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Blood in the Gears
Blood in the Gears is the second in a four volume set of stories by Joe R. Lansdale. Each, as best is possible, covers a certain branch of his career. While none of the volumes neatly fit into a box, this volume attempts to point to those stories of his that contain the elements of crime, mystery and suspense. Some of them are creepy, some bloody, some strange, all powerful and unique. Well know stories and lesser known tales rub shoulder to shoulder here, and when they do, the friction causes blood to drip into the story gears. These are the results of the raw and contradictory elements of flesh, and blood, and bones that make up the human machinery.
Table of Contents:
Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale
Drive-In Date
The Phone Woman
Dirt Devils
The Steel Valentine
Naked Angel
Billie Sue
The Job
Master of Misery
The Ears
Everybody Plays the Fool
Bestsellers Guaranteed
Rainy Weather
Booty and the Beast
I Tell You It’s Love
Shooting Pool
Private Eye
Hot in December
The Devil’s Pants
The Shadows, Kith and Kin
Old Charlie
The Drunken Moon
The Old Man in the Motorized Chair
The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance
Six-Finger Jack
Walks
Incident On and Off a Mountain Road
Santa at the Café
Table of Contents:
Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale
Drive-In Date
The Phone Woman
Dirt Devils
The Steel Valentine
Naked Angel
Billie Sue
The Job
Master of Misery
The Ears
Everybody Plays the Fool
Bestsellers Guaranteed
Rainy Weather
Booty and the Beast
I Tell You It’s Love
Shooting Pool
Private Eye
Hot in December
The Devil’s Pants
The Shadows, Kith and Kin
Old Charlie
The Drunken Moon
The Old Man in the Motorized Chair
The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance
Six-Finger Jack
Walks
Incident On and Off a Mountain Road
Santa at the Café
554 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2019
4 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Joe R. Lansdale
818 books3,893 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 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 24, 2021
This is the second of a massive four-volume retrospective of Joe R. Lansdale's short fiction from SST Publications. These are all (nominally) crime stories. I had read many (but not all) of them before in other collections, but I purchased this book anyway because I wanted the entire series. Plus, it gave me a chance to revisit some tales I have not read for many years:
"Drive-In Date" -- Two men take a young lady to the movies. A quintessential early Lansdale story. Horrible and funny at the same time.
"The Phone Woman" -- A man's breakfast is interrupted by a woman asking to use his house phone. A memorable story that begins as a comedy, then takes a dark turn into the macabre and disturbing. This has always been one my favorite Lansdale stories, but it resonates even more at age forty-five than it did when I was thirty-three. Based partially on true events.
"Dirt Devils" -- Four Depression-era bank robbers fight among themselves after killing an old man in an Oklahoma gas station. This is an understated, well-drawn character piece. I enjoyed it better reading it the second time. Very reminiscent of Stephen King's "The Death of Jack Hamilton".
"The Steel Valentine" -- A tight hard-boiled tale of a man fighting to save his life from the madman he cuckolded and a vicious dog. Another of my favorites.
"Naked Angel" -- A police officer investigates the murder of a prostitute whose body is found encased in a block of ice. I found this story to be thin and lacking. Seems a poor parody of Mickey Spillane or Raymond Chandler.
"Billie Sue" -- A middle aged man has a roll in the hay with his married neighbor half his age, but he realizes his heart still belongs to his ex, Billie Sue. Punchy, memorable, and funny.
"The Job" -- An Elvis impersonator and a murder. A short-short that underwhelmed me when I first encountered it but showcases more emotional depth on second and third readings.
"Master of Misery"--A former professional kickboxer unexpectedly makes an enemy on a deep sea fishing trip in the Caribbean. This short story includes some of Lansdale's best martial arts writing. It deserves more recognition on its own merits but it gets overlooked by Lansdale aficionados. Some of the scenes with the abusive husband on the boat are recycled in the novel Captains Outrageous. The finale with its fight and its hurricane echo the closing chapters of The Big Blow.
"The Ears" -- A woman's new boyfriend seems nice until she finds a string of severed, pickled ears tucked in his dresser drawer.
"Everybody Plays the Fool"--Jerry is visiting his son Daryl after his wife ran off. It is a fine afternoon for father-son bonding until a tornado carries their double-wide trailer away. This story is more Southern gothic comedy than crime, at least until the storm-ravaged land gives up a dark secret.
"Bestsellers Guaranteed" -- Larry will do anything to write a bestseller--even if means becoming a killer-for-hire!
