We all have authors we buy on sight. What about publishers?
I don’t know about you guys, but I love me some @torbooks. Pretty sure they have never led me wrong.
This is my goal: to never lead you wrong.
For me, it’s @tachyonpub. You can’t go wrong when you pair phenomenal cover art and amazing fiction.
Uncategorized
Learn more about the crazed world of HAP AND LEONARD
Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized christina hendricks, crime, elizabeth story, hap and leonard, hap and leonard ride again, interview, james purefoy, jim mickle, joe lansdale, Joe R. Lansdale, michael k. williams, sundanceTV', swamp noir, texas noir, trailer, yahoo
More footage, a behind-the-scenes vignette, and an interview with director Jim Mickle get’s us ready for March’s HAP AND LEONARD.
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/243980a9e4cff78f4d772382c0de4b66/tumblr_inline_o21jzps3SO1s0669x_540.jpg)
James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams as the titular characters in SundanceTV’s HAP AND LEONARD
SundanceTV has released the official trailer.
They also shared this clip.
YAHOO shared this fascinating behind-the-scenes video with lots of new footage. Includes interviews with the three stars and director Mickle.
Speaking of which, SUNDANCETV shares “6 questions with “hap and leonard” director jim mickle.”
Q: What are three words you would use to describe HAP AND LEONARD?
A: Unpredictable, funny and explosive.
Q: What kind of obstacles will Hap and Leonard face?
A:First and foremost, they have to find the money. It’s at the bottom of a river. Early on in our season, they can’t even find the river, which shows you what kind of adventures these guys go on. In one sense, it’s Hap returning to his home base, the town that he grew up in. He’s waking up some ghosts along the way from his past, but he’s also trying to fend off his bad habit of falling in and out of love with the wrong woman over and over again. Along the way, they’re going to be scuba diving. They’re going to be fending off alligators. There are a number of odd figures that they will cross paths with. And there will definitely be some gun fighting… It’s a mixed bag of just about everything.
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/aa9c8adcefd69977a1bda1ae0dd496a8/tumblr_inline_o21kg8psg11s0669x_540.jpg)
Jim Mickle on the set of HAP AND LEONARD
Q: What do you think viewers will find special about this series?
A: What’s unique about the show is that we introduce a lot of unpredictable plot twists that I don’t think traditional television series generally do. We are able to tell a much faster-paced story. We’re able to keep the point of view very narrow, which I like. A lot of times, television has to introduce a lot of characters to sustain itself. We came in very early on saying we didn’t want to do that kind of story. We didn’t want to do the multithreaded character drama. This is pulp storytelling. There’s an inciting incident at the beginning of the series, and events unfold based off that. I think that allowed us to take directions in the plot and create characterizations that are just a little bit different than stock television.
Read the rest of the interview with Mickle at SUNDANCETV.
Also coming soon are two new collections featuring the dynamic duo:
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/43e224e7e0eee11d5df1ffd451ddd701/tumblr_inline_o21kpwsgBa1s0669x_540.jpg)
For more info on HAP AND LEONARD, visit the Tachyon page.
For more info about HAP AND LEONARD RIDE AGAIN, visit the Tachyon page.
Covers by Elizabeth Story
The Secrets Behind Peer Review
Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized nobel prize, peer review, peter c. doherty, the conversationalist
For THE CONVERSATIONALIST, Nobel Laureate Peter C. Doherty explores the ins and outs of peer review.
If you are at all familiar with the operation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) you will know that, while the various authors are (unpaid) professionals of one sort or another with their own research programs, the IPCC itself neither commissions nor does research. Its conclusions are based solely on the information available in the published peer-reviewed scientific literature. What does that mean?
Every research paper that appears in print and/or online will have been read and critiqued (generally with complete anonymity) by at least two scientific peers. This mechanism was first put in place by the Royal Society in the 17th century, and has endured.
