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12/02/21-Want a signed copy of Born for Trouble? Murder by the Book can help you out. 11/25/21-When was the last time you checked in at the Champion Joe Threadless store? New designs and a Black Friday sale!
11/25/21-Once upon a time, East Texas crime-fiction was pretty much just Champion Joe, at least consistently. But it has grown. Check out "Behind the Pine Curtain: East Texas's Growing Influence on Crime Fiction," from Crime Reads! 11/18/21-Champion Joe says, "I haven't read all of Andy Rausch's books, but I've read several, and I like that he writes whatever he likes. He's got some damn good stuff. Riding Shotgun for one. I've read a few others, and am trying to catch up. But he's my To Be Discovered author I'm pushing right now." You can discover Andy Rausch here. 11/18/21-Champion Joe's got a poem for you -- 120 poems, in fact! But if you want a copy of Apache Witch and Other Poetic Observations, you'd best order now. As of two weeks ago, there were only 15 copies left!
11/11/21-Champion Joe will sign books, magazines, DVDs, napkins ... pretty much anything. But he won't sign Advance Reader Copies of his books. 11/11/21-"[Attack from the 80s] gathers 22 neon-soaked tales that hearken back to the days of Aqua Net and cheesy midnight slasher movies. 'Snapshot' by Joe R. Lansdale and Kasey Landsdale sees a pair of famous, road-tripping burglars stumble on a house containing things too grisly to steal." To read the rest of the Publishers Weekly review of this new anthology click here! 11/11/21-Champion Joe says, "You can check out the Lansdale collectors page here. These guys know more about my work than I do. Honored and impressed. Anyway, give it a look." 11/11/21-Judd Jesup moved to New Orleans to start a new life -- and a mysterious woman on a bicycle and a magic book seem as good a place as any to mark that starting point. Check out Bywater, the latest from Champion Joe's friend Tim Bryant! 10/28/21-Locus says Radiant Apples is "packed with the humor, viciousness, and heart readers have come to expect from Lansdale, one of the most talented and versatile writers working today." Publishers Weekly says it's a "droll, tough-minded yarn" that ends with a final showdown that is "breathtakingly gory." If that sounds like your jam, then you should also know that when you preorder Radiant Apples, not only do you get that book, featuring the return of Deadwood Dick in his true-life adventures told by Hisownself, but you also get In the Ditch, an exclusive ebook collection that features four (very) short stories about Leonard Pine. Pre-order your copy now! 10/21/21-"I’ve recommended The Bottoms to more people than any other book I’ve read. I haven’t had any people tell me they were disappointed. That’s got to be a good sign, right?" To read the rest of "Compiling the Ultimate Library with Simon Bewick," click here! 10/14/21-Cemetery Dance says Champion Joe's The Complete Drive-in is "one of his best." The A.V. Club says it's "a rocket-ship ride through the heart of darkness, full of junk-food thrills and doom, and not to be missed." And Nightworms.com says it's "like sucking on a Warhead with a razor blade in the middle. It’s sour, then it’s sweet, and the whole time it hides the power to cut you at a moment's notice. Even at the point when you can clearly see the razorblade, it's so delicious that you no longer care about the danger." So go get your razor-loaded Warhead here! (Or get it in audiobook format here!) 10/07/21-The summer has been dry and the river has been small. There are blackened bones projecting from the pile, for the wind has picked at the grave and the rain has eroded it, but for the most part, the grave has remained. It's "Crack of Dawn," and it's Champion Joe's contribution to Southwest Review! Enjoy! 09/16/21-"Back in the late eighties I wanted to write a novel that would be about crime and suspense, but I wanted to write about the sixties, the generation I grew up in as well. Like the fifties, most representations of the sixties and seventies are silly and have nothing to do with how it really was. By the time I was planning to write SAVAGE SEASON, the world had changed, but the echoes of the past were still there." To read the rest of Champion Joe's essay about the genesis of Hap and Leonard — and his tribute to Michael K. Williams — click here. 09/06/21-Champion Joe says, "A fantastic actor and a fascinating guy. Seeing Michael K. Williams on the set nearly everyday of the first season was something I looked forward to. He was funny, talented and unique. I’ll never forget he brought half of my best known duo to life. He told me playing Leonard was the hardest thing he had done, as Leonard had layers. So did Michael. He made it look easy. He’ll be missed." 09/09/21-Check out Keith Lansdale talking about the guy who stays behind the scenes, on "Dead Headspace!" 09/02/21-Congratulations to Champion Joe and Karen the Bear Lansdale, who just celebrated their 48th anniversary! 09/02/21-Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, character actor Vincent D’Onofrio, and our very own Champion Joe have teamed up for a “labor of love” that sounds like a whole mess of fun: a short sci-fi film based on Howard Waldrop’s 1987 short story "Night of the Cooters." Check it out! 09/02/21-Fansided offers their "10 reasons why Bubba Ho-Tep is a perfect film." 09/02/21-Champion Joe says, "Congrats to Howard Waldrop and Meghan Lindholm on receiving Lifetime Achievement awards from the World Fantasy committee." Read all about it! 08/26/21-Champion Joe says, "Happy Birthday to Ray Bradbury, a favorite of mine. Was fortunate enough to have a lunch with him, me, and my friend Lee Lankford. We listened to a lot of good stories between him and George Clayton Johnson, between bites of Mexican food. Fascinating day." 08/26/21-Champion Joe says, "I miss Bill Paxton. He was a good guy. I hate our intent to make The Bottoms into a film never happened, but I hate most that he's gone. This was nice."
08/12/21-If you're looking for the forthcoming Jebidiah Mercer limited-edition chapbook, The Hungry Snow, we only know one place to look. Death's Head Press is sold out, but you can find some copies at The Boss Light. Here's the sweet cover from Timothy Truman:
08/12/21-If you wanted to read the book that Kirkus called an "irresistible combination of relaxed badinage and playful threats that sometimes spiral into serious consequences while still remaining playful," but maybe don't have time to read it, let JD Jackson read it for you! Of Mice and Minestrone – Hap and Leonard: The Early Years is now available in audio format! All Hail the Popcorn King As Lived By Joe Lansdale Hisownself from Hansi Oppenheimer on Vimeo. 07/29/21-If you liked Moon Lake, please consider giving it a review on Goodreads or Amazon. If you didn't, please suggest it to your enemies. 07/22/21-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. It's Hot in December, by Champion Joe, now available in audio!
07/22/21-Champion Joe says, "Friend and legendary writer William F. Nolan has passed away. He was such a great guy and very inspirational. He was always supportive of my work and was in my corner. He had a long life and many great accomplishments. His book with George Clayton Johnson, Logan's Run, is likely the best known, but he did so much more." More information here.
07/15/21-"It’s a raunchy little yarn with plenty of heart. And while there’s little to no bloody violence on the page, it is certainly not a novel for the faint of heart. ... The Magic Wagon is a powerful meditation on the kinds of evils that fester in the human heart, especially in the hearts of men who don’t really accept who they are deep down. That is one of the more provocative ideas at play in this book, the faces people show the world and the ones they hide, the ones they keep only for themselves." To read the entire review from Considering Stories, click here, and to get your copy of The Magic Wagon, click here! 07/15/21-From now until July 25, you can save 10% on any Champion Joe T-shirts and trucker hats! So go get 'em!
07/15/21-He may piss a little slower, but all his parts are working and his brain is rolling on all its wheels — though from time to time they squeak and a dab of grease might be needed. It's the return of Deadwood Dick, in his true-life adventures told by Hisownself! Radiant Apples features the legend from Paradise Sky, now a middle-aged porter living in the time of Jim Crow. Pre-order your copy now!
07/08/21-Champion Joe says, "Thinking of my departed friends Judy and Bill Crider this morning, and of Bill's numerous books. My favorites have always been the Sheriff Rhodes books, and would love to see them as a TV series. Anyway, take a peek at this from GoodReads. And another author and friend who passed away some years back, and who should be remembered better, is Ardath Mayhar." 07/08/21-"The blood of East Texas flows through Joe’s veins and informs the narrative ... [In All Hail the Popcorn King,] you will find plenty to love without any unwanted fat." To read the rest of Horror DNA's review, click here. Or just go find that love by ordering the documentary! 07/08/21-"These days, the idea of a zombie apocalypse playing out is kind of old hat. Likewise, the idea of a zombie apocalypse playing out in a different time or location than Pittsburgh or New York City in contemporary times—movies and television alone have transported audiences to zombie apocalypses in Korea (2016’s Train to Busan), sword and sorcery Maori in New Zealand (e.g., The Dead Lands series, which kicked off in 2020), to shady clinics in eastern Europe (2019’s Yummy) among a couple of examples. Zombies are big business in films and fiction, these days. However, when it first hit the pages of Eldritch Tales magazine as a multi-part serial starting back in 1984, I suspect Joe R. Lansdale’s weird western zombie tale met with no small amount of glee or surprise." To read the rest from Considering Stories, click here!
07/01/21-Looking for a signed copy of Moon Lake? Check in with our friends at Poisoned Pen and The Boss Light!
07/01/21-You checked out the Netflix animated series because you heard they adapted a couple of Champion Joe's stories. Then you watched teh rest of the series because you dug what they did with Joe's Mojo. So now read the stories that inspired the rest of that first season. It's Love, Death + Robots: The Official Anthology: Volume One!
06/24/21-Champion Joe says, "Today is my daughter Kasey's birthday. Happy birthday, Kasey." 06/24/21-Craig Terlson wrote some very nice things about Champion Joe. You can read them here. Thanks, Craig! 06/24/21-"Somewhere in a recondite basement poorly lit by one dim, flickering bulb there is a sub rosa committee of crime readers crowding around an investigation board featuring a map of the world full-up with pushpins and other markers. Next to each indicator is a corresponding profile which all the readers know by heart. For instance, in South Florida there’s a fedora-wearing P.I. in a sweat-stained floral shirt investigating a body found in the Glades. In the Pacific Northwest a shadowy killer stands at the edge of a tree line, his figure blurred by the sheets of rain. And on the bustling streets of London a deductive detective knows the game is afoot. But in the thick pine forests of East Texas, a new subgenre is emerging, and tonight the readers are placing its pin." To read the rest of the CrimeRead's article "Behind the Pine Curtain: East Texas's Growing Influence on Crime Fiction," click here! 06/17/21-"He has tales to tell and opinions to offer and you’d better goddamn LISTEN!! We discuss blue collar youth, Texas attitude, and whether having some hardship in life makes you a better writer. He tells me how he comes up with his unique metaphors, and why he defended Stephen King when twitter turned against him." Lit Reactor's feature, Check out Champion Joe on the "Talking Scared" podcast! 06/17/21-Champion Joe will beat your face in with an actual alligator — one that knows karate. That's just one of the gems in Lit Reactor's feature, "Ten Famous Writers Reimagined as Professional Wrestlers." 06/03/21-Champion Joe reads the first chapter of Moon Lake to you: 05/27/21-"For me, having grown up in small towns, I know that underneath that bucolic calm there is sometimes a raging river." To read the rest of Champion Joe's introduction to Moon Lake on the Novel Suspects website, click here! 05/20/21-"I started reading comics in the fifties, and they are to this day the most important thing, along with parental encouragement, that led me to my career, and for that I am deeply grateful." To read the entire interview with Champion Joe from Monkeys Fighting Robots, click here!
05/13/21-Get your copy of "All Hail the Popcorn King" (and the mug and the bookmark and the pin and the necklace and the T-shirt) directly from Squee! 05/13/21-That time Kasey played with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys...
05/06/21-Want to see your name in the next Champion Joe novel? Join the Mojo mailing list to be automatically entered. Already on the list? You're already entered!
05/06/21-"The Tall Grass" was adapted for this season's "Love Death + Robots," the Emmy Award-winning animated adult anthology. It's set to return to Netflix with Volume II on May 14th. Watch the trailer and read more about it here! And then check out the stories in Mashable and Animation Magazine! 04/15/21-My Urby says, "Joe. R. Lansdale è il compagno di viaggio perfetto." If that makes sense to you, click here to read the rest of the article!
04/08/21-Jerry Sterns adapts Champion Joe's "God of the Razor" to audio for Campfire Radio Theater! Give a listen and enjoy! Joe R. Lansdale on Austin Liti Limits from Larry Brill on Vimeo.
03/18/21-"It’s a place where a handshake still seals a deal and your word is your bond, and the idea of doing any different would bring real shame to you and your family. You grow up with a sense of honor and pride because in many cases, it’s all you have." To read the rest of Kasey Lansdale's interview with Shoutout LA, click here! 03/11/21-Champion Joe says, "You work hard to write the book. Then you want people to find it and hopefully pre-order it. Not only that, you want them to do so in a way that supports local bookshops and local communities. This might be another option for those of you looking beyond the local Amazon listing. It's been a tough year for everyone, but if you're able, I think this one might just be worth it. 03/04/21-"We meet [Hap & Leonard] in Joe R. Lansdale’s Savage Season, a book chock full of memorable characters, sharp dialogue, and dark suspense. But it’s Leonard Pine who stands out as something special, a gay protagonist in the mystery genre who breaks every stereotype in the book." To read all of "One Author's Top 10 Queer Protagonists in Crime Fiction," click here! 03/04/21-If you've got a Kindle, now's the time to load it up with affordable ebooks from Champion Joe! 03/04/21-In a career spanning nearly four decades, Bill Crider published more than sixty novels, and those novels spanned a multitude of genres: crime-fiction, western, horror, men’s adventure, YA, you name it. In the collection Bullets and Other Hurting Things, 20 of today’s best and brightest authors, all friends and fans of Bill’s, come together with original stories to pay tribute to his memory. Besides our own Champion Joe and Kasey Lansdale, you'll also find stories by William Kent Krueger, Bill Pronzini, Patricia Abbott, Ben Boulden, Michael Bracken, Jen Conley, Brendan DuBois, Charlaine Harris, David Housewright, Angela Crider Neary, James Reasoner, James Sallis, Terry Shames, S. A. Solomon, Sara Paretsky, Robert J. Randisi, SJ Rozan, and Eryk Pruitt. If you already love Bill's work, you'll love these tributes. Not familiar with Bill? Read Bullets and Other Hurting Things, and then go find his own work. You'll be glad you did. 02/25/21-"If Texas writer Joe R. Lansdale had been born on a fantasy world, he might be a cross between a lion and a chameleon. His work is full of fierce nobility, and resists being caged. His work changes colors and blends easily into a variety of backgrounds. Joe Lansdale has written horror, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, suspense, westerns, 'men's adventure,' and just about every other kind of writing you can think of. Joe has done it all, and he keeps on getting better. He won a Bram Stoker award for 'The Night They Missed the Horror Show,' his novel The Drive-in — nominated for a World Fantasy Award — is like a ride on a runaway Tilt-a-Whirl, and his 'Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back' is probably one of the finest pieces of writing I've ever had the pleasure to read. Just when you think you've got Joe pegged in a particular category, he goes chameleon again. His The Magic Wagon is a bonafide western, complete with a gunfighter and a wrestling monkey. Well, you can't say — you dare not say — Joe isn't an original talent. He knows one of those Oriental killing techniques that I can't pronounce, and he used to hire himself out as a personal bodyguard when he lived in San Francisco and had hair down to his butt." To read the rest of Robert McCammon's 1989 interview with Champion Joe, click here!! 02/25/21-"If Texas writer Joe R. Lansdale had been born on a fantasy world, he might be a cross between a lion and a chameleon. His work is full of fierce nobility, and resists being caged. His work changes colors and blends easily into a variety of backgrounds. Joe Lansdale has written horror, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, suspense, westerns, 'men's adventure,' and just about every other kind of writing you can think of. Joe has done it all, and he keeps on getting better. He won a Bram Stoker award for 'The Night They Missed the Horror Show,' his novel The Drive-in — nominated for a World Fantasy Award — is like a ride on a runaway Tilt-a-Whirl, and his 'Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back' is probably one of the finest pieces of writing I've ever had the pleasure to read. Just when you think you've got Joe pegged in a particular category, he goes chameleon again. His The Magic Wagon is a bonafide western, complete with a gunfighter and a wrestling monkey. Well, you can't say — you dare not say — Joe isn't an original talent. He knows one of those Oriental killing techniques that I can't pronounce, and he used to hire himself out as a personal bodyguard when he lived in San Francisco and had hair down to his butt." To read the rest of Robert McCammon's 1989 interview with Champion Joe, click here!! 02/14/21-Forty-eight years ago, Karen and Joe went on a date....
02/18/21-We like monsters! If you like monsters, you'll love Pete Von Sholly's History of Monsters, coming out in April! 02/11/21-"Nobody writes like Joe Lansdale, because Lansdale writes like everybody he knows is dead." With that cold start, how could you not want to read "Author Joe Lansdale Explains Why East Texas Will Always Be Home," by Wes Ferguson for Texas Highways? (And while you're there, maybe check out Champion Joe and Grand Master Nicky on the "Extraordinary Texans – 2016" list!) 02/04/21-Jed bought a copy of The Drive-In from a secondhand shop in South London for 30p when he was a kid. He knew nothing about it save for the fact it had a monster/comet thing bursting out of a cinema screen. He figured if the book was even half as good as the cover, he’d invested wisely. Little did Jed know that this book would be one of the most influential books in his life.... Listen to Jed and Champion Joe on "Jed Talks!" 02/04/21-Neal Barrett, Jr. Neal Barrett, Jr. was an American author from Texas who straddled genres and decades. A finalist for or recipient of major awards, including the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Award, he was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. He was also admired as an author of mystery fiction, literary fiction, and comic books. He is one of Champion Joe's favorite writers. Learn more about him here! 01/28/21-Keith Lansdale talks about his film, The Pale Door, on the podcast The Horror Returns. Check it out!
01/28/21-Dot waitresses on roller skates at the Dairy Bob, doesn’t care for smoking, at least partly on account of her dad having never returned from a cigarette run, and carries on the family tradition of philosophizing. Life hasn’t done her any favors in her seventeen years so far. But if there was ever a heroine built for turning things upside down and seeing what shakes out, it's Dot. Determined to find out who she is and why she’s the way she is, an opportunity presents itself when her heretofore-unknown uncle suddenly moves his camper into the front yard. It's Fender Lizards, Champion Joe's coming-of-age classic, available in audio, as performed by Kasey Lansdale! Check it out! 01/28/21-Lord of the Razor by artist Alex McVey. Very cool.
01/21/21-New York Times Book Review describes The Bottoms as "Wondrous...dark enchantment." The Denver Post says it's "Terrific suspense...equal parts morality tale and page-turning thriller." Bookreporter adds, "Lansdale creates many colorful and vivid characters. . . . The Bottoms tells a great yarn of a vanished place and time." And The Austin Chronicle calls it "powerful, punchy work ... Lansdale works the race angle like an old man tongueing that final, dangling tooth again and again. Each time he pokes it a little harder until that final rush of coppery crimson erupts." To read what everybody is talking about, get your copy here! 01/21/21-"Not wishing back the past. Not exactly. But there are elements of the past I do miss. There are times when I like the idea of settling your own hash—without gunfire. Sometimes the other guy has it coming." To read all of Champion Joe's essay "Dog-gone Justice," click here. 01/14/21-"This time was not that long ago—the early ‘60s—and it was all part of the Jim Crow South, what I’ve heard some as recently as last week refer to as the good old days. It wasn’t all that good if your skin was dark." To read all of Champion Joe's essay "The Last Minstrel Show," click here. 01/14/21-"Witches in the Wild West? Sign me up, pardner." That's what Daily Dead says about The Pale Door, a film co-written by Keith Lansdale. Check it out! 01/14/21-"Some say that deep in the East Texas woods, where the muddy Sabine River flows, there dwells a creature called the Goat Man. This furry, hoofed denizen of the dark woods lives under a swinging bridge, where he sates his taste for human flesh on unsuspecting passersby." To read all of Champion Joe's essay "A Fresh and New Gladewater Emerges from Its Honky Tonk Past," click here! 01/07/21-You'll want to listen to the audiobook adaptation of The Drive-in, so you're ready when the adaptation of the sequel, being recorded now, is released! 01/07/21-"There are plenty of good people in East Texas (saw one yesterday), but if you’re a writer of crime fiction, which I am at least some of the time, you’re not looking for good people. You’re looking for weirdos, criminals, malcontents and the just plain stupid. That’s your meat if you write crime." You can read the rest of Champion Joe's essay "Darkness in the East" by clicking here! 12/31/20-"[T]o be the kind of writer you want to be, you have to write for you. Write like everyone you know is dead, so that you don't worry about what others think. It's about what you think. If you write for yourself, at least in my personal experience, you do better. Writing for yourself doesn't mean it's good, but with time you are more likely to arrive at the place you want to go, where the material is good." For more writing tips from Champion Joe, click here! 12/24/20-Champion Joe says "Interesting part about "The Battery Powered Christmas" is my brother had the same experience, and he's seventeen years older than me. That speaks to poverty, but it speaks more to good humans. Check it out! 12/17/20-"Fall squirrel season in East Texas is when normally sensible human beings dream of tall oaks and falling rodents. Many nimrods, as soon as they are off work, grab their guns and head to the thicket. On weekends, they are as thick in the woods as mosquitoes, though more deadly, as a mess of them are drunk. The fuel of choice for hunters everywhere seems to be fermented and brewed hops that, if taken in large enough quantities, can make bird-watchers or campers resemble their prey. It is best during this time of year to abandon outdoor activities and wear a red cap in the house. That’s what the squirrels would do if they had a choice." To read all of Champion Joe's 2010 essay "Blood Sport," click here!
12/17/20-Eyes gettng tired? Click here to listen to Champion Joe! 12/17/20-"Sundance’s Hap & Leonard currently holds the title as TV’s most whimsical crime drama, never too busy for a strange interlude, a surreal side adventure, or a seemingly irrelevant but charming conversation that turns out to reveal something essential about its engaging title characters, the odd couple played by James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams. Set in 1980s East Texas and based on the novels of Joe Lansdale, Hap & Leonard is a damn fun hour week to week. The new season, based on The Two-Bear Mambo, finds Hap and Leonard heading to a racist plantation backwater in search of their disappeared friend and lawyer, Florida. By all means, start with season 1, but you’re also fine to jump in on season 3." That's from a 2018 Crime Reads article. Click here to read the rest! 12/17/20-"To endure page after page of never-ending pain and sorrow and to culminate in the same morass of tragedy would only be nihilism, and the best books don’t end like that." To read Les Edgerton's essay "We Need More Dark Stories with Hopeful Endings," click here. 12/17/20-A young Champion Joe (back in 1991, when he was just a contender), Stephen Gallagher, and John Farris (performed by Karen Lansdale) celebrating their inclusion in Night Visions 8:
12/10/20-Kasey's mug sipping out of a Hap Collins mug:
11/19/20-Champion Joe & Killer Kasey's new Dana & Jana story is coming out in this very cool new anthology: In League with Sherlock Holmes! 11/12/20-"Fantastic funny fast read," says Jeff Terry. "What a great ride," says Mike Hughes. Jeremy Baker says it's, "a wild, weird, darkly comic, gory, occasionally terrifying, and consistently entertaining romp through the world of the occult, chicken restaurants, and Biblical theme parks." Bradd Parton calls it, "a quick, quirky, and fun read." Luke Anisimoff likens it to a "grease-soiled Kafka fever dream." It's Big Lizard, and you can read all those reviews and more at goodreads, then go get your own copy here! 10/29/20-One of the episodes of "Batman: The Animated Series" written by Champion Joe:
10/29/20-"Joe R. Lansdale is one of the best writers of horror/western hybrids. So I took it as a good omen to see that he was 'presenting' The Pale Door. Another good omen was the talent involved, director Aaron B. Koontz (Scare Package, Camera Obscura) and co-written by Koontz's frequent collaborator Cameron Burns and Joe’s son Keith Lansdale (Creepshow, Christmas With the Dead). And a plot the pits the Dalton Gang against a coven of witches in a ghost town brothel certainly sounded like fun." To read Voices From the Balcony's entire review of The Pale Door, click here! 10/29/20-The Lansdale Vault has gone digital! Check it out:
10/15/20-Filmmaker and author Mick Garris, best known for his Stephen King adaptations and creating the "Masters Of Horror" television series, hosts the podcast Post Mortem. The podcast is a deep dive into the devious minds of the greatest filmmakers and creators of your worst nightmares. But we think it's a dream that he got Champion Joe together with Don Coscarelli on the 15th anniversary of the release of the Bubba Ho-Tep film adaptation to reflect on the cult classic. Listen here! 10/08/20-Champion Joe says, "Weird Dream last night. Dreamed Charlton Comics had been revived and I was writing Billy the Kid and Judo Master, and did a crossover. I should have skipped that avocado before bedtime." Meantime, the staff here at The Orbit is putting together a fund to buy Champion Joe more avocados and to start a letter-writing campaign to DC Comics, who now owns the Charlton characters. You with us? 10/01/20-"Write like everyone you know is dead. To hell with everyone else's opinion when you write." This and more advice from Champion Joe in the new issue of The Horrorzine!
