Joe R. Lansdale is known for his gritty mysteries (the Hap and Leonard series) and his eccentric horror (Bubba Ho-tep), for which he has won ten Bram Stoker Awards. In Lansdale’s nightmarish visions, discover psychotic demon nuns, a god fueled by hatred, a psychopathic preacher, a weed-eater wielding blind man, cannibals, 80-year-old Elvis, undead strippers, flying ghost fish, elder gods, possessed cars, and the worst evil of all: man.
In this career horror retrospective, World Horror Grandmaster Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-tep; Hap and Leonard) tackles racism and human cruelty as deftly as he conjures demon nuns and Elder Gods. Featuring an original introduction from Joe Hill, this much-anticipated volume showcases the best of Lansdale’s terrifying short stories—menacing, astute, and wildly inappropriate.
Bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale is known for his gritty mysteries and his eccentric horror. As an eleven-time Bram Stoker Award winner, Joe Lansdale cooks up an inimitable recipe of Southern Gothic and Southern fried chicken that continues to delight his many fans and influence generations of horror legends.
Lansdale mashes up crime, Gothic, mystery, fantasy, and science-fiction, filtered through a raw, violent world of dark humor and unique characters. Lansdale is one of the early American horror writers to portray racism not as abstract but as realistic, intimate, and impossible to ignore.
In Lansdale’s nightmarish visions, you’ll discover psychotic demon nuns, a psychopathic preacher, cannibals, 80-year-old Elvis, undead strippers, flying ghost fish, Elder Gods, possessed cars, and the worst evil of all: mankind.
Contents
Introduction by Joe Hill
“The Folding Man”
“Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train”
“God of the Razor”
“My Dead Dog Bobby”
“Tight Little Stitches in a Deadman’s Back”
“By Bizarre Hands” On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folk
“Love Doll: A Fable”
“Mister Weed-Eater”
“The Bleeding Shadow”
“Not From Detroit”
“The Hungry Snow”
“Dog, Cat, and Baby” Bubba Ho-tep
“Fish Night”
“Night They Missed the Horror Show”
Praise for Joe R. Lansdale
“A folklorist’s eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur’s sense of pace.”
—New York Times Book Review
“A terrifically gifted storyteller.”
—Washington Post Book Review
“Like gold standard writers Elmore Leonard and the late Donald Westlake, Joe R. Lansdale is one of the more versatile writers in America.”
—Los Angeles Times
“A zest for storytelling and gimlet eye for detail.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Lansdale is an immense talent.”
—Booklist
“Lansdale is a storyteller in the Texas tradition of outrageousness…but amped up to about 100,000 watts.”
—Houston Chronicle
“Lansdale’s been hailed, at varying points in his career, as the new Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner-gone-madder, and the last surviving splatterpunk . . . sanctified in the blood of the walking Western dead and righteously readable.”
—Austin Chronicle
“Here’s Lovecraft’s trick: he uses polyphony, many voices, to build his narrative case for the existence of cosmic squids whistling in the dark. Here is Lansdale’s trick: doing it better.”
—Nick Mamatas, author of Move Under Ground
“A master of every genre he touches.”
—Rae Wilde, author of Merciless Waters
World Horror Grandmaster Joe R. Lansdale has received eleven Bram Stoker Awards as well as, the Edgar, Raymond Chandler, British Fantasy, Spur, Golden Lion, and Inkpot Awards. Lansdale has written more than forty novels and four hundred shorter works. His novels include the fourteen novel Hap & Leonard series, Dead in the West, The Nightrunners, The Drive-In, Cold in July, The Bottoms, The Thicket, Moon Lake, and The Donut Legion. His short story collections include four volumes in the Hap & Leonard series, Terror Is Our Business (with Kasey Lansdale), Things Get Ugly, and The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team. He has edited fifteen anthologies, including Weird Business (with Richard Klaw) and Crucified Dreams. Lansdale’s works that have been adapted for film treatments include Bubba Ho-Tep, the Hap and Leonard TV series (starring James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams), and Cold in July; “Incident On and Off a Mountain Road” for Masters of Horror; as well as stories for Love, Death + Robots and Creepshow. He has also written graphic novels for DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, and others. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas.
The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale
Joe R. Lansdale
“Lansdale is an immense talent.”
