Influenced by “The Thing,” “Clue,” and Sergio Corbucci’s nihilistic spaghetti western “The Great Silence,” Quentin Tarantino’s new film “The Hateful Eight” takes place in post-Civil War Wyoming, where eight sadistic strangers seek shelter at Minnie’s Haberdashery during a whiteout blizzard.

Filmed in Ultra Panavision 70mm, “The Hateful Eight” was first shown as a limited roadshow engagement at 100 theaters prior to its widespread digital release on Dec. 30, 2015. This exclusive two-week presentation featured an overture, an intermission and an extended cut of the film shown in a much wider and vibrant 2.76:1 aspect ratio.

I had the fortuitous opportunity to see the roadshow version twice, and it was an experience that captured the magic of going to the cinema from my childhood. If you’re like me and love to get lost in a book after viewing an impactful film, then you’ve come to the right place for some literary companion pieces to “The Hateful Eight.”

“The Six-Gun Tarot” by R. S. Belcher

“The Six-Gun Tarot” is a fantastical, genre-bending work of fiction that is equal parts “A Game of Thrones” and Lovecraftian horror (with the visual steampunk aesthetics of Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes”). Author R.S. Belcher provides a refreshing re-imagination of the western genre that is surprisingly thought provoking as it follows a diverse group of mysterious ragtag individuals who must band together to stop a force of evil that threatens to destroy the world.

Tarantino excels at blending genres and relies on influences from a variety of sources to create an original film. For “The Hateful Eight,” what starts out as a snowy, cinematic western turns into a claustrophobic, Agatha Christie-inspired whodunit with Samuel L. Jackson as a gunslinging detective Poirot. It defies conventional expectations and has an unpredictable ending as conflicts simmer to a boil and blood is spilled. If you like your westerns with a bit of flair and excellent character development, like “The Hateful Eight,” then “The Six-Gun Tarot” is a good place to begin.

“The Sisters Brothers” by Patrick deWitt

Set during the California Gold Rush, this literary western follows the misadventures of the infamous Sisters Brothers — a couple of sharp shooters hired to kill a man who may have stolen a valuable artifact from their employer. It’s told from the perspective of the more sensitive of the two, Eli, who hopes that this will be their last job so he can settle down with the next girl he finds in his arms. In contrast, his cold-blooded brother Charlie is only driven by three things: money, alcohol and the thrill of the hunt.

As they travel to San Francisco to kill a man, everything goes awry in this brutal dark comedy that could easily exist within Tarantino’s cinematic universe. Along their journey they leave a trail of corpses and broken hearts behind as they come to a much deeper understanding of their humanity or lack thereof.

Similar to “The Hateful Eight,” “The Sisters Brothers” relies on deadpan dialogue riddled with subtle nuances that become increasingly important as the story progresses. With each reading, you gain a new perspective on character motivations or intentions, which can also be said for repeated viewings of Tarantino films.

Much of the conversations are introspective and philosophical in nature. By the end of the novel, the characters have undergone personal transformations that blur their pasts and futures together in a way that forces you to think about how your own experiences have shaped the person you have become.

“The Winter Family” by Clifford Jackman

“The Winter Family” is a sweeping western noir that, over a period of three decades, follows a gang of merciless outlaws led by the baddest of them all: the fearless, golden-eyed Augustus Winter. The book is divided into four distinct vignettes that explore the evolution of this barbarous gang of killers from their role in Sherman’s March to the Sea to their work as ruffians hired to rig an election in Chicago.

It is brutal, gritty and features hateful, unsympathetic characters who commit heinous acts of atrocity in the name of frontier justice. However, in highlighting the harsh reality of the Wild West, author Clifford Jackman is able to explore the ways in which a world of impunity predicated on violence can impact conceptualizations of the self.

As malicious as Augustus Winter behaves, he sees the world as it is — a place where men who do bad things go unpunished — and thus has a perverted sense of justice that he enacts against those who stand against him. In fact, the Winter family would give Daisy Domergue and her ruthless gang in “The Hateful Eight” a run for their money. If you like the pervasive and realistic violence that Tarantino wrangles into each of his films, then this book will satisfy your craving for more.

”– Fisher Adwell writes for the Lawrence Public Library.”