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Blood Dance
Book by Lansdale, Joe R.
203 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2000
5 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Joe R. Lansdale
818 books3,892 followersChampion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over forty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in more than two dozen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies. He has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others. His novella Bubba Ho-Tep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted to film for Showtime's "Masters of Horror," and he adapted his short story "Christmas with the Dead" to film hisownself. The film adaptation of his novel Cold in July was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Sundance Channel has adapted his Hap & Leonard novels for television.
He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.
He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 20, 2012
There seems to be two kinds of Western (as in the Wild West) novels out there. First there is the modern western exemplified by Annie Proulx and Cormac McCarthy. Only you literature types need apply. Then there are the pulps set in the mythical Wild West. Most of these come close to the idea of speculative fiction as they usually deal with a history that is more in our minds then in reality. Lansdale's Blood Dance comfortably fits this category. He does a good job of mixing his usual crime noir/revenge style with the pulp excesses of the Western. He also throws in a few real-life figures for authenticity's sake; Wild Bill Hickok, Jack McCall (the man who killed Hickok), General Custer, and a lesser known but just as colorful legend, John "Liver-Eating" Johnson. Overall this novel is an entertaining read but not on par with Lansdale's thrillers and horror novels.
May 4, 2022
3.5 STARS
August 17, 2021
One of the "Lost Lansdale" series.
It's an early Lansdale book, one of his first cracks at a western. You can see DNA of Paradise Sky and The Magic Wagon here, as we once again pop in on perennial Lansdale western favorite Wild Bill Hickock. We also get other famous figures of the west including General Custer and Liver-Eating Johnston.
It's a bloody revenge western that isn't especially great, but still a nice little yarn on its own.
It's an early Lansdale book, one of his first cracks at a western. You can see DNA of Paradise Sky and The Magic Wagon here, as we once again pop in on perennial Lansdale western favorite Wild Bill Hickock. We also get other famous figures of the west including General Custer and Liver-Eating Johnston.
It's a bloody revenge western that isn't especially great, but still a nice little yarn on its own.
July 23, 2017
fun read.
October 12, 2016
After the civil war two confederate buddies haven't had much luck living in a Yankee world. They end up robbing a train with a bad group. Things go bad and the bad guys decide to kill every one on the train and the two buddies just can't go along with that. One dies and the other wounded badly and left for dead after they try to stand with those from the train. From there with a little help from different characters he meet along the way it's a hunt for those that killed his friend. Joe Lansdale makes this western his like he does with anything he writes. Lansdale fans who may not be much for westerns will soon rethink it. Western fans will want more western from this guy who can it seems write any type of book just fine.
December 15, 2016
Lansdale has written a lot of weird westerns. It's sort of what he's known for. He's written fewer straightforward westerns, but Blood Dance is one of those. It features a man seeking vengeance for a murdered friend, train robberies, Indians and scalping, mining for gold, and a whole mess of other western cliches. It also brings in Wild Bill Hickok and General Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn, so in true Lansdale fashion, he brings all he can to the party.
The story isn't anything special, either as a western or as a Lansdale novel, but Lansdale is at least reliable. You know what you're getting with him, and even though the stories don't usually stray far from his usual formula, you're going to be entertained. That our erstwhile narrator runs into two legendary figures of the Old West strains credibility, but it at least cements the book into "western" territory.
The foreword goes into weird places, as Lansdale writes about reading an adult western, which is to say a western written with lots of sex as opposed to a western written for an adult audience. It's a backward way of telling us how he got interested in reading and writing westerns at all, which I guess is the connection between the memory and the story. Still, it was kind of odd.
Blood Dance is a decent enough read, with enough Lansdale touches to keep me interested, but it's no classic by any means. Lansdale even acknowledges this fact in his foreword, which makes me wonder why he issued it for publication at all. I respect Lansdale's skills, and that he can now release material based on his name alone, but all these do is make me wish for the next Sunset and Sawdust. I have yet to read The Bottoms or The Thicket, so I may still find one yet.
The story isn't anything special, either as a western or as a Lansdale novel, but Lansdale is at least reliable. You know what you're getting with him, and even though the stories don't usually stray far from his usual formula, you're going to be entertained. That our erstwhile narrator runs into two legendary figures of the Old West strains credibility, but it at least cements the book into "western" territory.
The foreword goes into weird places, as Lansdale writes about reading an adult western, which is to say a western written with lots of sex as opposed to a western written for an adult audience. It's a backward way of telling us how he got interested in reading and writing westerns at all, which I guess is the connection between the memory and the story. Still, it was kind of odd.
Blood Dance is a decent enough read, with enough Lansdale touches to keep me interested, but it's no classic by any means. Lansdale even acknowledges this fact in his foreword, which makes me wonder why he issued it for publication at all. I respect Lansdale's skills, and that he can now release material based on his name alone, but all these do is make me wish for the next Sunset and Sawdust. I have yet to read The Bottoms or The Thicket, so I may still find one yet.
March 24, 2012
I'll read just about anything that Mr. Lansdale takes the trouble to write and to publish. The name-dropping cost this book a star, though; I just personally don't like that stuff. Also not a big fan of white-dude-turns-injun stuff either, but at least it was handled in a non-embarrassing manner, and in a way that made it integral to the plot rather than just gratuitous pandering to a way of life that is dead because it got outcompeted. The most interesting thing about this book is that I got all excited to read it even though it is a western. A western. I swear, this man can write anything and make it fun to read.
May 25, 2016
3.5 stars. Nowhere near Lansdale's best work or even his best westerns, but it is quite entertaining if you can put up with a few pretty hoary western narrative conventions. I agree completely with his intro in that I could totally see Dorchester/Leisure Westerns putting this out in mass market as an unassuming midlist title (well, before they imploded and took the last bastion of the midlist author career path with them, that is). Also neat to see some scenes and characters that show up again in later Lansdale works and how his approach to them changes over time.
February 11, 2013
A rip-roaring Western by Joe Lansdale. Protagonist Jim Melgrhue is someone you'd want to call your friend, along with all the many "characters" he meets on his trail of revenge. Lansdale is one of the best storytellers out there, bar none, and you don't have to enjoy Westerns as such to enjoy this short novel. Likeable protagonist, in-depth character development, lyrical prose, terrific storyline and grand finale.
July 13, 2009
I could read anything by Joe Lansdale it seems. Here Joe writes a typical Western using some fun mix of Legend and History (Both Bull Hickok and Custer show up for a time). I'm not the biggest western kind of fellow, but I enjoyed reading this revenge yarn.
June 15, 2009
Great throwback to paperback Westerns with that typical Lansdale goodness thrown in for good measure...
May 4, 2012
Entertaining but forgettable pulp Western, far from Lansdale's best work.
June 14, 2013
Another good Lansdale read. Really enjoyed the main character and all the interactions with the minor and historical personalities. Fun and quick and a little bit dirty.
September 28, 2014
This is copy 404 of 1000.
June 24, 2015
3 1/2 stars. Older Landsdale. Not bad, but not awesome like the stuff he writes now.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews