The Visitor by S A Asthana

A Western, science fiction, horror mash up – what’s not to love?

Jill Thorn is on the run, and after days of travel, she winds up in a small town deep within Apache country. Unfortunately for Jill, she has arrived at a time when this town is a very dangerous place to be.

At only 26 pages, this short story is a quick, entertaining read.

All the elements are there to make Jill a great character, however they never came together for me to elevate her above the sum of her parts. Her love for her horse, her hard upbringing and her generosity are all qualities that endear me to characters, and I know the author writes people very well, but Jill never managed to come alive for me.

The scenario is ripe for horror, and the notion of a ghost town is always creepy, but the various scenes depicting the town didn’t work for me on an emotional level.

However, there is an interesting backbone to this story that comes alive once Jill meets the town’s remaining inhabitants. The events of the latter 40% of the story play to the author’s strengths, and it showed me how this story, if developed slightly differently, could have gone from entertaining to unforgettable.

If you like old fashioned westerns, you will find this story appealing. It’s not a bad way to while away half an hour, and is well worth the price.

I award The Visitor…