The Ghosts of Watt O’Hugh
The first two volumes of Steven Drachman’s uproarious series The Memoirs of Watt O’Hugh are now printed in paperback editions with eye-catching cover illustrations by Mark Matcho, presenting readers with the adventures of two-fisted time-traveling former gunslinger Matt O’Hugh, who keeps a wry outlook on his own outsized reputation. “The legend that now followed me made me laugh,” he tells us, “but it also turned my head, and I didn’t mind being thought a hero, even though I wasn’t.”
He brings to his many adventures a sensibility like that of George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman, except he is brave (and truthful: he promises he has never told a lie to the best of his recollection). Drachman infuses this blending of Wild Western and time-travel science fiction with breakneck plotting, sharp dialogue, and some solid but well-camouflaged historical research; he neatly balances his hero’s romantic dalliances with his hairsbreadth adventures, and the momentum sustained through these two volumes is enjoyable enough to make the concluding volume of the trilogy eagerly anticipated.
