What do you think?
Rate this book
Gothic Wounds
“Lansdale reaches the reader on a gut level…a terrific writer.”
—Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
Gothic Wounds oozes stories of grim doings in the Southern climes of East Texas, with a few stories outside the usual Lansdale realm.
Meet real life horrors and old mythologies in these dark and sometimes humorous and satirical stories of adventures and mysteries, suspense and strange moments in the backwoods.
Get out your hip boots and your skeeter spray, and you might want to bring a horse and saddle for when the tales move out West, but most importantly bring your imagination.
Read about a bizarre mule race, a movie projectionist’s obsession with a beautiful young woman that leads to a violent event. Venture onto the Sabine River with Hap and Leonard and find a sunken boat full of death and treasure. Meet a blind man with a weed eater who has nefarious plans. Follow the path of a World War soldier returning home only to find home isn’t what it used to be. Meet a wrestler well past his prime who grapples with an opponent over a long-lost love. Go down into a pit and watch two brave men in a mad, mad world, fight for a championship that ends in death for one of them. Then drive on out to Geronimo’s grave and battle a dangerous bank robber. Then have a sip of blood and Lemonade, as we learn of an event in the past of one of Lansdale’s best-known characters, Hap Collins.
And there’s more. So, pull up a chair, seat yourself with a big glass of ice tea or a Dr Pepper, and have a stack of vanilla cookies close at hand for sustenance. Crack this book full of the unexpected, and dive in.
The storytelling water is fine.
—Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
Gothic Wounds oozes stories of grim doings in the Southern climes of East Texas, with a few stories outside the usual Lansdale realm.
Meet real life horrors and old mythologies in these dark and sometimes humorous and satirical stories of adventures and mysteries, suspense and strange moments in the backwoods.
Get out your hip boots and your skeeter spray, and you might want to bring a horse and saddle for when the tales move out West, but most importantly bring your imagination.
Read about a bizarre mule race, a movie projectionist’s obsession with a beautiful young woman that leads to a violent event. Venture onto the Sabine River with Hap and Leonard and find a sunken boat full of death and treasure. Meet a blind man with a weed eater who has nefarious plans. Follow the path of a World War soldier returning home only to find home isn’t what it used to be. Meet a wrestler well past his prime who grapples with an opponent over a long-lost love. Go down into a pit and watch two brave men in a mad, mad world, fight for a championship that ends in death for one of them. Then drive on out to Geronimo’s grave and battle a dangerous bank robber. Then have a sip of blood and Lemonade, as we learn of an event in the past of one of Lansdale’s best-known characters, Hap Collins.
And there’s more. So, pull up a chair, seat yourself with a big glass of ice tea or a Dr Pepper, and have a stack of vanilla cookies close at hand for sustenance. Crack this book full of the unexpected, and dive in.
The storytelling water is fine.
637 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2022
38 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Joe R. Lansdale
826 books3,910 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 1, 2022
This is the final entry of a massive four-volume retrospective of Joe R. Lansdale's short fiction from SST Publications. This volume collects the best of his historical fiction and western stories. I had read them all 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:
"White Mule, Spotted Pig"-- More than anything in his life, Frank wants to win the county mule race, but his mule got struck by lightning and he has no money to buy another. This leads him on an odyssey through the East Texas swamplands to find the near-mythical White Mule. This is the sort of tale you imagine Carson McCullers or Mark Twain might have spun after a pint of hooch.
"The Projectionist" -- Based on Edward Hopper’s lush 1939 painting, which focuses on a sad (bored? lonely?) usherette standing in the aisle of a New York movie theater. The short story is from the viewpoint of the movie projectionist who falls in love with her. Both a coming-of-age tragedy and a gritty crime tale, Lansdale captures the faded glory and heart-sickness of Hopper’s work. The ending is perfect.
"In the River of the Dead" -- Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are still in high school the first time their escapades turn deadly. They find a sunken drug boat with a dead family--two adults and a five year-old child. The killers arrive shortly after and force Hap and Leonard to retrieve their stash of heroin from the bottom of the Sabine River.
"Soldierin’" and "Hide and Horns" – Two of my favorite JRL stories. Blends historical fact and pulp fiction into a tall tale of the Wild West. Features Nat Love, the black cowboy from Paradise Sky and the novellas Black Hat Jack and Radiant Apples. (The events of these two stories are incorporated in Paradise Sky in revised form.)
"Mad Dog Summer" -- An eleven-year old boy and his tomboy sister find a dead black woman on the banks of the Sabine River in 1931, an apparent victim of a serial killing. This coming of age story about racism and childhood during the Great Depression owes a few of its story beats to Harper Lee, but it is just as dark and violent as you would expect from Lansdale. The writing is superb and pitch perfect. Won a Bram Stoker Award in 1999. Became the basis for the novel The Bottoms.
"Cowboy" -- A young boy wonders why there are no black cowboys in western novels. This is a short, maudlin story. It is only interesting because a few years ago JRL did in fact remedy this problem with the publication of the greatest novel of his career, Paradise Sky.
