by Paul Green
“A Spider Poor Cowboy Rapt and Wide Lemon”
[Short story; WW]
Author: Ken Rand; First publication: Faeries Magazine #2, 2000.
A dead man walks into the Lucky Nickel Saloon. The hole from a .45 caliber bullet proves to be a severe hindrance when he tries to quench his thirst. And to make things worse, the regular patrons ban him from haunting the saloon.
See: The Problem with Mermaids
The Spider Woman Strikes Back
(1946) [Film; WW]
Premiere: March 22, 1946; Main Cast: GaleSondergaard as Zenobia Dollard, Brenda Joyceas Jean Kingsley, Rondo Hatton as Mario; Producer: Howard Welsch; Story: Eric Taylor; Director: Arthur Lubin; 59 min.; Universal Pictures; B/W.
Contemporary horror in a Western ranch setting. A wealthy blind rancher (Sondergaard) is draining the blood from a young woman (Joyce) to feed her carnivorous plants in order to make a poison to kill cattle. By this means she intends to drive out the local ranchers so she can claim the land.
Gale Sondergaard was also featured in Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman (1944).
Spirit of Dawn
[Novel; WWR]
Author: Samantha Byrnes; First publication: Freya's Bower, 2006.
A mystical frontier woman comforts the eldest male of his Navajo clan after his wife and child die of smallpox.
The Spirit of Thunder
[Novel; SFW]
Author: Kurt R. A. Giambastiani; First publication: New York: ROC, 2002.
One Who Flies fights against his father President George Armstrong Custer's army as he helps the Cheyenne defy the oncoming railroad. Book two in the Fallen Cloud Saga.
See: The Shadow of the Storm
The Spirit Path
[Novel; WWR]
Author: Madeline Baker; First publication: New York: N.Y. Leisure Books, 1993.
Lakota spiritual leader Shadow Hawk goes on a vision quest, traveling through time and space to the present day where he meets the beautiful Spirit Woman of his visions.
Commenting on the success of her Western romances despite the declining interest in the standard Western novel, Madeline Baker stated, “There's a difference between Western novels and Western romances. The women who read Western romances never seem to tire of them. I'm sure the fantasy aspect plays a big part in the success of time travel books, plus there's something compelling about the Indian way of life.”
Cover of The Spirit Path by Madeline Baker (1993). Cover art: Pino. Courtesy Madeline Baker.
The Spirit Stalker
[Novel; WW]
Author: Nina Romberg; First publication: New York: Pinnacle Books, 1989.
Corpses are turning up in East Texas. Caddo and Comanche Indian Meriam Winchester believe the deaths are the result of spirits working their evil through the killer. Only Sunny Hansen can tackle the evil, but she has greater fears for her safety from her abusive husband.
Spirit Warriors
[RPG book; WW]
Author: John Hopler; First publication: 2000; Setting: Deadlands: Hell on Earth the Wasted West; Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
Rules and histories for Native Americans, Shamans and Toxic Shamans who bargain with toxic spirits in the Wasted West.
Spoilers of the Plains
(1951) [Film; SFW]
Premiere: February 2, 1951; Main Cast: Roy Rogers as Roy Rogers, Penny Edwards as Frankie Manning, Gordon Jones as Splinters, Grant Withers as Gregory Camwell; Story: Sloan Nibley; Director: William Witney; 68 min.; Republic Pictures; B/W.
Roy Rogers often appeared in Westerns set in the modern era complete with automobiles but with a traditional Western background including Western towns, sheriffs and horses. This movie features Rogers and his trusted horse Trigger fighting an oil pipeline blaze dressed in firefighting gear! A plot involving a rocket and satellites in space add to the strange mixture and defines this movie as an early example of a science fiction Western.
Spurs Jackson
[Comic book character; SW]
First appearance: Space Western Comics #40; Publisher: Charlton-Capitol Comics.
Set in the 1950s “atomic age,” the adventures of cowboy rancher Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes appeared in Space Western Comics. Jackson owns Spaceman's Gulch Ranch in Arizona. Helping him run the ranch are his friends American Indian Strong Bow and Hank Roper. Jackson uses his skills as an electronics engineer to build a rocket ship that contains a light plane in the cargo hold. Together with Strong Bow and Roper, Jackson travels through the solar system and protects the Earth from invaders from Venus, Mars and Neptune.
