Red Moon

In 1881, the town of Red Moon, Arizona, situated near the Mexican border and surrounded by booming silver mines, is experiencing growing pains of a sort never seen on the jagged edges of the wild frontier. On the surface, it is a typical western community with something to offer nearly everyone: there are numerous saloons; a red light district where miners can enjoy the services of “genuine French courtesans”; gambling houses; two theaters for the performing arts, and even a church and a school. But as range rider Eli Whitby soon learns when he drifts into town, when night falls, there is more to Red Moon than meets the eye: something terrible that stalks its citizens. Something that kills in a manner more horrible than anything he has ever witnessed. He is tempted to ride on, bypass this violent place in his attempt to outrun his past as a gunman during a bloody Arizona range war, when he meets two like-minded souls who also have something to hide. Chih Yee is a Shaolin monk who immigrated to the United States hoping to earn money to send to his family in China. He is assisting Yukari Fujoika, who had been a governess for a wealthy family in San Francisco prior to being falsely accused of stealing money from her employer. Knowing that she would never get a fair trial, she fled the city, eventually meeting up with Yee by pure chance. Mayor Silas Braxton isn’t interested in the problems of the three newcomers. He is a man of vision, aware that Arizona will one day become a state, but in order for that to happen, the President has to be convinced that the territory possesses real value, not just mineral wealth and agricultural resources, but towns that contribute something culturally. He knows that he cannot allow word to get out in the Eastern newspapers that there is a scourge devastating the population of Red Moon. He believes his best hope lies in offering a reward of $1,000 for anyone who can find and slay the fearsome creature. He puts out the call to Charles Coke, a buffalo hunter with a reputation as a deadly marksman. But the mayor’s invite also draws the attention of Jack Sweet, a 19-year-old part-time cattle rustler who wants to make a name for himself as a gunfighter; and retired U.S. Marshal Edward Poe, who having recently learned that he is dying of cancer, has nothing to lose. The killer in the shadows isn’t the only thing the townspeople have to fear, however. As tensions in the town flare up, innocents like Tohono O’odham farmer Jon Whitecloud, and even the town’s Anglican priest, Father Andrew McGregor, are caught in the crossfire of vicious gun battles and martial arts warfare.