>>>dead are risen by a Native American curse activated by over-mining for gold

Okay.? But now there seems to be 2 story threads.? ?So?what is your story really about?? What is the central plot, the dramatic clothesline, on which everything else hangs?

Frankly, as someone who grew up in the American West (in a landscape littered with abandoned? mines and ghost towns),? I think the Native American curse is the more interesting thread .? The gunslinger thread seems to me to be rather bland, stereotypical; it doesn’t seem to bring anything new to the Western genre

But Native American zombies as avenging angels-demons?

In the post-“Dancing with Wolves” era of cinema, the cultural narrative has shifted such that Native American are now cast as the victims, not the villains.? ? So, why should the gunslinger want to defend the town folk when they are guilty of an environmental evil, of squatting on and stealing Native American lands and resources?? Why should the audience want to route for the? townspeople to prevail?? The White invaders seem to be the? bad guys;? the zombie attack? is a righteous response to their “sins”.

So, I think there is , uh,? a rich vein of narrative gold ore to mine in the story angle of zombies as avenging “angel-demons” of ecological and tribal? injustice.

fwiw