Stageghost
(2000) [Film; WW]
Premiere: 2000; Main Cast: Edward Albert as U.S. Deputy Marshal Coburn, Christopher Atkins as Matthew Bronson, Dana Barron as Renee Bloomer, John Vernon as Slim; Executive Producer-Story: Thomas Seiler; Director: Stephen Furst; 104 min.; Color.
After an empty bloodstained stagecoach arrives at a way station with the message “Give It Back,” the locals are besieged by supernatural forces.
Star Trek
(1966) [TV series]
Adventures of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise as it journeys through intergalactic space. Creator Gene Roddenberry described Star Trek as “Wagon Train to the stars” when pitching his original concept to the television networks.
“THE PARADISE SYNDROME” (3:03) [SW]
Air date: October 4, 1968; Main Cast: William Shatner as James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, DeForest Kelley as Leonard H. McCoy, James Doohan as Montgomery Scott, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov; Guest Cast: Sabrina Scharf as Miranamee, Rudy Solari as Salish; Executive Producer: Gene Roddenberry; Producer: Fred Freiberger; Story: Margaret Armen; Director: Jud Taylor; 50 min.; Norway Corporation, Paramount Television; Color.
Captain Kirk loses his memory on the planet Amerind and is accepted into the local tribe, who are descendants of Native Americans from Earth. Falling in love with the beautiful Miranamee, Kirk must decide between the “idyllic life of the noble savage” and his duties as Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise as his memory returns.
“SPECTRE OF THE GUN” (3:06) [SW]
Air date: October 25, 1968; Guest Cast: Bonnie Beacher as Sylvia, Rex Holman as Morgan Earp, Ron Soble as Wyatt Earp, Charles Maxwell as Virgil Earp, Sam Gilman as Doc Holliday; Story: Lee Cronin (Gene L. Coon); Director: Vincent McEveety; 50 min.; Norway Corporation, Paramount Television; Color.
The Melkots (aliens) transport the crew ofthe Enterprise to a recreation of Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881 and the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral.
Star Trek: Enterprise
(2001) [TV series]
This prequel to Star Trek, set aboard the first starship Enterprise, explores the formative years of Starfleet.
“NORTH STAR” (3:09 ) [SFW]
Air date: November 12, 2003; Main Cast: Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer, Jolene Blalock as Sub-Commander T'Pol, Anthony Montgomery as Ensign Travis Mayweather, Dominic Keatingas Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, Emily Bergl as Bethany, Steven Klein as Draysik, James Parks as Deputy Bennings, Glenn Morshower as Mac-Ready; Executive Producers: Rick Berman, Brannon Braga; Story: David A. Goodman; Director: David Straiton; Paramount Television, Braga Productions, Rick Berman Productions, 42 min.; Color.
Captain Archway and his crew encounter a human colony with an American Old West culture and discover that the colonists were originally slave labor for the Skagarans. But the humans have turned on the Skags and refuse them basic civil rights.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
(1987) [TV series]
Sequel to Star Trek set in the 24th century.
“A FISTFUL OF DATAS” (6:08) [SFW]
Air date: November 7, 1992; Main Cast: Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data / Frank / Eli / Henchman / Bandito / Annie, Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker, LeVar Burton as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge, Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf, Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi, Gates McFadden as
Beverly Crusher; Guest Cast: Brian Bonsall as Alexander Rozhenko, John Pyper-Ferguson as Eli Hollander; Executive Producers: Michael Piller, Rick Berman; Teleplay: Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Brannon Braga; Story: Robert Hewitt Wolfe; Director: Patrick Stewart; 45 min.; Paramount Television; Color.
While acting as sheriff and deputy sheriff of Deadwood, Worf and his son Alexander meet multiple bad guy variations of Data in an Old West adventure on the holodeck.
