Up Schitt Creek is a 2023 western novella by Mr. Brogath.
Glen Doyle is a former Civil War soldier still reeling from the deaths of his sons. Unable to cope properly, Glen became an alcoholic and slowly drove away his wife, Mollie, and daughter, Annie. One day, while passed out from inebriation, Mollie and Annie are kidnapped. It isn't long before Glen realizes both of them were kidnapped, nor is it long before he discovers the gang of outlaws who took them. Seeing no other option, Glen decides to sober up and chase down the outlaws alongside a young woman named Jessie, who's also seeking vengeance after they murdered her family.
Up Schitt Creek provides example of:
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: What starts the plot, and why Glen chooses to become sober. Why didn't Glen try to prevent Mollie and Annie's kidnapping? Glen got so drunk that he passed out in an outhouse for hours. This gave Ralph and his men plenty of time to abduct the two of them without Glen knowing what happened until it was far too late.
- The Alcoholic: Glen Doyle is a classic example, being a rugged old man who gets drunk on a daily, sometimes hourly basis to numb his pain.
- Big Bad: Remington Ralph, the leader of the outlaws who kidnapped Glen's wife and daughter and murdered Jessie's family. He's also responsible for kidnapping dozens of women so he can sell them off to be slaves and/or murdered by the Comanche.
- Bittersweet Ending: Jessie kills Remington Ralph, avenging her family in the process. Glen successfully rescues Mollie and the other women who were kidnapped and reconciles with her. However, he dies in front of her after getting shot multiple times during the train heist, and it's revealed that his own daughter was in league with Ralph and had her mother taken.
- Disc-One Final Boss: The Comanche Chief Hawk is the one who's been hiring outlaws to kidnap white women, and his tribe attack the protagonists on more than one occasion. However, Jessie kills him about two-thirds of the way into the story, but his death has little impact on the plot, and Glen and Jessie still have to face off against Ralph's gang and thwart the train heist.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Sheriff Cal, a supporting character who greatly aids Glen and Jessie on their journey, is abruptly shot in the head by Chief Hawk at the end of Chapter 10. Glen briefly laments that his death was a "damn shame," but outside of that, no one comments about it.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Glen started drinking heavily in a vain attempt to come to terms over the death of his sons. He never succeeded and only wound up spurning his wife and daughter.
- The Hero Dies: Glen is shot several times during the train robbery. He manages to kill the outlaws holding his wife captive, but dies from his wounds right when he reconciles with her.
- Karma Houdini: Annie faces no repercussions for having her mother kidnapped and indirectly getting her father killed.
- Make Sure He's Dead: After Jessie kills Ralph, she shoots him between the eyes just to make sure he stays down.
- Police Are Useless: With the exception of Sheriff Cal, who learns about most of Ralph's evil schemes and briefly helps Glen and Jessie stop Chief Hawk's tribe (before he himself also dies), most of the deputies in the story exist solely to die. This is even lampshaded by Cal himself when he tells Glen that he only became Sheriff after the last several were killed in rapid succession over the course of a couple months.
- Redemption Equals Death: After shooting his way from town to town, killing dozens of outlaws and hostile Native Americans, and finally sobering up after having an addiction for years, Glen Doyle succeeds in rescuing his wife and even apologizes to her for being a drunken wreck. By this point, however, he's been shot several and dies from his wounds.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: There is no drawn out shootout or excessive fight between Ralph and the protagonists. When Jessie rides into town seeking help, she happens upon Ralph and one of his goons. The moment she sees an opening, she guns them both down with little fanfare.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Subverted. When Jessie comes across Ralph and kills the man accompanying him, Ralph tries to persuade her to back down, calling her a coward and saying she doesn't have it in her. She ignores his taunts and shoots him in the chest, killing him almost instantly.
- Would Hurt a Child: One of the hostages the Comanche kidnapped was a young interracial girl. When they attack the Apache tribe and Ralph's gang, they also murder the girl and scalp her.
