| Joe R. Lansdale | |
|---|---|
 Joe Lansdale in 2007. |
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| Born | October 28, 1951 Gladewater, Texas, United States |
| Occupation | Writer, martial arts instructor |
| Nationality | American |
| Writing period | 1970-present |
| Genres | Horror, Mystery, Western |
| Literary movement | Splatterpunk, Cowpunk |
Joe R. Lansdale (born October 28, 1951, Gladewater, Texas) is an American author and martial-arts expert. He has written novels and stories in many genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense. He has also written for comics as well as Batman: The Animated Series.
Frequent features of Lansdale's writing are usually deeply ironic, strange or absurd situations or characters, such as Elvis and JFK battling a soul-sucking Ancient Egyptian mummy in a nursing home (the plot of his Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella, "Bubba Ho-Tep," which was made into a movie by Don Coscarelli). He is the winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and six Bram Stoker Awards. The World Horror Convention recently made him the recipient of the 2007 Grand Master Award for contributions to the field of Horror fiction. [1]
He is perhaps best known for his "Hap and Leonard" series of novels which feature two friends, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, who live in the town of Laborde, Texas and find themselves solving a variety of often unpleasant crimes. The characters themselves are an unlikely pairing; Hap is a white working class laborer in his mid forties, and Leonard is a gay black man. Both of them are accomplished fighters, and the stories (told from Hap's narrative point of view) feature a great deal of violence, profanity and sex. Lansdale paints a picture of East Texas which is essentially "good" but blighted by racism, ignorance, urban and rural deprivation and corruption in public officials. Some of the subject matter is extremely dark, and has included pedophilia and anti-gay violence. The novels are characterised by sharp humour and "wisecracking" dialogue.
He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he also teaches at his own Shen Chuan martial arts school. In addition he is the writer in residence at Stephen F. Austin University. He is also a member of the Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
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Film and television
Lansdale was a contributing writer for Batman: the Animated Series, credited with three episodes:
- "Perchance to Dream" (season 1, episode 26, aired October 29, 1992), in which the Mad Hatter creates a world where Thomas and Martha Wayne never died;
- "Read My Lips" (season 1, episode #59, aired May 10, 1993), which introduced The Ventriloquist to the show
- "Showdown" (season 4, episode 2, aired Sept 12, 1995) (featuring Jonah Hex and Ra's al Ghul) (sometimes cited as season 3, episode 12).
He also wrote "Identity Crisis", the episode which introduced Bizarro on Superman: The Animated Series (season 2, episode #6, aired September 15, 1997), and Critters (with Steve Gerber) for The New Batman Adventures (sometimes referred to as Batman: Gotham Knights, as on Lansdale's website; in syndication, the series is just more episodes of Batman: The Animated Series - season 2, episode #2, aired September 19, 1998).
The most famous Lansdale adaptation was made in 2002 when Don Coscarelli adapted the novella Bubba Ho-Tep for the big screen. The film featured Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy, now confined to an old-age rest home, team up to fight a mummy who is stealing their friends' souls.
The short story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted for the first episode of the first season of Masters of Horror, also by Don Coscarelli. It aired on October 28, 2005. The short story "The Fat Man", has also been written into a screenplay by Neal Barrett Jr. for Masters of Horror, but it is as yet unproduced.
It has also been announced that Lansdale's 2002 novel A Fine Dark Line will be made into a movie, which will be directed by Adam Friedman, with a screenplay written by Lansdale "hisownself."
Lansdale's story "The Job" was made into an eleven minute short in 1997 by A.W. Feidler. It is available on the out-of-print DVD collection, Short 5 - Diversity, on Warner Home Video. The short story "Drive-In Date" was filmed as a short by James Cahill, from a script written by Lansdale, published in A Fist Full of Stories.
A movie version of Lansdale's Cold in July, directed by Jim Mickle and written by Mick Damici, is in the works.
Awards
Joe Lansdale has won seven Bram Stoker Awards over the course of his long career. The short story "Night They Missed the Horror Show" won the award for "Short Fiction" in 1988. In the "Long Fiction" category (which is for novellas, though it also initially included comic book work as well), he won in 1989 for "On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks", 1997 for "The Big Blow", and 1999 for "Mad Dog Summer" (a shared award with Brian A. Hopkins' "Five Days in April"). In 1992 the story "The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance" shared the "Long Fiction" award with "Aliens: Tribes" by Steve Bissette. In 1993, Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo won in the newly created "Other Media" category. Lansdale's anthology "Retro Pulp Tales" won for the "Anthology" category.
