Joe R. Lansdale - Page 1
| Paperback - Gollancz (2000) |
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The Bottoms
The Great Depression, East Texas. The woods are thick, the rivers wild, the weather ripe with tornadoes, and the Crane family, like most families in those parts, are eking out a thin living.,
When young Harry Crane discovers a mutilated body bound to a tree with barbed wire in the river bottoms, whites fear a renegade Negro. Blacks fear a vengeful massacre, or, if the killer is white, that the white man's law will let him slip through its fingers. Harry believes the murderer is the Goat Man, an East Texas monster of legend who lurks beneath the swing bridge on the Sabine River.
As the bodies mount up, an elderly black man is lynched, and both blacks and whites are terrorised. Harry's father, the local constable, whose liberal attitudes bring their own danger, searches for a killer who may be a lot closer than anyone thinks. Not only a novel of riveting suspense, The Bottoms shows the protean talents of Joe R. Lansdale setting off in a new direction.
Praise for Joe R. Lansdale
'Lansdale probably comes closer than any writer to achieving the mystic union of rock and roll, comedy and cri-fi. His barkingly funny dialogue and robust simplicity of characterisation make this the kind of book you read with your ears' Independent, of Bad Chili
`Not just good, it's G-O-O-D ... Lansdale's red hot poker of an eye for detail runs wild with descriptions that leave you with no choice but to laugh out loud ... Funny, fast-paced, fierce and feisty, this is white-trash realism at its very best' Uncut, of Freezer Burn
| British Pbk Original - Gollancz (1999) |
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Freezer Burn
Bill is a loser.
He has no job and no money and no mother. His mother is dead, and 'kind of freeze-dried' in her bedroom. She doesn't smell as bad as she used to, but her welfare checks are pilin’ up and he doesn't feel smart enough to forge her signature.
So he decides to rob the firecracker stand across the highway from his house, for cash and maybe a few bangs into the bargain. Trouble is, Fat Boy and Chaplin, the muscle he brings along to help, are maybe not quite as sophisticated as he is, and before long they have a dead stallholder on their hands, and are on the run through the swamps with half the cops and all the water moccasins in the county on their tail.
When Bill stumbles out of the swamps and into a freak show it seems like a good time to join Ulysses S. Grant the bearded lady, Double Buckwheat the Siamese twins and Conrad the Dog Man on the road. Not to mention the Ice Man and Gidget the trailer-trash hot blonde; could it be that Bill's loser days are over? Nope…
| British Pbk Original - Gollancz (1998) |
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Rumble Tumble
See Review by
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears)
Hap Collins is beginning to feel old. Working nights as a bouncer, living his days by the grace of his best buddy Leonard Pine and his good woman Brett Sawyer, he's greying at the temples and thickening at the middle. And he feels that bad things are coming.
They are. Brett's teenage daughter Tillie has taken to drugs and prostitution, and needs a quick and merciful rescue. It will be no easy chore, starting with a trek from LaBord, Texas, to Hottie Hoot, Oklahoma, a place even more godforsaken than it sounds.
On the road, their motley band expands to include a six-foot-four ex-Pentecostal preacher and hitman, plus his brother; a red-headed midget with an attitude. Not to mention Leonard's adopted son, Bob the armadillo. Ranged against them stands a biker army turned vice barons and stone-mad killers ...
'Becoming the decade's greatest crime series' Mat Coward, Independent
| British Pbk Original - Indigo (1998) |
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Bad Chilli
See Review by
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears)
See Review by
John Baker
Hap and Leonard, crime friction’s oddest couple, are back!
Fresh from a stint on an offshore oil rig and determined to make some changes in his life, Hap Collins arrives home in LaBorde, Texas, only to find his best friend, Leonard, mourning over his break-up with his lover Raul. Things seem bad for Leonard . . . but they can only get worse.
When a local biker, who also happens to be Raul's new lover. is found murdered, Leonard is the prime suspect. Complicating matters is the fact that his house has been ransacked - and the only thing missing is his videotape collection. The local law is little use, as usual. Hap sets out to clear Leonard's name and Investigate the robbery, but it won't be easy.
