The Unkillable Frank Lightning - Softcover

Josh Rountree

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1616964367 ISBN 13: 9781616964368

Publisher: Tachyon Publications, 2025

Synopsis

In his first novel, Texan author Josh Rountree (The Legend of Charlie Fish) has created a devastating Frankenstein-inspired tale set in the Wild West. With equal parts Cormac McCarthy, Mary Shelley, and Stephen Graham Jones, Rountree creates a work of historical horror that deftly navigates the terrible aftermath of love and death.

Catherine Coldbridge is a complicated woman: A doctor, an occultist, and, briefly, a widow. In 1879, Private Frank Humble, Catherine's husband, was killed in a Sioux attack. Consumed by grief, she used her formidable skills to resurrect him. But Frank lost his soul after the reanimation, and disappeared after a killing spree. Unable to face her failure and its murderous consequences, Catherine fled to grieve.

Twenty-five years later, Catherine has decided she must make things right. She travels back to Texas with a pair of hired killers ready to destroy Frank. But Frank has remade himself as the Unkillable Frank Lightning, traveling with the Wild West Show. Reaching for a last chance at redemption, Frank and Catherine are at an impasse. As time runs out, their final choices may result in considerable bloodshed.

'With THE UNKILLABLE FRANK LIGHTNING, Rountree solidifies himself as not only one of the best writers working today, but makes the case for being the best Western writer of our present century.' - C. S. Humble, author of That Light Sublime trilogy.

About this title

About the Author

Josh Rountree is a novelist and short story writer who writes across multiple genres, and focuses mostly on horror and dark fantasy. His novel, The Legend of Charlie Fish, released by Tachyon Publications to wide acclaim in 2023, selected for the Locus Recommended Reading List and named one of Los Angeles Public Library's best books of the year. More than seventy of Rountree's short stories have been published in a variety of venues, including The Deadlands, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Bourbon Penn, Realms of Fantasy, PseudoPod, Weird Horror, and The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror. Several collections of his short fiction have been published, most recently, Death Aesthetic. Rountree lives in the greater Austin, Texas, metropolitan area with his lovely wife of many years and a pair of half-feral dogs who command his obedience.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tachyon Publications
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1616964367
• ISBN 13: 9781616964368
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240