09/24/20-Ever wonder how a liberal redneck and a conservative gay Black man formed one of crime fiction's most enduring odd couples? Check out "The Evolution of Joe Lansdale's Hap and Leonard," published September 18, 2020, by Crime Reads! 09/24/20-Libri and Cultura says, "È un viaggio incredibile che, tra furgoncini per il bestiame, un'auto rubata e una decappottabile, segnerà l'inizio di un'amicizia unica. In un divertissement ironico e irriverente con due protagoniste strampalate e sopra le righe, Joe Lansdale dimostra ancora una volta il suo insuperabile 'black humour.'" If you understand that, you'll understand it's time to grab the Italian edition of Jane Goes North! 09/17/20-Champion Joe thinks you should check out Silver Scream, edited by David J. Schow. "My favorite horror anthology of the 80s, and one of my favorite anthologies of all time." 09/10/20-Halloween is coming. Do you have enough terror in your life? Stock up here! 09/10/20-Champion Joe says, "My buddy Stephen Graham Jones's book, The Only Good Indians, you need it." The Florida Times-Union agrees, saying, "The twists this novel takes will keep you hooked right up until the final ending you will not see coming. As if life today is not scary enough, perhaps diving deeply into Indian lore will take you away from your current fears. A great read is waiting for you here." You can get your copy here.
09/03/20-The third of four collections of Champion Joe's stories from SST, Wet Juju is already nearly sold out. If you want to get in on this signed-and-numbered, limited-edition collection of more than three dozen slices of Mojo fiction, best act now! 09/03/20-Champion Joe talks about classic movies, with a focus on the original Cat People, with Seth Bear on Scream Addicts. Check it out! (And when you're done with that, jump back four years to the earlier conversation he had with Seth talking about The Haunting! 09/03/20-We've said it before, but it's worth repeating here: Champion Joe no longer reads manuscripts. He'll try and read ARCs when he can, but no promises there, either. The first is due to legal reasons, the latter is due to time. So, now you know. 09/03/20-Publishers Weekly says The Best of Joe R. Lansdale is, "a great introduction to the raunchy, cheerfully unclassifiable East Texan bon vivant." The Guardian says, "Let this volume introduce you to his uncensored, unfiltered world. He is a writer deserving of a wide and appreciative audience." And Hellnotes says, "this book is amazing, get it, get it right now. No, don’t wait to get it tomorrow." To get your copy — which includes five Bram Stoker Award-winning stories -- click here! 09/03/20-"It’s incredibly silly, incredibly violent and it’s easy to imagine this tale playing out in the form of an Adult Swim animated series." That's how Midnight Shift describes Big Lizard. Damaged Skull adds that it's "a five-star reading experience that offers relief from the real life horrors that the world is facing right now!" So go get your silly, violent, five-star Adult Swim distraction here! 08/27/20-His Futile Preoccupations... says More Better Deals is "something special. A simple debt collection launches our narrator into hell — he may think he’s landing a sweet deal, but in this tale of greed, lust and murder, just who is screwing who is up for grabs." Shelf Awareness adds that it's "packed with a tightly twisted plot reeking of smoke, alcohol, steamy sheets and blood. ... Readers may need a cigarette afterward." Check it out! 08/20/20-Champion Joe says, "Jay Russell — who knows a thing about story — reviews several short stories of the kick-ass variety. I'm glad to be on the list." Read that list here! 08/20/20-Episode 4 of "Creepshow" was adapted from "The Companion," the story that Champion Joe wrote with his kids, Keith and Kasey. You can watch it now on Shudder Channel and ... you can keep yourself up at night terrified by the Funko POP vinyl of the Scarecrow from that episode! How cool is that? Here's Keith with his nightmare0inducing toy:
08/13/20-The trophy goes to Book People both for being one of the greatest independent book stories in the USA and also for writing what might be our favorite pull-quote about More Better Deals: "It’s not every author who can make you feel for a man who is both a killer and a used car salesman." 08/13/20-Speaking of More Better Deals, here's what The New York Times had to say: "When funky books need to be written, Joe R. Lansdale writes them. He comes through again with More Better Deals. The plot is pure James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, but steeped in hillbilly noir. Ed Edwards is a crack salesman and repo man who works at Smiling Dave’s used-car lot. He knows he looks like a used-car salesman. But his aspiration is to look like a guy who owns a Cadillac, so he lets his lover talk him into killing her husband. Like Cain’s illicit lovers, Ed and Nancy (a pretty woman with 'alligator' eyes) hatch a plot to murder the husband and collect his insurance money. The plan is promising, but the real fun is in plot details like the High-Tone Drive-In, an outdoor movie theater with an attached pet cemetery that figures in the story and nicely captures Lansdale’s slightly depraved wit." 08/13/20-Speaking even more of More Better Deals, here's what Dave Writes and Draws says: "The characters in More Better Deals for the most part ... [are] all at least a little bit mean, if not downright evil, and they give in to their baser instincts without much arm twisting. They’re good looking, even charming, but the beauty and charm are hiding an ugly darkness, and a bald cynicism. When things go bad, and they damn sure do, every single character decides to go along for the ride." 08/13/20-Marc says, "This book is not going to win any Pulitzer prizes. It's way too much fun for that. This is probably the funniest book I've read all year. There's no real poetry to the writing, but who needs poetry when you've got an 8 foot chicken on a killing spree?" He's talking about Big Lizard, and you should listen to Marc. Has Marc ever lied to you? 08/06/20-If you happen to find yourself in Nacogdoches — the natural habitat of Champion Mojo Storytellers — stop in at The Boss Light bookstore and tell Tim Bryant we sent you. 08/06/20-Need some light in the darkness? Some laughs and a good time? Check out Big Lizard, by Champion Joe and his son, Keith. Jeremy Baker calls it, "a wild, weird, darkly comic, gory, occasionally terrifying, and consistently entertaining romp through the world of the occult chicken restaurants and Biblical theme parks." And Dave describes it as "balls-to-the-wall, gonzo storytelling." Now, how could you not want to read that? 08/06/20-Need some darkness in dark times? Blood, Guts and Story says, "More Better Deals is a dark, dark book. Lansdale drags you down into the shallow grave of a story and smothers you slowly, but you go there willingly. If you want a fantastic read, look no further. If you want sunshine and rainbow farts, you might want to move along. This one crackles, is hard to put down, and as the momentum builds towards its ultimate noir conclusion, you’ll find yourself white-knuckling the last seventy pages or so." Check it out! 08/06/20-What's it feel like to be in a Sam Shepard/Don Johnson sandwich? Here's the inside story: 08/06/20-And Wacko Jacko's Essential Viewing adds, "A thoroughly entertaining, thought-provoking, funny, sad and chilling experience, Cold In July has become unforgivably ignored since its 2014 release, and that’s something that needs to be rectified. If you enjoy old-school storytelling, 80s media, mystery, neo-noir or simply just great filmmaking, director Jim Mickle created a true gem here that is unequivocally deserving of your attention. Make this your watch for tonight." Outside the Gates of Eden. In case you need another endorsement, George R. R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones, says it's "a powerful piece of work. Shiner writes about music, and the making of music, better than anyone I know. He gets across the tremendous excitement of the early days of rock and roll, the peace movement, Woodstock and the Summer of Love—but also the heartbreak of failure, betrayal, and loss. The prose is terrific, and the sense of time and place is first rate. A brilliant requiem for our generation and all our dreams." 08/06/20-Did you know "Hap & Leonard" is one of the 28 best crime shows on Netflix? Well, Paste says so! 08/06/20-"Joe Lansdale is an exceptional writer. One of the reasons why he stands out among his peers is that he refuses to be pigeonholed into a genre. His ability to write about a multitude of subjects is why he has such a supportive and hardcore fan base spanning generations. Documentarian filmmaker Hansi Oppenheimer is working on a new project which is a tribute to the iconic scribe entitled, All Hail the Popcorn King." To get the whole story from 1428 Elm, click here!
07/16/20-Ed Edwards is in the used car business — a business built on adjusted odometers, extra-fine print, and the belief that "buyers better beware." Burdened by an aging, alcoholic mother constantly on his case to do something worthier of his lighter skin tone and dreaming of a brighter future for himself and his plucky little sister, Ed is ready to get out of the game. More Better Deals is Champion Joe's latest, due out next week from Mulholland Books!
07/16/20-If there’s one thing Hap Collins and Leonard Pine like, it’s trouble — and they especially like getting paid to find it. So when their friend and sometime boss Marvin Harmon asks the boys to look into a cold-case double homicide, they’re happy to oblige. It's Devil Red, at long last available in audiobook. 07/16/20-"Choose a night when you are rested and satisfied. It wouldn’t hurt if there is a rain storm. Not enough to blow the lights out, but enough to make the wind howl and the rain clatter against the roof. Sit by a window if you can, a single lamp illuminating your reading space. And if there happens to be a roll of thunder that shakes the window panes, a stitch of lightning that strobes your reading space, all the better. A blanket over your knees would be nice. A big cup of hot chocolate at your elbow would help the mood, the steam from it rising out of the cup in a fast-fading cloud." These are the conditions under which Champion Joe suggests you read Joel Townsley Rogers' The Red Right Hand. 07/16/20-They had come from a Halloween party, having long shed the masks they’d worn. No one but Harold had been drinking, and he wasn’t driving, and he wasn’t so drunk he was blind. Just drunk enough he couldn’t sit up straight and was lying on the back seat, trying, for some unknown reason, to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, which he didn’t accurately recall. It's "The Folding Man," and it's NOT the Totally Free Mojo Story of the Week, but a bonus Totally Free Mojo Story from Nightmare! Enjoy! 07/09/20-Jeff Terry on GoodReads says, "now I want to buy into the Pick-a-Chicken franchise. Or at least get one of those chicken hats." He's referring to Big Lizard, and you will, too, once you've read it. 07/09/20-Jon Levesque on GoodReads says "More Better Deals is a classic crime noir mixing elements of 'Double Indemnity,' 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' and a touch of 'The Big Sleep' wrapped in Lansdale’s humorous banter that weaves throughout the story. ... More Better Deals delivers the goods." 07/09/20-Alexandra on BookBlurb says The Thicket is "wickedly smart, funny, vulgar, violent, philosophical and yes, even at time, a little whimsical." To get your copy, click here! 07/02/20-"Joe Lansdale is simply a phenomenal storyteller. When I first picked up The Bottoms, I was expecting a Hap & Leonard tale. But what I got was part mystery, part horror, and part coming-of-age tale all wrapped up in a beautiful homage to Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird." To read the rest of Adam Wagner's recent revisitation of Champion Joe's 2001 Edgar Award-winner, head to Criminal Element. 06/25/20-It's Kasey Lansdale's birthday! But here she is giving us a present: 06/25/20-Champion Joe says, "Neal Barrett, Jr. Readers & Collectors is a forum for discussing the works of one of my favorite writers and dearest friends, now gone but not forgotten. Check it out. 06/25/20-If you've ever heard Champion Joe speak, you no doubt said you could listen to him forever. Now's your chance to test that theory! Check out this podcast from This Is Horror, in which Champion Joe talks about Hap and Leonard, growing up in East Texas, and Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers, among other things. 06/18/20-Buster Nix was fat, frustrated, and working overnight security for Pick-A-Chicken restaurants. One night, while checking a storage facility, Buster stumbles on a supernatural ritual, accidently upsetting a flaming brazier. He not only destroys the ceremony, but sets his employer on fire with the literal flames of Hell. The fire doesn’t do Buster any good either. Unless you consider it good to be able to transform into a Big Lizard! It's a new novel from Champion Joe and Keith Lansdale, shipping September 30 from the UK's SST! In the USA? Order from Subterranean Press! 06/18/20-BookReporter says, "I am not kidding when I tell people that I would happily read Lansdale’s grocery shopping list if given the opportunity. I sort of get that chance in Of Mice and Minestrone. As a bit of lagniappe, the collection includes 'Good Eats,' a section devoted to recipes (provided by his daughter, Kasey Lansdale) for the mouthwatering vittles that Hap and Leonard chow down on with regularity when they are not otherwise compelled by circumstance to kick ass and take names." Of Mice and Minestrone – Hap and Leonard: The Early Years is on sale now! 06/18/20-How are you celebrating Fathers Day this Sunday? Kasey Lansdale is celebrating by reading one of her father's short stories on the interwebs! Check it out! 06/18/20-Check out this cool article, "Destination Moon," by Champion Joe's friend Al Jackson! 06/11/20-Champion Joe says, "Michael K. Williams dropped this op-ed. It's well thought-out and worth musing over." Read it on the website of the New York Daily News. 06/11/20-It'll drive up this July -- reserve yours now! 06/11/20-Champion Joe says, "June 5, the anniversary of D-Day, is probably the most important moment in World History, at least from the standpoint of what we call Modern Times, certainly of the twentieth-century." Here are the Ten Things You Need To Know about D-Day. 06/11/20-"Ironic, isn’t it, that the drive-in saves the day." Read the whole story -- about drive-ins in the USA, "video nasties" in the UK, and Champion Joe's The Drive-In trilogy at Headpress.com. 06/11/20-I had gotten a phone call from Leonard a few days before he was to be mustered out, and he told me where he would be coming in, told me he wanted me to pick himup at the bus station in Tyler. From there, he wanted to go camping and fishing.It's "The Sabine Was High," and it's the Added-Bonus, Totally Free Mojo Story of the Week! Enjoy! 06/04/20-Champion Joe says, "Essential Texas books list. I'm proud to be on it. I think I would have picked The Bottoms or Edge of Dark Water, but it's wonderful for any book to be on it, and again, any book of mine on this list would have made me happy." "The 30 most essential books about Texas," from The Houston Chronicle.
06/04/20-Hap Collins looks just like a good ol’ boy. But from his misspent youth on, his best compatriot has been Leonard Pine, who is black, gay, and the ultimate outsider. Inseparable friends, Hap and Leonard climb into the boxing ring, get in bar fights, and just go fishing—all the while confronting racists, righting wrongs, and eating a whole lot of delicious food. Of Mice and Minestrone is a brand-new Hap & Leonard collection chock full of Champion Joe’s inimitable blend of humor, mayhem, and insight, featuring never-before-seen stories of the boys in their youth, a selection of their recipes from Kasey Lansdale, and an introduction from New York Times bestselling crime author Kathleen Kent. Get your copy here! Or ... to get a signed copy, email Dark Delicacies!
06/04/20-From TV Guide, here's "10 Shows Like Justified That You Should Watch If You Like Justified." Can you guess what's on it? 06/04/20-Since the TV series based on Hap and Leonard has been on a lot of best lists lately, retrospectives, that sort of thing, here is an interview with George R. R. Martin. He showed the first episode of the series every year at his theater in Santa Fe. It was always fun and a rare chance for George and I too see one another. Anyway, it might be fun for you: 05/28/20-"I don’t slice and dice what I’m doing. But my subconscious does. All things come from the subconscious. If you learn to let the subconscious rule, it will answer your questions 98% of the time." To read the rest of Mike Harvkey's profile of Champion in Publishers Weekly, click here! 05/28/20-When we opened the Lansdale Vault this time, we found a bundle of Kasey Lansdale! For $30, you get The Seven Deadliest anthology, which includes her story "Cap Diamant"; her Restless CD, and her Postpartum short film. Contact Kasey to reserve your treasure! 05/28/20-Champion Joe says, "Love Bobby Rivers' comments on film, so it's nice to see this wonderful article about binge-watching HAP AND LEONARD, the TV show based on my characters and novels." Check it out!
05/21/20-From The New York Journal of Books: "[The Sky Done Ripped] is somewhat like a dream: Great fun while it’s happening, but difficult to explain upon awakening. At the time, it makes complete sense, but when you’re staring at the light of day? Not so easy to articulate. Nevertheless, it’s an enjoyable experience while it lasts. So enjoyable in fact, that there’s hope Ned the Seal won’t stop at three adventures." The Sky Done Ripped is on sale now! 05/14/20-Champion Joe says, "I've chosen today to highlight Blood and Lemonade, a collection of short stories that could be considered a kind of mosaic novel, though that might be stretching it a bit. It's one of my favorite of the Hap and Leonard books, along with the forthcoming Of Mice and Minestrone. I think these give a side to the boys that explains a lot about who they are." 05/14/20-Speaking of Blood and Lemonade, it's Tachyon Publishing's 25th anniversary year and to celebrate they are giving away free ebooks every month! May's book is Blood and Lemonade. To get your ebook: Sign up for Tachyon's newsletter on their homepage. Download links will go out the last Wednesday of the month (that's May 27th) and last 48 hours, so be sure to open it right away. 05/14/20-This headline says it all: "Brace yourselves for the return of the drive-in movie theater." Thanks, Brian Woodman, for sharing. 05/14/20-Love some Hap & Leonard? Show that love by joining The Hap & Leonard Fan Page. 05/14/20-You collect a lot of Champion Joe's books? Join the Joe R. Lansdale Collecting group. 05/14/20-Friday night at the Orbit Drive-in: a circus of noise, sex, teenage hormones, B-movie blood, and popcorn. On a cool, crisp summer night, with the Texas stars shining down like rattlesnake eyes, movie-goers for the All-Night Horror Show are trapped in the drive-in by a demonic-looking comet. Then the fun begins. If the movie-goers try to leave, their bodies dissolve into goo. Cowboys are reduced to tears. Lovers quarrel. Bikini-clad women let their stomachs’ sag, having lost the ambition to hold them in. The world outside the six monstrous screens fades to black while the movie-goers spiral into base humanity, resorting to fighting, murdering, crucifying, and cannibalizing to survive. Part dark comedy part horror show, Lansdale's cult Drive-In books are as shocking and entertaining today as they were when they debuted in the '80s and '90s. Get all three books in The Complete Drive-In, out now in paperback! 05/14/20-Publishers Weekly says, "Fans of Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard crime novels won’t want to miss this one." And by "this one," they mean Jane Goes North! 05/07/20-"I will certainly be adding more Lansdale to my to-read pile after watching All Hail the Popcorn King, and I might even try to find some greasy popcorn to eat while reading." You can read the full review from Grim Dark Magazine here ... then get your copy of All Hail the Popcorn King here!
05/07/20-Did you miss Kasey Lansdale and the Oceanaires live on the YouTube channel of Monument Productions? Well ... they didn't mean for that to happen, so they archived it for you!
05/07/20-Champion Joe says, "Hoodoo Harry is a Hap and Leonard adventure involving a bookmobile, which was the first library I remember when I was growing up. If you haven't read this novelette, here's your chance. It's an uncollected story about the boys."
05/07/20-From the dusty Great Depression to the far future to the Wild West to the era of big-fin automobiles, soda shops, and double features, as well as dark journey on an icy ocean full of ravenous sharks and a fantastic shipwreck that leads its survivors into a nightmarish Lovecraftian world of monsters and mystery, Joe R. Lansdale returns with a pack of stories for your consumption and enjoyment. Check out Driving to Geronimo's Grave and Other Stories in audio!! 05/07/20-Champion Joe says, "I served as one of the producers on this film, The Pale Door, and my son Keith was a script co-writer. It's a weird Western and has an excellent cast, including my buddy Bill Sage, a fine actor who appeared in the first season of 'Hap & Leonard.'" 04/30/20-Champion Joe says, "I recently wrote a very short story in third person but from Leonard Pine's point of view, and it's a solo event without Hap when Leonard is young enough his Uncle Chester is still alive. Subterranean Press will be publishing it, I think in their newsletter. Thing about it, it has kicked off the urge to write an entire book of stories in third person, as this one is, and for them all to be about Leonard's experiences, or mostly. I'm sure Hap will show up as well. My plan is over time to put this together as another book of short stories about their early lives. In a couple years I hope to return to them again with a new novel. Anyway, thought I'd throw that out there and let readers know. Stay strong." Meantime, you can celebrate Leonard's birthday, April 28! 04/30/20-Champion Joe says, "One of my brother Andrew Vachss' most unusual books. Carbon. Check it out." 04/30/20-While on the subject of Champion Joe's brother Andrew Vachss, here are two audiobook projects on which they've collaborated: "Veil's Visit" is a story co-written by Champion Joe and Andrew, featuring Hap & Leonard, and it's available here as an audiobook, peformed by Joe. Another audiobook performance by Champion Joe is this adaptation of Andrew's Another Chance to Get it Right. Check them out! 04/30/20-"No one mixes the outrageous with depth of heart as well as Joe, and he has rarely delivered as well as he does with Jane Goes North. You'll laugh your head off, but you might be wiping your eyes by the end of the book." That's part of the review Mark Seiber wrote for Horror Drive-In. You can read the full review here. And get a copy of Jane Goes North here! 04/23/20-Tulsa Book Review says, "Jane Goes North is a buddy story with a sharp edge. The laughs are timely and well thought out, the plot fast and loose. ... The duo of Jane and Henry exist on a parallel plane of existence with Lansdale’s more famous Hap and Leonard. Another solid effort by the prolific Lansdale." You can read the full review here, and Jane Goes North is available now in hardcover, and ebook, both Nook and Kindle! 04/23/20-"Turn goat shit into M&Ms" and other writing tips from Champion Joe can be found here! 04/16/20-Here's another for you Hap & Leonard fans. There's a new anthology titled Odd Partners that includes an orignal story of the boys by Champion Joe. In Jervey Tervalon's review of the anthology in The LA Review of Books, he says Joe's story, "Sad Onions," "is an entertaining hard-boiled buddy story that could easily be retooled as a Netflix pilot — or an episode of the Sundance TV series based on the novels."
04/16/20-Champion Joe says, "Lost one of my favorites the other day. John Prine died of the virus. His song 'Sam Stone' alone seals him as one of the greats, but he wrote and sang so many great storyteller songs." 04/09/20-If you are a writer, or would-be writer, this is the perfect time to hunker down and protect yourself from the virus and produce work. And Champion Joe has a bunch of tips for exactly that. Click here to learn his Mojo methods! 04/09/20-Different from those writing tips, but also useful to folks looking for writing tips ... Champion Joe fielded a bunch of questions about writing from some folks on Facebook. We've added them as a Q&A on his Bio page so you can read them all more easily. Enjoy!
04/02/20-You've got shelves and shelves and shelves of books by Champion Joe? Your pantry is stocked with boxes and boxes and boxes of Nilla wafers? Been known to wear popcorn buckets on your head. Here's your people!! 04/02/20-Just released! She just lost her job at the laundry, doesn't have a car that's safe to make the long drive, and doesn't have a date to bring, but Jane won't give her sister the satisfaction of missing her wedding. It's Jane Goes North, the latest from Champion Joe, and it's an epic roadtrip that pairs Jane with a grumpy, one-eyed female weightlifter named Henry for an odyssey that involves drunk preachers, modern slavers, panty snatchers, disabled thieves, and a quest for the world's greatest toaster. Out now in hardcover, and ebook, both Nook and Kindle! Champion Joe says he had fun writing this one, and we think you'll have fun reading it. And couldn't we all use a bit of fun right now?
03/26/20-Tachyon Publications is offering 50%-off of different care packages, including a Champion Joe option. Check it out! 03/26/20-Want an audiobook to fill some time while you're staying home avoiding the virus? If so, you might check Champion Joe's Jane Goes North, performed by his daughter, Kasey Lansdale. Get yours here!
03/26/20-Looking to stay fit and sane during your staycation-in-place? Try Yoga with Kasey! 03/26/20-Champion Joe says he wants you to check out "this interview from Texas Monthly with one of my favorite writers and dearest friends, Neal Barrett, Jr., now deceased but sure as hell not forgotten by me. He wrote brilliantly, but he his hardly known outside of Texas fans. Other Seasons is my favorite of Neal's books, as it is a best-of short-story collection. But his novel The Hereafter Gang is one of my favorites. He wrote a lot of wonderful books." 03/26/20-You should check out this series of crime novels by Kathleen Kent featuring Detective Betty Rhyzyk. Champion Joe says, "One of my favorite series, well, a series of two, but others are forthcoming. Kathleen Kent needs to be more widely read." And Lewis Shiner says, "In the space of only two novels, Detective Betty Rhyzyk has already become my favorite fictional cop. Kathleen Kent has created a hero who perfectly walks the line between toughness and vulnerability, between courage and human weakness." You can get The Dime here! 03/12/20-Once upon a time a film was made from Champion Joe's "Christmas With the Dead." It was scripted by Joe's son, Keith, and now plans are to remake it as Christmas With the Damned, using the original script, but going for the original, darker version, directed by Keith as well. The first was fun, but we think with more money, we can do what we really intended to do the first time. So, check out the IndieGoGo crowdfunding page. Be a part of it. See incentives. Help us deck the hell out of them halls. 03/12/20-Champion Joe says, "Really enjoyed The Neon Owl by Chad Lutzke. Good crime/mystery novel." 03/05/20-Kirkus says, "The dialogue throughout is worth the price of admission." Publishers Weekly says it's "Full of humor, gritty drama, and insightful observations." It's Of Mice and Minestrone – Hap and Leonard: The Early Years, and it will be out next month! 03/05/20-Champion Joe says, "Forthcoming a really fun special edition novel by me and my son, Keith. More on it later. Just thought I'd seed the ground." 02/27/20-Cemetery Dance says Jane Goes North is "a simple, straightforward story that (like the best road trips) gets sidetracked multiple times in entertaining, sometimes dangerous ways. This is not a story relying heavily on plot; rather, it’s driven by the awe-inspiring power of Lansdale’s storytelling. It’s not about where they’re going, it’s about how they get there, and what happens along the way." Jane Goes North will be out March 31, 2020!