“JOURNEY'S END” (7:20) [SW]
Air date: March 26, 1994; Guest Cast: Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher, Natalija Nogulichas Admiral Alynna Nechayev, Eric Menyuk as The Traveller, Doug Wert as Jack Crusher, Tom Jackson as Lakanta, Ned Romero as Anthwara; Executive Producers: Michael Piller, Rick Berman. Jeri Taylor; Story: Ronald D. Moore; Director: Corey Allen; 45 min.; Paramount Television; Color.
Captain Picard is met with resistance when he attempts to relocate a Native American colony. Meanwhile, Wesley Crusher accepts an invitation from a Native Indian to undergo a vision quest.
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “A Fistful of Datas” (6:08), starring Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data.
Star Wars
(1977) [Film; SW]
Premiere: May 25, 1977; Main Cast: Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa, Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin, Alec Guinness as Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi, David Prowse as Darth Vader, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Kenny Baker as R2-D2, Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca; Executive Producer-Story-Director: George Lucas; 121 min.; Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, Lucasfilm; Color.
Luke Skywalker gathers a group of allies in an attempt to rescue Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader and to neutralize the planet-destroying Death Star.
With an initial budget of $11 million, the film produced a worldwide gross of over $775 million. Its major international box-office success led to a series of sequels and prequels including The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).
The character of Han Solo carries on the tradition of space smugglers started by Northwest Smith. George Lucas said, “I always considered my films Westerns. What made the classic Westerns of guys like John Ford great was that the stories they told were so simple that they ended up being deeply resonant and inspiring.”
Stark and the Star Kings
[Pulp fiction collection; SW]
Authors: Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett; First published: Royal Oak MI: Haffner Press, 2005.
On Mars, Eric John Stark is summoned by the Lord of the Third Bend to combat an unknown force that is devouring all the energy in the solar system and beyond. His mission takes him 200,000 years into the future to join forces with the Star Kings.
The only collaboration between husband and wife Hamilton and Brackett combines Brackett's Eric John Stark and Hamilton's Star Kings in one adventure. The story, originally intended for Harlan Ellison's Last Dangerous Visions, remained unpublished until 2005. It was published as part of a collection of stories by Hamilton and Brackett that includes “Queen of the Martian Catacombs,” “Enchantress of Venus” and “Black Amazon of Mars.”
Steampunk
[Comic book; SPW]
First publication: 2000; Story: Joe Kelly; Art: Chris Bachalo; Publisher: Cliffhanger-Wildstorm.
Steampunk fantasy title set in Victorian England involving time travel, robotics, immortality and the Old West.
Stinger
[Novel; SFW]
Author: Robert R. McCammon; First published: 1988; Publisher: New York: Pocket Books.
The citizens of a remote Texas town find themselves in the middle of a pursuit involving an alien bounty hunter and his prey. When the townsfolk decide to aid the pursued, Stinger the bounty hunter envelops the town in a force field and searches for his prey using replicant copies of the townspeople with one major adaptation: They possess razor blade teeth and metal claws.
Stingray Sam
(2009) [Film; SW]
Premiere: January 2009; Main Cast: David Hyde Pierce as Narrator, Cory McAbee, Joshua Taylor, Crugie, Willa Vy McAbee, Caleb Scott, Frank Swart, Jessica Jelliffe; Executive Producer: Bobby Lurie; Story-Director; Cory McAbee; BNS Productions; B/W.
Space convicts Stingray Sam and the Quasar Kid must rescue a young girl captive in return for their freedom. A musical Space Western mini-series.
Stormshadow
[Comic book character; France; SFW]
First publication: Jeunesse-Selection #1, Pim Pam Poum #16 (early 1960s); Creator: Emilio Uberti; Publisher: Editions Lug.
The character started life as Stormalong, a mysterious cloaked do-gooder operating in Louisiana in the 19th century.
Stormshadow—real name Sturmaloon—is the chaman of the Twilight People of Avalon, a race of alien shapeshifters and “monsters.” Stormshadow's natural form is that of a dragon whose powers include shapeshifting, a form of teleportation, and considerable arcane knowledge.
In 1844, Stormshadow helped the Texan crimefighter Drago. Later, he found the descendents of Gal, who now lived in America under the name “Damon.” During the late 19th century, Stormshadow spent some time in Louisiana as “Stormalong,” the Ghost of the South.
