Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns

Creator Julie Hoverson recently contacted me about her Weird Western radio drama The Deadeye Kid.  The show is featured within the 19 Nocturne Boulevard series format.  The latest episode, Hostel Territory, finds Lem and Fanshaw involved in a hostage situation at a Quaker hostel.

Julie kindly provided the following information about her characters.

“Lemuel Roberts, a notoriously fast and ruthless gunslinger working for the highest bidder turned over a new leaf nearly overnight – giving up the name, but not the gun, and trying to atone for the wrongs he’d done.  But his reputation keeps popping up to plague him, and there are still places where he’s a wanted man.

Lem alone knows the origin of his nickname, The Deadeye Kid.  Most folks assume it’s something to do with his unerring aim, but it’s far simpler – Lem sees, hears, and speaks with ghosts.

Traveling with Lem through the west is Clarence Fanshaw, a British travel writer – who also happens to be one of the dead Lem alone can see.  It was Fanshaw’s death – trying to push Lem out of the way of a bullet – that caused Lem’s sudden change of heart and determination to make up for his years of walking on the wrong side.

What began as a self-imposed penance – Lem carrying Fanshaw’s ashes with him as a constant reminder, and consequently being accompanied everywhere by the ghostly Brit – has become a working partnership and awkward comaraderie.  A scout who can’t be seen can be mighty handy.”