born for trouble

October 28, 2023

Happy birthday to the literary and martial arts master Joe R. Lansdale

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As probably the only person in the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame who has received an Edgar, ten Stokers, a Grandmaster of Horror, the British Fantasy, a Spur, and the Herodotus Awards, Joe R. Lansdale extraordinary output has included more than 40 novels, 400 shorter works, numerous comic books, and a handful of screenplays as well as devising the Shen Chuan Martial Science.

Things Get Ugly, cover by John Coulthart — Design by John Coulthart

His novels include The Drive-in (1988), The Nightrunners (1987), COLD IN JULY (1989), the Edgar Award-winning The Bottoms (2000), A Fine Dark Line (2002), FLAMING ZEPPELINS (2010) The Thicket (2013), the Spur-Award-winning Paradise Sky (2015), Jane Goes North (2020), More Better Deals (2020), Moon Lake (2021), and The Donut Legion (2023). Beginning with By Bizarre Hands (1989), Lansdale’s numerous short stories, essay, and poetry have been collected in several volumes including Writer of the Purple Rage (1994), High Cotton (2000), Sanctified and Chicken Fried (2009), THE BEST OF JOE R. LANSDALE (2010), DEADMAN’S ROAD (2010), DEADMAN’S CROSSING (2013), Bleeding Shadows (2013), Miracles Ain’t What They Use To Be (2016),Terror is our Business (2018 with Kasey Lansdale), Fishing for Dinosaurs and Other Stories (2020), Apache Witch (2021), THINGS GET UGLY: THE BEST CRIMES STORIES OF JOE R. LANSDALE (2023), and The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team and Other Stories (2023). He’s edited 15 anthologies including Razored Saddles (1989 with Pat LoBrutto), Dark at Heart (1992 with Karen Lansdale), Weird Business (1995 with Richard Klaw), Retro Pulp Tales (2006), Cross Plains Universe (2006 with Scott Cupp), CRUCIFIED DREAMS (2011), and THE URBAN FANTASY ANTHOLOGY (2011 with Peter S. Beagle). As if this wasn’t enough, Lansdale has written comics for DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, IDW, and others.

Lansdale’s most famous creation is the unlikely duo of Hap and Leonard. Hap Collins is white, liberal, and even tempered. Leonard Pine, who is quick to anger, is black, conservative and gay. In a series of thirteen novels, beginning with Savage Season (1990) through The Elephant of Surprise (2019), and several novellas and short stories, the best friends encounter violence, racism, and adventure in their East Texas haunts. The often humorous tales have garnered much praise and a legion of devoted fans. Many of the Hap and Leonard novellas and shorter tales were collected in Veil’s Visit (1999), HAP AND LEONARD (2016), THE BIG BOOK OF HAP AND LEONARD (2018), and BORN FOR TROUBLE (2021). HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE (2018) and OF MICE AND MINESTRONE (2020) chronicled the young adventures of the duo, including the origins of their unique friendship. For three seasons, the pair were featured on the television series Hap and Leonard (2016-18), starring James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams.

Other works that have enjoyed the film treatment include Bubba Ho-Tep, Cold in July, “Incident On and Off a Mountain Road,” “The Dump,” “Fish Night,” “The Companion,” and Christmas With the Dead, which Lansdale produced with a screenplay by his son, Keith. He has written many screenplays and teleplays, most notably for Batman: The Animated Series. The documentary All Hail the Popcorn King (2019) explored the enduring legacy of Lansdale and his creations.

All of us at Tachyon wish champion Joe a happy birthday!

April 28, 2023

Happy birthday to Leonard Pine, the ultimate bad ass

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Michael K Williams as Leonard Pine from *Hap and Leonard* Season 2, Episode 5
Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/SundanceTV

Vietnam vet, sometimes private investigator, sometimes bouncer, and all around bad ass, Leonard Pine is a gay, politically conservative black man from LaBorde, TX. Alongside his “brother” Hap Collins, who is straight, white, and liberal, Pine challenges the seedier and more unpleasant elements of East Texas. The, at times, bumbling duo has fought the Klan, the Dixie Mafia, murders, kidnappers, and all sorts of other notorious hombres.

Pine has zero tolerance for racist or anti-gay slurs and will challenge the offenders with strong fists and a barbed tongue. His aggressive nature has led to many encounters with the law, most notably regarding his repeated torching of neighborhood crackhouses.

