The year is 1875 and outlaw Salem Covington has spent the last twenty years collecting stories, possessions, and lives. Nicknamed “The Black Magpie” for his exploits during the war, Salem has carved a bloody trail across the western territories. Informed that his mentor, Comanche shaman Dead Bear, has been murdered. Salem vows vengeance on the perpetrators. Enlisting the help of an army scout and … and preserving the body of his mentor in a specially made coffin, he sets out in pursuit. But the choices of Salem’s past that earned him the moniker “Black Magpie” are riding hard behind him and the only weapon that can kill him might not be as far away as he thinks.
The Magpie Coffin is an unrelenting tale of revenge, with precise brutality and extreme violence.
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This is a great novel from an author demonstrating his skills as a storyteller early in his publishing career. It leans into the genre of Wild West shoot-em-ups and the unflinching and bombastic style of really well-written extreme horror and splatterpunk. It is a great western, a great supernatural novel, and great horror. Wile E. Young creates characters that have dimensions in a world with grit, dripping in style.
I enjoyed this story, the character of Salem Covington, his sidekick Jake and the story behind the two guns! This is a good one!
On the back cover blurb of this book, it says, “The Magpie Coffin is an unrelenting tale of revenge, with precise brutality and extreme violence.” Well… I was sold!
The Magpie Coffin by Wile E. Young was exactly that; it was brutal and had some very extreme violence that had me cringing from time to time… But it also had a lot of heart!
When the story begins, we meet our main character, Salem Covington, who had been spending the evening with a woman. He decides to head to a saloon and once inside, discovers that there is a group celebrating the end of the Indian Wars. Once Mr. Covington learns that they had killed an old “medicine man,” the bullets begin to fly.
From that moment on, Mr. Covington is determined to get his revenge on the people that killed his teacher. No matter the cost.
Phew, what a bang to start with! It was all pretty calm, and then suddenly Mr. Young hits us with: “The bullet had found his eye, blood pouring from the liquefied remains of his socket.” And then we were off and running!
This tale was written so wonderfully! The storyline and the pacing were laid out perfectly. It wasn’t full-on action the whole time, but there sure was plenty of it! The action scenes played out like a movie in my head, while the violence had me wanting to read while peeking through my fingers. But don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved that the violent scenes had me feeling a bit feeble!
The violence here was just so vivid. There are some scenes that I know I won’t be forgetting about any time soon. Like the rattlesnake scene for example. Ugh, that gives me a pit in my stomach just thinking about it!
I also greatly appreciated the breaths of fresh air that were the scenes where we got to know the characters a bit more. Salem Covington and Jake Howe are two characters that I loved both as individuals and as an unlikely duo. It was so fun to watch their relationship transform over time.
Salem Covington sure wasn’t a force to reckon with! I loved how intense and brutal he was. It was clear from the start that he wasn’t someone that you wanted to irk and wind up with his gun pointed your way. And while you teeter on the fence of being with Mr. Covington or afraid of him while reading, I guarantee you will be excited when some nasty souls meet their end when they cross paths with The Black Magpie.
There was one more element in this novel that I was so excited to see play out. It was super interesting and added a whole other layer to both the character development and the story overall! But, if you haven’t read this one yet, I’ll leave that discovery for you! If you have read this, then you know what I’m taking about.
Very Gore. Much cowboy. Fun.
This story sets the stage for what is bound to be a wildly successful endeavour in the horror community. Wile E. Young penned a terrifyingly twisted revenge story set in a gritty American wild west where terrible men and women thrive. I recommend this novel for anyone with a hankering for supernatural horror. Now, quite your caterwauling and grab yourself a copy of volume one in this splatter western series!
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The “Magpie Coffin”, A Splatter Western, by Wile E. Young
5-Stars
The “Magpie Coffin” by Wile E. Young is the first splatter western I’ve ever read. I was impressed with how easy it pulled me in despite the gore and death. I found myself clinging at times while I read but I loved it. This author does an amazing job at detailing each scene and putting you in Salem’s boots. I lived riding along with him and Jake as they sought to revenge Dead Bears murder.
The storyline was fluid and easy to follow. I loved how creative the author was with the various methods used to avenge Salem’s teacher. Revenge, violence, and sending souls on to hell. Excellent 5-star read that I highly recommend. I can’t wait to read more from this collection and author in the future.
Author Wile E. Young spins an ole western yarn about a man named Salem Covington who is seeking revenge on a handful of heathen outlaws that brutally murdered his teacher, a spiritual shaman. Equipped with a mysterious gun, a hired hand, mystical trinkets and human flesh offerings capable of bringing the darkness and what’s within, the Black Magpie sets out on a gruesome trail of revenge and retribution.
Death’s Head Press has began publishing a line of Splatterpunk Westerns featuring a different horror author for each book. Wile E. Young has kicked off the series with a bloody bang. The reader follows the story of a collector of lives who’s hunger for death brings an instant doom upon his deserving victims. Using this as a backdrop along with unbelievable introductions to protagonists, Young produces many heavy tense moments. Knowing that extreme confrontations are inevitable, this is undoubtedly a book you cannot put down. Gunslinging outlaws, eerie stagecoaches and bleeding scalps, all of these and much more bring life to a historical grim time period. The Magpie Coffin has it all, including the icing on the cake…cover art created by Justin T Coons…simply amazing.
Wile E. Young has officially become a morbid ordained minister as he conjoins the wild west and splatterpunk making it a marriage made in heaven. This is my first Wile E. Young book to read, and it definitely won’t be my last. I look forward to seeing what else he has up his sleeve. A very strong Horror Bookworm recommendation.
Salem Covington is very much a loner in the wilderness. He has to be because his nickname is known far and wide across the rough and tumble old west. Salem finds out his teacher/mentor has been murdered and vows to revenge him by any means possible. The Black Magpie saddles up and journeys to find the men responsible and add to his tally that is his curse.
The brutality in this book was awesome! This is the first book by Wile E. Young that I have read and now I am definitely looking forward to more from him! The story takes place in the Old West, a time of gunslingers and outlaws with very little respect for any sort of authority. This is the time when the Cavalries are slaughtering Indians and the buffalo herds that sustain them. It was very easy for me to transport to that time when reading due to the vivid imagery of the author and the legends that fascinate us. I loved the intricacy of the supernatural elements throughout the story. Young shows us how cruel and hard life was during this time. He shows us how revenge fuels the soul and a man’s word is worth its weight in gold.