"Booty and the Beast" -- Standers is assaulted, hog-tied, stripped, covered in honey, and left for the fire ants to eat--unless he tells what he knows about a secret stash of stolen Nazi gold. A nasty little noir tale that unfortunately jumps the shark in the last few pages.
"I Tell You It’s Love" -- Two lovers' S&M games escalate quickly into out-of-control violence. An early story in the splatterpunk vein; adapted into a graphic novel by Daniele Serra in 2014.
"Shooting Pool" -- An afternoon at a pool hall ends in murder. A mature meditation on the meaning of death.
"Private Eye"-- A man claims he is being followed by a private eye, but is it really a public eye? A piece of flash fiction only two sentences long.
"Hot in December" -- This novella is a de facto sequel to Leather Maiden, reuniting two protagonists from the 2008 novel, reporter Cason Statler and his ex-Ranger sidekick Booger. This time the dysfunctional duo are protecting an army buddy by taking on the Dixie Mafia. The story is long on action but relatively short on plot. Bullets fly, the death count spirals out of control, and the gore is enough to fill several slop buckets to overflowing. Originally published as a standalone hardback by Subterranean Press.
"The Devil’s Pants"--A teenager finds a pair of Satan's pants in a cemetery. Feeling invincible and emboldened with the power of the Devil, he embarks on a rampage of rape and murder.
"The Shadows, Kith and Kin" -- A horror/crime hybrid story inspired by a sniper on the University of Texas campus.
"Old Charlie"--Two strangers chat on a lakeshore while fishing in the late afternoon. The older man spins a yarn of adultery and murder. This 1984 story is a pale imitation of Lawrence Block's "Sometimes They Bite".
"The Drunken Moon" -- A local drunk becomes the object of derision of children in a small town. A slight story with some unique imagery. Adapted into a short film in 2014.
"The Old Man in the Motorized Chair" -- Stubbs Fine is the redneck curmudgeon corollary to Mycroft Holmes and Nero Wolfe. He sits in his armchair and solves mysteries in between episodes of reality television. This is a very funny story, and I hope Lansdale turns him into a series character.
"The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance" -- The story begins as a southern gothic comedy. A man takes his teenage daughter to a circus only to see the trained dog show break down into chaos when one of the poodles goes into heat. Through a string of unlikely but funny events, this leads him to investigate a serial killer who is mutilating women across Texas. It ends with a fight to the death in a burning dump yard. Only Lansdale could write something this bizarre and make it work perfectly. Won a Bram Stoker Award in 1992.
"Six-Finger Jack" -- A noir story about killing a six-fingered man for some reward money. This is interesting enough, although the story took an easy ending rather than going for something more creative or interesting.
"Walks"--A man is concerned when his son visits prostitutes and collects newspaper clippings about a serial killer. Is the boy deranged, or just a chip off the old block?
"Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" -- A terse woman vs. serial killer suspense story. The great thing about this story is that all the physical action is realistic. Lansdale has an extensive martial arts background, and he is not going to write a half-baked fight scene about a 100-lb woman overpowering a physically fit man twice her size. Instead, she must use her brains to outwit the killer.
"Santa at the Café" -- It’s New Year’s Eve, and no less than five people show up to rob an all-night diner. This is a tight hardboiled noir story with a predictable ending.
"Drive-In Date" -- Two men take a young lady to the movies. A quintessential early Lansdale story. Horrible and funny at the same time.
"The Phone Woman" -- A man's breakfast is interrupted by a woman asking to use his house phone. A memorable story that begins as a comedy, then takes a dark turn into the macabre and disturbing. This has always been one my favorite Lansdale stories, but it resonates even more at age forty-five than it did when I was thirty-three. Based partially on true events.
"Dirt Devils" -- Four Depression-era bank robbers fight among themselves after killing an old man in an Oklahoma gas station. This is an understated, well-drawn character piece. I enjoyed it better reading it the second time. Very reminiscent of Stephen King's "The Death of Jack Hamilton".
"The Steel Valentine" -- A tight hard-boiled tale of a man fighting to save his life from the madman he cuckolded and a vicious dog. Another of my favorites.
"Naked Angel" -- A police officer investigates the murder of a prostitute whose body is found encased in a block of ice. I found this story to be thin and lacking. Seems a poor parody of Mickey Spillane or Raymond Chandler.
"Billie Sue" -- A middle aged man has a roll in the hay with his married neighbor half his age, but he realizes his heart still belongs to his ex, Billie Sue. Punchy, memorable, and funny.
"The Job" -- An Elvis impersonator and a murder. A short-short that underwhelmed me when I first encountered it but showcases more emotional depth on second and third readings.
