Mark Sieber at HORROR DRIVE-IN delivered the first review of the forthcoming HAP AND LEONARD.

Lansdale has written some shorter Hap and Leonard fiction along the way, and now Tachyon Publications has gathered them into a collection. Here’s the rundown…

Hyenas: This is one of my favorite pieces of Hap and Leonard fiction. It’s a tight, hard-hitting, violent novella that deals with a man who approaches the guys to help his little brother out of a bad situation. What seems like a simple task that may require a little roughing up turns into a terrifying ordeal.

(Sieber reviews every story in the book)

True blue Lansdale and Hap and Leonard fans will have read the majority of this collection before, but it’s great to have all of these wonderful stories together in one nifty volume. 

James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams as the titular characters in SundanceTV’s HAP AND LEONARD

The same piece also discusses the first Hap and Leonard story and the basis for the SundanceTV show SAVAGE SEASON.

I was an instant fan, and since then I have bought and devoured every Lansdale book I could get my hands on. Which included Savage Season. I bought the original Bantam paperback, and it sported the coolest cover I had ever seen. The salesperson at Walden didn’t share my admiration, and she made a disgusted noise when she inspected it. 

Joe R. Lansdale can have that effect upon people, and not just from the covers. His work is often hyperviolent, profane, irreverent. That’s all that is seen by myopic individuals. Discerning readers come back to his work again and again for the humanity, the wit, the sense of justice. And, most of all, because Joe is one of the best storytellers in the business.

Like most everyone else, I was blown away by SAVAGE SEASON. It’s a razor sharp story, but the main draw was and is the two protagonists in the novel. Savage Season introduced readers to Hap and Leonard, who have become Lansdale’s most beloved characters.

Read the rest of Sieber’s article at HORROR DRIVE-IN.

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

Cover by Elizabeth Story