Showing results by author "Joe R. Lansdale" in All Categories

It's 1933 in East Texas and the Depression lingers in the air like a slow-moving storm. When a young Harry Collins and his little sister stumble across the body of a black woman who has been savagely mutilated and left to die in the bottoms of the Sabine River, their small town is instantly charged with tension. When a second body turns up, this time of a white woman, there is little Harry can do from stopping his Klan neighbors from lynching an innocent black man.

Deck the halls with boughs of zombies! In his original short story, Christmas with the Dead, acclaimed author Joe R. Lansdale delivers a holly-jolly horror story like no other. Meet Calvin, a man determined to bring the Christmas spirit back to his zombie-infested town, even if it means risking life and limb to hang up those Christmas lights. This festive compilation includes the original short story, the screenplay adaptation by Keith Lansdale that brought the nightmare to life on screen, and a foreword by the film's director T. L.

When Hap and Leonard are called in on a strange request (subduing a meth-hopped hog) by a desperate young lady, they quickly learn this woman is part of a fringe group: The Hatchet Girls, who have pledged their allegiance to a crazed and grudge-bearing leader bent on bloody societal revenge. The timing couldn't be worse to be caught in such a vile, sticky wicket of a case: both boys are wrapped up in their domestic lives: Leonard is in the midst of wedding planning with fiancee, Pookie.

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.

Sunset Jones has just killed her husband. Never mind that he was raping her. Pete Jones was constable of a small sawmill settlement called Camp Rapture where no woman refuses her husband. So everyone is angrily surprised when Sunset becomes the new constable and investigates murders in which her late husband might be implicated. Yet, no one is more surprised than Sunset when the murders lead her, not only to the conclusion of the case, but to a well of inner strength she never knew she had.

When scientist Chris West saw the video-screen image of a beautiful woman about to suffer a gruesome death in an unknown land, he didn’t hesitate to race to her aid by means of an experimental matter transmitter. Plunged headlong into a world of savage men and prehistoric beasts at the Earth’s core, the young ex-Marine would soon be fighting for his own life as a captive of the Mahars, cruel reptilian rulers of the inner world of Pellucidar.

Dead Aim marks the always welcome return of Joe R. Lansdale's most enduring fictional creations: Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. The story begins simply enough when the two agree to provide protection for a woman harassed by her violent, soon-to-be-ex-husband. But when a protracted stakeout ends in a lethal shooting and a pair of moldering corpses turn up in an otherwise deserted trailer, the nature of this "routine" assignment changes dramatically.

An anthology of 13 monster tales features writings by Jack Prelutsky, Jane Yolen, Patrick Bone, Joe R. Lansdale, and others. By the author of My Teacher Is an Alien.

This collection of 26 stories contains some of Joe R Lansdale's favourite and most violent dark horror tales. 'God of the Razor' introduces the dark god behind serial killers. A martial arts fight to the death between a reluctant champion and a sadistic alpha male, is featured in 'Master of Misery'. Human sacrifice, to ensure prosperity or as a coming-of-age ritual, are themes of 'On a Dark October' and 'Duck Hunt'. In 'The Fat Man', young boys learn the hard way that some mysteries should not be investigated. Many of the tales are truly weird, such as 'Chompers', the story of the false teeth with an appetite.

After a botched holdup, Bill, a not-too-bright bungler who has been living with his dead mother in order to collect her social security checks, hides out in a traveling freak show populated by a bizarre assortment of bearded ladies, hermaphrodites, dogmen, and a mysterious frozen man.

Booklist called them "two of the unlikeliest but most likable amateur detectives in crime fiction." The Chicago Tribune describes them as "colorful... lunatic... like a twister.". They're Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, and if you've been reading Joe R. Lansdale's Hap & Leonard novels like Mucho Mojo, The Two-Bear Mambo, and Rumble Tumble, then this is the treat you've been waiting for.

A little boy and girl disappear at Bible camp in the Big Thicket. An amateur sleuth discovers the true meaning of the phrase “dead end” in his pursuit of a Lovecraftian imp. A kitchen appliance becomes a portal to another dimension. A Nacogdoches jogger tries a hellish cure for his nicotine addiction. And, an aging, iconic monster confronts an existential quandary in West Texas.... These horrors - and more - await you in this, the fifth volume of Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers.

Cult writer Joe Lansdale reads this award-winning, famous, and controversial story of racism.

The endlessly inventive mind of Joe R. Lansdale whips up yet another batch of stories to amaze, surprise, and entertain you. His new offering covers a lot of territory, producing what may be his best short story collection yet. It's the usual wild and crowd-pleasing display of what has become a subgenre of modern literature as only Joe R. Lansdale can present it.

One death is only the beginning for Tom and his wife Kelly who witness a fast-driving car killing their innocent neighbor in the street. Tom describes the driver to the police, but there is something he didn't anticipate: The driver belongs to a powerful criminal gang in East Texas.

Harry Wilkes is plagued by visions - images of murdered bodies and violent assaults - that are triggered by everyday noises. The smallest noise can trigger a vision of violence from the past; it doesn't matter how long ago it took place. Since childhood he's fought to suppress these visions, and he has changed his habits in order to avoid the nightmares. But when he rescues a drunk from a bar fight, he makes a life-long friend who will help him learn how to use his strange ability to his advantage

When the Magic Wagon comes to town, folks get a genuine medicine show that includes a wrestling ape, fancy shooting, and a peek at the petrified body of Wild Bill Hickok himself. They also get bottles of a whiskey-laced elixir to drown their aches and pains. Old Albert drives the wagon, a raw-boned youngster named Buster Fogg does the odd jobs, and "champion" trick shooter and fast talker Billy Bob Daniels owns the show. Billy Bob claims to be the illegitimate son of Wild Bill himself.

Jane has lost her job at the laundry due to a ketchup package she forgot to remove from an expensive item, and her prospects look dim. To top off matters, her younger sister, who lives up north, and who Jane has problems with, is getting married and has mailed her an invitation that Jane believes was sent due to her sister not expecting her to be able to come.

The Tall Grass and Other Stories is a collection of my shorter fiction, many of them flash fiction. It borrows from The King and Other Stories, Unchained and Unhinged, and some never before collected.

John Shaw just wanted to go fishing and live off the land—now he is one of only a few survivors involved in a horrific crash between a locomotive and a flying saucer. Stranded in an unforgiving environment, desperate to survive, he and the remaining passengers must outrun and outsmart the alien life forms that are picking them off one by one.