Beginning with Savage Season (1990), Joe R. Lansdale used his adventures with Collins, as the basis for the popular Hap and Leonard series. The 26 published books include five titles currently available from Tachyon Publications: HAP AND LEONARD (2016), THE BIG BOOK OF HAP AND LEONARD (2018), HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE (2018), OF MICE AND MINESTRONE (2020), and BORN FOR TROUBLE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HAP AND LEONARD (2022). The pair’s life also inspired three seasons of the TV series, Hap and Leonard (2016-18).

All of us at Tachyon wish a happy birthday to Leonard, our favorite cantankerous moral enforcer. May your day be filled with vanilla cookies and Dr. Pepper.

January 12, 2023

More Tachyon inclusion on best of the year lists including Naseem Jamnia’s THE BRUISING OF QILWA, Peter Watts’ THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION, Brandon Sanderson’s THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, Marjorie Liu’s THE TANGLEROOT PALACE, and Joe R. Lansdale’s BORN FOR TROUBLE

Rick Klaw blog best of 2022, born for trouble, brandon sanderson, entropy isn't what it use to be, fantasy cafe, Joe R. Lansdale, marjorie liu, Naseem Jamnia, Peter Watts, the bruising of qilwa, the emperor's soul, the freeze frame revolution, the tangleroot palace, there's always room for one more, v1717, Wet Broken Things

As coverage of 2022 winds down, several Tachyon books managed to make their way onto best reads lists. Naseem Jamnia’s debut novella THE BRUISING OF QILWA continues to rack up best of the year acknowledgements with inclusion in Top Ten Tuesday: 2022 favourites on There’s Always Room for One More. v1717 rates Peter Watt’s THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION as the best read of the year. Brandon Sanderson’s Hugo-awarding novella THE EMPEROR’S SOUL was listed as part of Top five – 2022 by Wet Broken Things. In the Favorite Books Published Before 2022 category, Fantasy Cafe ranks Marjorie Liu’s THE TANGLEROOT PALACE among the favorite books of 2022. The Italian site Entropy Isn’t What it Use to Be cites Joe R. Lansdle’s BORN FOR TROUBLE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HAP AND LEONARD among the year’s best.

Cover for THE BRUISING OF QILWA by Naseem Jamnia — Cover by Elizabeth Story

Naseem Jamnia’s novella is a delight, from its lean, flowing prose to its distinctly Middle Eastern world-building and its private, prickly protagonist. I loved the way family – blood and found – was front and centre.
There’s Always Room for One More

Cover of The Emperor's Soul — Cover by Elizabeth Story

This was so fucking good. That’s really all that can be said, it was just so good. Unlike Echopraxia and Blindsight, this was far more accessible, while also being solidly “hard” sci-fi. I loved the concept of the story, I loved the execution, I loved the characters, I loved the action/horror/thriller moments wrapped up within a short 190 pages. I even love how both the cover and the title perfectly summarize the plot of the book. Can’t recommend it enough.
v1717

This is a fantasy book that does what only fantasy can do. It is an extraordinary idea about a beautiful piece of magic, the art of forgery, or altering an object’s past so it can become something different. THE EMPEROR’S SOUL is about a captured woman whose life depends on completing an impossible task: to turn her art to people, and forge a new soul for the Emperor. In this tense thriller filled with exquisite magic, Sanderson makes us think about the nature of art, the nature of our humanity and the importance of cultural curiosity. This is a story that will never leave you.
Wet Broken Things

Cover art by Sana Takeda
Design by Elizabeth Story

Technically, I read much of THE TANGLEROOT PALACE in 2021, but it still stands out as a highlight when looking over books I completed in 2022—it is one of the best short story collections I’ve read, after all! These seven tales—six short stories plus one novella—are all quite different from one another since they encompass a variety of subgenres, settings, tones, and styles, but they also have some common threads and seem like they are in conversation with each other in some ways. Marjorie Liu’s introduction says they share “a longing for home, friendship, love—characters often driven by a weary hope in the possibility of something good.” Although I did prefer some stories to others, I appreciated and enjoyed them all and didn’t think there were any that were far better or worse than the rest. I especially loved how Marjorie Liu parceled out details, as I often was unsure about what was going on at first but there was enough of a hook that I wanted to find out—and everything tied together wonderfully in the end.
Fantasy Cafe