02/13/20-Noomi Rapace, Charlie Plummer, and Sophia Lillis join Peter Dinklage in 'The Thicket' 02/13/20-The audiobook adaptation of Champion Joe's Jane Goes North will be performed by his daughter, Kasey Lansdale! Read all about it here! 02/13/20-Stephen Graham Jones, author of Mongrels and The Only Good Indians, says, "There’s a place in East Texas where story shades into memory, where violence and tenderness are just part of the wonder of living, and that’s precisely where Joe Lansdale lives, and writes from, and we’re all the better for it. The eating’s pretty good there, too, as Hap’s recipes more than attest. You leave [Of Mice and Minestrone] hungry, both for food and to start the whole [Hap & Leonard] series all over again, live through it one more time, maybe just live there a while." 02/06/20-Once upon a time, in the early 1970s, Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale worked for a duck. 01/30/20-From Manhattan Book Review: "The Sky Done Ripped is a pulp novel for the ages, a gloriously strange and rambling adventure that deftly mixes different genres with a dash of slapstick humor and more than a little of Lansdale’s patented grotesquery for the villains that inhabit his unique worlds." The Sky Done Ripped is available for pre-order now!
01/30/20-If you were excited by last week's announcement of a Funko POP vinyl of the Scarecrow from the "Creepshow" adaptation of "The Companion," the story that Champion Joe wrote with his kids, Keith and Kasey, you're gonna also dig this Halloween mask!
01/23/20-Episode 4 of "Creepshow" was adapted from "The Companion," the story that Champion Joe wrote with his kids, Keith and Kasey. You can watch it now on Shudder Channel and ... you can keep yourself up at night terrified by the Funko POP vinyl of the Scarecrow from that episode! How cool is that? 01/23/20-"The Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train" is Champion Joe's contribution to Straight Outta Dodge City, an anthology of weird Western stories. "I thought I had written my last weird Western with this one," says Champion Joe, "but it has inspired me to want to write more." Check it out! 01/23/20-Click here to listen to an interview with Champion Joe and Kasey about Terror is Our Business, as well as the Hap and Leonard TV show. Really fun, and sometimes even moving. Contains spoilers, so be alert to that. 01/23/20-Champion Joe says, "Enjoy the work of a lot of authors, but I want to give shout outs two a couple of my favorites. Owen King and Stephen Graham Jones, Jonathan Janz. They can write anything, and do it majestically." 01/21/20-Champion Joe says, "Recognizing the great Martin Luther King on this day. He was a game changer, and for the better."
01/16/20-Kasey Lansdale has a new song that just premiered on Billboard! Check it out! 01/16/20-Champion Joe says, "I think we should have freedom of religion, but I also think we should have freedom from religion, and I think we should separate religion and politics. Make room for everyone. Including atheists and agnostics." He said that in response to this: "Hi, I'm Ron Reagan, an unabashed atheist, and I'm alarmed by the intrusion of religion into our secular government. That's why I'm asking you to support the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation's largest and most effective association of atheists and agnostics, working to keep state and church separate, just like our Founding Fathers intended. Please support the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Ron Reagan, lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in hell." 01/16/20-"As a writer, you should be able to write about any characters, be they female, black, brown, gay, or straight." You can read the rest of this writing tip from Champion Joe, and a treasure chest of additional suggestions on writing, by clicking here!
01/16/20-Interview with Kasey Lansdale. Kind of fuzzy film, but interesting and fun stuff. Check it out here! 01/02/20-From The New York Journal of Books: "[The Sky Done Ripped] is somewhat like a dream: Great fun while it’s happening, but difficult to explain upon awakening. At the time, it makes complete sense, but when you’re staring at the light of day? Not so easy to articulate. Nevertheless, it’s an enjoyable experience while it lasts. So enjoyable in fact, that there’s hope Ned the Seal won’t stop at three adventures." The Sky Done Ripped is available for pre-ordser now! 12/26/19-"Perfection can become the purpose more than the story. Writing is how you feel, and no matter what the story (and I haven't always done this, I admit) you should try and have your feelings, something you care about, at least on some level, emptied into the prose." You can read the rest of this writing tip from Champion Joe, and a treasure chest of additional suggestions on writing, by clicking here! 12/19/19-The trade edition of The Sky Done Ripped is 80% sold out. If you want to be sure to get a copy, order now! From Publishers Weekly: "Lansdale puts his gift for pulp to great use in [The Sky Done Ripped,] the rollicking third installment of the adventures of Ned the Seal (after 2010’s Flaming Zeppelins). Following previous escapades hopping through time between parallel universes, Ned, a seal with surgically enhanced intelligence, and H. G. Wells attempt to return to their own times using Wells’s time machine. Instead, the machine shunts them into a parallel America populated by sentient apes. There, Ned and Wells meet Lord Jack Bloomingdale, aka Tango the Monkey Man, and get caught up in his scheme to steal the Golden Fleece. Tango hopes to use the magical fleece to cure his wife’s illness, but the fleece is also wanted by She Who Must Be Obeyed and Eats Lunch Early, the mutant daughter of America’s 'President Dunderhead.' Lansdale combines elements from classic sci-fi adventure stories and mythology into a high-energy steampunk romp. Readers will revel in the humorously purple prose and spot-on illustrations by Timothy Truman." 12/19/19-Small-town juvenile delinquents, Pentecostal snake-handlers, zombies, psychopaths, and assorted freaks populate the short stories in By Bizarre Hands. The suspenseful, action-packed tales range from visions of a post-apocalyptic world to alternative histories; from a life-or-death struggle that started with car trouble to drive-in movies in another dimension. More than a dozen tales make up Joe R. Lansdale's debut collection of short stories, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction, and two of its tales have received Stoker awards. This edition features an introduction by science-fiction novelist Lewis Shiner and an afterword by horror-fiction author Ramsey Campbell. 12/12/19-Texas Book in Review says, "If Frank Dobie is the Lone Star State’s Homer, if Larry McMurtry is the Texas equivalent of Henry James, then Joe R. Lansdale has to be the Mark Twain behind the pine curtain. No other writer — in Texas or any other state in the union — can switch between gut-bursting humor and nail-biting suspense with as much heart and grace as Lansdale . . . Blood and Lemonadeis a must-have for just about everyone." 12/05/19-From Kirkus' "The 7 Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Books for December": "Lansdale may have one foot planted in crime fiction with his famous Hap and Leonard series, but the other stands firmly in the realm of glorious pulp fiction. Case in point: his novels and Zeppelins West and Flaming London, eclectic mixes of weird western and alternate history, with literary characters come to life and a talking seal named Ned. The Sky Done Ripped features Ned and H. G. Wells on their way home from dimension-hopping exploits with two shipwreck survivors in tow, on a lost world populated with dinosaurs, intelligent apes, an ape-man, human-eating birds, cannibals, and a Golden Fleece with curative powers. If any of that sounds intriguing, you’re primed and ready for Lansdale in full-blown pulp fiction mode. 12/05/19-Champion Joe says, "For those who like to back projects with crowd funding, here's one to investigate. Comic Beneath the Flaming Sky, written by my talented son, Keith Lansdale, with amazing artwork. But read about who and what right here, and if you feel the urge to donate, well, there are three days left. 11/14/19-Texas Highways includes Champion Joe's The Bottoms among their Texas Books for 100 Ages — check it out! 11/07/19-Wait ... you haven't watched the "Hap & Leonard" television series?! Collider lists it among The Best TV Shows & Original Series on Netflix Right Now! And Channel Guide includes it in The 100 Most Defining Shows of the Decade! So what are you waiting for? Go watch it!
10/31/19-There's a terrific audio adaptation of Champion Joe's "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" by Campfire Radio Theater — check it out! 10/31/19-"Although the tale of the lord of the jungle ... has been told many times, rarely has it been told from the perspective of one of his hominid companions. ... Lansdale is a master craftsman, and even when he is paying homage to a carefully unnamed famous protagonist from a long string of novels and movies, he adds something new (and often unsavory) to the mix." That's what Publishers Weekly said about The Ape Man's Brother — you should get a copy for yourself and let us know what you think.
10/24/19-Speaking of Kasey, here she is belting it out last week at the Hotel Cafe in LA. Missed it? You can make sure you don't miss the next one by following her on Facebook!
10/24/19-Last week's episode of "Creepshow" was based on "The Companion," the story that Champion Joe wrote with his kids, Keith and Kasey. You can watch it now on Shudder Channel! 10/17/19-Unless things change, it's our understanding that tonight's episode of "Creepshow" will be the one based on "The Companion," the story that Champion Joe wrote with his kids, Keith and Kasey. Watch for it on Shudder Channel and get an advance look here! 10/17/19-Put on your red fez and have a fish dinner, and then read The Sky Done Ripped, the last of the Ned the Seal books, due out December 31, 2019. You can order it here, or directly from the Subterranean Press site. 10/17/19-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 fits 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-known 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. For details and to reserve one of the 25 remaining copies of this 500-page beauty, click here! 10/17/19-Hap and Leonard audiobook alert! Champion Joe reads "Veil's Visit," which he co-authored with his brother Andrew Vachss. To give it a listen, click here! 10/17/19-Monster trading cards just in time for Halloween from Champion Joe's Christmas Monkeys collaborator and friend, Pete Von Sholly! Check it out! 10/10/19-Champion Joe says, "Devi scrivere, trovare il tuo metodo e attenerti ad esso, cambiandolo solo quando smette di funzionare per te. Ma dagli tempo, qualunque metodo tu scelga di volta in volta." If you can read that, you might also want to read this! 09/26/19-Joe Richard Lansdale and two other young men attempted to register for the Fall 1970 Semester at Tyler Junior College, a public institution of the State of Texas. However, because their hair styles did not conform to a particular section of the "Dress Code," a comprehensive set of regulations governing student appearance adopted by the Board of Trustees shortly before the school term, they were not permitted to register. Subsequently, they brought suit. To find out what happened next, click here! 09/26/19-Champion Joe says, "Horror novels your meat? Vampire novels? Like some humor and snappy dialogue? This just might be the book you need. From Gary Raisor. Less Than Human in eBook. Check it out. 09/19/19-If you like noir and hardboiled and related fiction, you might want to listen to this recording from a panel Champion Joe was on at Book People, moderated by Scott Montgomery. Interesting if this sort of stuff interest you. Also, a discussion of Manhunt Magazine. 09/19/19-Another podcast! On "The Horror Show with Brian Keene, " episode 235, Brian is joied by Joe R. Lansdale, Kasey Lansdale, Keith Lansdale, Karen Lansdale, and filmmaker Hansi Oppenheimer to discuss All Hail the Popcorn King,, growing up Lansdale, and much more. To give it a listen, click here! 09/19/19-"I've always liked dialogue. When I was growing up, people were always trying to top the other guy. I would remember all of that. People say, 'Well, people just don’t do that.' We do, quite a bit, in East Texas, especially if you know each other really well. Or if you don't like someone. That can be it, too." To read the rest of the Door County Pulse's interview with Champion Joe, click here! 09/12/19-Champion Joe says, "Cosmic Interruptions is a beautiful book, and I like to think the stories are good as well. A fine collection. Not sure how many are left, but if interested, and if you're someone who collects finely constructed books, then this might be for you." Click here for more information. 09/12/19-Lots of your favorite ass-kicking Texan duo in The Big Book of Hap & Leonard, including the stories from both Hap & Leonard and Blood and Lemonade, plus a bit of bonus material. And inexpensive too. So, check it out. 09/04/19-A new edition of The Drive-In, or rather, The Complete Drive-In, is forthcoming pretty quick. More information to follow soon. But in the meantime, here is a review you can check out from Mark Seiber of the original novel. 08/29/19-Keith Lansdale and Jok have picked up the mantle that Champion Joe and Sam Glanzman set up in Red Range: Pirates of Fireworld! Read all about it and then go get a copy of the first issue, out this week! 08/01/19-Keith Lansdale joined the podcast "Saddle Up" to talk Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Hell or High Water, and his own forthcoming film, Pale Door. Listen in on Apple Podcast, PodBean, Castbox, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Spotify. 08/01/19-Champion Joe says, "Best Western films: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, if I can count a TV movie, Lonesome Dove, which is actually a lot of hours. True Grit, the Jeff Bridges version. The Shootist, The Man Who Shot Liberty Vance, Tombstone, Quigley Down Under, The Searchers, Unforgiven (the Eastwood title), Little Big Man, Ride the High Country, The Wild Bunch, Red River, Rio Bravo, Stagecoach, Shane, the original Magnificent Seven, the original 3:10 to Yuma starring Glen Ford, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Ox-Bow Incident, My Darling Clementine, High Noon, No Country for Old Men, Once Upon a Time in the West, Open Range, Hell or High Water, The Big Country, The Assassination of Jesse James by That Coward Robert Ford, The Appaloosa, The Long Riders ... and is HUD a Western? Anyway, I could add to this. I love Western novels and films."
07/18/19-"Creepshow" update! One of the episodes is based on the story "The Companion" by Champion Joe, his son, Keith, and his daughter, Kasey, and adapted by the very fine writer, Matt Venne. Check it out here!
07/18/19-Want a signed copy of Kasey Lansdale's horror collection "Impossible Monsters"? Well, head over to George R.R. Martin's Jean Cocteau Cinema, or order from them online! And be sure to check out all the other signed books available, including many by Champion Joe! 07/11/19-Champion Joe says, "The Legislative Drafting Institute for Child Protection is something I believe in." Check it out and make a contribution here. 06/20/19-Bill Roberts had a history of messing things up. Things with his poor dead mama, for one. For another, the firecracker-stand job he was planning with Fat Boy and Chaplin. And then there was his face, of course. When Bill finally crawled out of the swamp that day, his face was swollen to unrecognizable with stings and bites. So naturally, he joins the Oddities of the World carnival and freak show. Freezer Burn is one of Champion Joe's odder novels. You odder read it! 06/20/19-Welcome to the cool side of the 1950s, where fast cars and revved-up movie monsters peel out in the night. Where outlaw vixens and jukebox tramps square off with razorblades and lead pipes. Where rockers rock, cool cats strut, and hot rods roar. Where you howl to the moon as the tiki drums pound and the electric guitar shrieks and that spit-and-holler jamboree ain’t gonna stop for a long, long time . . . maybe never. This is the ’50s of Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror, an anthology that includes "Tremble," by Champion Joe and Killer Kasey! 06/20/19-Champion Joe's novella The Big Blow is in development with Giannina and Ridley Scott, Reinaldo Marcus Green, and Oren Moverman attached. Read the story before everyone is talking avout the movie! 06/13/19-More on Keith Lansdale's The Pale Door, on BloodyDisgusting.com! 06/13/19-Champion Joe's short story "The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team" depicts a high-school competition in which sport and butchery have joined hands. You can read the story in Lawrence Block's latest anthology, At Home in the Dark! You can get the book here, and you can hear Champion Joe talk about the story here. 06/13/19-Frank's papa, the summer of nineteen hundred and nine, told him right before he died that he had a good chance to win the annual Camp Rapture mule race. He told Frank this ‘cause he needed money to keep getting drunk, and he wasn't about to ride no mule himself, fat as he was. If the old man had known he was about to die, Frank figured he would have saved his breath on the race talk and asked for whisky instead, maybe a chaw. But as it was, he said it, and it planted in Frank's head the desire to ride and win. It's "White Mule, Spotted Pig," and it's the Totally Free Mojo Story of the Week! Enjoy! 06/06/19-"I love the idea of mixing these two disparate worlds of horror and western, and to do so with the help of Joe and Keith Lansdale, feels like the perfect devil’s playground. It’s 3:10 To Yuma meets The Descent, but doused and then set on fire with psychological horror. Once this gets going, it’s relentless." That's director Aaron B. Koontz talking about The Pale Door. To read more about the forthcoming film, which promises epic battles between cowboys and witches, click here! 05/30/19-"You're your own goddamn muse, you're not waiting for something from the outside, especially if you’re an atheist like me. Somebody says to me, 'God should be your muse,' and I say, 'Well, that motherfucker needs to show up.' I found I show up more than he does." To read the rest of Champion Joe's interview with Cemetery Dance, click here! 05/23/19-Champion Joe's niece, Pam Dunklin, is appearing in "Lone Star Justice," forthoming from the ID Channel. Pam is a former homicide detective, and she'll be on the show discussing past cases. Way to go, Pam! Click here for more info! 05/23/19-Check it out! "Elliott Lester To Direct Peter Dinklage In ‘The Thicket’" 05/16/19-Fans of 1980s horror will remember fondly the Stephen King/George Romero anthology series "Creepshow." Well, the show is getting a second life, and includes an adaptation of a Champion Joe story! To read all about it, click here! And here! And here!
05/02/19-If you want to see Hansi Oppenheimer's documentary about Champion Joe become a reality, you need to act fast! 04/25/19-For a great deal on Bubba Ho-Tep and its prequel, Bubba and the Cosmic Blood Suckers, click here. 04/04/19-Champion Joe talks about writing on The Prolific Writer podcast! 03/14/19-Having corrected the wounds in the fabric of time, the smartest seal in the world is on his way home. But before he can get here, he and his partner, HG Wells, along with shipwreck survivors Bongo Bill and Suzie Q, find themselves in an inner world with a stationary sun. It’s a warm world, with jungles, rivers, and land-locked seas, and it's full of walnut-brained dinosaurs, highly intelligent apes, cannibals, strange storms, and bad hygiene. Are you ready for The Sky Done Ripped? Because Subterranean Press is ready to take your preorders! 03/14/19-"Hap & Leonard: Season Three" is now streaming on Netflix. Meanwhile the show has been canceled by Sundance. Folks keep saying why doesn't Netflix pick it up. I think they had an opportunity to, and didn't. But, with enough encouragement, they still could. If you want to encourage Netflix to produce more "Hap & Leonard," tell them here. 03/14/19-And while you're over there at Netflix, check out "Love, Death & Robots," a new anthology series by Tim Miller and David Fincher. Two of the 18 animated shorts are adapted from stories by Champion Joe! News Vire calls the series "the epitome of cool; an ambitious, dazzling, f***ed up fever-dream that hops between genres and animation styles to deliver an all-you-can-eat buffet of weirdness." More info here and a review on Wired here. 02/28/19-For those desperately seeking Bubba ... the comics adaptations of Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers and Bubba Ho-Tep have been collected together into a single trade paperback. Click here to add Bubba to your life! 02/07/19-Champion Joe says, "Wow. Really getting close on Kickstarter goal for Pirates of Fireworld, based on Red Range, a series of comics I wrote and Sam Glanzman illustrated. This new series of comics takes up where I left off, and is illustrated by Jok and written by my son, Keith. It's a doozy. Check it out and if so inclined, help support it. Also, keep in mind, that it stands on its own. It's nice if you have read the previous, and I believe that is still available, but this one stands on its own. Dinosaurs, cowboys, pirates, a whiff of steampunk, and a whole lot of excellent goodness. 01/24/19-When last we saw the Red Mask and Turon in Champion Joe and Sam Glanzman's Red Range graphic novel, they had fallen into a hole to the center of the earth! Keith Lansdale and Jok pick up the story from there, in Red Range: Pirates of Fireworld, a comic-book series available in both English and Italian! 01/10/19-Champion Joe says, "The Magic Wagon for me was the turning point in longer work, and I still cherish writing it. It took me about a year, which is a really long time for me, considering how slim the book is, but I was learning, and of course, writing short stories and editing anthologies to pay the bills at the same time. This is a very special collector's edition that includes along with the novel an introduction by me, an article by my son concerning me as a writer, and a rare short story of mine, 'Man With Two Lives.' Check it out." 01/10/19-Champion Joe also says, "The Story of Mitch by John Perry. Pretty damn cool story. Check it out." 01/03/19-Champion Joe says, "A writerly tip that works for me and may work for you. Write like everything is alive. Rocks, trees, cars, you name it. They don't have to talk or ask directions (optional), but by thinking of objects that way you write more descriptively. Not that you should overdo it. Writers I feel did that well were Ray Bradbury and Raymond Chandler. There are others, but they jump to mind. It gives the work a more painterly or cinematic feel if you think of things, even things that don't move, as alive."
12/27/18-You collect Champion Joe's stories? You might want to join this group. 12/27/18-Champion Joe says, "Happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy new year to everyone from the Lansdale cave." 12/13/18-"The Watering Shed" is a brand-new short story featuring Hap & Leonard. Interested? Then you'll want to sign on to the Kickstarter campaign for Full Bleed Vol. 3: Heavy Rotation! 12/13/18-"Non mi piace essere costantemente paragonato a qualcuno. Sono Joe R. Lansdale, nel bene e nel male. Ma Stephen è un grande. Credo sia stato lui a farmi vedere la letteratura di genere in modo più ampio." To read the rest of Champion Joe's interview with Il Messaggero, click here! 12/06/18-Champion Joe is roaming around Rome this week, to help his friend Seba Pezzani promote the biography related to his work. Say ciao! 12/06/18-Welcome to the cool side of the 1950s, where fast cars and revved-up movie monsters peel out in the night. Where outlaw vixens and jukebox tramps square off with razorblades and lead pipes. Where rockers rock, cool cats strut, and hot rods roar. Where you howl to the moon as the tiki drums pound and the electric guitar shrieks and that spit-and-holler jamboree ain’t gonna stop for a long, long time . . . maybe never. This is the ’50s of Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror, an anthology that includes a contribution from Champion Joe and Killer Kasey! 12/06/18-Champion Joe says, "WHAT! A new Andrew Vachss novelette, and I've read it and it's fantastic. You can check it out here."
11/15/18-Champion Joe says, "Did you know your purchases can make a difference? AmazonSmile donates to Legislative Drafting Institute for Child Protection when you do your holiday shopping via Amazon Smile! 11/01/18-Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are up to their ears in trouble once more, when a kinky, psychotherapist client and her household end up dead with a crazy, nymphomaniac niece as the main suspect. Check out Cold Cotton! 11/01/18-A girl descended from sirens, on the verge of musical stardom, seeks revenge against her childhood tormentors. That's "Tremble," by Kasey and Champion Joe, and it's just one of the stories in Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror - read the Publishers Weekly review! 10/25/18-In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper is an anthology edited by Lawrence Block. Champion Joe's story in that anthology is "The Projectionist," and you can read it here! 10/18/18-The first graphic novel ever from Dark Regions Press, Prisoner of Violence by Joe Lansdale and Keith Lansdale takes place in the same universe as Prisoner 489, an original novella by Joe Lansdale also published by Dark Regions Press, back in 2015. Featuring original cover artwork by Daniele Serra, Prisoner of Violence will be one of the biggest projects from Dark Regions Press in 2019. To reserve your copy, head to the project's Kickstarter campaign. 10/18/18-Cosmic Interruptions is a new collection of Champion Joe's assorted science fiction, speculative, and fantasy fiction. Check it out. 09/06/18-Kasey Lansdale is on "The Bruce Gold Show" discussing her new book with Champion Joe, Terror is Our Business. Check it out! 08/30/18-"There are few folks who can pull off a western these days, and the beauty of Lansdale’s writing is that he doesn’t idealize the turn-of-the-twentieth-century life in the west. It was a lawless, racist, sexist place where one was often at the mercy of men stronger and crueler. But when good people band together, they can often accomplish much, and create the kind of environment in which they want to live. It means a great deal to me that Lansdale reflects us back at ourselves, and shows us possible paths out of the thicket." To read The Bowed Bookshelf's entire review of The Thicket, click here! 08/23/18-Cosmic Interruptions is a collection of speculative fiction by Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale. The stories here have been grouped as part of a four-part set, this first volume loosely falling into the speculative-fiction, science-fiction, and off-beat fantasy realm. The stories range from alternate universes to dark futures to the warping of time and space, and a variety of unclassifiable items. There is action, humor, whimsy, and a large dollop of what was once called A Sense of Wonder. Future volumes will gather tales of crime and mystery fiction, horror and East Texas Gothic, and historical and western stories. This is a unique chance to gather not only Lansdale’s popular stories, but some that are lesser known and should be known more broadly. To check out the story listings, click here -- to order copies for delivery in the USA, click here. 08/16/18-Champion Joe turned in the third and final Ned the Seal book last week, titled The Sky Done Ripped. Pure fun and lots of it. Coming soon from Subterranean Press.
