Run to the hills

 Eventually, I'm going to get the tag fixed on R. S. Belcher's always fun Golgotha series, but....

Let me start by saying The Ghost Dance Judgement is a bit different than the previous three volumes, mainly because its frame story is set in the modern era, which may or may not explain a few references that happen in March of 1872. We start with one of Deputy Jim Negry's (the one with the jade Eye of the Moon) arriving in the nearly abandoned ghost town of Golgotha and stopping to ask questions at the general store run by one of Malachi Bick's descendants. It's here we hear the tale of the Ghost Dance some 20 years prior to the more famous outbreak. 

We start with Izsua as a little girl dealing with the slaughter of her village by settlers. She winds up finding a cave to the underworld, where she learns secrets of the dead. (This is roughly 18 years prior to the main bulk of the story.) She's involved with Deputy Mutt's old nemesis, Snake Man, we find out later. Anyway, she's found a way to lead the dead back to fight the living, with the promise that they'll drive the settlers back to Europe.  

In the mean time, President Grant has sent General Caxton to Golgotha to take care of the "savages" raiding the area. Along with him comes Deputy Kat's old boss Pinkerton, who's back to wooing Deputy Kate, even if she is in love with Sheriff Jon Highfather. Porter Rockwell, Brigham Young's right hand man, is also in town to ostensibly help Mayor Pratt with the Indian problem, but also make sure that Pratt's role as the Mormon champion won't challenge Young's leadership of the Church. Pratt's dealing with his relationship with both James Ringo and Black Rowan, the local brothel owner. Rowan is trying to get Pratt to get a Mormon encampment to move to make way for a dogleg of the railroad, but Pratt has reasons for resisting this. 

And then we have Maude and Constance, who are the first to encounter the dead Indians in the desert. And find out the Sons of Typhon have come to Golgotha to find an avatar for the thing under Argent Mountain, here referred to as both Uktena and Typhon. That plot involves Augustus's baby, which may or may not have been conceived prior to his wife bringing him back from the dead. This winds up roping in Professor Mephisto, who helps sort out the mess under the mountain. 

By the end, which involves a few armies converging on Golgotha and a fight under the mountain, we have quite the fun experience, since there really aren't that many people in the book who qualify as moral and upstanding. I mean, yes, the residents of Golgotha are essentially good people, but the moral gray areas with everyone, including most of the villains are ample enough to swallow the desert. 

Again, Belcher gets points for his portrayal of Pratt, who's closeted relationship with Ringo rings with honesty and pathos. Really, this goes for all the folks in relationships in the book. He also gets points for making a reference towards the end to the black sheriff in Rock Ridge. 

This also provides another sterling example of something I've long suspected, since a certain entity named Coyote shows up in here about halfway through. I'm fairly convinced at this point that Coyote and his prose portrayals are all the same creature existing across several universes at a time, since regardless of who's writing him, he steals the scene and behaves in very specific manners. Here, he gets bonus points for breaking the narrative long enough to point out he hasn't really been talked to since book one. 

The only problem I had, which I never did go back to figure out if the page numbering reflects it or not, is that one of the chapters is printed twice, back to back. I read it again, to see if maybe there was a subtle difference, but no, pretty sure this was a print error.

Great book, though. I can't wait to see what happens next.