Hap and Leonard are in my heart and couldn’t be missing just like Elly Griffiths couldn’t be missing.
Entropy Isn’t What it Use to Be

January 5, 2023

A welcome addition to the Hap and Leonard mythos, BORN FOR TROUBLE showcases Joe R. Lansdale’s shit-talking, shit-kicking badasses at their finest

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Joe R. Lansdle’s BORN FOR TROUBLE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HAP AND LEONARD continues attract attention with mentions in Andrew Dansby’s list of notable books of 2022 for Houston Chronicle’s Preview and Dave Writes and Draws (and Reads) yearly summation. Alan J. Porter recommends the collection. Meanwhile, The Horror Zine reprints the short story “Old Charlie” while showcasing a pair of 2023 Lansdale publications: The Donut Legion and THINGS GET UGLY: THE BEST CRIME STORIES OF JOE R. LANSDALE.

Any new offering from Nacogdoches author Lansdale that includes his beloved characters Hap and Leonard is welcome. I worried the short story format might lose the luster gained by Lansdale’s gift for a long narrative. Nope. Turns out he possesses a gift for intricate storytelling. This collection is a welcome addition to the Hap and Leonard story.
Houston Chronicle’s Preview

BORN FOR TROUBLE is a new collection of Hap and Leonard stories, which is always cause for celebration. Unlike the past couple of collections, which focused on the boy’s early years, the stories in BORN FOR TROUBLE cover Hap and Leonard in their later, more mature years. Don’t panic, mature refers only to their age. They are still, for the most part, the same shit-talking, shit-kicking badasses you know and love.
Dave Writes and Draws (and Reads)

While the mystery and action of these stories is always fun (in a twisted sort of way) it is the relationship between Hap and Leonard that is the heart and soul of these books. It’s for that reason that my favorite part of this collection is the first part of “The Briar Patch Boogie” story which is nine pages of the two of them just bitching at each other about a failed fishing trip.

BTW even if you haven’t read a single Hap & Leonard novel the recent short story collections are very accessible and a great way to discover these characters.
Alan J. Porter

Hi there. Catching much?

Well, they’re in there. Just got to have the right bait and be patient. You don’t mind if I sit down on the bank next to you, do you?

Good, good. Thanks.

Yeah, I like it fine. I never fish with anything but a cane pole. An old-fashioned way of doing things, I guess, but it suits me. I like to sharpen one end a bit, stick that baby in the ground, and wait it out. Maybe find someone like yourself to chat with for a while.

Whee, it’s hot. Near sundown, too. You know, every time I’m out fishing in heat like this, I think of Old Charlie.

Huh? No, no. You couldn’t really say he was a friend of mine. You see, I met him right on this bank, sort of like I’m meeting you, only he came down and sat beside me.

It was hot, just like today. So damned hot you’d think your nose was going to melt off your face and run down your chin. I was out here trying to catch a bite before sundown, because there’s not much I like better than fish, when here comes this old codger with a fishing rig. It was just like he stepped out of nowhere.

Don’t let my saying he was old get you to thinking about white hair and withered muscles. This old boy was stout looking, like maybe he’d done hard labor all his life. Looked, and was built, a whole lot like me, as a matter of fact.
“Old Charlie” The Horror Zine

December 22, 2022

Happy birthday to the multi-talented Rick Klaw

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(Tachyon managing editor Jill Roberts has hijacked the Tachyon blog. Control will be restored to the proper parties shortly.)

Tachyon’s Publicity Manager Richard “Rick” Klaw is the wearer of many hats. Fortunately, he looks good in all of them.

Cover by Alex Solis
Design by Elizabeth Story

Klaw is a professional editor, reviewer, publicist, marketing guru, geek maven, and optimistic curmudgeon. He has provided nigh-countless reviews, essays, and fiction to a variety of publications: The Austin Chronicle, Blastr, Moving PicturesMagazine, San Antonio Current, Geek Dad, San Antonio Business Journal, Conversations With Texas Writers, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, SF Site, Science Fiction Weekly, Nova Express, STEAMPUNK, Electric Velocipede, Cross Plains Universe, Red Range, and The Steampunk Bible. Many of his essays and observations were collected in Geek Confidential: Echoes from the 21st Century (2003).

Klaw also co-founded the influential Mojo Press, one of the first publishing houses dedicated to both graphic novels and prose books for the general bookstore market. For Mojo, he co-edited (with Joe R. Lansdale) the groundbreaking original anthology of short fiction in graphic form, Weird Business (1995). He also served as the first fiction editor for RevolutionSF.

