“Memento Mori” in Unfixed Timelines 3
“Memento Mori” is an unusual combination of the Old West and science fantasy. It’s a story about Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, and aliens, and it purports a history that isn’t even remotely true. But all that being said, it’s based on some real history, so it fits perfectly into Unfixed Timelines 3.
This story was originally inspired by a title involving ten things found in Calamity Jane’s saddlebags. I originally wrote it as a list flash fiction piece, but the format didn’t quite fit right, so I expanded it into a short story, still keeping the idea of the ten items I’d selected for the list version. It built on some of the fantastical bits of Calamity Jane’s own history that I knew from having watched Deadwood and visiting the town itself.
The essay that accompanies this story in the collection talks about the myth of Calamity Jane, as well as the truth of her life that has been expanded and dramatized by those who have been taken in by that myth.
You can find “Memento Mori” in Queer Weird West Tales, which was its original home, or both the story and the essay in Unfixed Timelines 3 or Unfixed Timelines Omnibus (which collects all three volumes into an ebook or print format).
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