Editor Jean-Marc Lofficier, recalling the evolution of Stormshadow, stated, “I decided to revamp-redesign the character in 2000 when I took over editing the line; I rechristened him Stormshadow and changed his design to look even more mysterious. The previous Stormalong was meant to be merely an incarnation of Stormshadow. His origins were kept sketchy, but basically he was the wizard of a group of aliens dubbed the Twilight People who came to Earth millions of years ago and gave rise to our vampires, werewolves and legends.”
Stormshadow sketch. Creators: Emilio Uberti, Jean-Marc Lofficier. © Mosaic Multimedia. Used with permission.
Straight Arrow
[Radio show; Comic book; WMW]
1. Premiere: May 1, 1948; Main Cast: Howard Culver as Steve Adams/Straight Arrow, Fred Howard as Packy McCloud; Story: Sheldon Stark; Director; Ted Robertson; Don Lee Network, Mutual Broadcasting System. 294 × 30 min.
Steve Adams, the owner of the Broken Bow cattle spread, and his friend Packy McCloud awaken in a subterranean cave in Sundown Valley that shimmers with gold crystals. Standing in the glowing light that fills the cave is a golden Palomino. A Comanche bow, golden arrows, headdress and garments hang on a wall awaiting Adams. He confesses his Comanche Indian birth to Packy and tells him of the legend of a warrior who will be a savior of the Indians. Taking the bow, arrows, headdress and clothes, Adams become legendary Straight Arrow, riding his golden Palomino Fury bareback out of the cave with his war cry “Kaneewah, Fury!”
Sponsored by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), the show featured a few Weird Menace episodes.
“THE DEAD MAN SPEAKS” (EPISODE #4)
Airdate: May 27, 1948; “The Haunted Desert” (episode #9) Airdate: July 1, 1948; “Hunter and Haunted” (episode #112) Airdate: September 20, 1949; “The Beast with Green Eyes” (episode #113) Airdate: September 22, 1949.
2. Comic book based on the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) radio show (1948-1951). The Magazine Enterprises title featured many Weird Menace tales. Artwork for the entire 55-issue run was provided by Fred Meagher. The back-up strip Red Hawk featured art by Bob Powell. The writer(s) were uncredited but Gardner Fox, who wrote the newspaper strip, is credited by many sources.
“THE GHOST OF STRAIGHT ARROW” [WMW]
First publication: #5 (September 1950)
Straight Arrow scares outlaws into believing he has returned to life after they mistakenly think they have killed him.
“THE DEATH WARNING” [WMW]
First publication: #7 (November 1950)
Outlaws frighten Indians into abandoning their gold mine with an emaciated Osage disguised as an undead zombie-like monster.
“GHOST GANG” [WMW]
First publication: #11 (March 1951)
Lawmen are fooled by a gang of outlaws posing as ghosts from beyond the grave.
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“THE VALLEY OF TIME” [WMW]
First publication: #11 (March 1951)
Straight Arrow and Packy discover the ancient lost city of Navalaya where human sacrifice still goes on in an Inca-style culture.
“THE DESERT DEMON” [WMW]
First publication: #19 (November 1951)
Outlaws construct a giant buffalo to terrify locals who believe it to be a supernatural creature.
“THE DEATHLESS ONE” [WW]
First publication: #25 (June 1952)
Lakota warrior Lone Elk longs for death but he is under a curse of immortality placed upon him by a medicine man. The zombie-like figure of Lone Elk finally sees hope when Straight Arrow finds a way to lift the curse.
“THE GHOST APACHES” [WMW]
First publication: #30 (April 1953)
When Straight Arrow attempts to capture Apache outlaws, they slip through his fingers like ghosts and disappear in front of his eyes. Straight Arrow is perplexed as to how he can apprehend Apaches who have learned to imitate desert mirages.
“THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER” [SFW]
First publication: #30 (April 1953)
A mad scientist, a century ahead of his time, has an arsenal of lethal weapons including a gun that fires explosive bullets, an electric chair, a super bomb, germ warfare and tear gas.