Joe R. Lansdale

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Joe R. Lansdale
Joe lansdale 2007.jpg
Joe Lansdale in 2007.
Born (1951-10-28) October 28, 1951 (age 61)
Gladewater, Texas, United States
Pen name Ray Slater, Brad Simmons, Jack Buchanan
Occupation Writer, martial arts instructor
Nationality American
Period 1970-present
Genres Horror, Mystery, Western, Adventure, Crime
Literary movement Splatterpunk, Cowpunk
www.joerlansdale.com

Joe Richard Lansdale (born October 28, 1951) 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.[1] 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 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).[2] He is the winner of the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and eight Bram Stoker Awards. In 2007 he received the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award.[3][4][5]

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 fictional town of Laborde, in East Texas, and find themselves solving a variety of often unpleasant crimes.[2] The characters themselves are an unlikely pairing; Hap is a white working class laborer in his mid forties who once protested against the war in Vietnam, and Leonard is a gay black Vietnam vet. 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 includes scenes of brutal violence. These novels are also characterized by sharp humor and "wisecracking" dialogue.[6]

Much of Joe Lansdale's work has been issued and re-issued as limited editions by Subterranean Press[7] and as trade paperbacks by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Publications.[8]His current new release publisher is Mulholland Books.[9]

His next full length novel The Thicket is to be published by Mulholland Books in September 2013[10] and his next short story collection Bleeding Shadows will be published by Subterranean Press in the following November.[11]

Lansdale, who was born in Gladewater, Texas, now lives in Nacogdoches, Texas and is the writer in residence at Stephen F. Austin State University. He also teaches at his own Shen Chuan martial arts school[12] and is a member of both the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame as Sōke and the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame.[13] He is the father of actress and musician Kasey Lansdale[14]and is a close friend and colleague of author, child activist, and attorney Andrew Vachss.[15]

Contents

Film and television [edit]

Lansdale was a contributing writer for Batman: the Animated Series, credited with three episodes:

Landsdale 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) - season 2, episode #2, aired September 19, 1998.

In 2010 he wrote the screenplay for the animated short DC Showcase: Jonah Hex. The brief standalone story features Hex tracking a bounty only to encounter a new adversary.

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 persons who believe themselves to be Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy, confined to an old-age rest home, teaming up to fight a mummy who is stealing their friends' souls.[2]

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.

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.

The movie Christmas with the Dead, based on the Lansdale short story of the same name, was filmed in East Texas in Summer 2011. The film starring Brad Maule, Damian Maffei, and Kasey Lansdale is currently showing on the film festival circuit and at private screenings.[16]

Lansdale is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton.

Awards [edit]

Joe R. Lansdale at the SugarPulp festival (Padua, Italy); October 2, 2011

Joe Lansdale has won eight 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 2006 anthology Retro Pulp Tales tied for the Best Anthology category with Mondo Zombie edited by John Skipp.[17]

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 nominated in "Short Fiction" in 1991. The novella Bubba Ho-Tep was nominated 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 nominated for "Illustrated Narrative", both in 1999. 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:

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.[18][19][20][21]

The Horror Writers Association gave him and the late Rick Hautala the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement for 2011, which they received at the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 31, 2012.[22][23]

On 19 October 2012 he was inducted into The Texas Literary Hall of Fame.[24]

Bibliography [edit]

Dates by original publication; some novels or stories were written years prior to actual publication.

Novels [edit]

"Hap Collins and Leonard Pine" mysteries [edit]

The "Drive-In" series [edit]

  • The Drive-In: A “B” Movie with Blood and Popcorn, Made in Texas (1988)[25]
  • The Drive-In 2: Not Just One of Them Sequels (1989)[26]
  • The Drive-In: A Double-Feature (1997) (omnibus, compiles the first two)
  • The Drive-In: The Bus Tour (2005) (limited edition)[27]
  • The Complete Drive-In (2010) (trade paperback) (omnibus, compiles all three novels along with never-before seen art from the unmade 'Drive-In' movie)[28]

The "Ned the Seal" trilogy [edit]

  • Zeppelins West (2001) (limited edition)
  • Flaming London (2006) (limited edition)
  • Flaming Zeppelins (2010) (omnibus of Zeppelins West and Flaming London)
  • The Sky Done Ripped (unreleased; release date unknown)

Other novels [edit]

Pseudonymous novels [edit]

  • Molly's Sexual Follies (as Brad Simmons) Pseudonymous porn novel written with Brad W. Foster
Mark Stone: M.I.A. Hunter series [edit]

These are a few novels Lansdale wrote under the pseudonym "Jack Buchanan". These novels were co-written with Stephen Mertz, Michael Newton, and Bill Crider. Some people erroneously report that Lansdale is responsible for the entire series, which is definitely not true.

