The Hawkline Monster

A Gothic Western

by Richard Brautigan · 1974

Set in 1902 Eastern Oregon, *The Hawkline Monster* follows Magic Child, a fifteen‑year‑old Native American girl, who wanders into the wrong whorehouse seeking men to kill a monster that supposedly lives in the ice caves beneath Miss Hawkline's yellow house. She enlists two gunmen, Cameron and Greer, and together they embark on a surreal, comic quest filled with wild, witty, and bizarre encounters that blur the line between reality and myth. First published in 1974, Brautigan’s novel mixes western tropes with gothic horror, fantasy, and humor, creating a parody of genre conventions.