Klaw has edited all the volumes of the Tachyon Hap and Leonard crime series by Joe R. Lansdale most recently, BORN FOR TROUBLE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HAP AND LEONARD. He is editing the forthcoming 2023 titles THINGS GET UGLY: The BEST CRIME STORIES OF JOE R. LANSDALE and the debut novel THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH by Josh Rountree. He edited Bruce Sterling’s Italian fantascienza collection, ROBOT ARTISTS & BLACK SWANS; he also co-edited Sterling’s PIRATE UTOPIA (2016). Additionally, Klaw is the editor of two anthologies that were published in 2013: THE APES OF WRATH and Rayguns Over Texas.

In addition to his many other activities, Klaw manages Tachyon’s publicity team, and he develops content for Tachyon’s social media. He is Tachyon’s resident expert on remote technology, and he organizes and facilitates many of the company’s virtual events.

The Legend of Charlie Fish; cover by John Coulthart — Cover by John Coulthart

Klaw lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, a perpetually confused dog, a pair of adorable, high–energy cats, and an impressive collection of books.

Tachyon wishes Rick a very happy birthday (and we thank him for allowing us to undermine his regularly scheduled social-media domination).

December 12, 2022

Tacky-Pack: The End (of the Year) is Near! Get 22% off all 2022 titles including books from Lavie Tidhar, Brandon Sanderson, Naseem Jamnia, R. B. Lemberg, Joe R. Lansdale, Daniel Pinkwater, Kimberly Unger, Sam J. Miller, and Patrick O’Leary

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Tacky-Pack: The End (of the Year) is Near!

Tachyon [is] known for their eclectic published works and always choose quality over quantity.
SF Book Reviews

Celebrate the year’s end with our newest Tacky-Pack, curated by the Tacky Rhino himself. In these 2022 Tachyon books, now 22% off, you’ll discover everything from the impossible to the improbable: a decades long government conspiracy, a queernormative medical mystery; a lovesick robot at the edge of revolution; two not-so-good old boys dealing out Texan style justice; one not-quite-human girl having a not-quite breakdown; and much, much more.

Tachyon Publications is giving 22% off on all 2022 titles until 2023!

As we get ready to ring in the new year (and engage in whatever holiday traditions you like best), celebrate with any or all of Tachyon’s 2022 titles, now at 22% off!

THE EMPEROR’S SOUL: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION by Brandon Sanderson
When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life with an impossible task: to create a new soul for an emperor in fewer than one hundred days. This special edition of the Hugo-Award winning novella THE EMPEROR’S SOUL features the deleted prologue “The Imperial Fool,” which alludes to Sanderson’s bestselling Mistborn series; prologue commentary; and an original introduction from the publisher.

NEOM by Lavie Tidhar
Today, Neom is a utopian dream—a megacity of the future yet to be built in the Saudi desert. In this deeply imaginative novel from the award-winning universe of CENTRAL STATION, far-future Neom is already old. Sentient machines roam the desert searching for purpose, works of art can be more deadly than weapons, and the spark of a long-overdue revolution is in the wind.

THE BRUISING OF QILWA by Naseem Jamnia
In this intricate debut fantasy introducing a queernormative Persian-inspired world, a nonbinary refugee practitioner of blood magic discovers a strange disease that causes political rifts in their new homeland. Persian-American author Naseem Jamnia has crafted a gripping narrative with a moving, nuanced exploration of immigration, gender, healing, and family.

THE UNBALANCING by R. B. Lemberg
In this first full-length novel from the acclaimed Birdverse, new love blossoms between an impatient starkeeper and a reclusive poet as they try together to save their island home. THE UNBALANCING is a gorgeous tale of the inevitable transformations of communities and their worlds rooted in the mystical cosmology, neurodiversity, and queerness that infuses Lemberg’s lyrical prose.

BORN FOR TROUBLE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HAP AND LEONARD by Joe R. Lansdale
In Edgar Award winner Joe R. Lansdale’s newest Hap and Leonard story collection, the boys are back, with more righteous ass-kickings, highly improbable adventures, and disastrous fishing trips. These never before collected tales showcase the popular not-so dynamic duo as a little bit older, but not a whole lot wiser—Hap and Leonard were truly born for trouble.

