Just a thought I'm playing with at the moment. Thought I'd see what the consensus was. How do you feel about post apocalyptic cowboys?
It more seen in videogames than novels I believe, but if you want some setting Fallout or games like this could undoubtedly provide you with all the world-building you need. (Mutated animals herds?) Just try, there is no reason it shouldn't work. Do remember however that 'duels' between cowboys in early US were far more common in literature than in History.
Hi, Post apocalyptic westerns? It's been done well - The Postman by David Brin - a truly great read and in essence a western. And also not so well - that film staring Mark Hamill - Slipstream. I think the one thing you always have to avoid if your go down this route is the clash of genres. If you've ever seen Joss Whedon's firefly you'll understand what I mean. Brilliant show, fantastic characterization and plot. But the sheer clash between being in space on space ships etc and pulling out six shooters and wearing civil war uniforms and of course the damned dialogue kept hitting me between the eyes every time. It was just so wrong. Keep the themes and plots of the westerns, but always remember it's is not the wild west of the 1870's or so. Cheers, Greg.
Hi, Post apocalyptic westerns? It's been done well - The Postman by David Brin - a truly great read and in essence a western. And also not so well - that film staring Mark Hamill - Slipstream. I think the one thing you always have to avoid if your go down this route is the clash of genres. If you've ever seen Joss Whedon's firefly you'll understand what I mean. Brilliant show, fantastic characterization and plot. But the sheer clash between being in space on space ships etc and pulling out six shooters and wearing civil war uniforms and of course the damned dialogue kept hitting me between the eyes every time. It was just so wrong. Keep the themes and plots of the westerns, but always remember it's is not the wild west of the 1870's or so. Cheers, Greg.
Mad Maxx. Waterworld. The Postman. In one way or another, they are "Westerns". My book was one ;-) Although Jed had a mule, rather than a horse, in book two, he goes out to get horses. It worked, in my mind, anyway.
The new TV show Defiance is another good example. I didn't find the seeming anachronisms on Firefly jarring at all. All of the characters grew up on planets with distinct cultures, levels of technology, and dialect differences. Of course they would take those differences into space with them. It seems reasonable that a poor colony world might still use six-shooters as low cost, easy to make and repair weapons, while a more established world with a more advanced industrial base might have laser or energy bolt weapons. Capt. Mal would use the weapon he is most comfortable with. It's very likely that that far in the future English would be unrecognizable to us, and the dialect spoken on a rich "big city" planet might be very different from the one spoken on a frontier colony world, much like the difference between an Alabama trailer park, a street corner in Queens, and the halls of the British Parliament. It seems reasonable to use our modern linguistic quirks to illustrate the character's diverse backgrounds, rather than trying to invent linguistic styles that wouldn't have the same connotations to the viewers, and might make those characters harder to relate to. Same argument goes for clothes. The clothes that were practical for cowboys and farmers on Earth would be just as practical for agrarian colonists on other worlds.
Post-apocalyptic worlds draw a lot from westerns - After all, that's what the wild-west was. A vast, lawless land. I think I get what you mean though; wanderers wearing dusters, carrying six-shooters, smokin' cigars, poker, whiskey and shoot-outs at high-noon. I've done a lot of 2d artwork working in this theme, though they were characters within a group, within a world, not the actual world itself. Personally I think it works brilliantly, but I like westerns and really dig the aesthetic.
its certainly not a bad idea, fusing westerns with other genres has been done (take a look at Knights Of Cyodonia by Muse, that fuses western with sci-fi)
I have no problem with it. Large parts of Fallout New Vegas are "Western" influenced and I played that for over 580 hours and loved every second.
Its an interesting world to say the least. So many of the good examples have been used, Mad Maxx, Gunslinger, Postman, and all of these were just great. There is a great vib to that setting. You have survival, lawlessness, isolation depending etc. . . It can work wonders on the silver screen and in story as well.
Yee-haw. Time to saddle up and go forth, into that radioactive sunset. It could work, but when was the apocalypse, and how much is left in the apocalypse?
As a person that likes science fiction books but generally hates science fiction shows and movies but ranked Firefly a 10/10 and Serenity a 9/10, I might just have to beat you with Jayne's rain stick.
I love apocalyptic stories, I've written some short pieces myself and hope to turn them into something more one day. Wether or not the western genre will work is up to you and your writing. I know someone said its been done before but really, everything's been done before! A billion zombie movies and we still want more. So if you do decide to do it, go for it with gusto and feel free to contact me if you want any info about horses. (There will be horse's, right?)
I think it would be just fine if written correctly. Like anything else it's all about how it's written. I've seen the fusion of the two work just fine together several times before. So if you really want to do it then go for it!
What would an end-of-the-world scenario be without an obscure Olestra "anal leakage" reference? Yuck!
It is a fusion that could work quite well. Although it is not a piece of literature, the Undead Nightmare expansion for Red Dead Redemption proved quite successful. Admittedly I have only played it briefly but it was quite appealing and I do love zombies even with the multitude of movies and books about them.
That's a great history for the people " Do you remember how the world got this bad in the first place? You dont want to know son!"