"Master of Misery"--A former professional kickboxer unexpectedly makes an enemy on a deep sea fishing trip in the Caribbean. This short story includes some of Lansdale's best martial arts writing. It deserves more recognition on its own merits but it gets overlooked by Lansdale aficionados. Some of the scenes with the abusive husband on the boat are recycled in the novel Captains Outrageous. The finale with its fight and its hurricane echo the closing chapters of The Big Blow.
"The Ears" -- A woman's new boyfriend seems nice until she finds a string of severed, pickled ears tucked in his dresser drawer.
"Everybody Plays the Fool"--Jerry is visiting his son Daryl after his wife ran off. It is a fine afternoon for father-son bonding until a tornado carries their double-wide trailer away. This story is more Southern gothic comedy than crime, at least until the storm-ravaged land gives up a dark secret.
"Bestsellers Guaranteed" -- Larry will do anything to write a bestseller--even if means becoming a killer-for-hire!
"Booty and the Beast" -- Standers is assaulted, hog-tied, stripped, covered in honey, and left for the fire ants to eat--unless he tells what he knows about a secret stash of stolen Nazi gold. A nasty little noir tale that unfortunately jumps the shark in the last few pages.
"I Tell You It’s Love" -- Two lovers' S&M games escalate quickly into out-of-control violence. An early story in the splatterpunk vein; adapted into a graphic novel by Daniele Serra in 2014.
"Shooting Pool" -- An afternoon at a pool hall ends in murder. A mature meditation on the meaning of death.
"Private Eye"-- A man claims he is being followed by a private eye, but is it really a public eye? A piece of flash fiction only two sentences long.
"Hot in December" -- This novella is a de facto sequel to Leather Maiden, reuniting two protagonists from the 2008 novel, reporter Cason Statler and his ex-Ranger sidekick Booger. This time the dysfunctional duo are protecting an army buddy by taking on the Dixie Mafia. The story is long on action but relatively short on plot. Bullets fly, the death count spirals out of control, and the gore is enough to fill several slop buckets to overflowing. Originally published as a standalone hardback by Subterranean Press.
"The Devil’s Pants"--A teenager finds a pair of Satan's pants in a cemetery. Feeling invincible and emboldened with the power of the Devil, he embarks on a rampage of rape and murder.
"The Shadows, Kith and Kin" -- A horror/crime hybrid story inspired by a sniper on the University of Texas campus.
"Old Charlie"--Two strangers chat on a lakeshore while fishing in the late afternoon. The older man spins a yarn of adultery and murder. This 1984 story is a pale imitation of Lawrence Block's "Sometimes They Bite".
"The Drunken Moon" -- A local drunk becomes the object of derision of children in a small town. A slight story with some unique imagery. Adapted into a short film in 2014.
"The Old Man in the Motorized Chair" -- Stubbs Fine is the redneck curmudgeon corollary to Mycroft Holmes and Nero Wolfe. He sits in his armchair and solves mysteries in between episodes of reality television. This is a very funny story, and I hope Lansdale turns him into a series character.
"The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance" -- The story begins as a southern gothic comedy. A man takes his teenage daughter to a circus only to see the trained dog show break down into chaos when one of the poodles goes into heat. Through a string of unlikely but funny events, this leads him to investigate a serial killer who is mutilating women across Texas. It ends with a fight to the death in a burning dump yard. Only Lansdale could write something this bizarre and make it work perfectly. Won a Bram Stoker Award in 1992.
"Six-Finger Jack" -- A noir story about killing a six-fingered man for some reward money. This is interesting enough, although the story took an easy ending rather than going for something more creative or interesting.
"Walks"--A man is concerned when his son visits prostitutes and collects newspaper clippings about a serial killer. Is the boy deranged, or just a chip off the old block?
"Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" -- A terse woman vs. serial killer suspense story. The great thing about this story is that all the physical action is realistic. Lansdale has an extensive martial arts background, and he is not going to write a half-baked fight scene about a 100-lb woman overpowering a physically fit man twice her size. Instead, she must use her brains to outwit the killer.
"Santa at the Café" -- It’s New Year’s Eve, and no less than five people show up to rob an all-night diner. This is a tight hardboiled noir story with a predictable ending.
April 14, 2020
This is a kitchen sink and pretty much everything else collection. A few gems, most pretty good and a few that I won’t reread. What can you do?
November 7, 2021
A mixed bag for sure, but enough decent stories to round this up to 4 stars.
October 22, 2023
Excellent collection of short stories. Many noirish, many violent.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews