Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-suckers

by Joe R. Lansdale

Subterranean Press is thrilled to announce the novel-length prequel to the classic story, "Bubba Ho-Tep."

Before Bubba Ho-Tep, there was Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers. Part of a secret government organization designed to protect civilians, Elvis Presley and a handful of hardcore warriors set out to save the world from an invasion of hive-minded, shape-shifting vampire-like creatures from a dark dimension who have taken up residence in a New Orleans junkyard. Besides Elvis, among these righteous warriors is a hammer-wielding descendent of John Henry of railroad fame, a Blind Man who sees more than those with sight, Jack, a strategic wizard, and Elvis's right hand man and journal writer, Johnny, all thrown in with Raven (real name Jenny) a female recruit who is also a budding pop star, and like Elvis, high on the charisma chart. Their leader is none other than Colonel Parker, Elvis's cutthroat manager, and a warrior himself, directly in contact with President Nixon, or possibly one of his doubles.It's an unnerving peek into a secret world, and a possible delusion. It's what happened before Elvis, aka Sebastian Haff, found himself in an East Texas rest home, mounted on a walker, fighting an Egyptian mummy and worrying about a growth on his pecker. Strange monsters, wild fights, sex with a beautiful ghost, a drug-induced trip into another dimension, and all manner of mayhem ensue, along with a Mississippi riverboat ride on a giant paddle wheel, and of course, there will be 3D glasses, fried peanut butter and 'nanna sandwiches, and a few hard working zombies.Bring the kids, but plug their ears and blindfold them. This is one wild and nasty ride to the dark side, but with laughter.

Genres: Horror, Humor, Science Fiction, Vampires, Audiobook, Urban Fantasy, Lovecraftian

193 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2017

About the author

Champion 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.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

My expectations were perhaps too elevated in the desire to read and enjoy “Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers” by Joe R. Lansdale. A number of years ago, perhaps almost 20 years now, when Mr. Lansdale published the original novella “Bubba Ho-Tep” and then the wonderful film of the book appeared all was well with my reading/viewing world.

Now we are given a prequel. As the book opens, for some reason Elvis is vacillating between being unhappy and glum with his lot in life and career. Not only is he performing, singing and staring in low budget movies, Elvis has also gotten involved through Colonel Parker, and a “team” of some others, with the task of hunting down and destroying horrible monsters. In this novella the monsters consist of a cross between other dimensional Cthulhu type creatures and vampires who roll their victims into a ball and suck their insides out.

Yah, there is some funny stuff here and Mr. Lansdale’s writing is competent, but, there was no real inspiration or joy. We are not really allowed to know any of the other supplementary characters as there was little if any real character development. The novella concerned itself with the “team” in a huge battle to save the world from the monsters. One of the team members even wields a giant (Thor like) hammer. Much of the fun and comradery the first book contained just was not to be found here for me. Perhaps I’m saturating myself too much with Mr. Lansdale.


This hardcover is copy 146 of 1500 produced and is signed by Joe R. Lansdale. There were also 26 lettered copies produced.

Dustjacket by Timothy Truman

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the early 1070's, Elvis and his team of monster hunters go up against bloodsuckers from another dimension.

While Hap and Leonard are the Joe Lansdale creations I enjoy the most, the really weird stuff like Zeppelins West are what brought me to the dance. When this came up on Netgalley, I couldn't resist.

Ever wonder what landed Elvis in that nursing home in Bubba Ho-Tep? This goes a long way in explaining things. I remember at least one other Lansdale story featuring Elvis from one of his short story collections. Anyway, Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers is one of Lansdale's stranger tales.

When Elvis wasn't performing in Vegas, he was fighting monsters and spending a lot of time in an isolation tank, drugged out and searching for some cosmic truth. The Colonel held Elvis' mother's soul captive, which explains why Elvis hooked up with the son of a bitch in the first place.

When strange things show up on an unfinished film of Elvis', the crew springs into action to fight some parasites from another dimension. It's way funnier than it sounds.

The trademark Lansdale wit is in full effect. My wife was clearly wondering what I was laughing at but learned long ago that it was better not to ask. The story was short and satisfying, like a hand job in a porno theater. Landale does a great job juggling humor and violence and Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers is no exception.

To say more would be to risk spoilage. If you're a fan of Bubba Hotep or any of Joe Lansdale's crazier tales, this one is not to be missed. Four out of five stars.

[Kemper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley for review.

Elvis and horror go together like a peanut butter-n-banana sandwich. Which is to say that it catches your attention, but it might not be something you’d want to make a regular part of your diet.

This is a prequel story to Lansdale’s Bubba Ho-Tep in which we learned that the rumors about Elvis faking his death were true, and that he was living out his final days in a shitty nursing home where he gets into a scrap with a mummy. Here we’ve got The King and one his minions, a bodyguard/hanger-on named Johnny Smack, who secretly fight evil supernatural beings under the command of Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. The Colonel pulls Elvis away from his Las Vegas shows to go on a mission to New Orleans where interdimensional vampires have been turning people into living basketballs while draining away their essence. Several other monster fighters are brought in to help vanquish them, and they all soon fight themselves in a terrifying fight for their lives.

It’s a real mixed bag here with Lansdale doing some genuinely creepy horror of a kind I haven’t read from him in a while, and the idea that Elvis led this double life as a fighter against the evil is kinda enjoyable. My favorite part involved Elvis and his crew trying to hold off the bad guys by going Alamo in a house protected by magic and a horny ghost, and there’s another good bit that involves taking a pink Cadillac into another dimension which is wonky fun. However, a lot of time is spent trying to explain how the guy who became a fat jump-suited pill-addicted joke about this time was actually a tormented bad ass. If you’re going to do a book like this then I get that Lansdale has to pump Elvis up into more than a handsome guy with a great voice and sex appeal who eventually became a victim of his own success into something more substantial, but it just didn’t work for me.

I also really liked both the original story and movie adaptation of Bubba Ho-Tep which played more into the idea of a ‘realistic’ older and faded Elvis who doesn’t know anything about monsters looking back at his life with regret and making one last stand to reclaim some of his old glory and dignity. This undercuts that idea with the revised history although Lansdale makes a mighty attempt of stitching it together into a retconned timeline.

This also has one of my pet peeves of an author putting a bunch of similar looking names together with Elvis’ team consisting of Johnny, John Henry, Jack, and Jenny so apparently this book was sponsored by the letter ‘J’. It’s extra aggravating when you’re reading a poorly formatted advanced e-version that has turned much of the text into word salad and makes it even more confusing.

As a Lansdale fan who got it for free I enjoyed it well enough, but it looks like this is going to be originally released as another one of his collector’s edition hardback, and the current price on Amazon is $40 for 200 pages. That’s way too much money both the quantity and quality of story you’d get for the price.

[Char · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a title like BUBBA AND THE COSMIC BLOOD-SUCKERS and an author like Joe Lansdale, how could anyone not want to read this book? Throw in the fact that this is the prequel to the awesome story BUBBA HO-TEP, and how could I refuse?

I've never seen the film of BUBBA HO-TEP, but I loved the tale with all of its warped humor and fun characters. There was less humor in this book, which I found disappointing, but there were some cool inter-dimensional monsters, as well as some freaky shadowy vampire like creatures as minions and what's not fun about that?

The characters here were a mismatched bunch and I would like to see an entire novel based on the character of The Blind Man. (He may not be able to see, but all of his other skills as well as his psychic abilities are well honed.) I would also love to know more about Johnny, (sometime narrator of this tale) and John Henry, wielder of the giant hammer. Lastly, the horny house ghost also interested me. Unfortunately, this short novel moved so fast that I didn't get to know these characters as much as I would have liked.

BUBBA AND THE COSMIC BLOOD-SUCKERS was full of bloody horror action and a lot of fun, but I guess I was expecting a little more from the Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe Lansdale. But hey, a so-so Lansdale book is better than most good books by other authors, so if this premise sounds interesting to you, I say give it a go! You could do a lot worse.