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/84b8f6c506e038d360c67f2c24b3fdb0/tumblr_inline_o21b4l5zmT1s0669x_540.jpg)
The Royal Society in Crane Court, London, 17th century
Sometimes, if the reviewers are at odds, a third or even fourth opinion will be sought. Though the tradition with law journals, for example, may be that the process is double blind – with neither the reviewers nor the authors being identified – the single-blind tradition in science means we generally know who wrote the paper, but can only speculate about the critics of our wonderful manuscript.
That may sound onerous but, in practice, it’s not hard to get almost anything published at some level in what’s broadly styled as the peer-reviewed scientific literature, especially if it is well written and gives the appearance of having been done properly.
Read the rest of Doherty’s insightful piece at THE CONVERSATIONALIST.
Anticipation for Lavie Tidhar’s forthcoming CENTRAL STATION reaches a fever pitch
Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized alexander páez, central station, donde acaba el infinito, elizabeth story, gwendolyn clare, interzone, john denardo, katherine nabity, kirkus, lavie tidhar, sarah anne langton, science fiction, warwick fraser-coombe, writerly reader
More excitement about Lavie Tidhar’s forthcoming novel CENTRAL STATION from around the web.
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/706b5c7f923c68b630ae143c50cd9f46/tumblr_inline_o21945myY61s0669x_540.jpg)
At KIRKUS, John DeNardo includes CENTRAL STATION among his Science-Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Books to Look Forward to in 2016.
In May, a wide spectrum of science fiction awaits the reader looking for sense of wonder. For starters, there’s CENTRAL STATION by Lavie Tidhar, which gives intimate portraits of the people located around an Earth-based space station at a time when most of humanity has moved off-world.
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/c80317169e73873254334c753e5ce86b/tumblr_inline_o2195pAC9a1s0669x_540.jpg)
(Photo: Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013.)
In her short story update on THE WRITERLY READER, Katherine Nabity discusses Tidhar’s story “The Book Seller,” which is set in the Central Station universe.
I was about halfway through “The Book Seller” when I realized it was set in Central Station, the same world as “Strigoi” (which I read during COYER in the summer of 2014). The tale continues Carmel’s story, but from the point of view of Achimwene, a seller of old paper books. Carmel is a futuristic strigoi, feeding on the memory “data” of others. Achimwene is un-noded, not part of the information web on which Carmel depends. I really enjoy Tidhar’s science-fiction setting and I’m looking forward to reading CENTRAL STATION, the novel, which is being released in May.
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/67d5453ce612d1b68ddb05611d499530/tumblr_inline_o21966BUCX1s0669x_540.jpg)
Illustrations by Warwick Fraser-Coombe for “The Book Seller” from the story’s first publication in INTERZONE #244 (January-February 2013)
At the Spanish-language site DONDE ACABA EL
INFINITO, Alexander Páez is excited about CENTRAL STATION.
I have begun to read the latest Tidhar. And although I have 3 or 4 bought his novels, all I’ve read about this author is a story. Tidhar is an author that I only hear positive things, and comments from Miquel Codony (qdony) with the author’s last novel has convinced me that this year I read at least one novel this man.
(Translate from Spanish by Google.)
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/763a1ed93e65deabdda8e45695bc02de/tumblr_inline_o219f6cVKP1s0669x_540.jpg)
Gwendolyn Clare includes, without comment, CENTRAL STATION among the forthcoming books she’s “super-stoked to read.”
For more info about CENTRAL STATION, visit the Tachyon page.
Posters by Sarah Anne Langton
Cover design by Elizabeth Story
The thoughtful and revealing FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS cracks bestseller list
Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized afrocaribbean, chuma hill, collection, elizabeth story, falling in love with hominids, feministing, glad day bookshop, jaymee goh, joseph avila, LBGTQ, multnomah county library, nalo hopkinson, people of colo(u)r destroy science fiction, rachelle criuz, review, science fiction, short stories, the highlander, university of california riverside
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/6f7c0f335adbf7757f3928a1896a7d13/tumblr_inline_o2169fIjZO1s0669x_540.jpg)
FEMINISTING checked in with the staff at Glad Day Bookshop, the oldest LGBT bookstore in the world, about some of their favs and top sellers over the past month.
FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS by Nalo Hopkinson
I’ve been a fan for at least a decade, BROWN GIRL IN THE RING is one of the most important books I have read. Junot Díaz calls her one of ‘our most important writers’ and this current offering is nothing short of greatness. FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS presents more than a dozen years of Hopkinson’s new, uncollected fiction, much of which has been unavailable in print, mixing sci-fi and Afro-Caribbean folklore, her stories are vivid and varied.”
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/2e063afeebd53f580d5296e87d7e5c40/tumblr_inline_o2167g07bi1s0669x_540.jpg)
Patrick P. of the MULTNOMAH COUNTY LIBRARY is thrilled with his recent discovery of Nalo Hopkinson’s work.
Some writing just speaks to you. You relate to a situation, you long to experience a setting, you thrill at an exciting plot twist, or maybe you smile at a fanciful phrase and turn it over in your mind a bit before speaking it out loud. I LOVE it when that happens! I had some of this good fortune recently when I heard about the short story collection FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS by Nalo Hopkinson. I’m only a few stories into this and I know that this 2015 release may be my favorite item of 2016.
What it’s like: Imagine Twilight Zone episodes, really good ones. Now add a splash of something that is hopeful and touching (but maybe still a bit weird). For me, that would be It’s A Wonderful Life. Pepper it liberally with thoughtful, revealing, sensual dialogue. Her writing is a bit like that. There are themes around gender and culture and the future. It’s science fiction, but think Octavia Butler, not Star Wars.
Each story has its own spice. Each could have been written by a different author, but there is a tone that unites them. It might be the hopefulness, or the ‘heart’. One story that doesn’t end well for the main character still manages to find triumph in what we might think of as defeat.
For THE HIGHLANDER (University of California, Riverside), Joseph Avila reports on a conference discussion about science fiction and fantasy by people of color.
On Thursday, Jan. 21, professors of creative writing Nalo Hopkinson and Rachelle Cruz and Ph.D. candidate in comparative literature, Jaymee Goh, met in INTS 1111A to discuss their experiences curating, editing and writing for science fiction and fantasy anthologies driven by communities of color. The panel was moderated by recent post-doctoral fellow, Brian Hudson, who studies science fiction from indigenous and other ethnic communities.
<snip>
Hopkinson, who is extensively published and renowned in the genres of science fiction and fantasy and has edited numerous anthologies, including her most recent project published through the online magazine “Lightspeed” called “People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction,” echoed Cruz’s comments about disrupting the Eurocentric mainstream saying, “I’m interested in how as (people of color) … we make incursions into science fiction and fantasy that both play with and mess with boundary.”
<snip>
The last questions were asked by Angela Penaredondo, a recent MFA grad in creative writing, and concerned the writers’ future plans and what it was like working in the anthology genre. “I have so many screwball ideas … but it was fun to work on my contemporaries’ work because there were so many people who had never been published before and to be able to bring it to an international scale was really satisfying,” Hopkinson jokingly answered. “Maybe one day I’ll do an anthology called ‘Revolting Hags.’” Cruz responded, “I’ve been immersed in comics and I think it would be really cool to do a (people of color) comics anthology.”
For more information on FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Chuma Hill
Design by Elizabeth Story
More year end acclaim for Kate Elliott, Nalo Hopkinson, Hannu Rajaniemi, Alastair Reynolds, and John Langan
Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized afrocaribbean, best of 2015, chuma hill, collection, dark fantasy, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, falling in love with hominids, hannu rajaniemi, hannu rajaniemi: collected fiction, horror, John Langan, julie dillon, kate elliott, kelley armstrong, led astray, led astray: the best of kelley armstrong, lius lasahido, Locus, nalo hopkinson, paranormal romance, paula guran, reiko murakami, science fiction, short stories, slow bullets, the monstorus, the very best of kate elliott, Thomas Canty, urban fantasy
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/11810547251c2c777fd8692d553c613e/tumblr_inline_o1zlexzTmT1s0669x_540.jpg)
LOCUS announced their 2015 Recommended Reading List. Four Tachyon titles garnered mention: THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, Nalo Hopkinson’s FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION, and Alastair Reynolds’ SLOW BULLETS.