  • Hanoi Deathgrip (Stone: M.I.A. Hunter #3) (1985)
  • Mountain Massacre (Stone: M.I.A. Hunter #4) (1985)
  • Saigon Slaughter (Stone: M.I.A. Hunter #7) (1987)

Short stories [edit]

Collections

Western screenplays [edit]

  • Shadows West (2012) (limited edition with John L. Lansdale)

Chapbooks [edit]

  • 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)
  • Dread Island (2011) (novella) (also limited hardcover)[34]
  • The Cases of Dana Roberts (2011) (accompanies the limited edition of the short story collection Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2 from Subterranean Press)[35]
  • Christmas with the Dead (2011) (short story) (limited edition hardcover)

Uncollected short stories [edit]

Comic book-related writings [edit]

Novels and stories with Batman [edit]

Graphic novels and comic books [edit]

Short stories [edit]

  • "Bullets and Fire" (2011) (currently unavailable, will be published later )
  • "Torn Away" (Dec. 2011, Fantasy Magazine)[36]

Adaptations of previously published stories, by Lansdale unless noted [edit]

Anthologies edited [edit]

See also [edit]

External links [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ http://www.austinchronicle.com/books/1997-08-22/529456/ Interview.
  2. ^ a b c Kelly, Christopher (April 8, 2012). "A Fresh Discovery, Three Decades in the Making". The New York Times. p. A23B. Retrieved April 9, 2012. 
  3. ^ http://www.horror.org/stokerwinnom.htm retrieved 3/29/2013
  4. ^ http://worldhorrorconvention.com/past-whcs/
  5. ^ http://www.mediamikes.com/2011/04/interview-with-joe-lansdale/ Interview
  6. ^ http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/05/joe_r_lansdale_strikes_again/ Retrieved 03/03/13
  7. ^ http://subterraneanpress.com/about Subterranean Press featured authors
  8. ^ http://www.weeklylizard.com/?s=Joe+R.+Lansdale] Vintage Crime site.
  9. ^ http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/author/joerlansdale/
  10. ^ http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Thicket.html?id=6H13lwEACAAJ advanced notice, retrieved 4/15/13
  11. ^ http://subterraneanpress.com/store/product_detail/bleeding_shadows release information, retrieved 4/3/13
  12. ^ http://www.joerlansdale.com/shenchuan/shen/Shen.htm
  13. ^ http://www.unitedstatesmartialartshalloffame.com/2011_Inductees.pdf
  14. ^ http://www.pineywoodslive.com/news/2012/jun/15/joe-kasey-lansdale-country-music-singer-writing/
  15. ^ http://mp3bear.com/andrew-vachss-joe-r-lansdale-a-conversation-two-trains-running mp3 recording of Joe interviewing Andrew, retrieved 4/15/13
  16. ^ http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/170435-the-trailer-for-joe-r-lansdales-christmas-with-the-dead retrieved 4/3/13
  17. ^ http://www.horror.org/stokerwinnom.htm#2006
  18. ^ http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/the-bottoms
  19. ^ http://www.oprah.com/book/The-Bottoms-by-Joe-R-Lansdale
  20. ^ http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102113.The_Bottoms Retrieved 12/14/12
  21. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=zPFO-xq_KqYC&sitesec=reviews
  22. ^ http://horrornews.net/46250/lifetime-achievement-awards-announced-hwa/
  23. ^ http://whc2012.org/World_Horror_2012.html retrieved 4/5/13
  24. ^ http://fortworthtexas.gov/library/info/default.aspx?id=4256
  25. ^ "Joe R. Lansdale Guest Blog: How the Drive-In Series Changed My Life". Dreadcentral.com. 2010-05-18. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
  26. ^ "Joe R. Lansdale Guest Blog: What's Playing at The Drive-In?". Dreadcentral.com. 2010-05-19. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
  27. ^ "Joe R. Lansdale Guest Blog: Receiving Inspiration from Popcorn". Dreadcentral.com. 2010-05-20. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
  28. ^ http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2010/05/14/joe-r-lansdale-interview/
  29. ^ http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/2012/03/22/a-conversation-with-joe-r-lansdale-part-i/ Interview with author
  30. ^ http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/2012/03/23/an-interview-with-joe-r-lansdale-part-ii/ Pt. 2 of interview
  31. ^ http://www.flickr.com/photos/17270214@N05/8077067323/
  32. ^ http://subterraneanpress.com/news/the_ape_mans_brothera_new_joe_r._lansdale_novella_available_now
  33. ^ http://subterraneanpress.com/store/product_detail/trapped_at_the_saturday_matinee Publisher's website
  34. ^ "IDW Publishing Unveils New Mash-Up Series: Classics Mutilated". Dreadcentral.com. 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
  35. ^ http://subterraneanpress.com/store/product_detail/subterranean_tales_of_dark_fantasy_2 retrieved 3/29/13
  36. ^ http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/torn-away/
  37. ^ http://bitsolisbibliofiles.blogspot.com/2013/03/joe-r-lansdale-weird-western.html retrieved 4/18/13

References [edit]


Authority control
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joe_R._Lansdale&oldid=556120621"