*Thanks to Subterranean Press for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vote: ☆☆☆1/2

I just loved both Lansdale's Bubba Ho-Tep novella and the awesome movie based on it with Bruce "Chin" Campbell, so my expectations for this prequel were just too high, but this tale was just not as good as the original one.
Just imagine something like a messy mix under drugs of Elvis and his J-Team monster hunters (Jenny, Johnny, John Henry and Jack... WTF???), a sort of 70s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1, interdimensional lovecraftian shapeshifting vampires that can be spotted wearing sunglasses like in John Carpenter's They Live, an horny ghost-house that reminded me a lot The House of Mystery in DC Justice League Dark animated movie, zombies and much more.
Maybe too much more for a short length novel like this.
The Sebastian Shaff ending, making this story a "real" prequel and not something else, and the awesome pulp cover raised final vote for good.

[LIsa Noell "Rocking the chutzpah!" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well shit fuzzy! It's Joe Lansdale, so my expectations were set way, way too high. Truth is, I loved Bubba-Ho-Tep. This was not that. Not even close. I was born in Anchorage, Alaska, but was raised in mostly southeastern New Mexico. With bouts of Texas and Oklahoma. This book had every south and southwestern saying in it that I've ever heard. Hell, even a few that I never wanted to hear again. Honestly, it got old and tiresome. My family is from the southwest, and when they talk and spout their southernisms, I appreciate them, and realize how much I miss them. This was worn out and tired. A bit repetitive. I did like the big bad though. It was kinda disgusting how they treated and discarded folk! Still, not a book I'd read again, or recommend. My thanks to the publishers, and Netgalley for the free read for a review.

[Lena · Rating 2 out of 5]

"...just to the left of reason, off the highway of common sense and into a rest spot for the weird..."

One of Subterranean’s most glorious book covers... but I didn’t like it much.

Lansdale is a piss, shit, fart, slime, goop author. Like Pig-Pen all grown up with a word processor and a rabid need for pussy.

The story is just a Rated R version of Men in Black. I bought it because I’m a Bruce Campbell fan... and the pretty cover.

At least this provides some backstory to my future viewing of Bubba Ho-Tep (2002).

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not Lansdale's best work.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this prequel to Bubba Ho-Tep, Elvis Presley and Colonel Parker lead a team of monster hunters to fight an eldritch vampire from beyond space who has set up shop in a New Orleans junkyard. I thought the book was a great ride and delivered on the promise of its premise.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, here's an interesting thing: The "Bubba" in Bubba Ho-Tep was Elvis. I had always taken the title to be a reference to the mummy, since it was set in Texas, but since said mummy makes zero appearances in this novel, and another character calls Elvis "Bubba" at one point, I was proven wrong. It makes me wonder what else I've taken for granted all these years.

As it turns out, there was a good bit I had taken for granted. In Bubba Ho-Tep, you never get a sense that the narrator is unreliable, so you're pretty convinced the main character is, in fact, Elvis, but there's a lingering doubt that he's just some crazy dude with a strange fantasy. That carries over to JFK, too, more prominently since Elvis himself never quite believes that he's actually JFK. This novel confirms that both claims are true, which somehow lessens the impact of the original story. It takes that uncertainty and makes it fact, which removes the ambiguity that makes the novella work so well.

The other thing about the novel is that it was just too ridiculous. Yes, yes, Elvis and JFK, in an East Texas nursing home battling an Egyptian mummy, isn't exactly mainstream, but somehow it worked better than Elvis and the Colonel heading up what amounts to a Scooby Doo gang. Plus, the more the story continued, the less I could hang on to the whole Elvis connection. He sounded and felt like any other character, and when it came back to me that this was supposed to be Elvis, I almost started laughing.

I mean, Lansdale is Lansdale, and reading him is like reading no other author, but even that seemed to be lacking. I find that his supernatural stories don't have the same kind of brusque charm that his crime novels do, and that's much more evident when you compare this with, say, Rusty Puppy. They both have the snappy dialogue and the unique characters, but the plot for Blood-suckers isn't as strong as Rusty Puppy, and the story overall suffers for it.