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/5845d92ec613551273cd48ed16c871e3/tumblr_inline_o1zlf8CGPG1s0669x_540.jpg)
Editor Paula Guran’s THE YEAR’S BEST
DARK FANTASY AND HORROR: 2016 will include “The Door” by Kelley Armstrong from LED ASTRAY: THE BEST OF KELLEY ARMSTRONG and “Corpsemouth” by John Langan from Ellen Datlow’s THE MONSTROUS.
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/4495030a2097833b4deb5aebcb1dc378/tumblr_inline_o1zlfiNFRO1s0669x_540.jpg)
For more information on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Julie Dillon
Design by Elizabeth Story
For more information on FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Chuma Hill
Design by Elizabeth Story
For more information on HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Lius Lasahido
Design by Elizabeth Story
For more information about SLOW BULLETS, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Thomas Canty
Design by Elizabeth Story
For more information on LED ASTRAY: THE BEST OF KELLEY ARMSTRONG, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover by Elizabeth Story
For more information on THE MONSTROUS, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover by Reiko Murakami
Design by Elizabeth Story
Reviewers, bloggers, and librarians get World Fantasy Award Winner Patricia A. McKillip’s DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES
Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized advance reader copy, arc, colleciton, dreams of distant shores, essay, fantasy, netgalley, patricia a mckillip, short stories, Thomas Canty
“McKillip’s is the first name that comes to mind when I’m asked whom I read myself, whom I’d recommend that others read, and who makes me shake my grizzled head and say, ‘Damn I wish I’d done that.’”
—Peter S. Beagle, author of THE LAST UNICORN and SLEIGHT OF HAND
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/7b7de5ea4f54fb7833ca66d2e307c86d/tumblr_inline_o1w95jokPr1s0669x_540.jpg)
Review copies of the endlessly astonishing and impressive fantasist Patricia A. McKillip’s new collection of lyrical and powerful stories DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES are now available via NetGalley.
These copies are only for reviewers and librarians. For more details, visit NetGalley.
And while you are there, check out the other Tachyon titles for review.
Dreams of Distant Shores
by Patricia A. McKillip
ISBN: 9781616962180
Published: June 2016
Available Format(s): Trade Paperback and Digital Books
A
youthful artist is possessed by both his painting and his muse.
Seductive travelers from the sea enrapture distant lovers. The statue
of a mermaid comes suddenly to life. Two friends are transfixed by a
haunted estate.
“I
love Patricia McKillip’s novels, but even more, I am passionate
about her brilliant short stories—those coruscating jewels that are
both remarkable for their language, their power, their wit, and their
depth. She writes pure fantasy and historical fantasy with equal
ease. More, more please.”
–Jane Yolen, author of BRIAR
ROSE, SISTER EMILY’S LIGHTSHIP, DEVIL’S ARITHMETIC, SISTER
LIGHT/SISTER DARK
Bestselling
author Patricia A. McKillip (THE RIDDLE-MASTER OF HED) is one of the
most lyrical writers gracing the fantasy genre. With the debut of
three brand-new stories, DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES is a true ode to
her many talents. Fans of McKillip’s ethereal fiction will delight
in these previously-uncollected tales; those new to her work will
find much to enchant them.
“World
Fantasy Award winner McKillip can take the most common fantasy
elements—dragons and bards, sorcerers and shape-shifters—and
reshape them in surprising and resonant ways.”
—Publishers
Weekly,
starred review
“I
read—and reread—McKillip eagerly. She reminds me that fantasy is
worth writing.”—Stephen R. Donaldson, author of
the Chronicles
of Thomas Covenant
“Cool
elegance.”—Chicago
Sun-Times
“Dreamlike…colorful…evocative….”