He was also nominated nine other times. The Drive-In and Savage Season were nominated in the "Novels" category in 1988 and 1990, respectively. By Bizarre Hands and Writer of the Purple Rage were nominated for "Fiction Collection" in 1989 and 1994. The short story "Love Doll: A Fable" was up in "Short Fiction" in 1991. The novella "Bubba Ho-Tep" was up for "Long Fiction" in 1994. Something Lumber This Way Comes was nominated in a new "Work for Younger Readers" category, and Jonah Hex: Shadows West #1 was up for "Illustrated Narrative", both in 1999. And "Red Romance" (published in DC Comics' Flinch #11) was nominated for "Illustrated Narrative" in 2000.
Other nominations include:
- 2007, Cross Plains Universe: Texans Celebrate Robert E. Howard for a World Fantasy Award
Other awards include:
- 1990, "On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks" won the British Fantasy Award for best short story.
- 1994, Mucho Mojo was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
- 2000, The Bottoms was given the Edgar Award for Best Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. It was also named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. It was also nominated for a Dashiell Hammett Award for "Best Novel", as well as "Best Mystery Novel" in the Mystery Readers International's Macavity Awards.
He is also frequently cited as winning the American Mystery Award, the Horror Critics Award, the "Shot in the Dark" International Crime Writer’s award, the Booklist Editor’s Award, and the Critic’s Choice Award. The specifics are difficult to track down at present, but it is likely that at least some of these were awarded to The Bottoms, which is by far his most acclaimed novel.
Bibliography
Dates by original publication; some novels or stories were written years prior to actual publication.
Novels
"Hap Collins and Leonard Pine" mysteries
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- Savage Season (1990)
- Mucho Mojo (Cemetery Dance Publications, 1994)
- Two-Bear Mambo (1995)
- Bad Chili (1997)
- Rumble Tumble (1998)
- Veil's Visit (includes the eponymous story, written with Andrew Vachss) (1999) (limited edition)
- Captains Outrageous (2001)
- Vanilla Ride (2009) [previously referred to as Blue to the Bone]
The "Drive-In" series
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- The Drive-In: A “B” Movie with Blood and Popcorn, Made in Texas (1988)
- The Drive-In 2: Not Just One of Them Sequels (1989)
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- The Drive-In: A Double-Feature (1997, omnibus) compiles the first two
- The Drive-In: The Bus Tour (2005) (limited edition)
The "Ned the Seal" trilogy
These are all limited editions published by Subterranean Press
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- Zeppelins West (2001)
- Flaming London (2006)
- The Sky Done Ripped (unreleased; release date unknown)
Other novels
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- Act of Love (1980)
- Texas Night Riders (1983) (originally published under the pseudonym Ray Slater)
- Dead in the West (1986) (written in 1980)
- Magic Wagon (1986)
- The Nightrunners (1987) (written in 1982 as Night of the Goblins)
- Cold in July (1989)
- Tarzan: the Lost Adventure (1995) (with Edgar Rice Burroughs)
- The Boar (1998) (initially a limited edition, later republished)
- Freezer Burn (1999)
- Waltz of Shadows (1999) (written in 1991) (limited edition "Lost Lansdale" vol 1)
- Something Lumber This Way Comes (1999) (Children's book) (lim. ed. "Lost Lansdale" vol 2)
- The Big Blow (2000) (limited edition)
- Blood Dance (2000) (written in the early '80's) (limited edition "Lost Lansdale" vol 3)
- The Bottoms (2000)
- A Fine Dark Line (2002)
- Sunset and Sawdust (2004)
- Lost Echoes (2007)
- Leather Maiden (2008)
Pseudonymous novels
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- Molly's Sexual Follies (as Brad Simmons) Pseudonymous porn novel written with Brad W. Foster
Mark Stone: MIA Hunter series
These are a few novels Lansdale wrote under the pseudonym "Jack Buchanan". These novels were probably co-written with Stephen Mertz. Some people erroneously report that Lansdale is responsible for the entire series, which is definitely not true.
