Author Sheldon Costa’s novel The Great Work hits shelves in a few days, and it sounds amazing! Costa’s book is the latest entry in the weird westerns genre, which includes fiction such as Robert E. Howard’s “The Horror from the Mound” and Joe Lansdale’s Dead in the West, comics such as DC’s Weird Western Tales and Magazine Enterprise’s The Ghost Rider, and films such as The Valley of Gwangi, Billy the Kid Versus Dracula, and Bone Tomahawk. Following is the official press announcement.
In his genre-defying debut novel The Great Work (Quirk Books; On sale: November 4, 2025; $18.99; Trade Paperback), Sheldon Costa crafts a literary, supernatural epic that blends alchemical lore, frontier gothic, and an exploration of grief in a gripping read for fans of Karen Russell’s The Antidote, Victor LaValle’s Lone Women, and Kelly Link. This week, PW gave the book a starred review, calling the book “a weird western done right: surprising, bizarre, occasionally grim, but ultimately life-affirming.”
Booklist had previously lauded the book: “Costa’s genre-defying debut novel is a philosophical page-turner about the end of the American frontier, the horrors of war, the greedy destruction of pristine wilderness, and the human connections that give hope and meaning to it all. Not to be missed.”
Set in the mossy wilds of the brand-new state of Washington, The Great Work follows Gentle Montgomery, who is grieving his friend and mentor, a self-taught alchemist named Liam. Liam was killed when he tried to capture a creature that shouldn’t exist: a giant salamander that drives men mad, whose blood Liam thought might hold the key to immortality. Gentle’s plan to finish Liam’s quest is interrupted by the sudden arrival of his nephew, Kitt. Kitt, spurred by reasons of his own, convinces Gentle to take him along on the journey to track down the monster so they can create the alchemical formula that Gentle believes will bring Liam back to life.
As they continue their rough trek through the northwestern frontier, nightmares blur with reality, and the lines between magic and memory dissolve. Hunted by a sadistic judge, a doomsday cult, and a bloodthirsty mercenary with their own plans for the monster, Gentle and Kitt must confront not only the creature they seek, but the rot at the heart of the early American empire.
With fierce and lyrical prose, The Great Work deftly weaves themes of colonialism, environmentalism, and masculinity into a dark, riveting, and at times hallucinatory journey, and signals the arrival of a bold new voice in speculative fiction.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sheldon Costa is an award-winning fiction writer who has been published in the Georgia Review, Conjunctions, Electric Literature, and others. He holds an MFA from the Ohio State University and lives in rural Missouri with his wife and three cats. This is his debut novel.
The Great Work
By Sheldon Costa
Publisher: Quirk Books
On sale: 11/04/2025
ISBN: 978-1-68369-505-9
e-ISBN: 978-1-68369-506-6
Trade Paperback Original
Price: $18.99 US/$24.99 CAN