THE EXTRACTIONIST by Kimberly Unger
In her breakout technothriller, virtual reality expert Kimberly Unger (NUCLEATION) has created the iconic, badass, nerdy heroine that you desperately need: Eliza McKay. McKay is disgraced underground hacker who is just trying to take back her career one dangerous job at a time. But when her latest contract throws her into the middle of a corporate power struggle, she finds herself fighting for her life.

BOYS, BEASTS & MEN by Sam J. Miller
Queer infatuation, inevitable heartbreak, and satisfying revenge seamlessly intertwine in Sam J. Miller (Blackfish City, The Art of Starving)’s long-awaited debut short story collection. Whether innocent, guilty, or not even human, the beings in Miller’s gorgeously-crafted worlds can destroy you—yet leave you longing for them even more.

CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE by Daniel Pinkwater
The inimitable Daniel Pinkwater (The Big Orange Splot, The Hoboken Chicken Emergency) brings his zany wit and wisdom to a middle-grade adventure following a kid’s off-the-beaten-path journey, featuring an unfocused spiritual guide, a not-quite-dwarf, a graffiti “artist,” a ghost whale, and mystical shenanigans galore.

51 by Patick O’Leary
In his long-awaited newest novel, Patrick O’Leary (The Gift) deftly navigates the invisible currents of secrets and forgiveness, while upending one of the best-kept secrets in American history: the strange events at Area 51. Gripping, profound, and utterly unique, 51 is sure to please fans of fans of smart paranormal nostalgia, such as the X-Files, Old Man’s War, and Stranger Things.

November 29, 2022

Tachyon tidbits featuring Kimberly Unger, Joe R. Lansdale, James Morrow, David Liss, Michael Swanwick, Jacob Weisman & David Sandner, and Alyssa Wong

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The latest reviews and mentions of Tachyon titles and authors from around the web.

Tales from a Hack enjoys Kimberly Unger’s THE EXTRACTIONIST.

Fast paced. An action-movie of a novel.

**Joe R. Lansdale’s BORN FOR TROUBLE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HAP AND LEONARD garners a 5 star review from Nonstop Reader.**

Hap & Leonard are simply a mighty force of nature. The stories are violent, outlandish, over the top, and hysterically funny (often at the same time and with a suddenness which leaves the reader with whiplash). Lansdale is such a capable writer that I can simply go along for the ride knowing that he knows where we’re going and I can just look around and enjoy the scenery. And what scenery it is. There’s a real-ness and urgency to the storytelling that *must* be from the writer’s stored experiences. He’s simply a virtuoso storyteller and I love his work.

The little befuddled Snapdragon Alcove recommends James Morrow’s THE ASYLUM OF DR. CALIGARI.

This book is hard to describe what it is and it just weird. If you like old films and weird things then give this book a read.

**Lancer Kind on his Scifi Thoughts podcast interviews David Liss about his book THE PECULIARITIES.**

**TALES OF OLD EARTH by Michael Swanwick was included in Dafni Ma’s “8 Best Lesser Known Sci-fi Books To Read During The Holidays” at Game Rant.**

In this anthology of nineteen sci-fi and fantasy tales, writer Michael Swanwick manages to push, pull, stretch, and dissect the whole genre of speculative fiction.

There are some really hard sci-fi stories that would make for perfect movie adaptations. But they work amazingly well as short stories too – if the reader is prepared to be slapped in the face with some harsh truths about the society we live in. But then again, that’s a constant when it comes to sci-fi.

**Eric Smith for the San Francisco Book Review praises David Sander and Jacob Weisman’s sequel to Mingus Fingers, Hellhounds.**

This short, sweet, supernatural story touches on a few myths and legends surrounding blues music.

**The authors also contributed to John Scalzi’s The Big Idea.**

When two writers join forces… how does the work actually get done? David Sandner and Jacob Weisman get real on this topic, and how it was their collaboration on Hellhounds got done.

Cover art by Camille André
Design by Elizabeth Story

Remembrance of Things Past and Future reviewed Alyssa Wong’s short story “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” which was reprinted in the World Fantasy Award winning THE NEW VOICES IN FANTASY (edited by Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman).

I didn’t intend it like this (reading these stories blind and all), but it feels like “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” is a good counterpoint to Kornbluth’s “The Mindworm,” as if Wong took the animalistic vampire of that story and made him human—all too human.