"Mister Weed-Eater" – The trouble starts when Mr. Harold tries to help a blind man weed-eat a church lawn. A bizarre but masterful tale of good deeds gone awry. One of my favorites. Every time I read it, I laugh from beginning to end. The hardest part is believing the first five pages really happened to the author!
"The Stars Are Falling" – An excellent historical revenge tale of a soldier who comes home from WWI to find his wife has taken up with another man.
"Dead on the Bones" -- A young boy sees an opportunity to take revenge on his evil uncle when a mysterious hoodoo man rolls into his Depression-era East Texas town. The juxtaposition of crime and horror echoes the great Robert Bloch.
"The Fat Man and the Elephant" – A skewering of religious zealots and racists. Funny but a little on the nose.
"The Night They Missed the Horror Show" -- Two redneck football players cruise around their small Texas town looking for entertainment on a Saturday night. The horror in this tale derives not from the supernatural but from the realistic twin demons of racism and perversion. I’ve read this story four times. Every time I encounter it, the frank real-world brutality shocks me. I also always laugh out loud at the gallows humor and then feel guilty about doing so. Won a Bram Stoker Award in 1988.
"The Big Blow"--Future African-American boxing champion Jack Johnson fights a challenger from Chicago on the night of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Funny, brutal, and moving. Note: this is the original novella that won a Bram Stoker Award in 1997, not the extended novel-length version published by Subterranean Press (the original version is better).
"Steppin’ Out, Summer ’68"--Three teenage boys go looking for girls on a Saturday night. Instead they find an angry father, a hungry alligator, and a murderous truck driver in this black comedy. Funny, brutal Southern Gothic.
"Blood and Lemonade" -- A young boy (not named in the story, but it's Hap Collins) learns about race relations in Texas in the 1950's. His mother tries to help a Black child who was abandoned by his cousin and beat up by local White kids. However, she underestimates how deep the animosity between Blacks and Whites can run. This story is a bit saccharine in places, but it really captures the attitudes and emotions of the author's parents' generation (my grandparents' generation). This story was the titular chapter of the mosaic novel Hap and Leonard: Blood and Lemonade.
"The Pit" -- A dark, funny, violent story of a small redneck town that captures strangers and pits them against each other in gladiator-style death matches.
"Wrestling Jesus" -- Marvin is having trouble with school bullies until a foul-mouthed elderly Mexican wrestler known as X-Man teaches him to defend himself. The two bond while X-Man prepares to fight his old enemy Jesus the Bomb, part of a lifelong feud over a beautiful but evil voodoo queen.
"The Sabine Was High" -- Hap and Leonard are reunited after a few years' absence. Leonard is returning from a tour in Vietnam. Hap is fresh out of prison for refusing to fight. Despite their political differences, they discover their experiences were similar. This is dark, character-driven noir.
"Driving to Geronimo's Grave" -- Chauncey and his plucky little sister drive from East Texas to Oklahoma to collect the dead body of their Uncle Smat. Set during the Great Depression, this story has all the hallmarks of Lansdale's historical fiction--redneck humor, double-crossing small time crooks, casual violence, and unerring belief in the power of family.
"By Bizarre Hands" -- A traveling preacher confronts a widow and her mentally disabled daughter. Disturbing but predictable. Improves on subsequent readings. There is a play version, as well, that I wish had been included in this volume.
"White Mule, Spotted Pig"-- More than anything in his life, Frank wants to win the county mule race, but his mule got struck by lightning and he has no money to buy another. This leads him on an odyssey through the East Texas swamplands to find the near-mythical White Mule. This is the sort of tale you imagine Carson McCullers or Mark Twain might have spun after a pint of hooch.
"The Projectionist" -- Based on Edward Hopper’s lush 1939 painting, which focuses on a sad (bored? lonely?) usherette standing in the aisle of a New York movie theater. The short story is from the viewpoint of the movie projectionist who falls in love with her. Both a coming-of-age tragedy and a gritty crime tale, Lansdale captures the faded glory and heart-sickness of Hopper’s work. The ending is perfect.
"In the River of the Dead" -- Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are still in high school the first time their escapades turn deadly. They find a sunken drug boat with a dead family--two adults and a five year-old child. The killers arrive shortly after and force Hap and Leonard to retrieve their stash of heroin from the bottom of the Sabine River.
"Soldierin’" and "Hide and Horns" – Two of my favorite JRL stories. Blends historical fact and pulp fiction into a tall tale of the Wild West. Features Nat Love, the black cowboy from Paradise Sky and the novellas Black Hat Jack and Radiant Apples. (The events of these two stories are incorporated in Paradise Sky in revised form.)
"Mad Dog Summer" -- An eleven-year old boy and his tomboy sister find a dead black woman on the banks of the Sabine River in 1931, an apparent victim of a serial killing. This coming of age story about racism and childhood during the Great Depression owes a few of its story beats to Harper Lee, but it is just as dark and violent as you would expect from Lansdale. The writing is superb and pitch perfect. Won a Bram Stoker Award in 1999. Became the basis for the novel The Bottoms.
"Cowboy" -- A young boy wonders why there are no black cowboys in western novels. This is a short, maudlin story. It is only interesting because a few years ago JRL did in fact remedy this problem with the publication of the greatest novel of his career, Paradise Sky.
"Mister Weed-Eater" – The trouble starts when Mr. Harold tries to help a blind man weed-eat a church lawn. A bizarre but masterful tale of good deeds gone awry. One of my favorites. Every time I read it, I laugh from beginning to end. The hardest part is believing the first five pages really happened to the author!
"The Stars Are Falling" – An excellent historical revenge tale of a soldier who comes home from WWI to find his wife has taken up with another man.
"Dead on the Bones" -- A young boy sees an opportunity to take revenge on his evil uncle when a mysterious hoodoo man rolls into his Depression-era East Texas town. The juxtaposition of crime and horror echoes the great Robert Bloch.
"The Fat Man and the Elephant" – A skewering of religious zealots and racists. Funny but a little on the nose.
"The Night They Missed the Horror Show" -- Two redneck football players cruise around their small Texas town looking for entertainment on a Saturday night. The horror in this tale derives not from the supernatural but from the realistic twin demons of racism and perversion. I’ve read this story four times. Every time I encounter it, the frank real-world brutality shocks me. I also always laugh out loud at the gallows humor and then feel guilty about doing so. Won a Bram Stoker Award in 1988.
"The Big Blow"--Future African-American boxing champion Jack Johnson fights a challenger from Chicago on the night of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Funny, brutal, and moving. Note: this is the original novella that won a Bram Stoker Award in 1997, not the extended novel-length version published by Subterranean Press (the original version is better).
"Steppin’ Out, Summer ’68"--Three teenage boys go looking for girls on a Saturday night. Instead they find an angry father, a hungry alligator, and a murderous truck driver in this black comedy. Funny, brutal Southern Gothic.
"Blood and Lemonade" -- A young boy (not named in the story, but it's Hap Collins) learns about race relations in Texas in the 1950's. His mother tries to help a Black child who was abandoned by his cousin and beat up by local White kids. However, she underestimates how deep the animosity between Blacks and Whites can run. This story is a bit saccharine in places, but it really captures the attitudes and emotions of the author's parents' generation (my grandparents' generation). This story was the titular chapter of the mosaic novel Hap and Leonard: Blood and Lemonade.
"The Pit" -- A dark, funny, violent story of a small redneck town that captures strangers and pits them against each other in gladiator-style death matches.
"Wrestling Jesus" -- Marvin is having trouble with school bullies until a foul-mouthed elderly Mexican wrestler known as X-Man teaches him to defend himself. The two bond while X-Man prepares to fight his old enemy Jesus the Bomb, part of a lifelong feud over a beautiful but evil voodoo queen.
"The Sabine Was High" -- Hap and Leonard are reunited after a few years' absence. Leonard is returning from a tour in Vietnam. Hap is fresh out of prison for refusing to fight. Despite their political differences, they discover their experiences were similar. This is dark, character-driven noir.
"Driving to Geronimo's Grave" -- Chauncey and his plucky little sister drive from East Texas to Oklahoma to collect the dead body of their Uncle Smat. Set during the Great Depression, this story has all the hallmarks of Lansdale's historical fiction--redneck humor, double-crossing small time crooks, casual violence, and unerring belief in the power of family.
"By Bizarre Hands" -- A traveling preacher confronts a widow and her mentally disabled daughter. Disturbing but predictable. Improves on subsequent readings. There is a play version, as well, that I wish had been included in this volume.
April 14, 2024
Another collection of Lansdale's short fiction. This one generally focuses on stories with a bit of a historical setting. Which doesn't mean there isn't weird shit here...it's Lansdale. I'd already read all but a handful of the stories before, but with most of them it had been close to a decade since I'd read them. Short story collections are weird to try to review. Suffice to say I'm a huge fan of Lansdale's work and he's a master of pretty much every page-length. Read his work. It's worth it.
January 15, 2023
Another great read by one of my favorite authors.
September 14, 2023
Joe R. Lansdale writes about my “neck of the woods”. …towns like Overton and Tyler, beverages like Dr. pepper floats, and analogies about humidity and Brer Rabbit syrup. His tales are gritty. This is a long, entertaining collection. He creates crazy characters and scenarios that seem bizarre to us, but are not unrealistic for earlier times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 17, 2023
Perhaps Lansdale’s other short stories and novels are different, but I genuinely do not understand the hype. These stories were uninteresting, with blah characters and blah writing. Could not finish and not sure if I’d be willing to try another of his works. Thankful I got this ebook for free from Subterranean Press.
March 21, 2023
The final entry in this four part series of short stories. This is another winner with stories that fall more into western or historical in a way.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews