HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE is a masterpiece
With tonight’s premiere of SundanceTV’s HAP AND LEONARD: MUCHO MOJO and the recent publication of Joe R. Lansdale’s HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE, the Internet is a buzz.
Photo: Karen Lansdale
At RISINGSHADOW, Seregil of Rhiminee praises the book.
Joe R. Lansdale’s BLOOD AND LEMONADE is a masterpiece of addictive and stylistic storytelling. It’s satisfyingly pulpy entertainment to those who enjoy reading clever and vivid stories with memorable characters.
I was delighted to read this mosaic novel, because I enjoy Joe R. Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard stories. I find these stories amazing, because the author’s writing style appeals to my twisted taste in pulp fiction. I don’t normally read this kind of fiction very much, but Joe R. Lansdale’s stories are among the few exceptions that fascinate me.
BLOOD AND LEMONADE oozes steadily pulsing raw power that is rare in this kind of fiction. As experienced readers are aware of, there are way too many pulp and crime novels, in which the authors try too hard to reach for something fascinating, unique and wild, but fail miserably due to lack of vision and poor writing skills. Fortunately, this novel is something totally different, because it’s original and entertaining, and – what’s most important – it has style and substance that is lacking from other novels.
If you’re a newcomer to Joe R. Lansdale’s fiction, this novel may not be the best place to start reading his Hap and Leonard stories, but I see no reason why newcomers wouldn’t enjoy it. Because the stories are good and entertaining, they can be read and enjoyed without knowledge about the previously published stories.
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One of the main reasons why I love BLOOD AND LEMONADE is that it features excellent dialogue. I love reading the sharp, thoughtful and striking conversations between the protagonists, because the author excels at writing them in a lively manner. Another reason why I love this novel is the author’s sense of humour, because it’s delightfully amusing, insightful and twisted. It adds a nice flavour to the stories.
I give BLOOD AND LEMONADE full five stars on the scale from one to five stars, because it’s pure pulp goodness from start to finish.
I highly recommend BLOOD AND LEMONADE to Joe R. Lansdale’s fans, because it has everything you could ever hope to find in Hap and Leonard stories – style, substance, humour, insightful commentary, interesting happenings, fights etc. It’s a delightfully entertaining reading experience for those who love crime and pulp stories, but it will also appeal to horror readers.
Excellent and wonderfully vivid entertainment!
Pamela Scott of THE BOOK LOVER’S BOUDOIR enjoys her first Hap and Leonard book experience.
I’ve never really read Lansdale’s work before other than the odd story. I have seen some of the Hap and Leonard TV series and thought it was mad and brilliant so wanted to read BLOOD AND LEMONADE.
This is my first time reading a mosaic novel. I had no idea such a thing existed. I really enjoyed BLOOD AND LEMONADE which is really a series of stories delving into the past of Hap with occasional forays into Leonard’s past. I liked the way the book is structured with flashbacks of the past triggered by places Hap and Leonard visit or people they encounter. This works really well. I enjoyed all of the individual tales and how well they worked together. However, as I’ve not read anything about Hap and Leonard before I felt like something was missing or I missed something and didn’t get as much from BLOOD AND LEMONADE as a proper fan would. Nevertheless, I enjoyed BLOOD AND LEMONADE enough to read more of the author especially Hap and Leonard’s adventures. My favourite tales were Not Our Kind, Down by the Riverside, Blood Lemonade and The River of the Dead. The other stories were good but these appealed to me a bit more.
At THE ANTICK MUSINGS OF G.B.H. HORNSWOLLGGLER, GENT., Andrew Wheeler was thrilled to receive the book.
HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE is a follow-up to last year’s HAP AND LEONARD, which collected all of the stories about Joe R. Lansdale’s crime-fighting odd couple that had been published to that point. Well, Mamma Lansdale’s youngest son has been very busy this past year, because BLOOD AND LEMONADE contains thirteen more stories about Hap and Leonard (though I think one of them was the new story in last year’s book), all copyright 2016 or 2017.
You’d think there was a new season of a Hap and Leonard TV show hitting, or something!
SUNDANCETV is offering exclusive experts from HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE.
SundanceTV is heading back to Hap and Leonard’s teenage years in the exclusive digital release of “Not Our Kind,” a short story from Joe R. Lansdale’s most recent book HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE, which is now on sale via Tachyon Publications.
In the story, we meet up with Hap and Leonard back in high school, a time when their friendship is first blossoming. They join forces alongside Leonard’s Uncle Chester to defend themselves against some unsavory bullies.
This short story is the first of two stories to be featured exclusively on sundance.tv in anticipation of the Hap and Leonard: Mucho Mojo premiere, airing Wed., Mar. 15 at 10/9c on SundanceTV. The second release will be a never-before-seen Hap and Leonard adventure, “In the River of the Dead.” The story will first be available to those subscribed to the Hap and Leonard newsletter and doled out in weekly chapters throughout the run of the HAP AND LEONARD: MUCHO MOJO season.
For more info about HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover by Elizabeth Story