Then again, nothing in Hap's life ever is. Complications include his new love interest, the nurse of every man's dreams with a secret past that involves an abusive husband, lighter fluid, and a match; the life-threatening behaviour of LaBorde's Chili King; a tornado and more dead bodies than you could shake a stick at.
And a rabid squirrel . . .
Praise for Mucho Mojo and The Two Bear Mambo:
'Lansdale perhaps comes closer than any writer to achieving the mystic union of rock and roll, comedy and cri-fi. His barkingly funny dialogue and robust simplicity of characterization make this the kind of book you read with your ears' Mat Coward, Independent
'Lansdale is a writer to be reckoned with' John Williams, GQ
'Joe R Lansdale has joined the first division of the blood and guts brigade, and his new Hap Collins and Leonard Pine gonzobuster is another excursion into the familiar Texas badlands where bad things just keep on happening to good and bad alike. An invigorating mother of a series, although possibly not on the Texas Tourist Board's recommended list' Maxim Jakubowski, Time Out
'So slick and pacy, you'll probably finish it in one sitting' Adam Sutherland, Maxim
'Lansdale is not for the squeamish. What he is is a terrifically gifted storyteller with a sharp country-boy wit, minus the male-redneck narcissism and prejudices. Lansdale is a dirty-mouthed nice guy, and he's refreshing' Washington Post
'The mayhem is always flashy in these Texas Gothics, and the foul-mouthed jokes would keep a crew of oil riggers in stitches. But there's more true art in the loopy bar conversations and front-porch anecdotes that Lansdale tosses back like peanuts' New York Times
| British Pbk Original - Indigo |
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Cold In July
`Without really thinking about it, I jerked up the .38 and pulled the trigger. His head whipped back, then forward. The wool cap nodded to one side but didn't come off. He stepped back stiffly and sat down on the couch as if very tired. His revolver fell to the floor . . '
To kill a man, even in self-defence, is no easy thing for a man with a conscience. He has to answer to himself, put the episode behind him, get on with his life. This is very difficult when the dead man's father, a murderous ex-con, is determined to avenge the shooting, no matter what the rights and wrongs.
Richard Dane is a small businessman, a family man with a son of his own. Ben Russell, the ex-con, has a very simple proposition: an eye for an eye, a son for son. But the truth is anything but simple, and before long Dane and Russell, misled and manipulated both, are awkward allies in a living nightmare of paranoia and psychopathic sex, violence and corruption . . .
'Cold in July is the work of a considerable writer working at his all- out best, and I'd defy anyone to read its opening pages and remain ungripped or unmoved. This is a dark, witty and truthful thriller, shot through with genuine emotion; the book in which one of America's most distinctive storytellers hit his stride' Stephen Gallagher, author of Red, Red Robin
About The Author
Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over two hundred stories and a dozen novels, including the highly acclaimed Hap and Leonard series, Savage Season, Mucho Mojo, The Two-Bear Mambo and Bad Chili. He has edited several anthologies of dark suspense and western fiction, and produced several cult graphic novels. He has won the British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award and three Bram Stoker Awards. He lives in East Texas with his wife and children.
Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.
The Bottoms
(
2000)
Gollancz Pbk Nov 00
Freezer Burn
(Gollancz Pbk,
1999)
Rumble Tumble
(Gollancz Pbk,
1998)
(Hap & Leonard Collins & Pine)
Bad Chilli
(Indigo Pbk,
1998)
(Hap & Leonard Collins & Pine)
Cold In July
(Indigo Pbk,
1996)
Savage Season
(Indigo Pbk,
1996)
(Hap & Leonard Collins & Pine)
Mucho Mojo
(Indigo Pbk,
1996)
(Hap & Leonard Collins & Pine)
The Two-bear Mambo
(Gollancz Pbk,
1996)
(Hap & Leonard Collins & Pine)
The Nightrunners
(Viking (American))
Act of Love
(Viking (American))
The Bottoms
WebPage: 
by Joe R. Lansdale