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- Hanoi Deathgrip (Stone: MIA Hunter #3)
- Mountain Massacre (Stone: MIA Hunter #4)
- Saigon Slaughter (Stone: MIA Hunter #7)
Short stories
Collections
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- By Bizarre Hands (1989)
- Stories by Mama Lansdale's Youngest Boy (1991) aka Author's Choice Monthly #18
- Bestsellers Guaranteed (1993)
- Electric Gumbo: A Lansdale Reader (1994) (Quality Paperback Book Club exclusive)
- Writer of the Purple Rage (1994)
- A Fistfull of Stories (and Articles) (1996)
- The Good, The Bad, and the Indifferent (1997) (limited edition)
- Private Eye Action, As You Like It (1998) (with Lewis Shiner) (limited edition)
- Triple Feature (1999) (limited edition)
- The Long Ones: Nuthin' But Novellas (2000)
- High Cotton (2000)
- For a Few Stories More (2002) (limited edition "Lost Lansdale" vol 4; the "ultra-limited" edition of this book included a previously unpublished Young Adult vampire novel called Shadow Time which has not appeared anywhere else)
- A Little Green Book of Monster Stories (2003) (limited edition)
- Bumper Crop (2004)
- Mad Dog Summer and Other Stories (2004) (initially a limited edition, reissued in paperback)
- The King: and other stories (2005) (limited edition)
- The Shadows, Kith and Kin (2007)
- Sanctified and Chicken-Fried (2009)
- The Best of Joe R. Lansdale (2010; forthcoming)
Chapbooks
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- On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks (1991) (limited edition)
- The Steel Valentine (1991) (Pulphouse Short Story Hardback #7)
- Steppin' Out, Summer '68 (1992) (limited edition)
- Tight Little Stitches In A Dead Man's Back (1992) (limited edition)
- My Dead Dog Bobby (1995) (limited edition)
- Bubba Ho-Tep (2003) (novella) (published standalone as a movie tie-in)
- Duck Footed (2005) (novella) (limited edition)
Uncollected Short Stories
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- "Castle of Shadows" (written with Ardath Mayhar) from Weirdbook #21 (1985)
- "Boo Yourself!" from Whispers VI, ed. Stuart David Schiff (1987)
- republished in 100 Tiny Tales of Terror, ed. Martin H. Greenberg
- "Dead in the West: Screenplay" from Screamplays (1997)
- "Disaster Club" from Cemetery Dance #32 (1999)
Novels and stories with Batman
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- Batman: Captured by the Engines (1991) (novel)
- Batman: Terror on the High Skies (1992) (junior novel) (illustrated by Edward Hannigan & Dick Giordano)
- "Belly Laugh, or The Joker's Trick or Treat", short story in The Further Adventures of The Joker, ed. Martin H. Greenberg (1989)
- "Subway Jack", short story in The Further Adventures of Batman, ed. Greenberg (1989) (features Lansdale's character The God of the Razor)
Graphic novels and comic books
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- Lone Ranger & Tonto (1993, 4 issues - Art by Tim Truman and Rick Magyar, also tpb, Topps Comics)
- Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo (1993, 5 issues- Art by Tim Truman, also tpb, DC Comics)
- Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such (1995, 5 issues - Art by Tim Truman, DC)
- Blood and Shadows (1996) (4 issues. Art by Mark A. Nelson - DC/Vertigo)
- The Spirit: The New Adventures #8 (1998) (art by John Lucas, Kitchen Sink Comics)
- Red Range (1999) (graphic novel - Art by Sam Glanzman. Mojo Press)
- Jonah Hex: Shadows West (1999, 3 issues - Art by Tim Truman. DC/Vertigo)
- Conan and the Songs of the Dead (2006) (art by Tim Truman) (5 issues) also tpb (Dark Horse Comics)
- Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #32 (January 2008) (art by Ronan Cliquet) Marvel Comics)
- reprinted in Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four Volume 8, 2008
- Pigeons from Hell (adaptation of the Robert E. Howard short story) (June 2008) (Art by Nathan Fox) (4 issues) (also tpb) (Dark Horse Comics)
Short stories
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- "Drive-By" (1993, adapted from a story by Andrew Vachss- Art by Gary Gianni); originally published in Andrew Vachss: Hard Looks #5; reprinted in Andrew Vachss: Hard Looks TPB; subsequently reprinted in a limited edition eponymous trade paperback containing Vachss' original story, Lansdale's comic script, and the as-published illustrated story