07/26/18-Amidst the worst flood East Texas has seen in years, Hap and Leonard run across a woman who's had her tongue nearly cut out, pursued by a heavily armed pair of goons. Though she can't talk much, on account of the tongue, it turns out the girl survived a mob hit, and the boss has come to clean up the mess. The Elephant of Surprise is full of Champion Joe's trademark humor, whip-smart dialogue, and plenty of ass-kicking adventures. It'll be out March 2019, but order it now to help us make this the biggest Hap & Leonard novel yet! 07/26/18-Champion Joe and Keith Lansdale have teamed up to write an X-Files comic series! Check out Hoot Goes There?, a two-issue series from IDW. 07/05/18-Champion Joe says, "Harlan Ellison has died. I knew Harlan a little and liked him. I wasn't a dear friend, but we were certainly friendly. I always got a kick out of his phone messages. He never called me Joe, always Lansdale. Last time I called him he was not able to come to the phone, so I spoke with his wonderful wife, Susan. I had a feeling Harlan was near the end, and now, a few months later, that has proven true. It was an obvious feeling. He was old and he was sick and had been in the hospital. Harlan once said, and I believe I read this in the biography about him, that he would not be a beloved figure. He did me a kindness or two, and I wasn't even aware he was doing it. His work I read in the Seventies and Eighties was inspiring. He had a unique twist on things, and he had the courage to stand up for 'genre' writers as writers of worth, and he had the courage to tell 'genre' and 'literary' writers they sucked when he thought they did. Sometimes it approached just mean-spirited and unnecessary, and other times it was a reminder that what we do as writers matters. That we have an obligation to be true to our art. I've never thought we have to be writing about something of importance each time out, but we should feel that writing is important every day. I write on both sides of the coin. Fun and light, dark and thoughtful, or at least I like to think I do. I was going to say some things about Harlan, maybe tell a couple of small personal stories about him, but I decided this article covers Harlan about as good as anything I've seen." 07/05/18-Hey, Italy! Champion Joe's Deadwood Dick debuts in a comics adaptation in your fine country tomorrow! Check it out: 06/28/18-Horror Talk says, "[Terror is our Business] demonstrate[s] that Joe isn’t the only storyteller in the Lansdale family. Kasey is an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree of creative genius and the combination of the two [writers] is a perfect pairing. Their narrative voices complement each other exceptionally well, and the snappy dialogue between the two main characters sometimes seems like the dueling riffs of two virtuoso guitarists. " Order your copy here! 06/14/18-It's "Eleven of the Best Lone Star Crime Novels," and we're glad to see Champion Joe on that list! 06/14/18-"When Hollywood and commercial mainstream American TV tries to grapple with [segregation and racism], the result is often flat and uninteresting. In total, neoliberal multiculturalism and accompanying demands for more 'representation' on TV and in film are powerful forces and slogans, but they rarely result in compelling and authentic popular art or other types of entertainment. Joe Lansdale's 'Hap and Leonard' TV show ... was an intervention and corrective against the Hollywood status quo." To read Chauncey DeVega's entire article from Salon, click here. 06/14/18-Last we checked, the petition to save "Hap & Leonard" was just shy of 8,200 signatures. If you're of a mind that you'd like to see a fourth season, add your signature here. And Amy Foster says that you can also send Netflix a direct message through Facebook messenger. Nothing like letting the world know you miss a good show, no matter what the end results. Why Netflix? Well, it would be a nice place for it to end up. Who knows? 06/14/18-There are so many things writers get asked, criticized about, that some of them become funny over time. Here's Joe's responses! 06/07/18-Champion Joe says: "This is important. I will be contributing. Brian Keene, writer, friend, a fellow who has raised thousands for charity, people and children in need, now needs our help due to devastating burns. Open up your pocket books. Check out the GO FUND ME." 06/07/18-Champion Joe's novella The Big Blow is making headlines all over Hollywood, with people like Giannina and Ridley Scott, Reinaldo Marcus Green, and Oren Moverman attached. Check out the articles in Deadline, Film School Rejects, The 405, and 1428 Elm! And check out the story it's based on here! 06/07/18-SciFiMoviePage.com calls it "great"! Shih Tzus & Book Reviews calls it "fantastic"! And Reading Between Wines says, "I really didn’t want it to end because I was having so much fun reading it." It's Terror is Our Business, and you can order your copy here! 05/31/18-The signed, limited-edition of Hap & Leonard: Rusty Puppy is available on the Gauntlet Press wesbite right here. There's an introduction by James Purefoy, the star of the SunDanceTV adaptation of Hap and Leonard, and he and Champion Joe have also signed the books. Check it out. 05/24/18-Champion Joe says: "You don’t have to climb a mountain or go around the world on a log but what you should do is be engaged with other people on a daily basis if you want to understand dialogue, people’s actions and their contradictions that’s how to do it. Because we are a bunch of contradictions." To read the rest of 1428elm.com's interview with Champion Joe, click here! 05/24/18-SF Book says, "Terror is Our Business is an immersive, rewarding and highly entertaining read, it's got bags of style and wonderfully rich characters. Highly recommended." Order your copy here! 05/24/18-The title says it all: "'Hap and Leonard' Canceled Because We Can't Have Nice Things." It's a nice piece from BlackGirlNerds.com. Check it out! And if you're of a mind to sign a petition to save the show, click here.
05/24/18-From the dusty Great Depression to the far future, to the wild west, and to the big-fin automobiles, soda shops and double features of the Fifties, Joe Lansdale's Driving to Geronimo's Grave and Other Stories is a collection of genre-spanning novelettes that show how our Champion Mojo Storyteller earned his title. There’s even killer machines, a big ol' grizzly bear, and a check-in with Deadwood Dick. Order yours here! 05/17/18-Champion Joe says, "Hap and Leonard officially canceled. Sundance's highest-rated show, 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Three Seasons wraps it up, dudes. It was an honor to have worked with the folks on the show, actors, crew, writers, and thanks for putting up with grumpy me. Wish there were more seasons, but hey, we got three, and they were very fine indeed." 05/10/18-Dead, Buried, and Back says, "From start to finish, [Terror is Our Business is] loaded with bone-chilling stories." Order your copy here! 05/03/18-Hap and Leonard need your help! Read all about it here. 05/03/18-Toe Six Press says "a wide range of readers will find [Terror is Our Business] immeasurably entertaining, even if they aren’t die-hard horror fans." Fantastic Fiction says Dana Roberts and her sidekick, Jana, are "the new dynamic duo of supernatural sleuthing." Order your copy here! 05/03/18-BookReporter says Jackrabbit Smile is "Strongly recommended, particularly for those coming aboard as a result of the television series" and that "it contains some of his best writing." OutrightGeekery says "Jackrabbit Smile has a kick-ass story, but it’s not just a kick-ass story. Lansdale often takes on important issues in his work, nowhere moreso than in the novels of this series. The central themes are race relations and income inequality in America, past and present, particularly in the American South. Lansdale never lectures – these issues are presented to readers strictly through the experiences of – and interactions between – the characters." Check it out! 04/26/18-Champion Joe and his son Keith are out there! They've written a two-issue X-Files comic for IDW. Check it out! 04/26/18-"[N]ot far from the heart of Florence, across the Arno River at Ponte San Nicolò and a few blocks east on Via Giampaolo Orsini, sits a slice of Lone Star literary culture known as Libreria Mucho Mojo, a bookstore dedicated to the work of East Texas writer Joe R. Lansdale." To read the entire Texas Co-op Power story, click here! 04/19/18-"The atmosphere is as thick as an East Texas summer day in Edgar-winner Lansdale's engaging, multilayered regional mystery, which harks back to 1958 ... Lansdale clearly knows and loves his subject and enlivens his haunting coming-of-age tale with touches of folklore and humor." That's what Publishers Weekly has to say about A Fine Dark Line — read it for yourself here and tell us what you have to say! 04/19/18-Champion Joe says, "Andrew Vachss' Another Chance to Get it Right — I love this book by my brother Andrew. I think you will, too. I'm putting it out there today, and here it is." 04/12/18-Rare as chicken teeth! Cosmic Interruptions is Champion Joe's latest collection of speculative fiction, and is limited to only 500 copies. It's from SST Press, and it's beautiful. Subterranean Press is handling some of them. Remember, 500 and then gone like the wind. Well, wind comes back, these won't. Place your preorder here! 04/12/18-There's a brand-new limited-edition release of Champion Joe's The Magic Wagon, 500 copies, signed. It also contains a rare Western short story by Hisownself and an afterward by his son, Keith. Check in out! 04/12/18-Champion Joe says, "I'm so proud of the Hap and Leonard television show team. Love it. I feel the work is respected and the talent that respects it is enormous. Thanks, Hap & Leonard." If you also like the show, write Sundance and let them know, so we can keep them coming. 03/29/18-Jackrabbit Smile is on sale now! Champion Joe shares a few words about the storyline for this new Hap and Leonard novel: "Like most of my books, this one is a combination of ideas that bled together, ideas based on current events as well as imagination. I read an article about a man with a particularly odd death fetish, met some folks who had what I perceived as peculiar and white-exclusive views on religion, combined that with the political climate of today, especially this new surge in racism disguised as protection for our country, then tossed it into Hap and Leonard's world, dipped it all into the complex culture and environment of East Texas, where I've lived all my life, and came up with Jackrabbit Smile. Entertainment with a coat of reality paint. Or better yet, reality with a coat of entertainment paint. Scratch it and you find something dark and real beneath the action and the humor."" Jackrabbit Smile is on sale now. Get yours here! 03/22/18-Mulholland Books is giving away five galleys of Jackrabbit Smile, and SundanceTV has sweetened the pot by throwing in a Hap and Leonard show poster for every winner. Click here to enter for a chance to win! 03/22/18-Check it out! New book by Champion Joe and his daughter, Kasey! Terror is Our Business! 03/22/18-Did you know there was a Hap and Leonard Hour?You do now! 03/15/18-Den of Geek heard from Corbin Bernsen and Jim Mickle about what to expect in Season 3 of "Hap & Leonard"! If you want to find out what they found out, click here! 03/15/18-"Your favorite crime-fighting buddies, 'Hap and Leonard,' are back for another season, and you won’t be disappointed." To read the entire review by Study Break, click here! 03/08/18-We have lift-off! "Hap & Leonard: The Two-Bear Mambo" has launched! You can watch it on SundanceTV, or for $10 you can download teh whole series on iTunes or Google Play. And the first two seasons are available for free on Netflix. So get watching! (Or if you're more the literary type, get reading! 03/08/18-"'Hap & Leonard Season 3' kicks off with arson, copulating bears, and Old Scratch himself." To read Den of Geek's review of the first episode, click here! 03/01/18-What do you mean you haven't checked out Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers? Well ... go do it! 02/22/18-Heads up, Santa Fe! Or head to Santa Fe, if you want to be among the first to see some of the third season of SundanceTV's adaptation of "Hap & Leonard"! Champion Joe will be there, as will host George R.R. Martin. How about you? The fun happens on March 1 and it's totally free—more info here! 02/15/18-From Joe: "Mine and Karen's dear friend Bill Crider has died. I miss him already. He and his wife, Judy, became close friends of ours in 1978. We lost Judy a few years back, and now Bill. Two painful losses almost back to back. They are a loss not only to us, and our family, but certainly many of his friends and relatives, and of course our loss doesn't compare to that of his children. Condolences." 02/08/18-Even when I’m doing something enjoyable, it seems death and destruction lurk nearby. I might not recognize those dual demons right away, but they’re out there. They might arrive in a pickup truck, and those in it may seem at first like a lot of people I might see. Just folks going about their business. Check out the excerpt from Jackrabbit Smile! 02/08/18-IDW's first Hap & Leonard graphic novel, Savage Season has been collected into a hardcover! Check in out! 02/01/18-From Publishers Weekly: "Hap Collins and his longtime love, Brett Sawyer, have finally decided to tie the knot in Edgar-winner Lansdale’s raucous 13th Hap and Leonard novel (after 2017’s Rusty Puppy), but they’ve barely gotten the burgers and hot dogs on the grill for their East Texas–style wedding party when two uninvited guests arrive. The heavily tattooed man, Thomas Mulhaney, wears a white pride T-shirt, and his mother, Judith, looks to be out of backwoods Pentecostal central casting. Hap’s best friend, Leonard Pine, a black Republican and Vietnam vet, prepares to escort them off the property in his usual inimitable way. But then the pair ask if they can hire the detectives to look into the disappearance of Thomas’s sister, Jackie. Hap and Leonard hold their noses and agree to investigate. The trail leads them to the nearby town where Jackie, an accounting whiz with strange views on interdimensional travel, was last seen. There they meet a hog farmer known as Professor, who has plans of creating a segregated white utopia aided by assorted local yokels and a pair of lethal twin brothers. As always, Lansdale provides a wild, fun ride with an astute eye on social issues." Place your preorders for Jackrabbit Smile! 02/01/18-Check out "Harvest Baby," a piece of flash fiction by Kasey Lansdale! 01/25/18-We're proud to see Champion Joe made Library Journal's list "Visionary Graphic Narratives: Celebrate Black History Month and Beyond with These Essential Comics"! 01/25/18-Champion Joe says, "We lost Jack Ketchum. Damn. He was a good guy. Sorry to hear it." 01/25/18-Can't wait for season three of Hap & Leonard? Well, you're gonna have to. But maybe these photos and behind-the-scenes article will hold you over... 01/25/18-Champion Joe says, "I like a good, old-fashioned Western now and then, and if you do, Tim Bryant has written one, and a well-written one it is. I look forward to the next one, a chapter or so of the forthcoming sequel is in the back pages. Check it out. " 01/25/18-Joe R. Lansdale is celebrated across several continents for his dark humor, his grimly gleeful horror, and his outlaw politics. Welcome to Texas. With hits like Bubba Ho-Tep and The Drive-In, the Lansdale secret was always endangered, and the spectacular "Hap & Leonard" Sundance TV series is busily blowing whatever cover Joe had left. Backwoods noir some call it; others call it redneck surrealism. Joe's signature style is on display in in all its grit, grime, and glory in Miracles Ain’t What They Used to Be, beginning with a couple previously unpublished Hap and Leonard tales revealing the roots of their unlikely partnership. Plus... a hatful-and-a-half of Joe’s notorious Texas Observer pieces that helped catapult him from obscurity into controversy; and "Miracles Ain't What They Used to Be," Lansdale’s passionately personal take on the eternal tussles between God and Man, Texas and America, racism and reason—and religion and common sense. 01/18/18-If you want to be the first on your block to know what's gonna be in Season 13 of SundanceTV's adaptation of Champion Joe's "Hap & Leonard" series, get your pre-order in now for Jackrabbit Smile! 01/11/18-Hey, Britain! You can get your Champion Joe fix at Waterstones! 01/04/18-Davy Crockett, Big Foot, and bad sausage. Check it out. 12/28/17-Elvis has re-entered the building! Check out the comic-book adaptation of "Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers"!
12/28/17-"When I first began to write as a kid, what I had in the way of an office was a notepad and a ballpoint pen and any place that was flat where I could work." Check out "The Workplace, Wet or Dry," Champion Joe's reflections on how he became a professional writer! Enjoy! 12/28/17-My parents and I were staying in a little, rented house that leaned to one side like a wet cardboard box. It was almost Christmas—the first Christmas I remember—and the images are stuck to my mind like dog hair to Velcro. It's "The Battery Powered Christmas," and it's the Totally Free Bonus Mojo Story of the Week! Enjoy! 12/21/17-"[I]f there’s one series that I wish received more attention than it did this year — and likely will in 2018 — it’s SundanceTV’s criminally overlooked 'Hap & Leonard,' a Southern-fried crime drama based on Joe Lansdale’s books..." To read all of Melanie McFarland's insightful and wise article from Salon.com, click here! 12/21/17-"Joe R. Lansdale is the toast of Italy, a hot property in Hollywood, and an inspiration to a generation of horror and thriller writers everywhere. And he owes it all to Nacogdoches." To read all of "Darkness on the Edge of Town," an article about Champion Joe published by Texas Monthly, click here! 12/21/17-To watch "Hap & Leonard Season Two: Mucho Mojo," click here! 12/14/17-Champion Joe likes Christopher Moore. Maybe you will, too. Check out his new book, Noir! 12/14/17-Book Reporter says Rusty Puppy is "filled with Lansdale's trademark whip-smart dialogue, colorful characters, and relentless pacing." To read the entire review, click here! And to preorder the paperback release of this book, click here! 12/07/17-From Joe: "I've known Bill Crider over half my life. His recently departed wife, Judy, was equally a friend, and much loved by the Lansdales. Bill posted the below on his 'magazine' site yesterday. I always loved our calls, emails, gatherings at conventions. For my family, the world will be different, and not as good. Love you, Bill." 11/23/17-Elephant of Surprise .... 11/23/17-Hap & Leonard alert! Place your preorders for the next installment! Jackrabbit Smile will be coming your way March 2018! And Champion Joe will be visiting Texas, California, Arizona, and Florida in March/April to tell stories and sign copies -- details here!
11/23/17-Champion Joe says, "In book news, besides Jackrabbit Smile coming out early next year, and Rusty Puppy coming out in paperback next year, I have two more novels forthcoming over the next couple of years from Mulholland. I also have a story collectioncoming from Subterranean Press, and in 2019 the last of the Ned The Seal adventures, The Sky Done Ripped. Stay tuned. " 11/16/17-Get ready for the new season of "Hap and Leonard" with Two-Bear Mambo, the source material for next year's adventures. Check it out here or any of your favorite places where books are sold. 11/09/17-Black Friday? Cyber Monday? Screw a bunch of that. This is Mojo Thursday. If you see something below that you want, contact Kasey for pricing.
11/02/17-Champion Joe says, "Robert Dunn's publisher sent me his novel, which takes place in Lansdale, Texas, and has a character named Longview, which is also the name of an East Texas town near where I grew up in Gladewater, Texas. I thought, okay, I'll give it a try. It's terrific. It's lean and smart and very good. I say, check it out. Dead Man's Badge, Robert E. Dunn, published by Brash Books." 10/26/17-"In some ways getting older is great. Wiser. More experience. Less concerns about the little things. But then again, it isn't the same for everyone else. The worse part about getting older is getting older; closer to the finish line, and it's a race you don't have any choice about, and it's great, but all games in. That's the tough part about being older, realizing your time is getting less and you can't waste it." To read the rest of the Out of the Gutter interview with Champion Joe, click here! 10/26/17-Marvin Hanson is a private investigator. Time was he worked homicide in Houston's Fifth Ward, but that was years ago. Nowadays he's living a quieter life, running a little one-man operation in LaBorde, Texas. You might think a sleepy East Texas town wouldn't rate its own PI, but then you've never met Mildred "Babe" Craver.... "A Bone Dead Sadness" revisits Marvin Hanson decades after the events of Act of Love; fans of the Hap and Leonard series have also encountered him as the boys' sometime-employer. At its core, this novella is a good old-fashioned locked-room mystery, wrapped up in noir and tied with a Dixie-scented bow. And it's only 99¢! 10/26/17-At night, all alone in the big garage, he thought about a lot of things: The work he wanted to do. How well he wanted to do it. The new coat of paint he was going to get. And sometimes he slept and had the dreams. Thinking about the dreams made his metal turn cold and his manifold blow leaky air. It's "Bill the Little Steam Shovel," and it's the Totally Free Mojo Story of the Week! Enjoy! 10/19/17-Get your Kasey Lansdale flash fiction! "Harvest Baby" is a tale of love, family, and the joy of children, and it can be yours now for 99¢! 10/12/17-Champion Joe says, "Sam Glanzman was a great artist. His death left his wife in a financial bind, and I'm hoping you will consider giving to this fund. 10/12/17-Champion Joe also says, "Richard Matheson, one of my favorite writers of all time, has his best stories gathered in a new collection from Penguin Classics, The Best of Richard Matheson. If you love short stories, he was a master. I am Legend, Shrinking Man, Bid Time Return (also known as Somewhere in Time) are among the novels he is best known for, but the short stories are pretty damn amazing, and short stories are my favorite to read and write. Check it out here. 10/12/17-And Champion Joe says, "Charles Beaumont is another fantastic writer published at Penguin. His impact on writers is far larger than is known, and is among my early influences, along with Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson, and Ray Bradbury. He was as clever as Matheson, and wrote as beautifully as Bradbury. Contributed to prose and film. Check it out here. 10/12/17-Champion Joe has just spent several days on set and promises next season of "Hap & Leonard," which will adapt Two-Bear Mambo, will be a good one. If you can't wait that long for your next fix, go get Rusty Puppy! 09/28/17-Hap is facing an inner crisis, wavering between a shrink and a little blue pill, while his lover, Brett, and his best friend, Leonard, speculate on a colorful variety of causes and cures. When he opts for neither, ignoring his doctor's advice to call a shrink, she calls him instead and the team is off to the races, facing off with a wide array of odd relationships, crazed florists, and murder. Check out "Cold Cotton," a Hap & Leonard novella! 09/28/17-Louis Gossett Jr., Corbin Bernsen and Andrew Dice Clayare recurring characters in Season 3 of the "Hap & Leonard" SundanceTV Series! 09/28/17-Texas State magazine says, "No other writer — in Texas or any other state in the union — can switch between gut-bursting humor and nail-biting suspense with as much heart and grace as [Joe] Lansdale." To read the entire piece — which is a review of Hap & Leonard: Blood and Lemonade — just click here! (And don't getthis confused with the book which is just titled Hap & Leonard — they look a lot alike, but Hap & Leonard: Blood and Lemonade is a series of related short stories about Hap in his youth, and sometimes Leonard. It's fairly unique to the series and well worth your time. 09/28/17-The Hap & Leonard graphic novel get released next month! Check it out! 09/21/17-"Hap & Leonard" Season Three is! Now! Filming! 09/21/17-You want new magazines for fiction and non-fiction, well, here you are. Show this idea some love. 09/21/17-Bill Sage on his character Howard in "Hap & Leonard": "Joe Lansdale made him a soulful asshole instead of just an asshole which gives you a lot of room to play. You’ve got a character that’s incredibly intelligent, supremely confident, and on a ride to disillusionment and hell. What’s not to like?" To read the entire interview with the actor, click here! 09/21/17-The hurricane-relief auction at the Boss Light raised $5,000+! Thanks to everyone who participated. 09/21/17-Bruce Campbell and Keith Lansdale teamed up to fight off the soul-sucking lunch monsters:
09/21/17-If you like Champion Joe's short stories, you'll like the fact that Dover has released a new edition of By Bizarre Hands! 09/14/17-Champion Joe says, "The Warblers by Amber Fallon. I was given this book at a convention by Amber, read the first paragraph, thought, wow, I'm in. And then when my books were mailed home to me it took a while, and then I opened the box, got it out, and read it in one setting. Well, pretty much. We'll call it one and a third. But, The Warblers is so unique, and wonderful. A coming-of-age novel, a horror/science-fiction novel, an adventure, and something of a suspense tale. It's short. It's fine. It's fast, and I think you just might need this. From Eraser Head Press. Check it out, friends. And see what choice you would make. All I'm going to say. Not ruining this fine novel. Check it out and read it over." 09/11/17-Champion Joe says, "A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE. Here's a snippet from an article I wrote once, just the part that describes how I feel. We all have our own feelings, but this is a condensation of mine. But mainly this is merely to have us remember this day that, like Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma bombings and so on, is a day in infamy. 'Once in the United States, we felt a little distant from most of the ongoing conflicts in the world, not immune, but one step away. This was never an absolute truth. We had acts of terrorism on our soil before 11 September, some of our own countrymen, but that day was different.'" 09/07/17-Champion Joe says, "And so you have aches and pains and worries galore. Write them down, give some of those elements to characters you create. It helps you, and it helps the story. " 09/07/17-Thanks toKasey Lansdale, Dark Delicacies, and all those who dropped in with items and auction materials, and those who bought those items to help Houston in its flood relief. It was a great event. 09/07/17-George RR Martin shared this with Champion Joe, and so we now share it with you: "Once in a blue moon I come to you all with a cause. This one is for a fellow author and my assistant, Lezli Robyn. Many of you have worked with her during the last couple of years. What you may not realize is that she has a rare eye disease which is progressive and she is now legally blind...and her eyesight is getting worse every year. There is a recent treatment which has had outstanding results in halting the progression of the disease, but it is expensive and she can't afford it. But this is about her ability to see.... I have set up a gofundme campaign for her hoping to raise some funds. Any contribution would help. Also, would appreciate you all spreading the word. " 08/31/17-Champion Joe and Karen Lansdale celebrated their 44th anniversary! Congratulations, Lansdales! 08/31/17-Heads up, Los Angeles! On Tuesday, September 5, Kasey Lansdale will host a fundraiser to benefit victims of Hurricane Harvey. Besides Champion Joe, Dark Delicacies and George RR Martin have signed on to help. Info here! 08/24/17-Champion Joe talks with Adventures in Videoland about Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers -- listen here! 08/24/17-Slashfilm.com lists the "Ten Best Movies to Stream in August," and leading the list is ... well, you'll have to see for yourself, by clicking here. 08/24/17-Crave presents "10 Unforgettable Movies From The Late, Great Sam Shepard (1943-2017)" and Champion Joe is as proud to see Cold in July on the list as he was to have Mr. Shepard in the film: check it out. 08/24/17-Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee has a new animated series coming out and Kasey Lansdale voices one of the characters! Read all about it in Variety! 08/24/17-The family of Johnny Cash speaks out and speaks out well. Read for uourself: "Johnny Cash's family tells white supremacists to get Johnny's name out of their mouth." 08/17/17-Need a little Hap & Leonard to tide you over between seasons? Well, here's just the thing: When Hap and Leonard first see the bookmobile, it's barreling down the middle of a country road, seconds before it smashes into their car. When they come to, they learn that the young boy driving the bus has died in the crash. Then they discover several bodies, hidden in the bookmobile's rear compartment. Does one of them belong to the woman known as Hoodoo Harry? 08/17/17-Champion Joe and Chet Williamson have been friends for years ... decades, even! And that's exactly what they talk about in this episode of "The Horrow Show with Brian Keene"! 08/10/17-If you are in the Northeast and want to host Kasey Lansdale at a house party, contact her on Facebook. Here's a video of Kasey performing: 08/03/17-At San Diego Comic-con, Kasey portrayed a shield maiden for the History Channel:
07/27/17-Champion Joe says, "Great weekend (last weekend) at Scares That Care. Wonderful experience for a good cause. More folks should check this out, and make plans for next year. Always an interesting roster of guests." 07/13/17-What would George Romero's classic movie had looked like if his head writer had been Champion Joe? Find out in Nights of the Living Dead, an anthology that's out now! 07/13/17-If you like Champion Joe, you should like Pandi Press! 06/29/17-Champion Joe says, "Spent some time in the Hap and Leonard writers room while I was in L.A., and it was a blast. This season is shaping up to be the best yet. If you're curious about the book that inspires Season Three, check out The Two-Bear Mambo from Vintage Books, easily obtainable through numerous sources." 06/29/17-The limited edition of Honky Tonk Samurai (signed by Joe Lansdale with an afterword by Nick Damici, who will sign just the lettered edition) is now available -- and it's really snazzy! To order this Hap and Leonard limited from Gauntlet Press, click here! 06/29/17-Champion Joe says, "Rusty Puppy replaced my own personal favorite, Mucho Mojo, in the Hap and Leonard series, and I hope you like it as well. You can check it out here, as well as other on line services and bookstores." 06/29/17-One of Champion Joe's artistic collaborators, Sam Glanzman, has a GoFundMe campaign where you can help a comics legend and net some sweet stuff at the same time. Check it out! 06/15/17-Library Journal review of Nights of the Living Dead, a new zombie anthology edited by Jonathan Mayberry and George Romero: "In 1968, director Romero's 'Night of the Living Dead,' which depicted 48 hours of a zombie outbreak, took the movie world by storm. Here, author Maberry (Patient Zero) and Romero bring us back to those two days of the newly risen dead with this anthology of 19 tales. Along with original stories by both men, there are entries such as Joe R. Lansdale's 'Dead Man's Curve,' in which a brother and sister come face to face with the undead during a drag race, and Mira Grant's 'You Can Stay All Day,' about a young zookeeper. All of these stories highlight the fear, darkness, hope, and humor facing the living dead can bring. VERDICT: Zombie fiction fans can't get enough of their favorite monsters, but this masterly collection of tales from some of today's greatest speculative writers will sate their appetite—for a while." 06/08/17-Champion Joe says, "My brother, Andrew Vachss, has alerted me to this, and I love it. You can donate a bit of your support to the protection of children when you buy from Amazon, and here's the link to do it with. This assures that a percentage of your purchase goes to their aid. I love my brother and I love what he's doing here. Please check it out." 06/01/17-Hey, Hap & Leonard fans! Did you miss Briar Patch Boogie? 06/01/17-It's "Ten Questions with Joe R. Lansdale"! Enjoy! 05/25/17-Champion Joe and Kasey are interviewed about their collaboration, "Blind Love," on the podcast "The Dark Tome"! Enjoy! 05/25/17-Champion Joe sends congratulations to the graduates of the 2017 class of Laguna College of Art and Design — he was honored to give the commencement address this week!
