Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp

Product Description [Read by Emily Woo Zeller] From British Fantasy Award nominee Molly Tanzer comes her debut novel, Vermilion, a spirited weird Western adventure that puts the punk back into steampunk. Gunslinging, chain-smoking, and Stetson-wearing Taoist psychopomp, Elouise Lou Merriwether might not be a normal nineteen year old, but she's too busy keeping San Francisco safe from ghosts, shades, and geung si to care much about that. It's an important job, though most folks consider it downright spooky. Some have even accused Lou of being more comfortable with the dead than the living, and, well ... they're not wrong. When Lou hears that a bunch of Chinatown boys have gone missing somewhere deep in the Colorado Rockies, she decides to saddle up and head into the wilderness to investigate. Lou fears her particular talents make her better suited to help placate their spirits than ensure they get home alive, but it's the right thing to do, and she's the only one willing to do it. On the road to a mysterious sanatorium known as Fountain of Youth, Lou will encounter bears, desperate men, a very undead villain, and even stranger challenges. She will need every one of her talents and a whole lot of luck to make it home alive. Review ''Tanzer's first novel is a splendid page-turner of a Weird West adventure. ... This hugely entertaining mixture of American steampunk and ghost story is a wonderful yarn with some of the best dialogue around.'' --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Starred Review) ''Old West steampunk has another appealing heroine in Lou (pair her with the equally winsome female lead of Elizabeth Bear's Karen Memory) to go along with the delightfully over-the-top villains. The pages turn themselves in this debut novel from a small press that deserves a big audience.'' --LIBRARY JOURNAL (Starred Review) ''Lou is one of the most delightful and charismatic fictional creations in recent memory. Her compelling blend of world-weary wryness and wide-eyed vulnerability makes for some firecracker dialogue, but it also reflects Tanzer's kaleidoscopic view of the Old West, a place that's far more dazzling and diverse than most history books have led us to believe. ...  Vermilion is a unique, hearty, thought-provoking romp that rewrites history with a vivacious flourish.'' --NPR '' Vermillion is fresh and strange - a dark and sparkling story of magic, monsters, and mystery in the Old Weird West. Gloriously weird and heartfelt, it's a credit to the genre from start to finish.'' --Cherie Priest, Award-winning Author of Boneshaker and Maplecroft ''Tanzer's debut novel is extraordinary, portraying a world that is engagingly curious and curiously engaging. One doesn't realise how much one's life has been missing a story about a Chinese/English buster of violent ghosts out in the wilder end of the Wild West until one reads this. Plus, talking bears.'' --Jonathan L. Howard, author of the Johannes Cabal series and Carter & Lovecraft About the Author Molly Tanzer is the Sydney J. Bounds and Wonderland Book Award-nominated author of A Pretty Mouth, Rumbullion and Other Liminal Libations, and Vermilion. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and a very bad cat. When not writing, she enjoys mixing cocktails, hiking in the Rocky Mountains, experimenting with Korean cooking, and, as of recently, training for triathlons.