously begin to rise, the Wyldes must find the truth before an unspeakable evil can spread across the West and beyond.
Rob DeBorde's Portlandtown is a supernatural western, a fantastic blend of horror, magic, and zombies sure to excite even the most demanding genre fan.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cookbook author DeBorde's suspenseful and energetic fiction debut, a horror western set in a vividly depicted 1887 Pacific Northwest, revitalizes pulp tropes with evocative imagery and a character-driven story. After retired marshal Jim Kleberg is discovered digging up graves in search of a man whose name he has forgotten, he reluctantly goes to Portland, Ore., to live with his daughter, Katie, who has a talent for hiding; his son-in-law, Joseph, a blind man with otherworldly senses; and their two clever children. Meanwhile, local outcast Henry Macke resurrects the corpse of the "Hanged Man" as a zombie who goes searching for a demonic gun and vengeance against the befuddled Jim. Soon the marshal's family is battling an onslaught of zombies with the help of Faustian antihero Andre Labeau, an occultist seeking redemption. Deborde crafts an exhilarating hybrid of grit, guts, dusty cowpokes, and rotting flesh, honoring genre conventions without succumbing to clich and anchoring black magic in realistic contexts of politics and family dynamics. The only flaw is a "surprise" ending that screams for sequels.