Look, I'll read anything Joe Lansdale releases, without hesitation. It's been a while since I've come across a book of his that I didn't like on some level, but Blood-suckers feels like it's coming from the bottom of the barrel. It's about on par with Lost Echoes, my least favorite Lansdale book, and I don't think it's a coincidence it's also a supernatural novel. On the bright side, I'll be getting around to Jackrabbit Smile soon, so hopefully my experience will improve.

[Tim Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Lansdale's writing. And he writes a LOT. But for me, probably 90% of his output is gold. Of the rest, a good 90% is silver. So it's rare that Lansdale does something that I don't love. I didn't love this prequel to Bubba Ho-Tep. Which isn't to say that I didn't like it. Because it was okay. But I didn't love it.

I'm not entirely sure why. The premise is great. Elvis leads a team that fights monsters and cosmic horrors. And in this one is a doozy...a Lovecraftian horror that is destroying people and will destroy the Earth given the chance. But for some reason it just didn't quite work for me. I can't exactly say why. But it shouldn't have taken as long as it did to read that short a work. None of the characters really jumped out at me. The plot was only so-so. The ending which allowed for Elvis to be surprised by the monsters in Bubba Ho-Tep didn't set my world on fire.

Probably worthwhile for a Lansdale completest. But not highly recommended.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"From now on he felt there would always be a hole in his head from which the logic fled."

Bubba and the Cosmic Blood Suckers is a prequel to the somewhat infamous Bubba Ho-Tep, a book I'm yet to read but is in my TBR pile. Focused around Elvis, his manager The Colonel, a person assistant (sort of), and a band of unlikely warriors brought together to save the world from all manner of ghosts and ghouls, Bubba and the Cosmic Blood Suckers requires the reader to suspend their hold on reality and binge on the surreal.

The 'once-human-things' which now resemble balls of human flesh, bone and gore that inhabit a junkyard are the probably the most enjoyable and horror-ific elements of the book. From the opening sequence author Joe R. Lansdale lets the reader know that these are bad, bad things set the scare the crap out of character and reader alike.

Elvis, the team leader of this band of warriors is well written and adds an interesting dynamic to the cobbled together crew. He's not a take charge leader whose proverbial doesn't stink, rather, he's self absorbed and a jerk at times.

This is the kind of book like doesn't take itself too seriously, there's loads of darkly humorous moments among the bloody carnage that takes place throughout the b-grade horror.

My rating: 3/5 stars.

review first appeared on my blog: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly imaginative world in which I couldn't tear myself away from the pages. Love it from the beginning! I went in with an open mind and found it to be a refreshing change from the normalcy. Okay, I know what you're thinking, "Elvis Presley, in a sci-fi novel? Really?" Really! This author is brilliant and had me laughing-out-loud at the fantastical of it all, not to mention the crude humor. This starts off in the first person perspective and then changes throughout the book.

The monsters in here are not like any you've encountered before. Their portrayal is something you wouldn't want to come across in your worst nightmare. Given the state of things, it's up to Elvis, along with a few others you may recognize, to rid the world of these creatures. This is crazy and action-filled. Wanna know how it ends? You'll just have to read it for yourself. Hope you love it!

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

What would have possibly been the BUBBA HO-TEP prequel, BUBBA NOSFERATU is now novelized - it's a good read, but while it's fun to depict Elvis and his entourage as monster fighters, it doesn't come close to BUBBA HO-TEP.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers is outlandish fun. This book is a prequel to Bubba Ho-Tep, which features an aging Elvis Presley squaring off against a soul sucking Egyptian mummy. Cosmic Blood-Suckers features a much younger Elvis duking it out against some very Lovecraftian extra-dimensional evil. If you are a literary persimmon who lacks all sense of fun I imagine this book is not for you. This book was a blast. I wonder how the Presley estate feels about this but honestly I don't care. TCB, baby.

[Sipovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Приквел "Буббы Хо-тепа", из которого Лэнсдейл зачем-то решил заварганить лютый трэш и допетросянился до уничтожения трогательной человечности оригинала. Стоит признать, что история про борьбу Элвиса с космическими вампирами намного лучше работает в качестве сценария для фильма, но всё же надеюсь, что Коскарелли никогда не соберет на него денег.

[Micah Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s Elvis vs cosmic vampires.
Not much more needs to be said.
If this sounds intriguing you will enjoy this.
It also contains the short story Bubba Ho Tep, where Elvis and JFK face off against a mummy feeding on the souls of the residents of Shady Grove Retirement Home.

[Kevin Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, but ultimately unnecessary.

[B.J. Swann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the worst Lansdale book I've read, but still pretty good.

[Jim Sanderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read

It may not be Bubba Ho Tep, but nothing else could be. It was light and diverting, just the antidote for several days of work.

[Andrew F · Rating 4 out of 5]

To date, the only genuinely underwhelming experience I have had reading one of Mr Lansdale's books was with Dead in the West. Why? Because the version I read was a novelisation. Somewhere, possibly in the foreward to the Deadman's Road collection, Lansdale explains he wrote it as a novel way back when (a version I have never been able to buy) then adapted it to a screenplay because he wanted it made as a movie in the weird west sub-genre. A hard sell, it never happened, and eventually he novelised the screenplay (which was somewhat different) and that is the version available now. While not a bad read, it reads like a novelisation of a screenplay. All the action perfunctory, but no insight. No soul. Even Mr Joe R Lansdale, the Mojo Storyteller his ownself, could not be found in the prose - his friendly, southern voice and crude humour apparently gone by the wayside.
This book is also, I suspect, some kind of novelisation. For years after the movie of Bubba Ho-Tep, there was word that the joke sequel announced in the credits (Bubba Nosferatu and the Curse She-Vampires) would come to fruition. A big champion was Paul Giamatti, who wanted (desperately) to play Colonel Parker (he ended up with a role in John Dies At the End, also by Bubba director Don Coscarelli). Eventually, Bruce Campbell dropped out, citing disagreements with the direction, to be replaced by a willing Ron Perlman. It never got made.
Now, I am not sure, but am fairly sure this is a novelisation - or reworking at least - of that idea, since it features Colonel Parker, it's a prequel and it features vampires. So I think I can see why Bruce didn't want to participate. It lacks heart. The story of Bubba Ho-Tep in print is almost identical to the movie, the only embellishment being some scarab beetles that fly around and harass Elvis. Both have a serious amount of heart that plays against the campy, drive-in elements that are more obvious. Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers doesn't have that. It's a lot of fun, it actually finds Lansdale in something very close to his Drive-In trilogy, the first of which is a fucking masterpiece of horror writing. It's a lot better than the Dead in the West I read, by the way.

So while I think the book is a great read for Lansdale fans, probably best to forget about Bubba Ho-Tep. The story might as well be totally unrelated since the tones are so radically different.

One thing: there are a couple of moments here that definetely help one picture Bruce Campbell as Elvis: at one point Elvis and crew battle an army of skeletal soldiers with swords and axes, ala. Army of Darkness, and at another point Elvis says "Groovy!".

[S.B. (Beauty in Ruins) · Rating 3 out of 5]

In hindsight, as much fun as the Bubba Ho-Tep movie was, I realize I enjoyed it more for Bruce Campbell's performance than the story itself. It was fun, but not enough to drive me to seek out Joe R. Lansdale's original story.

Having said that, Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers has a lot of things going for it, and was actually quite brilliant in some respects, but it's far too uneven a read for me to recommend it. For every paragraph of blood-sucker horror, we're forced to wade through pages of cosmic weirdness, and for every snappy bit of banter, we're made to sit through one tired Elvis-ism after another.

The concept is fantastic, and I would love to read more about the government's secret monster-hunting unit, just not with Elvis at the helm - or, at least, not with this fat, pill-popping, flatulent, overstayed-his-welcome, embarrassing Elvis.

