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Originally Posted by artifact
I just started in on The Native Star by M.K. Hobson and so far so good. Its set in late 1800s California with Witches and Warlocks and things like Patent Charms via mail order and zombie controlling machines from Chicago.
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That sounds awesome.
Amazon has the first chapter up as a sample. Interesting, but not awesome; I suspect Stonetools may not luuurve it owing to the romance aspect.
Now, you want some Weird West, Mark Sumner is good. The Devil's Tower I believe is the first of two novels. Either that or it's the second. Maybe it'd be good to check that.
I want to fourth (fifth?) the Barry Hughart Bridge of Birds recommendation. Sean Williams' The Gatherer of Clouds had a similar Asian feel, but not the lighter tone.
A lot of sword-and-sorcery fiction avoids medievalitis, as with Conan. Karl Edward Wagner's Bloodstone throws big sorcery and a touch of weird science together.
But sword-and-sorcery's offshoots will get you even further away from Arthurian headaches. Sword-and-sandal fiction spills blood in the classical world (Michael Moorcock wrote very favorably of Michael Ehart's The Servant of the Manthycore, which features a badass heroine). Sword-and-soul, like the Griots anthology or Charles Saunder's Imaro, might well be medieval, but relocates the action to Africa or its fantastical analogues.
And really, try to grab yourself a copy of Black Gate magazine. It's like all of these recommendations jammed together to make a fragrant, intoxicating potpourri. (One that occasionally drips with blood if it's not suffused with sorcery.)