- "Grease Trap" in Creature Features (1994) (art by Ted Naifeh, Mojo Press)
- "Shootout at Ice Flats" in Supergirl Annual #1 (1996) (co-wr: Neal Barrett Jr.) (art by Robert Branishi and Stan Woch, DC)
- "The Elopement" in Weird War Tales #2 (of 4) (July 1997) (art by Sam Glanzman, DC)
- "The Initiation" in Gangland #4 (of 4) (Sept 1998) (co-wr: Rick Klaw) (art by Tony Salmons) (DC/Vertigo)
- "Betrothed" in Flinch #5 (Oct 1999) (art by Rick Burchett, DC/Vertigo)
- "The Split" in Strange Adventures #3 (of 4) (Jan 2000 - Art by Richard Corben. DC/Vertigo)
- "Red Romance" in Flinch #11 (May 2000) (DC/Vertigo)
- "Brer Hoodoo" in Flinch #13 (July 2000) (art by Tim Truman, DC/Vertigo)
- "Devil's Sombrero" in Weird Western Tales #2 (of 4) (May 2001, DC/Vertigo)
- "Steam Rider: The Steam-Powered Heart" in Amazing Fantasy #20 (June 2006, Marvel Comics)
- "Mice and Money" in Marvel Romance Redux #5 (subtitle "Love is a Four Letter Word") (June 2006, Marvel Comics)
- reprinted in Mighty Marvel Romance trade paperback
- "Gunhawk: Midnight Gun" in Strange Westerns starring the Black Rider (Aug 2006) (art by Rafa Garres, Marvel)
- reprinted in Mighty Marvel Westerns hardcover
- "The War At Home" parts 1-3 in Zombie Tales #1-3 (July - September, 2008), Boom Studios
- full story collected in Zombie Tales trade, published December 2008
- "A Ripping Good Time" in Tales From the Crypt #6 (July 2008)) (co-wr: John L. Lansdale) (art by James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook), Papercutz
- "Moonlight Sonata" in Tales From the Crypt #7 (Aug 2008) (art by Chris Noeth), Papercutz
- both stories collected in Tales From the Crypt Graphic Novel #4.
- "Virtual Hoodoo" in Tales From the Crypt #8 (Oct 2008) (co-wr: John L. Lansdale) (art by James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook), Papercutz
Adaptations of previously published stories, by Lansdale unless noted
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- Dead in the West (1993) (2 issues) (adapted by Neal Barrett Jr. - Art by Jack Jackson) (covers by Tim Truman) (Dark Horse)
- By Bizarre Hands (1994) (3 issues) (adaptations by Neal Barrett Jr. and Jerry Prosser) (art by Phil Hester and Dean Rohrer) (Dark Horse)
- Atomic Chili: The Illustrated Joe Lansdale (1996 - tpb) (Mojo Press)
- "Dog, Cat, and Baby", in Murder by Crowquill #1 (1999 - tpb), (with Keith Lansdale, art by Tim Truman) (Amazing Montage Press)
- "Bob The Dinosaur Goes To Disneyland" (adapted by Rick Klaw) (art by Doug Potter) First publication at RevolutionSF (2001 in color) First book publication in Geek Confidential: Echoes From the 21st Century (by Rick Klaw, Monkeybrain, Inc., 2003 in black and white)
- Lansdale & Truman's Dead Folks (2003) (from the story On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks) (3 issues) (also tpb - Art by Tim Truman) (Avatar Press)
- The Drive-In (2003) (4 issues) (also tpb) (adapted by Christopher Golden) (art by Andres Guinaldo) (Avatar)
- By Bizarre Hands (2004) (6 issues, adaptations by Neal Barrett, Jr., Keith Lansdale, and Rick Klaw - Art by Dheeraj Verma, Armando Rossi, and Andres Guinaldo) (Avatar)
- The Drive-In 2 (2006) (4 issues, adapted by Neal Barrett, Jr. - Art by Andres Guinaldo) (Avatar)
- "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" in Masters of Horror #1-2 (2006 - Adapted by Chris Ryall)
Anthologies edited
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- The Best of the West (1989)
- New Frontier (1989)
- Razored Saddles (1989, with Pat Lobrutto)
- Dark at Heart (1991, with Karen Lansdale)
- Weird Business: a horror comics anthology (1995, with Richard Klaw)
- West That Was (1994) (co-ed: Thomas Knowles)
- Wild West Show (1994) (co-ed: Thomas Knowles)
- The Horror Hall of Fame: The Stoker Winners (2004)
- Retro-Pulp Tales (2006) (limited edition)
- Lords of the Razor (2006) (limited edition)
- Cross Plains Universe: Texans Celebrate Robert E. Howard (with Scott A. Cupp, 2006)
See also
Notes
References
- Joe R. Lansdale at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Joe R. Lansdale at the Internet Movie Database
- Joe R. Lansdale at the Comic Book DB
External links
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