Read the first 12 pages of drunken Mr. Positive and the screaming balls of human flesh crammed into the cars of the junkyard, and you'll be hungry for more . . . but by the time you get through the next 65 pages of introductions and celebrity banter, and you'll start to get a feel for what kind of balance to expect. Personally, the novelty of the Colonel, Nixon, and all the rest wore off pretty quickly for me, so much so that I was already starting to skim by the 30% mark, which never bodes well for a book


Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC of this title from the publisher in exchange for review consideration. This does not in any way affect the honesty or sincerity of my review.

[Mosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not what I was expecting. I came to it being a fan of the film Bubba Ho-Tep and hoped that it would retain some of the same humor, but it doesn't. Part of it is the story. I'm just not into stories involving a "great ball of toothy, tentacle-waving ectoplasm" (133) with the exceptions of Kang and Kodos. It's not my area of interest (and also where Stephen King's Dark Tower series started to lose me a bit). Part of the charm of the movie is the idea of Elvis dealing with a supernatural creature in the middle of nowhere and no real knowledge of how to do it. But in this book is an Elvis who's already part of an elite supernatural-being fighting squad. The charm of the idea is missing.

Another reason this book left me cold is the writing. I don't think it's that good. Two reasons off the top:
1) Every few chapters is an entry from Johnny's journal, but the voice of the journal is exactly the same as the narrator in the other chapters. There is no distinction at all, which makes me wonder why it's there. No other character gets an individual voice, so I would think taking this approach would add something.
2) This is another personal issue I have with books - all the dialogue falls flat. Whenever characters converse, the only verb choice is "said". He said. She said. No one asks, exclaims, retorts, inquires, sighs, and this prevents the characters from showing emotion.

I would likely have quit on this one, but it's short - only 193 pages, really closer to 175 as every chapter starts on an odd page, so if a chapter ends on an odd page, the next even page is blank.

[Scott Firestone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never actually read Joe Lansdale's classic story "Bubba Ho-Tep," but I sure enjoyed the movie. Bruce Campbell was perfect as the aging King, fighting a mummy terrorizing a nursing home.

One of the fun things about Bubba Ho-Tep was that you weren't completely sure if this guy's just a whack-job who's out of his gourd, or really Elvis trying to take back some of the vitality he once had. And by the end of the movie the truth doesn't really matter anymore. He's who he believes he is, and who we believe he is.

So this short novel shatters that uncertainty by filling in some of Elvis' backstory. He really was replaced by a double, just as he asserted, and he really did fight Baddies, as part of a team led by Colonel Tom Parker.

Here we find out that Elvis' personality, his...IT factor...is so potent that he's woken up a nest of evil creatures, led my a big, bad mama. There's a fun standoff in a house haunted by a horny ghost, and then another battle they take to the creatures. It's all good, but somewhat uneven. I'm not sure why we needed the narrator. We've got unnecessary asides to visit Nixon. And why would you have so many characters with similar names? John Henry. Johnny. Jenny. Jack. Stop it!

And I usually love Subterranean Press' covers, but it seems weird that Elvis is relegated to the background on this one. He's the titular Bubba! Shouldn't he be more prominent?

It still gets three stars because the story was fun. There's just no one who does weird like Joe R. Lansdale. They go together like a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

[James T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw the movie a couple years ago and really liked it. Naturally, I wanted to read the short story it was based off of. Little did I know the author wrote a prequel.

I’ll start with the original work “Bubba Ho-Tep.” It’s really fantastic. The mixture of weird horror with an extremely mundane setting works. The subtext about the elderly, the boyish adventure and bromance of Jack & Elvis are all great. It is laugh out funny at times. Though it definitely can be too crude, too crass, and try too hard. Overall it’s a great short story and very much worth reading. 4.5/5

The same cannot be said for the prequel “Bubba and the Cosmic Blood Suckers.” It’s not abjectly terrible. It has some fun and action to it but overall I really didn’t like it. The general consensus seems people don’t like it as much as the first. I wholeheartedly agree. The crudeness, crassness is just trying way too hard in this one. It’s not funny and usually comes off as ugly or mean spirited. The story takes way too long to get going, and wraps up way too quick. It just felt like going back the the well 25 years later. You might be able to make a decent B movie out of it, but honestly it just detracts from the original and feels like a cash in. 2/5