—Locus
“Patricia
McKillip is the real thing and always has been. She shows the rest of
us that magic can be made with words and air; that is it worth doing
and worth doing well.”—Ellen Kushner, author
of SWORDSPOINT and THOMAS
THE RHYMER
“Lush
imagery and wry humor…McKillip’s rich language conveys real
strangeness and power.”—Starlog
“McKillip
skillfully knits disparate threads into a rewardingly rich and
satisfying story.”—Amazon.com
“McKillip’s
luminous prose and compelling characters combine to produce a
masterwork of style and substance.”—Library
Journal
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Weird
- Mer (Original Story)
- The Gorgon in the Cupboard
- Which Witch
- Edith and Henry Go Motoring (Original Story)
- Alien (Original Story)
- Something Rich and Strange
- Writing High Fantasy (Essay)
For more info on DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover by Thomas Canty
The legendary Thomas M. Disch was born 76 years ago
Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized Ann Monn, barry barnes, billet-doux, birthday, science fiction, the wall of america, the word of god, the word of good; or the holy writ rewritten, thomas disch, thomas m disch
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/e8bdb2b33c265280e26091419e0b1d7b/tumblr_inline_o1zbaqOyon1s0669x_540.jpg)
Thomas Disch at South Street Seaport June 3 2008 (photo: Houari Boumedienne)
The legendary writer, poet, editor, and essayist Thomas M. Disch would have been 76 on February 2. With the 1965 publication of his first novel THE GENOCIDES, Disch began an impressive output of challenging, creative fiction. Other noteworthy novels included CAMP CONCENTRATION, BLACK ALICE (with John Sladek), 334, ON WINGS OF SONG, THE BUSINESSMAN: A
TALE OF TERROR, THE M.D.: A HORROR
STORY, and THE WORD OF GOD: OR,
HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN.
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/e55ffdc8b3cdb6637a3c7257ca854133/tumblr_inline_o1zalfsBX31s0669x_540.jpg)
In 1980, Disch ventured into the world of children’s books with THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER: A BEDTIME STORY FOR SMALL APPLIANCES, which was the basis for the acclaimed Disney film. His other works for children included
THE TALE OF DAN DE LION, THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER GOES TO MARS, FILM ADAPTATION, and A CHILD’S GARDEN OF GRAMMAR.
Disch’s numerous shorts stories were collected into several volumes including ONE
HUNDRED AND TWO H-BOMBS, FUN
WITH YOUR NEW HEAD, WHITE
FANG GOES DINGO, GETTING
INTO DEATH, FUNDAMENTAL
DISCH, THE
MAN WHO HAD NO IDEA, and THE
WALL OF AMERICA.
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/8e0dec8e83439c956ba1718f0e1252fe/tumblr_inline_o1zaluqYy01s0669x_540.jpg)
As an award-winning essayists, Disch was regular contributor to THE
NATION, THE WEEKLY STANDARD, HARPER’S, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE LOS
ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY. He won a Hugo award for the non-fiction THE
DREAMS OUR STUFF IS MADE OF: HOW SCIENCE FICTION CONQUERED THE WORLD.
![image](https://66.media.tumblr.com/e547e3309ba84884ab144ac7f42f209c/tumblr_inline_o1zama7um71s0669x_540.jpg)
Disch’s acclaimed poetry was collected in several volumes including THE
RIGHT WAY TO FIGURE PLUMBING, ABCDEFG
HIJKLM NPOQRST UVWXYZ, BURN
THIS, DARK
VERSES AND LIGHT, HAIKUS
OF AN AMPART, and ABOUT
THE SIZE OF IT. His poem BILLET-DOUX was produced as limited edition broadside in celebration of Tachyon Publications’ twelfth anniversary.
Sadly, the iconic Thomas Disch died in 2008, just days after Tachyon published what proved to be his final novel, THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN.
For more information about THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover by Ann Monn
For more information about THE WALL OF AMERICA, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover by Ann Monn
For more information about BILLET-DOUX, visit the Tachyon page.