October 31, 2022

Join Joe R. Lansdale for the Texas Book Festival

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Award-wining writer Joe R. Lansdale will be at the Texas Book Festival, November 5-6 in Austin, TX.

The Texas Book Festival (TBF) began with a simple purpose: to bring authors and readers together in a celebration of literature and literacy. Founded in 1995 by Laura Bush (a former librarian and then First Lady of Texas), Mary Margaret Farabee, and a dedicated group of volunteers, the TBF set out to honor Texas authors, promote the joys of reading, and benefit the state’s public libraries. The first Festival took place in November 1996 and is now one of the nation’s premier annual literary events, featuring 300 authors of the year’s best books and drawing 50,000 book lovers.

Held each fall in and around the majestic State Capitol in downtown Austin, the annual Festival Weekend features a rich variety of author presentations and panels, book signings, cooking demonstrations, programs and activities for kids of all ages, food trucks, and exhibiting vendors from across the state and country. More than 50 volunteer committee chairs and 1000 volunteers help make the annual Festival possible. While remaining an important showcase for Texas authors, the Texas Book Festival hosts writers from all over the world and is honored to have a national reputation as one of the most prestigious and longest running book festivals in the country.
Texas Book Festival History

Lansdale will be participating in some of the many Festival events.

Saturday, November 5

12:15 PM

The Long of It: Enduring Texas Crime Series Fiction

Both set in Texas and centered on established characters, Traitor’s Dance by three-time Edgar Award nominee and New York Times bestselling author Jeff Abbott and Born for Trouble by Edgar- and Stoker Award–winning bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale continue the stories of protagonists trying to lead normal lives but who find themselves back in the orbit of hunting for clues and tracking down wrongdoers. Join Abbott and Lansdale for a discussion of enduring series characters and stories.

4 PM

East Texas Crime Fiction

A lot of intrigue is afoot in East Texas in these latest novels from Texas authors May Cobb, Joey Hartstone, and Joe Lansdale. In Cobb’s My Summer Darlings, three life-long friends’ worlds turn upside down when a mysterious and charming stranger shows up, but things must be too good to be true. In Hartstone’s The Local, a small-town attorney must dig uncover secrets and wade bad blood in order to learn the truth about the murder of a long-time mentor. In Joe Lansdale’s Born for Trouble, life seems to be settling down for beloved series characters Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, but as it turns out there’s more crime-solving adventures and thrills to be had.

October 28, 2022

Happy birthday to the literary and martial arts master Joe R. Lansdale

Rick Klaw birthday, blog birthday, blood and lemonade, born for trouble, cold in july, crucified dreams, deadman's road, flaming zeppelins, hap and leonard, Joe R. Lansdale, of mice and minestrone, the best of joe r lansdale, the big book of hap and leonard, the urban fantasy anthology, things get ugly

His novels include The Drive-in (1988), The Nightrunners (1987), COLD IN JULY (1989), the Edgar Award-winning The Bottoms (2000), A Fine Dark Line (2002), FLAMING ZEPPELINS (2010) The Thicket (2013), the Spur-Award-winning Paradise Sky (2015), Jane Goes North (2020), More Better Deals (2020), and Moon Lake (2021). Beginning with By Bizarre Hands (1989), Lansdale’s numerous short stories, essay, and poetry have been collected in several volumes including Writer of the Purple Rage (1994), High Cotton (2000), Sanctified and Chicken Fried (2009), THE BEST OF JOE R. LANSDALE (2010), DEADMAN’S ROAD (2010), DEADMAN’S CROSSING (2013), Bleeding Shadows (2013), Miracles Ain’t What They Use To Be (2016),Terror is our Business (2018 with Kasey Lansdale), Fishing for Dinosaurs and Other Stories (2020), Apache Witch (2021) and the forthcoming THINGS GET UGLY: THE BEST CRIMES STORIES OF JOE R. LANSDALE (2023). He’s edited 15 anthologies including Razored Saddles (1989 with Pat LoBrutto), Dark at Heart (1992 with Karen Lansdale), Weird Business (1995 with Richard Klaw), Retro Pulp Tales (2006), Cross Plains Universe (2006 with Scott Cupp), CRUCIFIED DREAMS (2011), and THE URBAN FANTASY ANTHOLOGY (2011 with Peter S. Beagle). As if this wasn’t enough, Lansdale has written comics for DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, IDW, and others.