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

With such a unique eye-catching dust jacket design and one of the most tantalizing absurd blurb adorning the inside cover, this was remarkably okay. I was expecting a lot more off-the-wall flavor and a complete grab bag of craziness and fun. For whatever reason, this one kind of missed the mark for me. I wouldn’t call it a complete dud. I made it through and it definitely had some fun moments. For the most part, it’s cast of alternate-history figures and random acquaintances slowly became laughably hollow and plain. I think the premise itself is kind of there, but the pacing feels off and strange to me. It’s some typical schlocky stuff written in the undefinable style of Lansdale, but beyond that it’s not much else. Turn your brain off and try to have fun. I say try because, it’s not too wacky and wild to be memorable and exciting, yet it’s not too terrible to toss it out either. It’s just kind of middle of the road for me. It really kind of undermines the uniqueness and originality of Bubba-Ho-Teo, but that’s just my opinion. On the upside, it’s relatively short and the artwork is fantastic!

[GothicMom'S Reviewers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly imaginative world in which I couldn't tear myself away from the pages. Loved it from the beginning! I went in with an open mind and found it to be a refreshing change from the normalcy. Okay, I know what you're thinking, "Elvis Presley, in a sci-fi novel? Really?" Really! This author is brilliant and had me laughing-out-loud at the fantastical of it all, not to mention the crude humor. This starts off in the first person perspective and then changes throughout the book.

The monsters in here are not like any you've encountered before. Their portrayal is something you wouldn't want to come across in your worst nightmare. Given the state of things, it's up to Elvis, along with a few others you may recognize, to rid the world of these creatures. This is crazy and action-filled. Wanna know how it ends? You'll just have to read it for yourself. Hope you love it!

Reviewed by Janet of the GothicMoms Review Team

[Craig Childs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bubba Ho-Tep is one of Lansdale's strongest short stories because of its unique blend of Elvis nostalgia, B-movie horror campiness, and meditations on aging, loneliness, and finding a cause worth living for.

The sequel Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers has none of that other than the camp. It's just an excuse to make fat Elvis jokes and have him fight monsters--zombies, vampires, and Lovecraftian creatures from another dimension. It violates the continuity of the original story, at least until the last chapter when the author conveniently deploys a mind-wipe drug to selectively erase some of Elvis' memories.

Lansdale's writing is funny, as usual, but the tongue-in-cheek action sequences fall flat, primarily because the characters are uninteresting and their relationships unmemorable. The supernatural villains are laughably easy to defeat.

This is a disappointing novel from a usually reliable author.

[Kyle Pinion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was into this for a bit (specifically listening to the GraphicAudio adaptation, which is just the text with a full cast, music and sound effects - nice production), the pitch is basically: “what if Elvis was in something like the BPRD” but the writing had the usual Lansdale humor that in this spin reminded me sometimes of the wit found in a Leisure Suit Larry game. But as it went on, I kinda felt like it was taking away some of the charm of the original Bubba Ho-Tep novella. Oh, it turns out he really was Elvis, and he fought monsters like this all the time…

Lansdale builds a fun cast, and he squares away the continuity by the end. It’s fun anytime he’s writing in “monster hunter” mode like this, or Jedidiah Mercer, or the Hoodoo Man, but there is a bit of a reducing effect. I thought the vampire dimension hopping/drug tripping aspect was pretty novel though.

[John Bruni · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, I really didn't need a prequel to Bubba-Ho-Tep, and yet I find this book incredibly enjoyable. It was good to see what Elvis got up to in his youth under the influence of Col. Parker (who has his mom's soul in a gris-gris bag). There is something particularly sadistic about how the Cosmic Blood-Suckers from the title handle people: by bending them over backwards until their feet are next to their heads, and they are left like that in balls in cars at the junkyard, still alive. Just enough to probably be aware of their horrible situation. It's a lot of fun. A lot of goofy stuff happens. It's great. Pure Lansdale.