Art and design by Barry Barnes
For a hell of a nice guy, Joe R. Lansdale surely plumbs the darkness
Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized cold in july, elizabeth story, eric benson, hap and leonard, hap and leonard ride again, interview, joe lansdale, Joe R. Lansdale, leann mueller, mucho mojo, profile, savage season, swamp noir, texas, texas monthly, texas noir
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/bbc17b9c3f5d44f70e8c9383f0021e78/tumblr_inline_o1w824DO4a1s0669x_540.jpg)
Photograph by LeAnn Mueller
Eric Benson for TEXAS MONTHLY delivered a lengthy and fascinating profile of the prolific Lansdale.
Joe R. Lansdale—author of more than 45 novels and 400 short stories, essays, comic books, and screenplays, ranging in genre from historical fiction to grind-house pulp—is a hell of a nice guy, maybe the nicest in East Texas. An avuncular 64-year-old with piercing blue eyes, a Matterhorn nose, and a slightly crooked grin, Lansdale is a big-hearted pillar of the Nacogdoches community, a still-smitten husband to his wife of four decades, and a proud-as-pie dad of two children. Lansdale rescues stray dogs. He has been known to house kids in need. He runs a local martial arts school at a loss. He offers advice to aspiring writers—on his Facebook page, in emails, in person. When he walks into any of his familiar haunts—the Starbucks on North Street, the Japanese restaurant Nijiya, the General Mercantile and Oldtime String Shop—he addresses employees by name, inquires about their lives, and leaves pretty much everyone smiling.
Tim Bryant, a Nacogdoches crime writer who studied screenwriting under Lansdale, swears that his former professor is the “friendliest, most down-to-earth” man that he’s ever known. This comes as a surprise to some, Bryant attests. “A lot of people think he must be the craziest, darkest, most twisted person.”
That’s because Lansdale is not only the nicest guy in East Texas, he’s also the man who wrote this: “Ellen stooped and grabbed the dead child by the ankle and struck Moon Face with it as if it were a club. Once in the face, once in the midsection. The rotting child burst into a spray of desiccated flesh and innards.” And this: “As they roared along, parts of the dog, like crumbs from a flaky loaf of bread, came off. A tooth here. Some hair there. A string of guts. A dew claw. And some unidentifiable pink stuff. The metal-studded collar and chain threw up sparks now and then like fiery crickets. Finally they hit seventy-five and the dog was swinging wider and wider on the chain.” And, just last year, this: “In the next instant Uncle Bob was dangling by a rope from a tree and had been set on fire by lighting his pants leg with a kitchen match. That was done after a nice churchgoing lady had opened his fly, sawed off his manhood with a pocketknife, and tossed it to a dog.”
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/a818895aabbef9f53c33ec00fbbe627c/tumblr_inline_o1w82ygsmN1s0669x_540.jpg)
In
1994 the DALLAS MORNING NEWS celebrated the publication of MUCHO
MOJO, the second and best-loved of Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard
novels, by writing, “If you haven’t heard of him, chances are
getting better that you will… . [MUCHO MOJO] may be his
‘breakthrough’ book.” In 1997, soon after he had resurrected
the Jonah Hex franchise for DC Comics, written episodes for BATMAN:
THE ANIMATED SERIES, and published the MUCHO MOJO follow-ups THE TWO
BEAR MAMBO and BAD CHILI, the AUSTIN CHRONICLE wondered if Lansdale
wasn’t the “most famous unknown writer working today.” Seven
years later, on the eve of Lansdale’s debut for “Tiffany
publisher” Knopf—his first major-league book contract—the
HOUSTON CHRONICLE judged that Lansdale “stands poised for a big
breakout.” Eight years after that, in 2012, with rumors of movie
adaptations of Lansdale’s work swirling around, this magazine
wondered, “Why is Lansdale finally having a moment, after
three-plus decades toiling in semi-obscurity?”It’s
2016. Here we are again. Lansdale is still most revered by the kinds
of passionate genre fans who read websites like MACABRE REPUBLIC and
APEX MAGAZINE. He is still influential to younger genre writers like
Tim Bryant, Stephen Graham Jones, and Joe Hill. (Hill, whose father
is Stephen King, got hooked on Lansdale as a teenager after reading
THE DRIVE-IN. “My own story ideas were goofy and gory and silly and
it would’ve been natural to keep them to myself,” Hill wrote to
me in an email. “Lansdale suggested another possibility: he seemed
to be saying you could stick your crazy right in people’s faces.”)