05/25/17-Surprise! There's a new Hap & Leonard novella out, called Cold Cotton. Right now it's only available as an ebook, but it will be released eventually in paper. Check it out! 05/18/17-Before "Bubba Ho-Tep," there was Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers. It won't be out until October but you can read a preview here and place your preorder here! 05/11/17-Champion Joe says, "When you have a story to write, be careful you're not so excited you talk it out. And besides, most stories, especially told in detail, can bore a person to death. The story is in the actual written story. You can use all your jet fuel talking about what you plan to do. It's best to do it, then let the final product loose in the world. It will be enjoyed more." 05/11/17-If you liked The Bottoms, All the Earth Thrown to the Sky, Edge of Dark Water, or The Boar, you may also like A Fine Dark Line! 05/04/17-Champion Joe says, "This is how writing works for me. Don't wait for inspiration. That is an animal that can only be let out of the cage by showing up at the writing space. And the more you show up, the more you train inspiration to show up. Wait for it to arrive on its own, it might be a while. Have a regular time and show up on time, and try to write one good sentence, and that, for me, generally leads to two, and then several pages. Show up with a love for what you do. It's work, but it should be work of your choosing, and therefore showing up is easier. You are only a writer if you write." 05/04/17-Publishers Weekly says Hap & Leonard: Blood and Lemonade is "some of Lansdale’s most personal and reflective writing to date." To read the entire review, click here! 05/04/17-Get ready to Mambo! "Hap & Leonard: Season 3!" 05/04/17-In honor of "Hap & Leonard: Season 3," we're running a special on the first-edition hardback of Two-Bear Mambo. $25, signed. Price includes shipping and handling in the US, and can be personalized. For international orders, ask before paying. Contact Kasey to reserve your treasures! 04/27/17-Hey, Hap & Leonard heads! This one has fallen through the cracks a little, and a lot of folks think because it has the header Hap and Leonard, it's the same as last years book titled Hap and Leonard, but this has a secondary title -- Blood and Lemonade -- and it's a different book, and it's about Hap and Leonard in their youth. Check it out here from the publisher, and you can buy it through Barnes and Noble and Amazon and through other book sources, or you can order it at your favorite book store. 04/27/17-Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff"! Johnny Cash's "Wayfaring Stranger"! Kasey Lansdale's "Back of My Smile"! Those are just some of the songs from "Hap & Leonard: Mucho Mojo"! 04/27/17-In Alive in Shape and Color, a follow-up to In Sunlight or In Shadow, Lawrence Block has gathered together the best talent from popular fiction to produce an anthology featuring stories inspired by 16 paintings by great artists. Besides our own Champion Joe, the line-up includes Joyce Carol Oates, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, David Morrell, and Jeffery Deaver. 04/20/17-In October, IDW will release the first Hap & Leonard graphic novel, Savage Season! Check in out! 04/20/17-Back in the 1970s, before Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale was a Champion Mojo Storyteller, he worked for a duck. 04/20/17-Read an interview with Joe! Listen to an interview with Joe! You can do both here! 04/13/17-On May 16th, Titan Books will release the new anthology Dark Cities, edited by Christopher Golden, simultaneously in North America and the U.K. The book includes "Dark Hill Run," by Champion Joe and Kasey Lansdale. Pre-order your copy now! 04/06/17-A new story of young Hap & Leonard? Hell, yes! Say, Thank you, SundanceTV, and click here.
03/30/17-The Dark Tome has released an audio adaptation of "Blind Love," written by Champion Joe and Kasey Lansdale -- andit includes music by Kasey! So much goodness couldn't fit into one file, so click here for the first part, and click here for the conclusion! 03/30/17-What?! You've already missed three episodes of "Hap and Leonard: Mucho Mojo"?! Catch up here! 03/23/17-Want a free taste of Hap & Leonard: Blood and Lemonade? Samples being served here. 03/16/17-"Bill seemed as if he had grown up next door. Kind and considerate as he could be. Not a movie star bone in him. He made everyone comfortable." To read all of Joe Lansdale's tribute to Bill Paxton, click here. 03/16/17-Hap & Leonard: Mucho Mojo is on! Watch a preview of the Sundance Channel original here and catch the first season on Netflix! 03/09/17-"Joe R. Lansdale has a wicked way with words. Of the many memorable passages in Rusty Puppy, his new Hap and Leonard novel, not one of them can be reprinted in a family newspaper. Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, small-town East Texas private detectives, say the filthiest things. Some of it is good-natured banter between buddies; the rest is don’t-mess-with-me trash talk. And they don’t just talk dirty. They fight dirty, too."n To read the rest of the review from the Star-Telegram, click here. And to order your copy of Rusty Puppy, click here! 02/26/17-From Champion Joe: "Today sucks. Fine actor and friend Bill Paxton has died. I feel so sorry for his family. Bill was a truly fine human being and a standup guy." 02/16/17-Hap and Leonard are among the nominees for a GLAAD Award! To read about them, and all the nominees, click here. 02/16/17-Book Reporter says Rusty Puppy is "filled with Lansdale's trademark whip-smart dialogue, colorful characters, and relentless pacing." To read the entire review, click here! And to be the first on your block to know what's gonna happen in "Hap & Leonard Season 12" on Sundance, preorder your copy of Rusty Puppy today! 01/26/17-With "Hap & Leonard Season 2" just around the corner, you'll maybe want to grab "Hap & Leonard Season 1" on DVD! 01/12/17-Booklist says, with Rusty Puppy, "Readers will laugh at some particularly profane smart-ass repartee and then want to cover their eyes a couple sentences later as the violence explodes. Another fine entry in a great series." To read the entire review, click here! And to be president of your local "Hap & Leonard" fan club, preorder your copy of Rusty Puppy today! 01/12/17-Champion Joe says David Morrell's Victorian mystery trilogy featuring Opium-Eater is worth checking out ... so check it out! 01/05/17-Publishers Weekly says that, in Rusty Puppy, "As always, Lansdale spins a wild, rollicking yarn, but behind all the mayhem is a heartfelt tale about friendship, brotherhood, loyalty, and family." To read the entire review, click here! And click here to preorder your copy of Rusty Puppy today! 01/05/17-You might call this a New Year's Resolution piece. You might call it "The Drowned Man." Either way, Happy New Year! 01/05/17-You loved Honky Tonk Samurai? Then you'll love this limited-edition release of Honky Tonk Samurai!
12/22/16-Champion Joe is taking his Rusty Puppy for a walk. He's hitting more than dozen bookstores to promote the latest Hap & Leonard novel, including stops in Georgia, Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, and, of course, Texas. To get the full list of dates and locations, click here!
12/08/16-We're less than ninety days out from the release of "Hap & Leonard Season 2" — get ready for it by watching "Hap & Leonard Season 1"! 11/24/16-Champion Joe's short story "The Projectionist" tells the story of the young usherette in Edward Hopper's painting "New York Movie." You'll find it in...
11/17/16-Publishers Weekly calls Coco Butternut an "infectious, darkly funny slice of weirdness" ... Kirkus says "the slide from fizzy East Texas comedy to deeper waters is so deftly managed that you’ll be chuckling all the way to the graveyard." Pre-order your copy of Coco Butternut, a new Hap & Leonard novella, coming from Subterranean in January 2017! 11/17/16-Kirkus also had nice things to say about Dead on the Bones: "Lansdale pays homage to the pulp writers who inspired him in this loving collection of stories. ... This act of a writer's love becomes a show of generosity for the audience." 11/17/16-"[The Happily Stupid] make their decisions based on what some folks call going with their gut, which of course is nonsense. The gut can't even make intelligent dinner choices, and considering the preponderance of stomach acid reducers on the market, should be immediately suspect." Read the entirety of Champion Joe's latest in the Texas Observer! 11/03/16-Champion Joe offers writing tips now and again on his Facebook page. So if you're interested in writing tips, you can read some of them here, where they were archived by Tacker Cochrane. Champion Joe stresses that these are suggestions. Don't like it, don't do it. Got a way that works better for you, do it. If you feel you want to try something new, that your method isn't working, these ideas might help, or point you in the right direction. 11/03/16-"Act of Love is a raw book. A high-wire act by a then-emerging writer. A significant stage in Joe's evolution, going back more than a decade. You can see the struggle for mastery. And the refusal to surrender. Is it his 'best' work? I don't think so. With Joe Lansdale, naming anything his 'best' is a judgment subject to rebuttal. Not just because reasonable people could disagree, especially given his huge body of work, but because Joe's working all the time. He may be swimming at the horizon of writing perfection ... but he's not getting tired." To read the rest of Andrew Vachss' foreword to Act of Love, click here. And to read the book itself, click here. 11/03/16-Collectors of limited editions, now is your chance: Paradise Sky! 11/03/16-Champion Joe's birthday was last week, and Unbound Worlds sent this really kind birthday card! 11/03/16-Kasey, Karen, and Joe with the legendary Kris Kristofferson!
10/27/16-The Highway Kind is an anthology of thrilling crime stories about cars, driving, and the road, featuring stories by Luis Alberto Urrea, Ace Atkins, C.J. Box, Michael Connelly, Diana Gabaldon, Sara Gran, George Pelecanos, James Sallis, Ben H. Winters, and oue own Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale. Check it out! 10/20/16-Not sure what you're doing this Halloween? May we submit, for your consideration, Bubba Ho-Tep. 10/13/16-When the mummified corpse of a beloved prize-winning dachshund named Coco Butternut is stolen from her final resting place, Hap and Leonard are hired by the owner to get her body back. It's Coco Butternut, a new Hap & Leonard novella, coming from Subterranean in January 2017! 10/13/16-Jamar was a straight-A student, destined for better things, until he began to ask too many questions about the racist police force in his East Texas town. Now he’s dead, and Hap and Leonard have been hired to find his killer. It's Rusty Puppy, a new Hap & Leonard novel, coming from Mulholland Books in February 2017! 10/13/16-Hap and Leonard: Blood and Lemonade (Tachyon, March 2017) brings together the origins of Champion Joe's popular Texan crime-fighting duo. These new, familiar, and definitive adventures show once and for all how two pissed-off young men became one heck of a bad-ass team. Check it out! 10/13/16-Looking for some good seasonal reading? Check out "13 Halloween Books You Should Read (If You Dare)"! 10/13/16-Check out Champion Joe's latest from the Texas Observer: "Why My East Texas Neighbors are Voting for Trump — It’s not because they’re stupid rednecks." 09/29/16-"Brian Dennehy To Recur On ‘Hap & Leonard’ Season 2" on October 8! 09/29/16-Scream Factory is releasing a new version of Bubba Ho-tep, featuring new audio commentary by Champion Joe! Check it out! 09/29/16-It was twenty years ago today... Check out Champion Joe's comic-book collaboration with Mark Nelson: Blood & Shadows! 09/22/16-Champion Joe says, "I've got a feeling Irma Hall is going to be the delight of Season Two of Hap and Leonard. She is a fabulous actress. This is not to take away from any of the other fine actors in the series, but I do love me some Irma Hall." 09/22/16-Missed Bouchercon? Watch an askew panel with Champion Joe here! 09/15/16-Irma P. Hall, Dohn Norwood, Tiffany Mack, and Cranston Johnson join "Hap & Leonard" Season 2! Check it out. 09/15/16-Champion Joe says, "Mongrels. Read last night. Holy cow. A really super werewolf book. I think it's the best I've read in the genre. I admit there aren't that many great ones, but this is THE ONE for me. Check it out. Go Stephen." 08/11/16-Champion Joe spoke with Necrocasticon about Hap & Leonard, The Drive-In, his Tarzan novel, splatterpunk, Bizzaro, crime noir, and pulp adventure! Listen here! 08/04/16-Season two of "Hap and Leonard," coming out from the Sundance Channel early next year, is based on this novel in the series. 08/04/16-Kasey's latest EP is on sale now!
07/28/16-Champion Joe says, "I have avoided saying anything about this until I understood the family's position, but I think I can say something about it now. My dear friend, our family's friend, Bill Crider, is going through some bad times due to cancer. His wonderful wife Judy, a good friend of ours, died not too long ago, and if that wasn't enough, now Bill is suffering with something similar. The Crider family is our family, and the Lansdale's love them. Bill and I have had many hours of laughs and entertainment, and we have been great friends since the late seventies. I only hope the best for him and his family, and for those who know him, I know you feel the same. Bill is one of the best liked men I have ever known. I've never heard a bad word said about him, and never should there be one. On top of that, he is a fine writer of crime stories and mysteries, my favorites being the Sheriff Rhodes novels. To Angela and Alan, his daughter and son, if you need something, reach out. We love you guys. And please tell Bill he is constantly in our thoughts." 07/21/16-New Hap & Leonard! Pre-order Rusty Puppy now!
07/21/16-Champion Joe talks writing and martial arts with Hank Garner, and still has new stuff to say in conversation with Keith Burgin! 07/21/16-Heads up, Italy! You'll want to check out the Mucho Mojo Book Club! 07/14/16-Hey, animal lovers! Here's an anthology you might be interested in. Champion Joe has a story in it, alongside many fine writers in it. Check it out! 07/07/16-Champion Joe says, "Okay, I may be out of step with the critics, but I loved The Legend of Tarzan. I think, in fact, it's the best Tarzan movie ever. I love the way the backstory was slipped in, and I loved the way Tarzan and Jane were handled. I would hope it's the first of other Tarzan movies, though that may not be the case according to critics. I, as an old fan of Tarzan, loved the update and thought it fit in the modern world while still being of the old world, the world of Tarzan. Would love to see more of these, and have some of the fantastic elements slipped in. Best Tarzan and Jane ever, and best Tarzan movie ever, and that's from a guy that thought the last great Tarzan film was Tarzan and His Mate." 07/07/16-From The Guardian: "Top 10 novels about deranged killers." 06/30/16-The headline you've been waiting for! "Sundance renews 'Hap and Leonard' for Season 2" 06/30/16-And in case you didn't catch it the first time ... "SundanceTV Renews 'Hap and Leonard' for Season 2" 06/30/16-Kasey is featured on this Horrible Imaginings podcast, talking about music, horror, and growing up Lansdale! 06/23/16-Champion Joe was on Trick or Treat Radio, where he discussed everything from "Hap and Leonard" to "Bubba Ho-Tep" to "Cold in July" to being a martial arts grandmaster and quite a bit in-between! Listen here! 06/23/16-Kasey Lansdale on CBS! Check it out: 06/16/16-The Old West had black heroes who have been forgotten or ignored, and Red Range was Champion Joe's chance to blend that fact with pulp, western, and science-fiction storytelling. And a chance to work with one of his heroes, artist Sam Glanzman. Red Range was originally published in 1999 by Mojo Press. Unfortunately, Mojo went out of business that same year, and the book has been out of print ever since. But with your help, it could come back into print! Check out this Kickstarter campaign to bring back Red Range!
06/16/16-On an island with a prison for the most evil and powerful criminals in the world, a new prisoner is strapped to the electric chair. After multiple surges of electricity and nearly knocking out power to the entire island, the prisoner is finally dead. The staff buries him with a simple marker baring three numbers: 489. But a violent storm rocks the islands and the burial site of prisoner 489 has been unearthed, and the body is missing. Champion Joe's Prisoner 489 is on sale now as an ebook for only 99¢! Check it out! 06/09/16-Last Night a Superhero Saved My Life is a collection of essays about the impact of super-hero comics on a lot of writers, including Champion Joe. 06/09/16-Ten Famous Writers Reimagined as Professional Wrestlers 06/09/16-Mark Gunnells wrote A Love Letter to Joe R. Lansdale. Now all the world knows how he really feels. 06/09/16-What? You didn't know Champion Joe's Cold in July was adapted to film? Where you been? Well, it's now available on Netflix! 06/02/16-"Hap & Leonard" season two, anybody? You bet! 06/02/16-It's a cat video and a Patsy Cline cover! From Kasey Lansdale! 05/12/16-Check out Timothy Truman's cover painting for Dead on the Bone, a pulp collection coming later this year from Subterranean Press:
05/12/16-Champion Joe and Killer Kasey have co-written The Case of the Bleeding Wall! 05/12/16-Shooting the shit with Joe R. Lansdale. Nuff said. 05/05/16-It's a Lansdale/Lansdale crossover! Killer Kasey is performing the audiobook adaptation of Champion Joe's Fender Lizards! 04/28/16-Behooven Press has just republished Joe's great early novel The Nightrunners with a brand-new cover! As Tim Bryant says, "You can't get your Lansdale Merit Badge if you haven't read this one!"
04/28/16-Heads up, Portland, Maine! Champion Joe's one-act play "By Bizarre Hands" will be performed at the Port Fringe Festival in June!
04/28/16-Place your pre-orders now for Kasey's new EP!
04/21/16-Here's a link to some Hap & Leonard music. More to follow later this year. Haven't even touched on Lefty Frizzell yet. 04/21/16-Champion Joe says, "That's right, there's a new Andrew Vachss novel. Check it out!" 04/14/16-According to Matt Molgaards, Champion Joe's The Bottoms is one of the "15 Best Books of the Century, Thus Far." Who are we to argue? 04/07/16-Hap & Leonard comics? You bet! 04/07/16-You missed the Hap & Leonard TV show? Not too late! Go watch it on Sundance.tv!
03/31/16-It's a Joe R. Lansdale Film Festival at sundance.tv! The four featured films are "Once We Were Children," "Hit Call," "Bar Talk," and "The Drunken Moon"! 03/24/16-From Champion Joe:"Sadly, there is nothing that can be said that matters as much as you would like for it to, but to all those in Brussels, I think of you, for what little that is worth. Stay strong." 03/24/16-One of Champion Joe's rare children's stories is now available for immediate download as an ebook!
03/24/16-"A lot of gays don’t fit stereotypes, and one of the reasons I wrote Leonard is I knew plenty of gay people that weren't the funny neighbor next door." To read Champion Joe's entire Q&A with the New York Times, click here. 03/17/16-Champion Joe is honored to be among the 2016 Spur Award winners from Western Writers of America! Paradise Sky was named Best Historical Western — check it out! 03/17/16-"The teachings of the Church of Lansdale are simple enough: Good, decent people must band together to thwart evil. We must shuffle off our differences and enter into combat for the upright." To read the rest of the Dallas Morning News' review of Honky Tonk Samurai and Hap and Leonard, click here! 03/17/16-Can't get enough of Hap and Leonard? Check out this downloadable short story, "Briar Patch Boogie!" 03/17/16-The Wall Street Journal calls the Sundance Channel's adaptation of Hap and Leonard "wreathed in fear but so rich in atmosphere"! To read the entire review, click here! 03/10/16-Bookreporter calls Honkytonk Samurai "hilarious, crude and violent, peppered through and through with unforgettable characters that leap off the page, dance around the room, and run off down the road. It doesn’t get any better than this." To read the entire review, click here. 03/10/16-If you're enjoying the Sundance Channel's "Hap & Leonard" series, you'll probably also enjoy the book it adapts: Savage Season! 03/10/16-The Sundance Channel's "Hap & Leonard" is getting some sweet press! Check out the reviews in Rolling Stone, Memphis Flyer, JoBlo, and Psycho Drive-in! 03/03/16-Did you miss last night's premier of "Hap & Leonard"? Catch up here!
03/03/16-The San Francisco Chronicle calls "Hap & Leonard" "a steamy Texas noir." The Hollywood Reporter describes it as, "Sweaty, hard-boiled Texas thrills." And the Austin Chronicle declares Champion Joe is "the finest writer ... to come out of Texas since O. Henry kicked off his literary career while stuck in the Travis County Jail after being caught embezzling mucho dinero from the First National Bank of Austin back in the late 19th century." But why not watch the show for your ownself and make up your own quote? 03/03/16-And check out this "Hap & Leonard" animation!
02/25/16-Champion Joe's Honkytonk Samurai has gone into a second printing! Thank you for making this new Hap & Leonard book a hit! 02/25/16-Champion Joe was interviewed on the NPR radio show "Fresh Air!"
02/25/16-Sundance TV asked Champion Joe six questions — here are the answers! 02/25/16-We're less than a week away from the March 2 premier of Sundance TV's adaptation of "Hap & Leonard"! Check out these videos to get primed!