—Booklist
Joe R. Lansdale is known for his gritty mysteries (the Hap and Leonard series) and his eccentric horror (Bubba Ho-tep), for which he has won ten Bram Stoker Awards. In Lansdale’s nightmarish visions, discover psychotic demon nuns, a god fueled by hatred, a psychopathic preacher, a weed-eater wielding blind man, cannibals, 80-year-old Elvis, undead strippers, flying ghost fish, elder gods, possessed cars, and the worst evil of all: man.
The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale
by Joe R. Lansdale
ISBN: 978-1-61696-446-7 (print); 978-1-61696-447-4 (digital)
Published: 7 October 2025
Available Format(s): trade paperback; digital
Introduction by Joe Hill
In this career horror retrospective, World Horror Grandmaster Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-tep; Hap and Leonard) tackles racism and human cruelty as deftly as he conjures demon nuns and Elder Gods. Featuring an original introduction from Joe Hill, this much-anticipated volume showcases the best of Lansdale’s terrifying short stories—menacing, astute, and wildly inappropriate.
Bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale is known for his gritty mysteries and his eccentric horror. As an eleven-time Bram Stoker Award winner, Joe Lansdale cooks up an inimitable recipe of Southern Gothic and Southern fried chicken that continues to delight his many fans and influence generations of horror legends.
Lansdale mashes up crime, Gothic, mystery, fantasy, and science-fiction, filtered through a raw, violent world of dark humor and unique characters. Lansdale is one of the early American horror writers to portray racism not as abstract but as realistic, intimate, and impossible to ignore.
In Lansdale’s nightmarish visions, you’ll discover psychotic demon nuns, a psychopathic preacher, cannibals, 80-year-old Elvis, undead strippers, flying ghost fish, Elder Gods, possessed cars, and the worst evil of all: mankind.
Contents
Introduction by Joe Hill
“The Folding Man”
“Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train”
“God of the Razor”
“My Dead Dog Bobby”
“Tight Little Stitches in a Deadman’s Back”
“By Bizarre Hands”
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folk
“Love Doll: A Fable”
“Mister Weed-Eater”
“The Bleeding Shadow”
“Not From Detroit”
“The Hungry Snow”
“Dog, Cat, and Baby”
Bubba Ho-tep
“Fish Night”
“Night They Missed the Horror Show”
Praise for Joe R. Lansdale
“A folklorist’s eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur’s sense of pace.”
—New York Times Book Review
“A terrifically gifted storyteller.”
—Washington Post Book Review
“Like gold standard writers Elmore Leonard and the late Donald Westlake, Joe R. Lansdale is one of the more versatile writers in America.”
—Los Angeles Times
“A zest for storytelling and gimlet eye for detail.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Lansdale is an immense talent.”
—Booklist
“Lansdale is a storyteller in the Texas tradition of outrageousness…but amped up to about 100,000 watts.”
—Houston Chronicle
“Lansdale’s been hailed, at varying points in his career, as the new Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner-gone-madder, and the last surviving splatterpunk . . . sanctified in the blood of the walking Western dead and righteously readable.”
—Austin Chronicle
“Here’s Lovecraft’s trick: he uses polyphony, many voices, to build his narrative case for the existence of cosmic squids whistling in the dark. Here is Lansdale’s trick: doing it better.”
—Nick Mamatas, author of Move Under Ground
“A master of every genre he touches.”
—Rae Wilde, author of Merciless Waters
World Horror Grandmaster Joe R. Lansdale has received eleven Bram Stoker Awards as well as, the Edgar, Raymond Chandler, British Fantasy, Spur, Golden Lion, and Inkpot Awards. Lansdale has written more than forty novels and four hundred shorter works. His novels include the fourteen novel Hap & Leonard series, Dead in the West, The Nightrunners, The Drive-In, Cold in July, The Bottoms, The Thicket, Moon Lake, and The Donut Legion. His short story collections include four volumes in the Hap & Leonard series, Terror Is Our Business (with Kasey Lansdale), Things Get Ugly, and The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team. He has edited fifteen anthologies, including Weird Business (with Richard Klaw) and Crucified Dreams. Lansdale’s works that have been adapted for film treatments include Bubba Ho-Tep, the Hap and Leonard TV series (starring James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams), and Cold in July; “Incident On and Off a Mountain Road” for Masters of Horror; as well as stories for Love, Death + Robots and Creepshow. He has also written graphic novels for DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, and others. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Other books by this author…
In the Mad Mountains: Stories Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft
Joe R. Lansdale
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$14.95 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page