Lansdale is still significantly less well-known than contemporaries
like Koontz and his old friend George R.R. Martin, the author of the
GAME OF THRONES series. And his most intense fan base can be found in
Italy, which he visits often. (“I think the humor translates well,”
Lansdale’s sometime interpreter Seba Pezzani told me. “We get the
Southern humor and his larger-than-life view on life itself.”) But
the vast cultural reach of a television series, the possibility of
more screen adaptations, and the strong reception for his latest
major novel, PARADISE SKY—an exuberant imagining of the life of the
African American cowboy Nat Love, which Lansdale believes is the best
thing he’s ever written—makes this “breakout moment” feel a
little different.
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/99b752c27cadaba94f3cbb125fed5b81/tumblr_inline_o1w89nRMbS1s0669x_540.jpg)
One
group that hasn’t been sure of what to make of Lansdale is
Hollywood. Since the late eighties, his novels, stories, and
screenplays have been frequently optioned, and directors like Ridley
Scott and David Lynch have been attached to his projects. But it
wasn’t until the horror filmmaker Don Coscarelli adapted “Bubba
Ho-Tep” into a delightfully campy B movie in 2003 that one of
Lansdale’s stories actually made it to the screen, and since then,
adaptations have been few and far between. Mickle and the
screenwriter Nick Damici secured the rights to COLD IN JULY in 2006,
but it took them seven years to get it made. “A lot of people were
a little afraid of the tone,” Mickle says. “It was a little
darker than felt safe.”COLD
IN JULY—which stars Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepherd, and Don
Johnson—debuted at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, earned
generally good reviews in limited release, and paved the way for
Mickle and Damici to take on Hap and Leonard. If Cold in July seemed
tonally difficult—with its stark violence and heavy Oedipal themes
comingling with the likes of a preening, red Cadillac–driving
bounty hunter named Jim Bob Luke—then the Hap and Leonard books
present an even more challenging mash-up.The
first Hap and Leonard novel, 1990’s SAVAGE SEASON, which serves as
the basis for most of the TV show’s first six episodes, begins with
a classic noir setup: a femme fatale from Hap’s past turns up at
his house and offers him a job that’s too good to be true. But
before long, Lansdale has taken us far from Sam Spade territory and
into the hideout of a hippie goon squad that speaks primarily in
peace-and-love platitudes. Then Lansdale throws in some guns, and a
story that has been cruising along as an adult Hardy Boys mystery
(they’re after sunken treasure) darkens into a blood-soaked
face-off that’s as violent as anything envisioned by Sam Peckinpah
or Quentin Tarantino.
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/1488305e11f338c052c66668b302cdf5/tumblr_inline_o1w8a9xENw1s0669x_540.jpg)
The
action is secondary, though. In both the books and the TV series, the
heart of Hap and Leonard is their banter. The boys bond over
seventies-era tough-guy cinema and Hank Williams records. They
counsel each other on relationship troubles. And they spar verbally
over more-weighty matters: the welfare state, the myth of the
self-made man, and the nature of morality. (Hap: “I guess there’s
part of me thinks somewhere along the line everyone could have been
saved.” Leonard: “Evil’s real, man. Same as good.”) The
conversations are Lansdale at his most naked. You can hear him
arguing both sides, trying to tease out the secret order of the world
around him.“East
Texas is an odd, complex thing,” Lansdale says. “I love it, but
I’m not blind to the things that I see here as warped. My dad was
the biggest racist ever, yet I saw him do the kindest things for
people, both black and white. He’s my hero in spite of his faults.
In East Texas there’s a kindness and a violence that’s like a
two-edged sword. You can find the kindest, most hospitable people
here—and they’ll shoot you over what I might think of as a mere
slight.”
Read the rest of Benson’s insightful article at TEXAS MONTHLY.
For more info on HAP AND LEONARD, visit the Tachyon page.
For more info about HAP AND LEONARD RIDE AGAIN, visit the Tachyon page.
Covers by Elizabeth Story
For more info about COLD IN JULY, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover design by Elizabeth Story
Tachyon tidbits featuring James Tiptree, Jr., Brandon Sanderson, and Daryl Gregory
Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized alexander nanitchkov, aqueduct press, brandon sanderson, catahya, daryl gregory, elizabeth story, fantasy, feminist science fiction, geoff whaley, Gordon Van Gelder, horror, interview, jacob weisman, james tiptree jr, l. timmel duchamp, lisa rogers, magazine of science fiction and fantasy, mats strandberg, mormon, review, swedish, the emperor's soul, the oddness of moving things, tiptree symposium, university of oregon, we are all completely fine
The latest reviews and mentions of Tachyon titles from around the web.
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/7b9d3e198fbd7f00e46a452f6739fa81/tumblr_inline_o1vtefhYwR1s0669x_540.jpg)
James Tiptree, Jr., Brandon Sanderson (MidAmerican Fan Photo Archive), and Daryl Gregory
The University of Oregon took videos of the entire Tiptree symposium last month, and they’re now all available online including the Panel on publishing, with Jacob Weisman (Tachyon Publications), L. Timmel Duchamp (Aqueduct Press) and Gordon van Gelder and Lisa Rogers (MAGAZINE
OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION).
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/3dd541e58b695f286cecbefc99c78000/tumblr_inline_o1vu56KK3A1s0669x_540.jpg)
At THE ODDNESS OF MOVING THINGS, Brandon Sanderson’s award-winning THE EMPEROR’S SOUL lead Geoff Whaley to curse Mormons.
DAMN you Mormons and your great Science Fiction/Fantasy! That’s about 25% fact and 75% unadulterated conjecture. Before I go into that (you can skip the next two paragraphs if you’re not interested), funny story: I kept thinking of this as some weird hybrid of the story as it happened and The Emperor’s New Clothes. My mind is weird.
<snip>
I also really enjoyed the philosophical aspect of art, politics and the idea of faithfulness/truth. There’s such a fine line between mimicry and creativity in general and I felt Sanderson wrote an incredible story which looks at it from all sides. It’s hard to say which side he comes down on because it almost seems like you can’t have either without the other.
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/0540f1f1ef3c74050ffd6b050c5ae9ed/tumblr_inline_o1vu3ymUsz1s0669x_540.jpg)
I can’t think of anything negative to say about the work other than it is too short! Unfortunately, that’s just the sign of a great writer in that he left me desperately wanting to know more about the characters and the setting! I appreciated the addition of Sanderson’s thoughts on writing at the end of the novella.
<snip>
Recommendation: I thoroughly enjoyed it and think anyone really could. In less than 200 pages and in really only one prolonged interaction I became invested in three characters and desperately wanted to know more at the end. Definitely worth a read.
![](https://66.media.tumblr.com/e50fd119e2d18da546052f8e3bb9d802/tumblr_inline_o1vujnwzhn1s0669x_540.jpg)
In an interview for the Swedish-language site CATAHYA, writer Mats Strandberg recommends Daryl Gregory’s award-winning WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE.
I nag always
about LOCKE &
KEY series, but they know enough, your readers
already. Michelle Pavers DARK
MATTER may actually not be missed. Elizabeth
Hands new ghost story WYLDING
HALL is really nice and mysterious. And THE
REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS by Alden Bell. I also
liked the WE ARE ALL
FINE COMPLETELY by Daryl Gregory, of monsters
attack survivors in group therapy. Scariest I’ve read in a long
time is BIRD BOX by
Josh Malerman … Then I’d also like to tell about the pod FACULTY
OF HORROR, where two academic feminists analyze horror movies –
incredibly funny, smart and informative.
(Translation for Swedish by Google)
For more on THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, visit the Tachyon page
Cover art by Alexander Nanitchkov
Design by Elizabeth Story
For more information on WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover design by Elizabeth Story