02/25/16-Champion Joe says, "Harper Lee was the conscious of the South, the way Twain had been — and more than the South, the whole country. Her novel is my favorite novel. The film made from her novel is my favorite film. Harper Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird really mattered in my life, beyond just a good read. I know that's true of many readers of her novel, and viewers of the film. Thank you, Harper Lee." 02/18/16-If you're a fan of 1970s rock, Champion Joe says you'll want to check out his friend's GoFundMe project! 02/18/16-And speaking of Joe's friends ... have you seen Bruce Campbell's "Ash vs. Evil Dead"? 02/11/16-"There’s excessive violence ... raunchy language, sexist attitudes, tasteless humor, adolescent clowning around and general vulgarity. Not to mention characters named Weasel and Booger." To read the entire New York Times Book Review of Champion Joe's Honkytonk Samurai, click here! 02/11/16-Watch the Sundance Channel behind-the-scenes video for next month's "Hap & Leonard" TV series:
02/11/16-"Lansdale is nothing short of a master storyteller, having perfected a conversational style that evokes well deserved comparisons to Mark Twain. Reading a Lansdale novel is not unlike sitting down with your windy grandpa and listening to him spin yarns that are just as thoroughly entertaining as they are outlandish but somehow still maintain little nuggets of truth that keep you wondering." To read the entire Lebanon Daily Record review of Champion Joe's Honkytonk Samurai, click here! 02/04/16-On sale now!
02/04/16-"Joe R. Lansdale is the toast of Italy, a hot property in Hollywood, and an inspiration to a generation of horror and thriller writers everywhere. And he owes it all to Nacogdoches." To read the entire story from the February 2016 issue of Texas Monthly, click here! 01/28/16-Watch the Access Hollywood sneak peak of the Sundance Channel's new "Hap & Leonard" TV series:
01/21/16-On sale now! The limited edition of Paradise Sky:
01/14/16-Get news about the new "Hap & Leonard" TV series first! Sign up here! And to watch a preview...
01/14/16-Champion Joe says, "Mention a book, you get a few thousand. Mention a TV show and you get many thousands. Neat and disconcerting at the same time. I love film and am involved in it, but I'm a writer first. Would love for those same excited people to buy the books. Now that would be cool. Since Honkytonk Samurai comes out next month, order now. Show some love if you like Hap and Leonard, or are curious, or want to see the basis for the TV show. I wouldn't mind Honkytonk Samurai being a bestseller and I wouldn't mind readers making it one." 01/07/16-If you like Champion Joe's writing and would like to help us share it with the masses, here's a way to do that: pre-order the forthcoming Hap & Leonard novel, Honkytonk Samurai. It's available at bookstores, Amazon, Barnes and Noble websites, you name it. But preorder or buy the day it comes out -- that's how places like the New York Times determine what makes their list. And what makes their list is what gets read. Thanks! 01/07/16-And that goes for all our friends in Italy, too! Here's an Italian review of Honkytonk Samurai! 12/24/15-Check it out! First Hap & Leonard graphic novel!
12/17/15-First teaser trailer from the Sundance Channel's Hap & Leonard!
12/17/15-In March 2016, Tachyon is releasing Hap & Leonard, a collection of stories featuring ... wait for it ... Hap & Leonard! Some have been collected before, some haven't. And if you get the ebook version, Hap & Leonard Ride Again, you'll find that contains even more new or uncollected material! 12/10/15-Sundance channel creates series from Joe Lansdale's Hap & Leonard mysteries
12/10/15-Champion Joe received the Raymond Chandler Award at the Courmayeur Noir In Festival: check it out! 12/10/15-Kasey Lansdale!
12/03/15-It's a "colorful tale with characters that have depth"! It's "great stuff, and you'll enjoy every word"! It's Champion Joe's Fender Lizards, and you should check it out! 12/03/15-Check out Champion Joe's "Santa Explains" in the first volume of Christmas Horror, available for preorder from Dark Regions Press! 12/03/15-Here's your chance to win a "Hap and Leonard" prize pack from the Sundance Channel! Entries accepted until December 14! 12/03/15-Dark Regions interviewed Champion Joe! Listen in here! 11/26/15-No need to be blue! Here comes Steam Man#2!
11/26/15-Thankful for family:
11/19/15-Champion Joe says, "Horrified by the events in Paris. My condolences and I hope the cowards responsible for arranging such an attack are all brought to justice." 11/19/15-Kasey Lansdale at a performance in Los Angeles. Give it a listen and a share if you like it. 11/19/15-"Dynamite-loving bounty hunter Smith [and his] ragtag team ... achieve a smooth and high-energy dynamic as they use smart tactics, high carnage, and unlimited silver bullets to take down cowboy ghouls." To read the entire review of Hell's Bounty by Publishers Weekly, click here! 11/12/15-New York Times shout-out to Champion Joe from David Linde, here! 11/05/15-Coming February, 2016: a new Hap and Leonard novel, Honkytonk Samurai!
11/05/15-Champion Joe says, "NOW WE'RE TALKING. Ladies and gentlemen, my brother, ANDREW VACHSS":
10/29/15-Champion Joe's Fender Lizards received a starred review from Publishers Weekly! Check it out! 10/15/15-The Steam Man comics adaptation is almost here! In the meantime, read this interview about it! 10/08/15-First Look! James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams in "Hap and Leonard!"
10/08/15-And you can catch up with Hap and Leonard with this collection of short stories, due in March 2016! 10/08/15-Champion Joe says: "Hap and Leonard grew up in a town a lot like the one Rocky Hawkins, an old school chum, grew up in. His short but compelling memoir hits on all the stuff that has been the roots of my fiction most of my career. We knew most of the same people, knew the real stories, the rumors. Very compelling read. I recommend it for anyone interested in a good memoir, or if you would just like to read something by someone from the same background as myself, Hap and Leonard, my creations based on a lot of what Rocky talks about here." 10/08/15-If the Western town of Falling Rock isn’t dangerous enough due to drunks, fast guns, and greedy miners, it gets a real dose of ugly when a soulless, dynamite-loving bounty hunter named Smith rides into town to bring back a bounty, dead or alive — preferably dead. In the process, Smith sets off an explosive chain of events that send him straight to the waiting room in Hell where he is offered a one-time chance to absolve himself. Check out Hell's Bounty, by Joe R. Lansdale and John L. Lansdale, to be published February 2016. 10/08/15-Warning! Almost sold out! The unmistakable accent of the Piney Woods of East Texas rolls from the pages of Fender Lizards, Joe R. Lansdale’s tale of the life and love and work of Dot Sherman, who waitresses on roller skates at the Dairy Bob, doesn’t care for smoking on account of her dad having never returned from a cigarette run, and carries on the family tradition of philosophizing. Life hasn't done her any favors in her seventeen years. But if there was ever a heroine built for turning things upside down and seeing what shakes out, it's Dot. To be published this November. Click here to reserve your copy! (And take note: the limited-edition includes three new Hap & Leonard stories!) 10/08/15-You liked Paradise Sky? You'll love this limited edition! 10/01/15-Champion Joe made the map!
10/01/15-Kasey plays Boston! 10/01/15-"The Steam Man is sort of like Pacific Rim set in the old West. It’s about a gentleman who causes a rift in time and because of that, everything from history comes piling in this era in the 1800s. It’s up to one man, Captain Beedle, who builds this giant steam man to navigate it through the prairie to destroy the greatest threat the world has ever known." To read the rest of Mark Alan Miller's interview with Comics Bulletin, click here!
09/17/15-So, you are a collector and you'd like a nice edition of three novels Champion Joe wrote under the pen-name Jack Buchanan? Now's your chance. These are going fast. Joe wrote these from base outlines by Stephen Mertz, and since Joe's not known for following directions, Stephen retouched them, adding "he grunted" and "he growled," which Joe hates, but Stephen put them in line with the series he created. Here they are. 09/10/15-Sundance TV wants to know: What's your favorite Hap and Leonard novel? 08/20/15-If the Western town of Falling Rock isn't dangerous enough due to drunks, fast guns, and greedy miners, it gets a real dose of ugly when a soulless, dynamite-loving bounty hunter named Smith rides into town to bring back a bounty, dead or alive — preferably dead. In the process, Smith sets off an explosive chain of events that send him straight to the waiting room in Hell where he is offered a one-time chance to absolve himself. Click here to reserve your copy of Hell's Bounty by Joe and John Lansdale! 08/20/15-"My books sort of arrive on their own, like relatives you like but didn't know were coming. Some become long term house guests. Others just drop by and say hi." To read the rest of Mark Gunnells's interview with Champion Joe, click here ! 08/13/15—Check it out! An advance look at the cover to the second issue of Dark Horse's comics adaptation of The Steam Man!
08/13/15—Peculiar weather settles over a bustling Texas sea port, a city made prosperous off the cotton trade and thick with racial inequality. The sky above Galveston darkens to the sickly green of a healing bruise, the sea turns black, and the inhabitants of the city have no idea the force of the hammer about to drop on them.... It's The Big Blow, and it's now available on Amazon! 08/06/15-Kasey Lansdale captivated the Twin Cities! That's not us saying it — that's The Examiner! 07/30/15-Sundance TV learned nine things from Champion Joe! 07/30/15-Paradise Sky is among the Houston Chronicle's favorite books of the year (so far)! 07/30/15-Champion Joe says, "Sometimes it's hard to understand people and their desire to kill wild animals." Sign the petition to demand justice for Cecil the Lion. 07/30/15-Check out Limbus 2, which includes Champion Joe's "Fishing for Dinosaurs"! 07/30/15-More on Christina Hendricks joining the cast of "Hap & Leonard" from UPI. 07/23/15-This October:
07/16/15-Joe says, "Tom Piccirilli has died. Damn. Good writer. Good guy. I am sad for his family. He fought cancer to the mat for a long time, but the damn stuff cheated. It took away a good man." 07/16/15-Ladies and gentlemen! Hap's ex-wife Trudy has entered the building! Welcome Christina Hendricks to the cast of "Hap and Leonard":
07/16/15-Champion Joe shares his story on how he decided to write about African-American cowboy Nat Love in his new novel, Paradise Sky, on KAZI 88.7FM. Lansdale's interview airs immediately after the Jewell Parker Rhodes interview. Click here to listen! 07/16/15-Bill Crider says Paradise Sky "is replete with Lansdale's usual storytelling zest and energy, and as always in a Lansdale novel there are laughs and violence, often on the same page." Click here to read the entire review! 07/09/15-"Lansdale has pulled out all the stops to deliver a rip-roaring tale completely in keeping with dime-novel traditions and the cinematic hyperbole of Blazing Saddles or Django Unchained." To read the entire New York Times review of Paradise Sky, click here! 07/09/15-Hap & Leonard graphic novels! Check it out:
07/09/15-Champion Joe says, "This is long overdue and I'm happy it has happened. Gay marriage is legal." 07/09/15-What?! You didn't know Champion Joe was one of the Speculative Poets of Texas? Well, you do now. 06/25/15-"Hap and Leonard" actors Neil Sandilands and Bill Page with Champion Joe in Baton Rouge:
06/25/15-Michael K. Williams — Leonard in the "Hap and Leonard" series — with Killer Kasey:
06/25/15-"Even if the prolific Joe Lansdale created an imaginary twin (don't put it past him), the two combined probably wouldn't have enough fingers and toes to count all of his published novels. So when he says Paradise Sky was the most fun one to write, take heed." To read the entire interview from Kirkus, click here! 06/25/15-"Reading Paradise Sky by Joe R. Lansdale is to immerse oneself in a realm of roughneck, shoot-’em-up western writing where fact and fiction blend effortlessly on the page, and the action is only outgunned by the author's tilt for beautiful literary prose." To read the entire review of Champion Joe's latest from The New York Journal of Books, click here! 06/25/15-Straight-up vocals by Killer Kasey:
06/18/15-"Paradise Sky is a remarkable achievement, an instant classic of Western lit, and, while fiction, it probably brings us as close to the essence of who Nat Love really was as any tome is likely to do." To read the entire review of Champion Joe's latest from The Dallas News, click here! 06/18/15-"In a short piece Lansdale wrote for Mulholland Books, he says he has worked on [Paradise Sky] for 30 years but couldn't get publishers interested in a novel about a black cowboy. He found that reaction 'offensive and defeating,' but when he did score a publisher, he says he wrote the novel in 'a white-hot passion.' You can feel that passion in the energy and rhythm of Paradise Sky. Lansdale has unleashed something remarkable." To read the entire review from The Houston Chronicle, click here! 06/11/15-Well, the editors of Entertainment Weekly will be reading some great fiction this summer! How about you?
And in case you can't read the fine print, it says, "Part comedy, part thriller, this Texas-flavored historical Western follows the adventures of an African-American cowboy who's on the run after the murder of his father." You in? 06/11/15-The story behind the story! Champion Joe writes about the origins of Paradise Sky here! 06/11/15-Champion Joe is one of a slate of authors paying tribute to David B. Silva in Better Weird. Check it out! 05/21/15-"Lansdale fills his pages with true-hearted heroes, dastardly scoundrels, and rollicking adventures." To read the entire starred review for Paradise Sky from Publishers Weekly, click here! Paradise Sky will be released June 16! 05/21/15-It's cooler in Italian....
05/14/15-Champion Joe says, "Just got news I received the Bram Stoker award for my story in the long fiction category, 'Fishing for Dinosaurs.' Cool. I am honored." 05/14/15-Kasey Lansdale is up for Best New Texas Female Artist for her song "Sorry Ain't Enough"! If you like her music, you can vote for her here. 05/07/15-Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present ... Hap Collins!
05/07/15-Kasey went on the Texas Music Chart to discuss her hot single, "Sorry Ain't Enough!" Watch it here! 04/23/15-Kasey found some first editions of Savage Season. $45 including shipping in the United States. Contact Kasey to reserve your copies or get postage for international. 04/16/15-You already know about the "Hap & Leonard" TV show, right? Well, how about the Hap & Leonard comic book? Check this out:
04/09/15-Kasey Lansdale's song "Sorry Ain't Enough" is climbing on Texas radio charts. Those of you who have enjoyed it and called in, or have yet to call in, maybe you'd like to help it keep climbing. You can call or even go online to certain Texas country stations and request it, and you don't have to be a Texan. Just someone who wants to hear it or wants to see it continue to climb. Click here! 04/02/15-Hey, German fans! Die Nacht der lebenden Texte says that Cold in July is Viel mehr als ein Rachethriller! 03/26/15-If you like Champion Joe's work and want to help boost his sales, consider preordering his latest, Paradise Sky, now. Use your favorite method: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, local bookstore, or any other outlet. We'd like to see the book get a big preorder from readers who enjoy Joe's work, or want to try it out. So NOW would be good. 03/26/15-The first season of the "Hap and Leonard" show on the Sundance Channel will adapt Savage Season! 03/26/15-Hey, Italian fans! Check out this conversazione con Joe R. Lansdale! And this one, too, while you're at it!
03/26/15-Richard Christian Matheson and David Schow with Champion Joe, from what's fondly called "the day." (And with Karen and Avatar, below!)
03/19/15-Last week, Variety announced that Michael K. Williams would portray Leonard in the Sundance Channel adaptation of Champion Joe's Hap and Leonard series. So who's playing Hap? You'll have to wait for that. But here's who is playing Howard from Savage Season. And if you need to catch up on the books, you can do that here. 03/19/15-Booklist gave a starred review to Champion Joe's Paradise Sky, calling it "rowdy, funny, suspenseful, and often quite moving." So get moved and get your copy here! 03/19/15-Library Journal also gave a starred review to Paradise Sky. They say "this fast-paced Western ... is a winner." You can be a winner, too, when you get your copy here! 03/12/15-From Variety: Michael K. Williams To Star In Hap and Leonard
03/12/15-And from before that announcement ... check out the Leonard cover Ken Laager painted for the Rogues collection:
03/05/15-You missed the Nacogdoches Film Festival?! Here's what you missed:
03/05/15-Champion Joe's got a Christmas book in the works, and it's not for kids. Adults only. Check it out:
02/26/15-Ever wonder what East Texas looks like? Wonder at this! 02/26/15-Want a ton of Subterranean ebooks (including Champion Joe's Black Hat Jack) for not a lot of money? Click here! 02/26/15-Champion Joe went on The Chauncey DeVega Show to talk about Bubba Ho-Tep, Cold in July, and living a creative life. Listen here! Bar Talk (short film) from Lowell Northrop on Vimeo. 02/19/15-Champion Joe's friend David Morrell has a new book coming out from Mulholland. Check out Inspector of the Dead! 02/19/15-Earthling Publications is producing a limited, signed edition of The Thicket! If you're looking for something really nice and special, this edition is it. Ken Laager's art is fantastic. 02/12/15-Damn! Check it out! Kasey Lansdale interview in Billboard! 02/12/15-One thousand words by each of 100 authors: that's the flash-fiction anthology Baby Shoes. If you want that book to be a reality, click here! 02/05/15-Click here to read an interview with Jim Mickle on Cold in July and "Hap and Leonard," forthcoming on The Sundance Channel. 02/05/15-Check it out! Champion Joe's very first photo in a newspaper! 02/05/15-"Singing has taken me all over the world and introduced me to some amazing people, and I feel lucky every day when I wake up because I get to do what I love. I'm just so happy no one has given me a good shake and told me to get a real job yet!" To read Kasey Lansdale's entire interview with The Tennessee Life, click here! And to see the respect she gets from her fellow Texans, check out the Best of the Upper East Side of Texas list! AND ... great interview with her on KYTX! 01/29/15-"One of the best books of 2014 was a book first published the year before. A cross between a crime novel and an old-fashioned western, The Thicket by award-winning East Texas author Joe R. Lansdale made many 'best of' lists for both years." To read the entire review from The Florida Times-Union, click here! 01/29/15-You like short stories? Champion Joe's in a couple new anthologies! Check out Insidious Assassins, which is exactly what it sounds like, and Limbus, Inc - Book 2, about a very strange employment agency. 01/29/15-Here's the trailer to "Postpartum," the short film starring Kasey Lansdale: 01/22/15-Van Gogh's Ear Volume 9 includes interviews with both Champion Joe and Kasey! Check it out! 01/22/15-Champion Joe says, "Paradise Sky, forthcoming. I can't begin to say how pleased I am with this book, one I have wanted to write for over thirty years, and now, I have. Check it out here." 01/15/15-The Florida Times-Union selected The Thicket as one of the best books of 2014! Check it out! 01/15/15-Kasey Lansdale was voted best local singer/songwriter! 01/15/15-It will still be a while, but Champion Joe's book on writing tips will be forthcoming from Pandi Press. Pandi will go into operation sometime later this year, reprinting The Big Blow, A Fine Dark Line, and Freezer Burn. Go show Pandi some love with likes. 01/15/15-Kasey Lansdale is in an upcoming short film, Postpartum, directed by Izzy Lee. Check it out! 01/15/15-Champion Joe says,"I dearly love Andrew Vachss' The Getaway Man, and not just because it's dedicated to me. It's great, a tribute to the Gold Medal novels Andrew and I love. What a fine novel." 01/08/15-Champion Joe and Keith Lansdale have a story in Vampirella: Feary Tales #3, and it involves a stripjoint named Grandma's House and a pack of werebears. Check it out! 01/08/15-What? You didn't know Champion Joe's Cold in July was adapted to film this past summer? Where you been? You can catch up here! 01/08/15-If your New Year's resolution was to read more ebooks by Champion Joe, here's the place to go! 01/01/15-About time, and long overdue: "The First Legal Gay Marriage in Texas." 01/01/15-"After three-plus decades toiling in semi-obscurity, the prolific Nacogdoches-based horror fiction author [Joe R. Lansdale] is having a moment." Yeah, you and I know that means the only author these guys have heard of is Stephen King, but ... well, here's the article from Texas Monthly anyway. 01/01/15-Honkytonk Samurai, the new Hap and Leonard book, is just about finished and it's full of surprises for long-time fans. It probably won't appear until 2016, but Joe will be turning it in sometime this month, and it should be out a year or so later. 12/25/14-A Christmas memory, from Joe to you! 12/25/14-Wanna spend "Christmas with the Dead"? Now you can, at a bargain price! Click here! 12/25/14-You already knew Peter Dinklage from "Game of Thrones" was adapting The Thicket to film. But now everybody knows, thanks to Time Magazine! 12/18/14-"[My grandmother] Ole wasn't one to carry on about the good old days. She thought they were pretty skunky. What she remembered were hard times, lowering buckets into wells, using outdoor toilets frequently occupied by spiders or snakes, and having to eat pretty much anything that didn't eat her." You can read the rest of Champion Joe's Texas Observer article "Where Are My Flying Cars?" by clicking here! 12/11/14-Kasey Lansdale was interviewed by Music Row! Watch the video here! 12/11/14-Champion Joe's "Drunken Moon" has been adapted into a short short film! Check it out:
12/11/14-Heads up, Los Angeles! Champion Joe will be there March 22 for the 35th Annual Los Angeles Vintage Paperback Collectors Show and Sale! 12/11/14-Hap and Leonard novel moves forward. Honkytonk Samurai. 12/11/14-Black Hat Jack. Want one of these, now's the time to jump. Going fast in all editions.
12/11/14-Niccolò Ammaniti conversa con il suo Maestro Joe R. Lansdale qui! 12/11/14-Obsessions is a really fine anthology with good reprint stories, including one by Champion Joe. Check it out! 12/04/14-Nacogdoches Film Festival! Head to the Land of Lansdale February 26 to 28 to meet Champion Joe and watch his movies! Meet special guest George R.R. Martin! Eat popcorn! More info here! 12/04/14-You can keep up with the latest developments on The Sundance Channel's "Hap and Leonard" TV series here. 12/04/14-Champion Joe says, "Bill Crider and Judy Crider are two of our dearest friends, and we lost Judy to cancer. She fought valiantly for years, and had it on the run many times, but finally it won. Judy was one of the kindest, nicest people in the universe. We have thought of her every day through her sickness. Devastating. We are thinking of her and Bill now. A terrible loss, but I'm glad she's no longer in pain. Talk about a tough and wonderful woman, that was our Judy Crider. Our sympathies go out to her family." 11/20/14-Champion Joe's story "I Tell You It's Love" is avilable as a graphic novel by Daniele Serra! With music tracks by Kasey Lansdale and Julie Gibb! Check it out:
11/20/14-"A Bone Dead Sadness" is a story about Marvin Hanson, who appeared in Act of Love and frequently appears in the Hap and Leonard novels. You can get it quick and cheap, as in 99 cents, here on Kindle. 11/20/14-And here's a free one! "Naked Angel," written by Champion Joe for the LA Noire game! 11/20/14-Cold in July will be playing at the Torino Film Festival, and so will Champion Joe, Jim Mickle, the director, Linda Moran, producer, Kasey Lansdale, who has two songs in the soundtrack, and more of the Lansdale family! 11/20/14-On an island with a prison for the most evil and powerful criminals in the world, a new prisoner is strapped to the electric chair. After multiple surges of electricity and nearly knocking out power to the entire island, the prisoner is finally dead. The staff buries him with a simple marker baring three numbers: 489. But a violent storm rocks the islands and the burial site of prisoner 489 has been unearthed, and the body is missing. Champion Joe's latest, Prisoner 489, just hit shelves this past Tuesday! Check it out! 11/20/14-The film adaptation of "By the Hair of the Head" garnered five awards at the AFM and Zed Fest film festival in Burbank! And to celebrate... 11/13/14-Hap & Leonard is on at Sundance!!
11/13/14-Kasey's hanging with Bill Paxton! And Bill Paxton's working on adapting The Bottoms to film! 10/30/14-Check out Champion Joe's new novella, Prisoner 489, and the special Halloween giveaway! 10/30/14-Cold in July has won best film at the 2014 Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards! 10/30/14-Kasey Lansdale bonanza! First, listen to this interview with her, then watch and vote for this video of "Sorry Ain't Enough!" 10/30/14-If you have a love for writers like Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs or characters like Tarzan, the Shadow, the Spider, and G8, you'll want to check out "Fishing for Dinosaurs," Champion Joe's short story in the anthology Limbus 2. It plays with a lot of pulp legends reimagined, as if all we know about them had been misunderstood. 10/23/14-Head's up, Los Angeles! Champion Joe and a dozen others will be in town November 6 for a signing of Dark Phantastique: Encounters with the Uncanny and Other Magical Things! More info here! 10/23/14-Check out Kasey Lansdale during the making of her video "Sorry Ain't Enough!"
10/23/14-Champion Joe says, "This event didn't make me a writer, but in many ways it taught me to quit sitting on my hands and do the work—that life is not an endless supply of days and options." 10/16/14-Kasey Lansdale's "Sorry Ain't Enough" video has been picked up by Great American Country! Click on the pic to watch the flick:
10/16/14-"Joe Lansdale is kind of like a genre-fiction Ted Williams—he's been remarkably consistent over his long career, and he's way out in left field." To read the entire Texas Observer article, "All in the Lansdale Family," click here! 10/09/14-Calling all fellow Texans! Texas Country chanteuse Kasey Lansdale is performing at The Wittliff Collections: East Texas in Story and Song Author Event at Texas State University TODAY (Thursday, October 9). It will also feature a book signing and reading with award-winning authors Joe Lansdale and Wes Ferguson. If you're around the area be sure to stop by. More info here! 10/09/14-Can't make it to The Wittliff Collections event? Then click over to Y'allwire to watch Kasey's video for "Sorry Ain't Enough!" 10/09/14-Champion Joe's "By the Hair of the Head" has been adapted to short film. Re-read the story in Bestsellers Guaranteed, then check out the trailer:
10/09/14-Last weekend marked the 18th annual Camp Lansdale for Shen Chuan Martial Science. KTRE stopped by to check things out. 10/09/14-Champion Joe says, "This piece by my brother Andrew Vachss I've read several times, but rereading it does me good. I think you will enjoy it, and check out this fine novel." 10/09/14-How many books does Champion Joe have among the 100 Scariest Horror Novels of All Time? Well, go count for yourself. As for what would go on Joe's list: 1. Dracula 2. I Am Legend. 3. Salem's Lot. 4. The Shining. 5. The Stand. 6. Something Wicked This Way Comes 7. Ghost Story 8. Rosemary's Baby. 9. Stepford Wives 10. Psycho 10/09/14-Head's up, Chicago! Champion Joe's November appearance has just been fortified with more Lansdale: Keith Lansdale will be joining him! More info here!
10/02/14-Coming Spring 2015
10/02/14-Head's up, Burbank! Champion Joe is hitting town November 5 for the release of Prisoner 489, book two in the Black Labyrinth series! More info here! (And read the Publishers Weekly review of that book here! 10/02/14-A lot of this interview from the 2012 World Horror Convention is about writing. Check it out here! 10/02/14-On sale now! Deadwood Dick stood alongside Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, and Jesse James as a hero in the old Dime Novels of decades past. And just like those other mythic figures, he was, while not accurately portrayed, a real person. Those Dime Novels had Deadwood as a white champion of justice and adventure. In reality, though, Deadwood Dick was a black cowboy, a buffalo soldier, an Indian fighter, and a general hellraiser. Champion Joe takes his shot at rectifying the record with Black Hat Jack: The True Life Adventures of Deadwood Dick, as told by His Ownself. Heroics abound. Curse words fly. Humor flows as free as blood, and there's even a spot of romance. And with all that real-life bravado, there might even be a few lies. 10/02/14-Check out Kasey Lansdale's new music video, "Sorry Ain't Enough! " 09/25/14-Peter Dinklage is set to star in the film adaptation of The Thicket! Read all about it in 09/25/14-Forbes picked Cold in July as one of the best films of this past summer—check it out! And now you can download the film from iTunes! 09/18/14-A short review of four Mojo short stories.
09/11/14-We're three days away from the paperback release of The Thicket, a book described as "hellish and hilarious" by The Austin Chronicle, "captivating as the best of Larry McMurtry and written in a style reminiscent of Mark Twain" by Library Journal, and "dripping [with] storytelling mojo" by Dallas Morning News. Get yours now! (That includes you, Germany!) 09/11/14-Champion Joe says, "I'm posting this to help in my small way to raise the awareness of one of my favorite writers, Chet Williamson. Here's his Wiki listing, and here's his Kindle store. I'm hoping it will lead some of you to his writings." And here's a good place to start: From Joe's brother Andrew Vachss, and you get Chet Williamson, too. 09/11/14-Here's a book giveaway for Limbus 2, in which Champion Joe has a story. 09/11/14-Champion Joe was interviewed by KENW in Santa Fe, and you can watch it here! 09/04/14-What's it like, growing up Lansdale? Like this. 09/04/14-Damn right, Joe's on Nook! Check it out! 09/04/14-What did you binge on this summer? Heath Lowrance binged on Champion Mojo Storytelling! 08/28/14-In George Martin's "Princess and The Queen," in the collction Dangerous Women, note the death of the brave Lorleth Lansdale. A fine ancestor, no doubt. Well, of an alternate-universe sort. 08/28/14-When Edge of Dark Water was released in paperback, Champion Joe was asked to answer some questions and suggest some topics for book clubs. Read those answers here! 08/28/14-"Bullets and Fire," free! 08/28/14-Circuit 42 interviews Champion Joe! 08/28/14-Cold in July on Blu-ray! Pre-order here! 08/28/14-Champion Joe says, "The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is something that raises money for a good cause. Or, like me, if you prefer to just give money, give money. But, hey, here's the information. And on another day I might ice it up myself. But it is something worth reaching into your wallet for." And here is Kasey's response. 08/28/14-"Every time I read a Lansdale book, I have trouble putting it down." That's what author Holly Newstein said, and we sympathize with her. 08/21/14—Exclusive: Joe R. Lansdale on His Hap & Leonard Crime Novels Coming to the Sundance Channel! 08/21/14—The Tall Grass and Other Stories is a collection of Champion Joe's shorter fiction, many of them flash fiction. It borrows from The King and Other Stories, as well as Unchained and Unhinged, and some never before collected. Check it out! 08/21/14—Kasey Lansdale's "Restless," produced by John Carter Cash! 08/21/14—Champion Joe's dear friend Bill Crider won the Western Fictioneers award for Best Independent Published Western Novel for Songbird! Bonus: Kasey Lansdale is on the cover as an Old West saloon girl. 08/21/14—Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio have compiled Stories: All-New Tales, which includes work by Roddy Doyle, Jodi Picoult, Carolyn Parkhurst, Jeffery Deaver, Walter Mosley, Chuck Palahniuk, Diana Wynne Jones, Richard Adams, Gene Wolfe, Joe Hill, Michael Moorcock, Elizabeth Hand, and Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale! 08/14/14-What?! You still haven't read Cold in July? 08/14/14-A Bone Dead Sadness is a Marvin Hanson novella, and a kind of locked-room crime story, a little different than much of Champion Joe's crime work. Marvin appears in the Hap and Leonard novels, and is the main character in Act of Love. 08/14/14-Bubba Ho-Tep, baby! 08/14/14-When his dad accidentally committed murder, plug-ugly Norville had to flee with him to Texas to start a new life. Near the town of Wood Tick, Norville meets and marries the pretty Sissy and even finds a homestead, good as new, but abandoned. The only problem is the well, which is blocked by big, white stones. One by one, they unblock the well, unaware they're slowly setting free something old and dark and evil... Crawling Sky 08/14/14-Champion Joe says, "Yesterday we were driving to Houston and found a starving pup, possibly a pit bull. The dog's ribs almost show through. It's possible the dog escaped by accident and has been on the run for a month, but I doubt it. I think the dog wasn't fed properly and was dropped off. We took him home and have started fattening him up. A point: Dropping a dog off in the hopes of someone finding it is not good. That doesn't make you a good person. That sucks. The animal shelter certainly puts dogs to death, but dogs are also adopted. There are also some no-kill shelters. But the point is, starving slowly, being hit by a car, is far worse than a dog being put to sleep. And there is that possibility of adoption. Choosing a dog and then abandoning them because life gets tough or you have decided you want to go on a trip is stupid and cruel and inhumane. Anyway. I have a new dog. In a couple of months you won't recognize him as the skeleton we picked up on the road." 08/07/14-Forthcoming from Black Labyrinth Books will be Prisoner 489, a horror novella in the old-school tradition. An island where prisoners of an unusual nature are held, a nearby smaller island that serves as a cemetery for the executed prisoners, and a storm-filled night on the island that goes way bad. 08/07/14-Champion Joe and his son Keith wrote one of the comic stories in this forthcoming Vampirella extravaganza that uses fairy tales for its base. 08/07/14-Steampunked is a two-story collection, one actually a novella. Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down, combined with "Trains Not Taken." If you are easily offended you might want to skip Steam Man. If not, this is a good price for a novella and a short story. 08/07/14-Champion Joe is included in Screamplays, a collection of screenplays by horror authors! 08/07/14-Coming 2015:
08/07/14-Kasey gets name-checked in a comic book! Check it out! 08/07/14-Cold in July is coming out on DVD! 08/07/14-Champion Joe says, "Fine article from The Houston Chronicle. One mistake. I was sixteen or seventeen when the event with my dad happened. Not twelve. Pretty sure I was sixteen. I had just started to drive a car as I recall." 07/31/14-Champion Joe says, "James M. Cain was the master of hard-boiled prose, lean clean dialogue shiny as a new dime. He wrote like a demon on holiday, sexed up and hung over, and he changed the landscape of literature as surely as Ernest Hemingway or William Faulkner or Raymond Chandler." To read the entire article, click here. 07/31/14-Check out this article written by Andrew Vachss on Act of Love, Champion Joe's first novel. Joe says, "I'm not overly fond of this novel these days, but a lot of readers still enjoy it, so I've kept it in print in one form or another, or have at least been fortunate enough for it to be in print." 07/31/14-"Kasey [Lansdale] ... can go from playful to soulful without missing a beat. ... On Restless she's got quite a few stories to tell and they're all worth listening to." To read the entire review, click here! 07/24/14-Champion Joe and Daniele Serra have a couple graphic novels in the works! More info to come! 07/24/14-Interview with Kasey Lansdale about singing, songwriting, fiction writing, and editing. When she's quoted as saying "solidarity," she was actually saying "solitary." Damn accent. 07/24/14-Speaking of Kasey ... she has a story in Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets, a Sherlock Holmes anthology due out October 2014. 07/24/14-Champion Joe says, "New Hap and Leonard book, Honkytonk Samurais, is well in progress. Next year watch for a big epic Western novel, Paradise Sky, followed by that Hap and Leonard. Paradise Sky is in the spring of 2015, Hap and Leonard release uncertain just yet." 07/24/14-Heads up, Chicago! Champion Joe will be coming to town for the first time in more than 15 years this November! Centuries & Sleuths will host a signing the afternoon of Sunday, November 2; later that evening, Open Books will host a session on defense techniques for the zombie apocalypse; and on Monday, Champion Joe will host a screening of Christmas with the Dead! More info to come! 07/24/14-Champion Joe has a new short story in Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations! Check it out! 07/17/14-Cold in July: Watch it, read it, listen to the music! 07/17/14-Then read Hot in December! 07/17/14-Rising country star Kasey Lansdale visited Hazard. Check it out! 07/17/14-Michael Flores interviews Champion Joe on BlogTalk Radio! 07/10/14-Thanks, Scott Ballantyne, for this pic of a Champion Mojo Storytelling Bus!
07/10/14-And in case you haven't yet read that novel ... Cold in July 07/10/14-Champion Joe's "Dog Cat Baby" has been adapted to comics alongside Ray Bradbury and Robert E. Howard in the graphic novel Canine Classics! Check it out! 07/03/14-What? You missed the fact that Kasey Lansdale played the 50th birthday party for Joss Whedon? 07/03/14-Check out this piece from Bleeding Cool: Jim Mickle On Cold In July And Remaining Faithful To Joe R. Lansdale! 06/26/14-Check out Johnny Shaw's article for the Huffington Post, "The Descendants of Holmes and Watson: 11 Literary Partners-in-Crime"! Did Hap and Leonard make the list? Would we mention it if they hadn't?! 06/26/14-Terrific audio review of Cold in July here, though the Hap and Leonard series they also mention is set to appear on SUNDANCE, not SHOWTIME, and thanks to Lewayne White for bringing it to our attention! 06/26/14-Says Champion Joe: "Forthcoming soon a new horror tale by me titled Prisoner 489. It is unabashed old-style horror. I will release a bit more as we get closer to publication, but until then just know that it will be published by Black Labyrinth. More in the future." 06/26/14-Champion Joe's daughter, Kasey Lansdale, has climbed on the music charts again. HotDisc International charts she moved from 17 to 14. She started out at number 22. Good news. Nice to know there is foreign interest in country music, though the term would mislead a lot of people. It's a mixture of blues and other elements. Anyway, congratulations, Kasey! 06/26/14-Live in the UK? Cold in July releases there June 27! 06/26/14-Says Champion Joe: "Friend of ours, and a good writer, adapted with Don Coscarelli, Incident On and Off a Mountain Road, has been in a very bad accident. He was struck by a car by walking. There is a pitch-in fund established for his medical bills if you're interested. You can check here." 06/19/14-Champion Joe was flying through Newark and ran into ... Champion Joe!
06/19/14-Champion Joe says, "Been on the road promoting the new film, Cold in July, and now we are back home. I loved every minute of the trip, but glad to back in the house. I wrote while on the trip, and now have a large part of a new Hap and Leonard novel. It was great to sit down to the lap top everyday, usually mornings, and find out what the boys are up to. They are up to a lot, and it appears that Jim Bob Luke might be up to some things as well. Anyway, glad to be back in my routine." And if you're a Hap and Leonard fan, check out the novella in Rogues, just released last week! 06/19/14-You can hear an interview with Kasey Lansdale and a snippet of her song SORRY AIN'T ENOUGH here. 06/05/14-Of Cold in July, director Jim Mickle said, "I started the book, finished it that night, hadn't even moved. I turned it over and said, 'How the hell did we get from this opening line to this ending?' I just wanted to make a movie that made me feel how this book made me feel." Read the rest of the article from The Austin Chronicle, and get your copy of the Cold in July novel! 05/29/14-Champion Joe says, "Cold in July film got a five-minute standing ovation at Cannes. It was great to see Jim Mickle, Michael C. Hall, Don Johnson, and all the producers and people who work behind the scenes that no one knows about. But I do. Good work everyone." And check out the photos of Kasey Lansdale-who has two songs in the film-with Michael C. Hall and Jim Mickle. 05/29/14-Need to be in-the-know? Pick up your copy of the Cold in July novel! 05/29/14-NPR says Cold in July "swings from vengeance thriller to three-way buddy movie to father-and-son morality tale with biblical overtones." To read the whole review, click here! 05/29/14-The Washington Post says Cold in July is "a pure pleasure to watch, even when what [Michael C. Hall, Don Johnson and Sam Shepard are] doing is, emphatically, not." To read the whole review, click here! 05/29/14-And from the Los Angeles Times: "Tense and violent, it grabs you from the first moments and rarely loosens its hold until the last body drops." To read the whole review, click here! 05/29/14-Liked Cold in July and want to see more of Champion Joe's work adapted to film? Check out Christmas with the Dead! 05/29/14-Check out Joe in Italy with the book-festival crew, including Marie the Weenie Dog, who is a special assistant. 05/15/14-Nick Damici and Jim Mickle are developing a TV series based on Champion Joe's Hap & Leonard novels! Check it out here and here! 05/08/14-We think this is a French edition of Savage Season, but we don't speak French. 05/08/14-Rush Limbaugh was pissed at Champion Joe. Watch it here! 05/08/14-Writing school is in session, and Professor Champion Joe is at the lectern! 05/01/14-Looking for a good read at a good price that you can download now? Try Waltz of Shadows, The Nightrunners, or the beloved, obscure All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky. 04/24/14-Check out these stills from Cold in July! And, hey, check it out: the film will show at Cannes! 04/24/14-It's not too late to get your copy of the new Champion Joe limited-edition novella, Hot in December! 04/24/14-Champion Joe loves Rin Tin Tin, and he loves Susan Orlean's Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. So if you're anywhere near Santa Fe from May 16 to 18, you'll want to go watch an old Rin Tin Tin movie, meet Susan, and, if you have a handsome German shepherd, participate in the Rin Tin Tin lookalike contest! More info here! 04/24/14-Champion Joe's Italian fans are congregating here! 04/24/14-Illustrations from the limited edition of Black Hat Jack have just been posted here! 04/17/14-Cold in July trailer! Cold in July trailer! Cold in July trailer!
04/17/14-Champion Joe says, "Stephen Graham Jones is one of my favorites. Mark my words, he's coming on like a train." And the Los Angeles Times agrees! 04/17/14-Champion Joe says, "Urban Renewal is another fine and entertaining novel by my brother Andrew Vachss. Check it out." 04/17/14-Heads up, Rhode Island! Kasey Lansdale (who was just profiled in Nashville Arts Magazine) will be performing at the Northeastern Writers' Conference in Portsmouth on July 17. More info here! 04/17/14-Way back in the 1990s, Champion Joe and his compadre Tim Truman worked their zombie-Western magic on DC's Jonah Hex. Now those stories are collected in Jonah Hex: Shadows West! Check it out:
04/10/14-If you missed it in hardcover, you can catch The Thicket in trade paperback this October:
04/10/14-Champion Joe has a story in Darke Phantastique! Check it out! 04/10/14-Twenty books that are as great today as they were in the '90s? Well, that'd have to include Bad Chili. But don't take our word for it—ask The Huffington Post! 04/10/14-New edition of Cold in July to coincide with the film release:
04/10/14-I walk quietly. I learned that when I was a boy. You did not walk quietly, my old man would fly off the handle. He hated a heavy walk. It's "Walks," and it's the totally free Mojo story of the week. Enjoy! 04/03/14-Who's the CMA Spotlight Star of the Month? Why, our very own Kasey Lansdale is the CMA Spotlight Star of the Month! Congratulations, Kasey! 04/03/14-Woohoo! Champion Joe's The Thicket was named among the best historical fiction of 2013 by Library Journal! Check it out! 04/03/14-Lovecraft's Monsters collects short stories by an assortment of authors, including Champion Joe! Check it out! 04/03/14-Champion Joe's Son of Batman animated movie will debut at WonderCon in Anaheim, CA on Friday, April 18. To watch a clip and get more info, click here! 04/03/14-Champion Joe and CMA Spotlight Star of the Month Kasey Lansdale were interrogated the Library Police, and you can listen in! 04/03/14-Champion Joe says Jim Thompson's writing was "Sad and dark, oozing rotten sex and rotten dreams, all of it touched with a kind cheap carnival atmosphere; the kind where the bolts on the rides shake and it's best to keep your hand on your wallet." To read his entire review of the author, click here. 04/03/14-SST Publications will be bringing two of Champion Joe's Mojo stories to comics! Check it out! 03/27/14-Champion Joe says, "All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky got tremendous reviews, but I don't think it was marketed well, and the cover is about as inspiring as a seed catalog, but I think it's one of my best, and consider it an under-appreciated book. Or so I like to think." 03/20/14-Catch the Cold in July coverage on Sam Shepard's website! 03/20/14-In honor of the movie Cold in July, you can get the original hardback novel and a copy of Kasey Lansdale's Restless cd, signed, which features music from the soundtrack plus 10 other tunes produced by John Carter Cash, for $50. (Shipping prices are in US, add $10 international.) Click here to get yours. 03/20/14-A story by Champion Joe is included in Games Creatures Play, a collection that covers the wide world of paranormal pastimes, where striking out might strike you dead. Check it out! 03/20/14-Want the story behind Bubba Hotep? Here you go! 03/13/14-More coverage of Cold in July: 03/13/14-Son of Batman is coming! Champion Joe says, "Coming in May, scripted by me, though Alan Burnett was my wonderful editor on this animated film and helped more than he gives himself credit for, which is none. That ain't right. Yay, Alan. Anyway, here's the trailer." 03/13/14-You read The Drive-In. Now here's The Drive-In 2! 03/06/14-Hap & Leonard TV show! Check it out! 03/06/14-The Bottoms is available as a trade paperback, an audiobook, and a Kindle, and is going to be adapted to film by Bill Paxton! 02/27/14-Champion Joe is the winner of the Best Foreign Author Prize for the 40th edition of the Premio Letterario Internazionale Mondello! Fantastico! 02/20/14-Cold in July is still a few months from hitting theaters, but already they're writing about the next Mojo movie: 02/13/14-Champion Joe contributed a story to Piercing the Darkness, as did Jonathan Maberry, F. Paul Wilson, Christopher Golden, James A. Moore, Jeff Strand, Ronald Malfi, and others. And you can contribute to the Children's Literacy Initiative by ordering a copy here. 02/13/14-Yeah, we know: you're so hot and bothered about Cold in July coming this summer that you're fit to burst. Well ... this ought to put you over the top: 02/13/14-Hap and Leonard alert! There's a new H&L short story in the upcoming anthology Rogues! 02/06/14-Want to be a writer? Check out Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, a collection of "writing secrets" from speculative genre masters like Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, Piers Anthony, Ramsey Campbell, Jack Ketchum, Aimee Bender, writers of The Twilight Zone, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and many more. 01/30/14-Read it before you see it: Cold in July. 01/30/14-Champion Joe visited the Red Oak (TX) High School Book Club. Check it out! 01/30/14-You should check out books by Bill Crider. 01/30/14-A small detail can make a character come alive. Too many details can drown a character. 01/30/14-Grammy Award-winner John Carter Cash introduces fans to country-blues artist Kasey Lansdale right here. 01/23/14-From Joe: "Our family friend Norman Johnson died. He had been ill for some time. He was a very kind and interesting man who had many fascinating life experiences. Knew Elvis, just about everyone in the country-music business. he was very helpful to my daughter when she was starting out. I spoke to him a couple weeks ago, so it's hard to believe. He will be missed." 01/23/14-Publishers Weekly on the hardcover release of The Ape Man's Brother: "Although the tale of the lord of the jungle ... has been told many times, rarely has it been told from the perspective of one of his hominid companions. ... Lansdale is a master craftsman, and even when he is paying homage to a carefully unnamed famous protagonist from a long string of novels and movies, he adds something new (and often unsavory) to the mix."
