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by Joe R. Lansdale

Here are 16 unforgettable stories from Stoker Award-winner Joe R. Lasdale. Features such classics as "Dog, Cat, and Baby", where three creatures on all fours wage all-out war, and "The Job", featuring an unemployed Elvis impersonator--with a knife. Includes an introduction by the author.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Crime, Anthologies

207 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

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

[Jim Reddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of mostly early Joe R. Lansdale short stories plus one novella. While most of the stories are horror stories the last two are more crime noir. I enjoyed the heck out of it. The stories range from quiet horror to humorous to just plain dark.

I liked the variety of stories, the author’s introduction, and all the story introductions. In them he gives lots of interesting details about his influences and how the stories came about, without giving away any plot details.

Favorite stories:
The Dump
God of the Razor
Not From Detroit
The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance

Story List:

White Rabbit (4/5)

The Dump (5/5)
This one was adapted as an episode of Love, Death, & Robots.

God of the Razor (5/5)

Chompers (4/5)

The Fat Man (3/5)

Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland (2/5)
Too surreal for me.

On a Dark October (4/5)

My Dead Dog, Bobby (4/5)

Best Sellers Guaranteed (4/5)

Dog, Cat, and Baby (4/5)

The Shaggy House (3/5)

By the Hair of the Head (4/5)

Not From Detroit (5/5)

Pentecostal Punk Rock (3/5)

The Job (2.5/3)
Too dark and mean for me.

The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance (5/5)

[Lyle Boylen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great collection of Lansdale short stories.

[Andrew F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shocked I didn't review this when I finished reading it. While I prefer By Bizarre Hands, Joe's first collection of short stories, this one is much more eccentric and eclectic. I think most of it predates the stuff collected in the first book, more of a developing writer, but it is much more varied as a result.

My favourite stories are The Dump, The Job, Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland, the Bradburyesque The Shaggy House, On a Dark October and megabizarre Pentecoastal Punk Rock.

As with By Bizarre Hands, it also features a longer, novella story: "The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance". I'm not sure if Lansdale ever used these characters again, but I'd like to read it if he did.

[Judy Pancoast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joe Lansdale’s brain travels down roads most of us don’t even know exist. Traveling along with him is always a wild ride!!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a notebook that I had kept in the early nineties in which I listed all of the books I was reading and rated them (a pre-internet Goodreads, if you will). I gave this my highest rating, but I'm knocking a star off right now for the fact that I have absolutely no recollection of this book whatsoever. If I ever reread it, it may earn the star back.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short stories.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting collection of short stories (and one novella). Most were silly with twists at the end and were reminiscent of good episodes of the Twilight Zone. Some were just downright weird! All and all, it was a great read.