SUNDANCETV released a trailer for HAP AND LEONARD: MUCHO MOJO, the second season of the hit show based on the books by Joe R. Lansdale, and announced that the trouble starts on March 15.

At MONSTERS & CRITICS, April Neale details James Purefoy comments from the Television Critics Association (TCA) winter press tour.

HAP AND LEONARD star James Purefoy says Tiffany Mack’s character Florida Grange is crucial to Season 2 — and is much more than just a love interest for his character.

The actor told the Television Critics Association (TCA) winter press tour: “She is so much more than a love interest, Tiffany’s contribution is enormous.

“She’s bright, she’s smart and she’s got a lot to say for herself. Love interest is the LEAST interesting thing to say about her.”

PROFESSOR MONDO praises Lansdale’s writing in Hap and Leonard.

I spent a chunk of last week reading Joe Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard novels, and have now read the entire series (although I read them out of order, having doubled back to catch the earlier books), with the next installment, RUSTY PUPPY, coming out in a few months. As my binge read indicates, I highly recommend the series.

Particular strengths of the series include the friendship between the two principal characters, which I think nails the needling love of lifelong male friends, and the insight into the blue-collar world of Lansdale’s East Texas. Lansdale’s characteristic blend of horror and humor (both frequently verging on the Southern tall tale tradition) is another selling point, and I would recommend his handling of fight scenes as textbook lessons for writers wanting to handle violence effectively.

But I think what makes the books especially readable — and valuable — for me is Hap Collins’s voice as the narrator. I’ve mentioned that my background was a weird mix of working class and Bohemian, and that my maternal grandparents were country folks who came to Nashville looking for work, which my grandmother found as a drugstore cashier and my grandfather found driving fire engines. My grandfather in particular was a natural storyteller, and had both an endless source of material and a chance to hone his craft during nearly 40 years at the fire hall.

On his MORE RED INK, copy editor Marty Halpern previews the forthcoming HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE.

One of the projects that I worked on is the new HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE novel by Joe R. Lansdale, his ownself. This title, forthcoming in March from Tachyon Publications, will coincide with the premiere of season two of the SundanceTV series HAP AND LEONARD.

HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE is actually a “mosaic” novel. A mosaic novel is comprised of a number of related stories that are tied together with new connecting material; occasionally the author will even tweak the beginnings and/or endings of some of the stories so that the book flows more cohesively from one story to the next. If you have read Ray Bradbury’s classic THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, then you have read a mosaic novel. Back in 2005 I acquired and edited a mosaic novel for Golden Gryphon Press entitled FROM THE FILES OF THE TIME RANGERS by Richard Bowes. The SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, in its review of TIME RANGERS, described the mosaic novel as “something more integrated than a simple story collection but not confined to a singular, linear narrative structure.”

The stories are primarily from Hap’s point of view, while he’s hanging out with Leonard – often when they are driving in Hap’s truck, occasionally hanging out at the local Dairy Queen; a few of the latter stories take place at Hap’s house, in the presence of both Brett (Brett Sawyer, Hap’s on-again, off-again girlfriend) and Chance (Hap’s daughter).

We learn how these two disparate individuals – Hap Collins, a liberal, typically non-violent white boy (who spent time in federal prison as a young man for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War), and Leonard Pine, a gay, black, Vietnam vet (and a Republican) – actually meet, and not only become partners and friends, but brothers.

For more info about HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Elizabeth Story