"'...A TRUE WESTERN BRAIDED WITH DREAD AND A LITTLE GORE" : COMANCHERIA'S REAVIS WORTHAM

Reavis Z. Wortham combines what he does best with something new in Comancheria, a book that came to him in a dream. It is part western with Texas Rangers Buck Dallas and Lane Newsome chasing down Quanah Parker on his famed raid on Adobe Walls. It then becomes another genre as well when in a skirmish a medicine man turns Buck into one of the undead. Lifting the curse is connected to returning a Comanche captured girl to her home and a magical spring tended by a woman the Comanche believe to be a witch. It works both as a shoot em' oater and disturbing horror story, and still has room for a lot of humor. I talked to Reavis about this unique turn in his writing.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: This is at least the second time a book came to you in a dream. How close is the book to what you saw in your sleep? 

 REAVIS Z. WORTHAM: My subconscious works overtime. You’re right, it came in a dream fully formed, with characters, scenes, and much of the dialogue. Buck Dallas and Lane Newsome were as real as anyone I’ve ever met, and the secondary characters, were on stage complete with costumes and quirks. I literally had nothing to invent as the cinematic story progressed in a six-week period, except additional dialogue. 

 Even the buffalo hunters who start the gunfight in Adobe Walls were as if I flipped through a screenplay and read about them. My subconscious did all the work, and it flowed from fingertips to keys as smooth as warm oil.

 S.M.: This is the first time you deal with horror. What did you enjoy about the genre?

 R.Z.W.: Truthfully, this is the second time I dabbled in horror. Though my second Red River novel, Burrows, was a historical mystery, it was filled with the ingredients that make up a good horror novel.  

Comancheria is more in-you-face horror, which was fun. I think it was inspired by Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft, with a hefty dose of Larry McMurtry and Louis L’Amour. I liked taking the idea of an undead Texas Ranger and dropping him into 1870s Texas. It allowed me to write a true western braided with dread and a little gore. What the settlers did to the Indians, and the retaliation by those folks was bloody and ghastly, which is what makes this entire book a horror story. Murder, scalpings, and bloody battles on both sides is shocking and horrific.

S.M.: How easy did you find it mixing with the western?

 R.Z.W.: This was the easiest novel out of my 20 volumes to write. There was no outline, no pre-planning. It simply flowed from my fingertips to the screen as if I was watching someone else write it. Again, that’s how the aforementioned Howard wrote his Conan books, and I now completely understand how it could happen.

S.M.: Besides the dream, what drew you to use The Second Battle of Adobe Walls as a backdrop?

 R.Z.W.: I’ve always been fascinated by that engagement between the buffalo hunters and the Comanches. It was a weird setup from the outset. The Comanche war party, which included Quanah Parker, had a medicine man who guaranteed them no bullets would harm any of their tribe. That placed them in a vulnerable position, but the dominos fell the wrong way at the outset.

 There were several experienced buffalo hunters in that camp, and if a ridge pole in the saloon hadn’t broken during the night, waking them up to respond to a caved-in roof, they would have all been asleep. The surprise attack would have worked, but instead the defenders were wide awake…and sober.

They were in a secure, defensible position, and the Comanches hadn’t planned on the defenders to be ready. Those guys were excellent marksmen and proved it by repelling the attack which by all means should have swarmed over them. Then, when things couldn’t have gotten any worse for the war party, Billy Dixon made a near impossible shot of nearly a mile that broke the attacker’s spirit. I just had to use that area for my characters, though they weren’t involved with the defense of Adobe Walls at all. They faced a different horror of scalphunters who had no problem with killing anyone and everyone in their path.

S.M.: While Buck and Lane are very different, I couldn't help but think of the of Lonesome Dove's Gus and Call. How would you describe their relationship?

 R.Z.,W.:Thanks so much for bringing McMurtry and Lonesome Dove into this discussion! I’m heavily influenced by McMurtry in several ways. I love his westerns, and Lonesome Dove was a “buddy book” that sticks with me. My running buddy of over 40 years and I are like Buck and Lane, or Gus and Call, or Butch and Sundance. Like Steve and I, those guys knew each other and understood their quirks, weaknesses and strengths. Playing off each other brings in a personal depth and provides the opportunity for humor and fun dialogue, and backstory that makes them seem real.

S.M.: How did you approach writing for the historical figures like Quanah Parker and Bat Masterson

 R.Z.W.: I always bring history into my books. It helps ground the fictional characters and makes the fictional story more realistic. Quanah was a Comanche warrior that eventually saw how futile it was to try and stop the flood of settlers, so he learned to adapt, and in doing so, because a spokesperson for the entire Comanche nation. All I did was think, what would Quanah do?

 Most people think Bat Masterson was a lawman in cattle towns, but he lived a rough life before that, hunting buffalo. Again, adding in a historical character gives the novel a different feel, not one of nonfiction, but helping add to the realism…even though he’s interacting with a walking, talking dead man. I think it’s kind of cool in a Forrest Gump kind of way as Buck and Lane move through the west. 

 You’ll see the same thing in book two, The Sound of a Dead Man’s Laugh, when they run into both real people who once lived, and mythical characters. In book three, What We Owe the Dead, they interact with Marie Laveau in New Orleans.

S.M.: What can you tell us about the second book in the trilogy?

 R.Z.W.; The Sound of a Dead Man’s Laugh continues the saga of the Rangers on the Llano Estacado, Miss Hattie, and the magic spring. It brings in a new set of mythical figures people will recognize, and follows Buck’s quest to understand what he is now, and his role on earth. He and Lane have a duty to protect the albino baby White Buffalo Calf, who will someday be instrumental in saving humanity, but they don’t know that. Of course they’re lawmen, and encounter a sociopath named Deacon Coe who needs hanging for his crimes, while at the same time they are joined by a true historic figure, Charles Goodnight, and even a warrior angel sent to help them in their journey.

 Both of those books are already in the can and will release in 2026 and 2027.

 I’ve also just finished editing a two-volume collection of short stories titled Rough Country and Hard Country, set in the American west from the 1830s and into a dystopian future. The authors who submitted their stories for no payment include me, Craig Johnson, Joe R. Lansdale, Paul Mayberry, Heather Graham, John Gilstrap, C.J. Box, Nick Wade, Jack Stewart, Jeffery Deaver, and Michael and Kathleen Gear, to name only a few bestselling authors who immediately agreed to send me a story when I asked. There are several new authors as well joining this crew, along with a number of well-known established writers.

 All the proceeds from the sale of these two books which will release simultaneously in April goes to the U.S. Marshals Survivors Benefit Fund, to help the families of these fine law officers who have fallen in the line of duty. I’ll get back to you on the huge launch event which will be in May of 2026 at the U.S. Marshal Museum in Ft. Smith, Arkansas.