Photo: Karen Lansdale

With a *starred* review, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY praises Joe R. Lansdale’s forthcoming HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE.

Fans of Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard novels (RUSTY PUPPY, etc.) will welcome this wonderful compilation of vignettes and episodes from Hap Collins’s early life in East Texas, most of which deal with issues of racism and injustice. “Tire Fire” relates the full story of teenager Hap’s memorable first meeting with Leonard Pine at a nighttime “money fight” in the country. 

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Another highlight is “Apollo Red,” in which Hap tells girlfriend Brett and daughter Chance a few stories about his father, a larger-than-life character, whose kindness and charitable actions often seemed to contradict his racist talk. This loose collection of tales showcases some of Lansdale’s most personal and reflective writing to date.

BILL CRIDER’S POP CULTURE MAGAZINE likes the new book.

You might notice that I said “short pieces” instead of short stories.  Some of the pieces are stories, and all of them have a story to tell, but not all of them are stories.  One of them is even called “The Parable of the Stick,” so you know what that one is.  And while they’re mostly about Hap (and occasionally Leonard) all of them have something to impart beyond the simple history of a character.  They’re about a time and a place and people and attitudes and growing up in an era different from the one we live in now.  I suspect that some of them are drawn from Lansdale’s own life, but that’s just, like, my opinion, man. 

Everything here is written in Lansdale’s inimitable style of down-home East Texas storytelling, and everything is eminently readable and enjoyable.  There’s humor, there’s sadness, there’s blood, and there’s lemonade.  And some cussing, too.  Great stuff, irresistible reading.

Ian Rogers named, without comment, HAP AND LEONARD as one of his favorite collections of 2016 and “The Oak and The Pond” one of the favorite short stories.

SUNDANCETV shared more images from the forthcoming Series HAP AND LEONARD: MUCHO MOJO.

Hap Collins (James Purefoy), Leonard Pine (Michael K. Williams) Raul
(Enrique Murciano) and Florida Grange (Tiffany Mack) in Episode 2. 

Raul (Enrique Murciano) and Leonard Pine (Michael K. Williams) in Episode 1. 

Leonard Pine (Michael K. Williams), Hap Collins (James Purefoy) and Illium Moon (Wayne Dehart) in Episode 2. 

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

Cover by Elizabeth Story

For more info on HAP AND LEONARD, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Elizabeth Story