255. What Are Space Westerns? | After Moses with Michael F. Kane

Fantastical Truth

What happened to the once-popular Western genre? As a prospector doll put it, “Once the astronauts went up, children only wanted to play with space toys!” And yet the Western legend lives beyond the Earth, often mixed with the sci-fi genre. What is a space Western? We invite raygun-slinger and After Moses sci-fi Western author Michael F. Kane to ride into the studio.

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Mission update

• Last week: new review of Amanda Wright’s Darkfell
• This week: Stephen’s article about the greatness of Cinderella (2015)
• Later this week: new review of Angie Dickinson’s debut Truth Cursed
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Backstory: author Michael F. Kane

Michael F. Kane cut his teeth on science fiction and fantasy. In fact, his first memories of Star Wars are his mother covering his eyes during the rancor scene. Later, he fell in love with the classics, Tolkien, Asimov, Herbert, and more. Somehow, despite the odds being stacked against him, he grew up to be a somewhat respectable human being. By day he’s the music director at a mid-sized church, but at night he dreams of unseen lands and places man has never trod. Check out his website MichaelFKane.com to stay up to date on his publishing adventures.

• MichaelFKane.com
• @MichaelFKane on X

Quotes and notes

• After Moses, Lorehaven review, 2024
• The Last Frontier: How Louis L’Amour’s Son Is Fighting Publishing’s ‘Men Don’t Read’ Myth, Kristin McTiernan, Fictional Influence, March 21, 2025
• Apple Maps gets drivers lost in Australian outback (from 2012)

1. From big skies and rough men of Westerns

• Our memories of watching old Western reruns on TV, often pulp.
• Examples include The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, and a few others.
• Now most Christians may see this genre as fairly safe and traditional.
• But many prestige and pulp stories alike push the limits of this frontier.
• Even newer series, like Yellowstone, are keeping this legacy genre alive.

2. To infinite skies and rough men of sci-fi …

• As we recently explored, Westerns soon gave birth to 20th century sci-fi.
• John Carter leaped to Mars, finding exotic natives, “cavalry,” adventure.
• Frank Herbert’s antihero(?) Paul Atreides found his calling in the desert.
• Even high-tech, high-thought sci-fi (like Asimov) inherited Westerns.
• Star Wars itself reflects the classic, Western-inspired heroic journey.

After Moses: Sanctum, book 5 of 6, released in May 2024

3. Their powers combined: the space Western

• Examples: Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, The Mandalorian, Solo: A Star Wars Story.
• And our current favorite: the After Moses series from Michael F. Kane.
• From our own Lorehaven review published last year of book 1:

Michael F. Kane’s novel After Moses follows its likeable hero into a solar system that’s struggling to survive after AI collapses and humanity grows corrupt. … Kane fuses themes of grace and redemption into this sci-fi story with a classic Western feel.

• What’s the inspiration for this universe? Key themes? Reader response?
• Meanwhile, what’s next for you as you ride further into this frontier?

Com station

Top question for listeners

• What are your favorite classic Westerns or space Westerns?

Ted Atchley provided vital spaceship specs for ep. 254:

Okay @‌EStephenBurnett and @‌ztrussell, Star Wars nerd incoming.

The Falcon is a heavily modified YT-1300.

She’s equipped with 2 quad-bolt cannons (ventral and dorsal), and 8 concussion missile racks. In addition, she can deploy a “Ground Buzzer” blaster cannon to cover escapes.

Next on Fantastical Truth

At least one Christian astronaut, Butch Wilmore, recently splashed down in the Dragon capsule of Crew 9 (thereby resolving our spaceships versus dragons debate!). How many Christians, however, have created newer stories above the circle of Earth on the planet Mars? We’ll journey back to recap a few Christian-made Martian stories you may have missed over the last years.