01/23/14-"Sundance: IFC Acquiring Jim Mickle-Directed 'Cold In July'" 01/23/14-Variety says Cold in July is "arguably the best work Mickle has yet done." 01/23/14-"Cold in July: Michael C. Hall's unforgettable Texas thriller" 01/16/14-From Joe: "We have lost my good friend and great writer Neal Barrett, Jr. He is like family with the Lansdales, and he will be missed. Hell, I miss him already. I wish Neal had known how much people cared about his work. I don't think he realized. He had been ill for sometime, so our talks were not what they used to be, but he was a good friend for many years and we had many adventures together, all of them goofy. As soon as we got together things went haywire. One of my favorite Neal stories is we attended a convention and when we were ready to go to lunch he said, 'Let's go in my car.' So out we went. But he couldn't remember where he parked. He searched and searched for his car. We finally went in ours, and he looked later for it and gave up. He had to wait until the convention was over to find it sitting alone in the parking lot." 01/16/14-CSI and Law & Order and all those other crime shows, they usually miss the mark. But with True Detective, HBO got it right. 01/16/14-In coordination with the release of the film adaptation, Tachyon will publish the official movie tie-in edition of Champion Joe's Cold in July, complete with an introduction by director Jim Mickle and an afterword by Champion Joe. Click here for more information. 01/02/14-Champion Joe talks about his sentimental favorite author, Edgar Rice Burroughs, here. 01/02/14-Heads up, Lansdale, Pennsylvania! Champion Joe will be phoning in to the library reading group, discussing his classic novel Cold in July. Details here! 01/02/14-Want a first look at the film adaptation of Champion Joe's Cold in July? Head to Houston on January 30! 01/02/14-Check out the interview with Killer Kasey in the first issue of Beware the Dark. 01/02/14-"[Hot in December is] a dark story, but Lansdale brings his trademark wit to the table, providing plenty of needed levity even as Chan falls deeper into a rabbit hole of danger and violence. His prose is sharp and lean, and his characterization is spot-on as usual. If you're a Lansdale fan, I don't need to sell you on this. If you're not, this short book is as good a place to jump on as any." To read the October Country's entire review, click here. 12/26/13-Want some post-Christmas fun? Italian comic strip about Champion Joe! 12/26/13-Diane Plumley's list of the Best 100 Mysteries of All Time includes Champion Joe's A Fine Dark Line! 12/26/13-Champion Joe's Edge of Dark Water made the CulturMag Top 11 list for 2013! Check it out! 12/26/13-Fright.com calls The Magic Wagon "an insightful and touching account of Texas circa 1909 that incorporates elements of comedy and the supernatural." To read the full review, click here. 12/19/13-Champion Joe says, "One of my favorite country performers, Ray Price, has died. He was great, and our daughter was lucky enough to open for him three times, and it made her bring her A game for sure, and Ray always brought his. He'll be missed. He had a great voice even until the last." 12/12/13-"My father was not real talkative except when he was telling stories. It was usually under a tree at my grandmothers. We would all sit out there at night and my grandmother would tell stories about coming to Texas in a covered wagon and seeing Buffalo Bills Wild West show. My dad would tell stories. He knew Bonnie and Clyde for example. He also told stories from his folks, stories that were true and others that were probably more apocryphal. He had a very interesting life. I would sit under the tree with the adults while the other kids were off chasing fireflies and listen to the stories. They imprinted me deeply. I remember playing with the other kids and thinking, Ive got to get back to the tree. I would sit down legs crossed and just listen. I absorbed all that because they were good storytellers. My father was an extraordinary storyteller. When he got into it he had a beautiful baritone voice and he had a way of telling a story and a rhythm of telling a story. I think that the voice of many of the things I write that are historical, his voice is the one that permeates the most." Read the entire Suicide Girls interview with Champion Joe here. 12/12/13-Kasey Lansdale joins John Carter Cash at The Rutledge in Nashville on January 18. Check it out! 12/12/13-Craig Clarke says The Big Blow "just may be the perfect story." Read his review here. 12/05/13-Hot in December is a new crime novella by Champion Joe coming from Dark Regions Press! 12/05/13-Check out Kasey in Italy! 12/05/13-Champion Joe is interviewed in the December issue of Nightmare! 12/05/13-Which Champion Mojo Storyteller has a movie adaptation entered into the 2014 Sundance Film Festival? See for yourself here! 11/28/13-Black Friday starts early! Download Kasey Lansdale's Restless album for $7.99! 11/21/13-The Nightrunners is back! Get your copy here! 11/21/13-Heads up, Giddings, Texas! Champion Joe hits town December 7 for the Weird West Fest! 11/14/13-Heads up, Italy! Kasey Lansdale is touring your country with her great Italian band. Check it out! 11/14/13-So, you want an actual paper edition of The Ape Man's Brother? Here it is. 11/14/13-"Christmas isn't that far away. You'd best celebrate it with the Lansdale family." To read the entire review of Christmas with the Dead, click here. 11/07/13-"He's driven the cars, chased the diamonds, known the girls, listened to the psychopaths. Felt ... and fought ... the fears. He's been in the ring, been out of luck, been down ... and come back. He knows you have to bring some to get some. He knows the truth. He writes to share it." To read the entirety of Andrew Vachss' foreword to Joe's Act of Love, click here. 11/07/13-Champion Joe says: "Thanks to Italian comic readers for this very appreciated recognition. I love comics, and they led me to being a writer more than anything, led me to stories and books. Thanks so much." 11/07/13-Looking for a unique Christmas present for the horror and comedy fan, with a bit of drama and some Christmas music? Check out Christmas with the Dead! 11/07/13-Hey, look! New Cold in July paperback! 11/07/13-From Subterannean Press: "The trade edition of Joe R. Lansdale's Bleeding Shadows, the largest collection of his esteemed career, will be out of print on publicaton. At present, we have orders for over 1000 more than are being printed. We always fill our direct orders first, so you still have time to lock in a copy, if you're of a mind." 10/31/13-The Austin Chronicle calls The Thicket "hellish and hilarious . . . a Mr. Toad's wild ride of a story, chronicling the misadventures — both hellish and, as often as not, hilarious — of a righteous lad named Jack searching for his kidnapped sister Lula amid the inhospitable environs of East Texas, circa 1910." To read the entire article, click here! 10/31/13-"Christmas with the Dead is a year-round Christmas drama filled with blood, guns, zombies, and delusional characters; a fantastic zombie flick that will warm your heart . . . then rip it out and eat it." To read the entire review by Horror Society, click here! 10/31/13-According to LitReactor, Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is "the Patron Saint of the Western-Horror mash-up." Check it out! 10/31/13-"The outsider is well represented in The Thicket by ex-slave grave digger Eustace, and Shorty, a bounty-hunting dwarf. Neither is anyone's fool. But there is evil lurking in this finely drawn work as well." To read the entire review by MySanAntonio, click here! 10/24/13-Here's a very cool program that Champion Joe supports (and you should, too). Click on the pic to watch the video:
10/24/13-"Joe R. Lansdale's writing swaggers back and forth through a variety of genres, format, and media, blending elements and tones in unconventional ways, but never losing sight of the importance of story and character. His characters feel authentic, his environments are believable, and his plots are gripping. He's a great storyteller in the most classic American tradition; one gets the sense that if mankind never got around to technology, Lansdale would be roaming the country, regaling campfire crowds." To read the rest of Jon Abrams' overview of Champion Joe's writing, click here! 10/17/13-Ever thought, "I wish Kasey Lansdale would play a concert at my house"? Well, friends, 2014 will mark the kickoff of the RESTLESS house-concert tour. If you have 20 friends who like music and you want to know more about hosting an event, contact Kasey Lansdale. Coming soon to a living room, (or intimate venue) near you.... 10/17/13-Old Mars is a cool book with a cool cover and a cool short story by Champion Joe. Check it out! 10/10/13-Kasey Lansdale is featured in CMA Magazine. Check it out! 10/10/13-Get your audio shorts in a bunch! Champion Joe's "Down By the Sea Near the Great Big Rock" is performed by Corson Bremer over here on Pseudopod. 10/03/13-Fourth Street Review says "Joe R. Lansdale has done (again) what he does best. He has written a wonderful, bizarre story with East Texas roots and enough humor to take the edge off his typical darkness. There are gun fights, torture scenes, whore houses, and humor. In this part western, part coming of age story, none of the characters remain unscathed, but the battle might produce a loyal hero or two. The Thicket is bloody, funny, and, at times, brilliant." So go get some brilliance: The Thicket. 10/03/13-What are the top 20 pieces of short fiction by Champion Joe? Macabre Republic says it's these. 10/03/13-More kind words for The Thicket, these from Hellnotes: "One of the best novels of 2013." 10/03/13-Interview with Jim Mickle, Director of Cold in July as well as the recently released We Are What We Are. Check it out. 10/03/13-What stories inspired The Thicket? From the horse's mouth, here's the answer. 10/03/13-JUST CONFIRMED! Kasey Lansdale, John Carter Cash, Raelyn Nelson, Angel Mary and The Tennessee Werewolves, and Blue Mother Tupelo playing January 18th at The Rutledge in Nashville. STAY TUNED for updates. This is going to be an AWESOME show! 10/03/13-Great stuff on forthcoming film Cold in July based on Champion Joe's novel of the same name. 10/03/13-Publisher Black Labyrinth is starting a Kickstarter Campaing to do a book written by Champion Joe, illustrated by Santiago Caruso. If you're interested and want to be a part of it, here it is. If not, no problem. 09/26/13-Bookgasm says "Looks like the rest of the world is finally realizing what many of us have known for a long time: Lansdale is one of the finest American authors working today. He deserves to be read and cherished by everybody." So if you haven't already, you should read and cherish The Thicket. Bookgasm says so. 09/26/13-Crime Spree Magazine liked The Thicket, too. Here's what they said: "In our house, you can gauge how much Red and I enjoy a book by how much of it we read aloud to each other. By how 'tasty' the dialog is. When the dialog rings true, when you almost forget you're reading a fictional story and the characters start sounding real because what they are saying is exactly what that character would say in that situation, it begs to be read aloud. Needless to say, Kate got a free audiobook version of The Thicket, performed by me, whether she wanted it or not. Her response was, 'Shut up, already! I'll read it myself!'" 09/26/13-Champion Joe wants you to know about the H.E.R.O. Child-Rescue Corps, a program that trains military heroes to utilize technology to identify and rescue child victims of rape and exploitation. Go visit the site, spread the word, support it with donations if you can, and applaud the National Association to Protect Children for pulling together all the government agencies, corporations, foundations, and private donors to make the program a reality. 09/19/13-You never read The Nightrunners? Here's your second chance! 09/12/13-The Houston Chronicle says Champion Joe's latest, The Thicket, "reads like a dark version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and feels like a Coen brothers movie. It's the perfect mix of light and dark, with plenty of humor mixed in." To read the entire review in all its glory, click here! 09/12/13-Not to be outdone, LitReactor says The Thicket is "like something in between a wet dream and a nightmare. It’s one of those stories that feel like old folklore being passed down from your grandfather around a campfire . . . if your grandfather was a B-movie film director with a wicked sense of humor and no filter. ... It reads like an old Western fable or fairy tale, filled with dark, red, viscous blood and even darker humor. ... It may be Lansdale's most complete work yet." To read everything between those ellipses, click here! 09/12/13-The Examiner says to expect "gun fights, torture scenes, whore houses, and humor. In this part western, part coming of age story, none of the characters remain unscathed, but the battle might produce a loyal hero or two. The Thicket is bloody, funny, and, at times, brilliant." Whole review here! 09/05/13-"Alternately violent and tender, with a gently legendary quality that makes this tall tale just about perfect." That's what Kirkus says about The Thicket. Read the entire review here. 09/05/13-Champion Joe went to the set of Cold in July and all he got was this picture:  09/05/13-And speaking of Kasey (admit it, you were, weren't you?), in the review of her new album, Music News Nashville describes her as a "stunning product of the great state of Texas [who] has a musical spirit that seems to be all over the place, and she seems to excel at anywhere she goes stylistically." To read the complete review, click here. 08/29/13-Champion Joe says, "I been on set of Cold in July, with Sam Shepherd as well as Michael C. Hall. The filming looks great. Good actors. Good script. Good direction. I smell a real winner with this one." 08/15/13-Champion Joe will be on and off the set for the filming of Cold in July over the next couple weeks. How's that for exciting news?! 08/15/13-And equally exciting: you can get the new Kasey Lansdale CD from Amazon! 08/15/13-Here's a public service announcement for all parents. 07/25/13-The one you've been waiting for is now on sale! 06/27/13-"Eschewing romantic vampires and shambling zombies, [Impossible Monsters] presents monsters that do not merely kill, but suddenly and incomprehensibly consume, destroy, and reduce their victims to mere bones. ... [I]t's clear that [Kasey Lasdale has] worked to fill this anthology with visceral, creative pieces about ordinary people encountering the extraordinary; the book surprises readers with strangeness while tapping deeply into primal fears." To read the rest of the Publishers Weekly review, click here. To read Impossible Monsters, click here. 06/20/13-Champion Joe says, "My new one, The Thicket, is coming out September 10, in all formats. Here and Britian, Germany, and Italy, and very likely other countries. But for the U.S.A, here's one connection to the book. Also Barnes and Noble, or order from your local independent bookstore. Help me put this one over the top. I need your help to do that, so spread the word." 06/20/13-Champion Joe also says, "Just read a great book by one of my favorites, Stephen Graham Jones. You won't see him on bestseller lists, though you should, but man is he original. The book is three stories and they are terrific. The title is Three Miles Past. Check it out." 06/20/13-Champion Joe's "The Case of the Angry Traveler" is just one reason to purchase Impossible Monsters, the new anthology edited by Kasey Lansdale. And that is the second reason. And you better order fast—the limited is already sold out. 06/20/13-Champion Joe and Killer Kasey wrote this story called "Blind Love." If you wan to read it, grab the anthology Dark Duets, coming early 2014. 06/20/13-This should be a lot of fun. Check it out. "Saturday Night from 7-10 on 88.1 fm KVSC: Gypsy McGreevy pays tribute to one of his favorite authors, Joe R. Lansdale, and his talented daughter Kasey Lansdale. I will be playing Kasey's music and music that I'm going to connect to the strange and creative stories of Joe R. Lansdale. The fact that Joe has written a Tarzan novel based on ERB's original outline, Conan stories, Batman novels, stories, and scripts for the animated series, and made graphic novel adaptions from HP Lovecraft and Robert Bloch ... oh man! It's going to be a very odd and cool show!" 06/20/13-The Living Dead is described by the publisher as "an anthology of zombie short fiction." Which isn't nearly as funny as the idea of "short zombie fiction"—which could, of course, be interepreted as fiction about midget zombies. Which makes us wonder, When does that happen? Anyway ... includes stories by Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, and Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale. More info here. 06/13/13-Here's a cool article on Joe's brother Andrew Vachss. 06/13/13-"It was suggested that I said that [Robert E.] Howard killed himself over Novalyne Price. No, I didn't. I did suggest that the loss of her—and his mother, among other things—were the final straw. But the straw was bent at birth, and to blame anyone for his choices is ridiculous." To read the rest, click here. 06/13/13-"I've got an addiction—a fever if you will—and no, it's not for cowbell. It's this consuming need I have for more of my favorite fictional duo of the past twenty years: Hap Collins and Leonard Pine." To read the entire, beautiful blog post, click here. 06/13/13-Champion Joe's good friend Neal Barrett, Jr., is in a "Lone Star State of Mind." 06/06/13-A couple weeks ago, we told you that "Paris-based Backup Media has teamed up with Memento Films International to finance Cold In July, an adaptation of the Joe Lansdale cult novel that will be director Jim Mickle's next film." Well, now we're here to tell you that Michael C. Hall, whose final season as Dexter starts June 30th, will star in the film. Read the full story here. 06/06/13-Jack Parker knows all too well how treacherous turn-of-the-century East Texas can be: His parents did not survive a smallpox epidemic; his grandfather was murdered; now his sister Lula has been kidnapped by a criminal who may believe that wearing a dead man's clothes protects him from death. With bounty hunter Shorty, a charismatic and cunning dwarf, and Eustace, a gravedigging son of an ex-slave, the heartbroken young Jack sets off on an epic quest to rescue his sister from the corrupt men who control much of the new territory. In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground, but blood and redemption rule supreme. The Thicket goes on sale September 10 ... but you can pre-order now. 05/30/13-"Restless," the new album by Kasey Lansdale, is now available for preorder. (And a word to the wise: if you want an actual, hardcopy CD, you best preorder. After preorders, it'll pretty much be download only. Welcome to the future: you didn't get your rocketpack or flying car, and they've taken your vinyl and CDs away.) 05/30/13-You missed Joe R. Lansdale Appreciation Day? Well you can relive it—and read a review of his shorter fiction—here! 05/23/13-For those interested in the DragonCon debacle, here is the latest stop-gap from accused predatory pedophile Ed Kramer, who is trying very hard to avoid prosecution. Notice the nurse who had what she had to say about his condition is connected to DragonCon. Does this mean anything? Maybe. Maybe not. But here's the latest news, though it's heavy on legal talk. 05/23/13-We're thinking of the Oklahoma victims at this time. If you are looking to communicate with loved ones, please use safeandwell.org. If you'd like to donate, here are two options: Text STORM to 80888 for Salvation Army and text FOOD to 32333 for Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. 05/23/13-"Paris-based Backup Media has teamed up with Memento Films International to finance Cold In July, an adaptation of the Joe Lansdale cult novel that will be director Jim Mickle's next film." Read the full story here. Or read this story. 05/23/13-Champion Joe is literally huge in Italy. Check it out. 05/16/13-This interview from Reid Kerr might be of interest to writers and would-be writers. 05/09/13-Champion Joe's latest is The Thicket, and you can win an Advance Reader Copy here! 05/02/13—If you hang around here 'cause you like Champion Joe's Western stories, you'll want to check out this interview. 05/02/13-"Amid the wisecracks and the splatter, the down-home dialogue and the darkness, [Joe] Lansdale has stumbled on to a pretty good portrait of humanity. He just makes us all seem a little more interesting." To read the rest of this insightful article, click here. 05/02/13—For our Italian visitors. 05/02/13-Available on ebook: Cold in July, at only $3.99! Check it out. 05/02/13-This list includes some Mojo, we're very proud to say! 05/02/13-Champion Joe says, "Trent is a friend of mine, and he's having some health problems. If you want to kick in a little bit to help him out, here's the info." 05/02/13-Champion Joe is hitting the road this summer! Look for him at Comicpalooza in Houston and Bouchercon in Albany. 04/25/13-"As a writer you can work so hard toward finding your voice, once found you can squeeze it to death until it becomes a parody of what it was you were looking for. It's okay to relax it. Once you find your natural voice you can play with it, like you would a puppy. It may grow up and change a bit as time goes on, but you can pretty much always recognize the dog without having to have it stuffed and mounted. No matter how many tricks your voice learns, how excited it gets, how calm it finally becomes, it's still your dog (voice)." 04/25/13-Available on ebooks, "Bubba Ho-Tep." And at an amazing price. Check it out. 04/18/13-Champion Joe slipped a piece of Mojo into Old Mars, on sale in October, and A Feast of Frights, on sale now. 04/18/13-Soon to be available through Amazon: Christmas with the Dead, a film based on a Champion Joe story, directed by Terrill Lee Lankford, scripted by Keith Lansdale. Starring Damian Maffei, Brad Maule, Chet Williamson, with a lot of other Lansdale friends and family, including daughter Kasey, who contributed music along with Judy Pancost. It's a long list, too much to put it all here. An odd little piece, not your standard zombie film, not exactly a comedy or a drama. Check out the trailer here. 04/18/13-Killer Kasey turns in an amazing performance! 04/18/13-"It's winter and the news is depressing. Cheer up by reading some Joe R. Lansdale. Even when his sad-sack protagonists fail (or even die), it's entertaining." To read the rest of the Macomb Daily's review of Razored Saddles, click here. 04/11/13-"Sometimes you fail. It happens with everything. Sometimes your failures get published. But here's the thing: if you don't write it, don't put it out there, due to fear of failure, you've already failed. Success is about staying at it, and knowing that you can't walk a high wire forever without at least slipping, and possibly falling now and then. So if it's your burning dream to write, set the dream on fire, and do it. Otherwise, you're just someone with a story in your head, and that's fine enough if it's fine for you. But don't let fear keep it there if you want to let it out." 04/11/13-"After I read the first four pages in Bad Chili, I found myself laughing so hard that I literally started crying and then got stomach cramps. I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to read this unbelievable series. I must’ve had my head buried in a hole of sand." Not only is this a great review; it's also an announcement about Joe R. Lansdale Appreciation Day. (For the record, around here, every day is Joe R. Lansdale Appreciation Day. But we're glad to see that the rest of the world is starting to catch up.) 04/11/13-We're trying to make more readers aware of this strange little book, The Ape Man's Brother, available only in ebooks now, but available in actual book form next year. It's not a Tarzan novel. It's kind of pulp, and kind of not. We're fond of it. Champion Joe's fond of it. Maybe you'll be fond of it, too. 04/11/13-Great news from Germany on Edge of Dark Water. Thanks, Germany. 04/11/13-Nice review of Impossible Monsters, the anthology Kasey Lansdale edited. Go, Kasey! 04/11/13-Ever wonder what a Tarzan story would like like if it took place in Caspak? Champion Joe has the answer for you, in the short story he contributed to The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs. 04/11/13-Champion Joe has signed on to write a Western novella about his character from Soldier'n and Hides and Horns. To be published by Subterranean Press next year. 04/04/13-If you're anywhere near Atlanta, here's a reminder to boycott DragonCon, which is co-owned by alleged child rapist Ed Kramer. 04/04/13-Been looking for A Fine Dark Line in ebook? Look here! 04/04/13-Cover designs for Champon Joe's short-story collection, Bleeding Shadows? Yeah, we can point you to that. 04/04/13-Se si parla italiano, clicca qui. 03/28/13-"Sad news about the death of Rick Hautala, Dave Silva, and James Herbert. Rick and I received the Lifetime Achievement Award together last year, and it was so cool for us to get it together, and it's such a shock this has happened. Dave Silva created a very fine horror magazine, The Horrow Show, which gave so many new writers and beginning writers a shot. I used to write a column for him on movies, and a number of my stories andexcerpts from my work—as well as other tidbits—were published there. Tough news." 03/28/13-If you prefer short stories, especially Champion Mojo short stories, you might enjoy Bleeding Shadows. 03/28/13-"The only true test of miracles: amputees that grow limbs back, and the return of the stinky, rotting dead as whole and living human beings. The rest is just bullshit. Died on the operating table and came back? No, you die, and have begun to rot, and then you come back, that's a miracle. The others are wonderful natural events, but if it requires medical attention and recovery time, it is not a miracle. And don't tell me about 'there are little miracles every day,' like a bird singing in a tree. I want the ones you never see that would prove miracles. And I'm not taking somebody's word for it. Go dig up dead Uncle Charles and bring him back, or pray to have that missing limb or missing eye grow back, and I'm on board. All other mention of miracles is splitting hairs. This stuff, however, that's solid. And if you think I'm going to put up with a bunch of Christians telling about how they were in a car wreck and were supposed to die and didn't? That won't cut it. What I said, and nothing less. Those are absolute miracles. Jesus didn't say, 'Look, I'm curing you of blindness. You go home and put a cold compress on that, and take an aspirin and I'll be around next week to put some salve on it, and in a few days, you should be able to see good as a goddamn hawk.' He said, 'You are cured.' Or so the text goes. But then I have to believe the text. I don't." 03/14/13-From Champion Joe: "Just got the sad news that Dave Silva, founder of the now-gone-but-always-important horror magazine The Horrow Show, just died. David was also a writer and a very nice guy. I hadn't spoken to him in years, and didn't even know he was ill. I'm very sorry to hear it and give my best wishes to all his friends and family." 03/14/13-Ten of Champion Joe's favorite short stories, in no particular order: "The Killers," Ernest Hemingway; "A Good Man is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Conner; "The Henry Miller Dawn Patrol," Philip Jose Farmer; "The Snake," John Steinbeck; "The Next In Line," Ray Bradbury; "Gonna Roll Them Bones," Fritz Leiber; "A Saucer of Lonliness," Theordore Sturgeon; "Desire and the Black Messeur," Tennesse Williams; "Children on Their Birthdays," Truman Capote; "The Halfway Diner," John Sayles. 03/14/13-In the Sunday New York Times, they gave a real nice nod to Edge of Dark Water. Who knew those New Yorkers could even find East Texas? 03/14/13-Prevent cats from taking over the world. Buy this book. Not sure how it prevents them, but I think it does. No. I know it does. Save yourself. 03/14/13-Here's an article about Kasey Lansdale, written by herownself. 03/06/13-"Part of what makes art happen is commerce. Paying bills. Philip K. Dick once dedicated a book to his bill collectors. Some of the best work done has been done to pay bills and survive. And don't come and tell me how art isn't subject to that. Yours may not be, but Hemingway cashed his checks." For more writing tips from Champion Joe, click here. 03/06/13-Bubba Ho-tep action figures. No, really, check it out. 02/28/13-We finally saw an actual printed copy of Edge of Dark Water, and ... it's really nice. We didn't know there was an intro by Dan Simmons, but there is, and it's terrific. It also has a Readers Guide in the back, which we did know about, making it perfect for book clubs. Check it out here. 02/21/13-This speaks for itself: "Behind the Boycott of DragonCon Over Co-Founder Accused of Child Molestation," Deadline, February 19, 2013. 02/21/13-If you like good horror stories by established and newer writers, pick up Fresh Blood and Old Bones, featuring stories by Nancy Collins, Neil Barrett, Jr., and Champion Joe! Only $4.99! 02/21/13-And if you're looking for an All-Joe collection, pick up The Shadows, Kith and Kin, only $3.99! 02/14/13-Impossible Monsters features short stories by Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris, Anne Perry, Chet Williamson, and everyone's favorite Champion Mojo Storyteller, among others. And it's edited by Killer Kasey Lansdale. Order yours now! 02/14/13-Heads up, Houston! Champion Joe and Killer Kasey will be appearing February 19 at Brazos Bookstore. Details here! 02/14/13-From Joe: "Forty years ago yesterday, my wife asked me out on date. She wasn't my wife then, of course. We've been together ever since, and as of August of this year will have been married forty years. I don't know if she regrets that request or not, but I'm still here and so is she." 02/14/13-"Dad told me once that if people don't care about where they live, the way they act, people they associate with, they get lost in the dark, can't find their way back 'cause there's no light left. I had taken a pretty good step into the shadows tonight." You want the rest of the story? It's only 99¢, right here. 02/14/13-A tale of terror set in the wild, weird West! Plug-ugly Norville wound up in Wood Tick, Texas, 'cause his dad was fleeing the scene of a crime—murder. Norville grew up just as ugly, but managed to find a bride and acquire a homestead, good as new but abandoned. The only problem is the well, which is blocked by big, white stones. One by one, Norville unblocks the well, unaware he’s slowly setting free something old and dark and evil.... Keith Lansdale and Brian Denham adapted Champion Joe's The Crawling Sky to comics, for Antarctic Press! First issue is out now, more info here! 02/07/13-It was sale now--but now it's sold out! Dead Aim, the next chapter in the Hap & Leonard series, hit the market and disappeared. Maybe that's because Publishers Weekly called it "tart, smart, and dangerous." Or maybe that's because all those guys who had their asses handed to them by Hap & Leonard are trying to fgure out where they'll be next. Either way, if you want to read a copy now, your only option is to get the ebook. 02/07/13-News about Champion Joe's next novel, The Thicket: It's due in September and it takes place at the turn of the 20th Century. Smallpox, a kidnapping, a murder, a dwarf bounty hunter, and a black grave digger who serves part-time as a tracker, all told by the brother of the kidnapped girl ... and that's only part of the ingredients. There's also a simple, nifty cornbread recipe. 01/31/13-We're less than two weeks out from the trade paperback release of Champion Joe's Edge of Dark Water! So how about celebrating by listening to Killer Kasey's song, "Edge of Dark Water"? Enjoy! 01/31/13-Champion Joe has a new short-stories collection coming out November 2013 titled Bleeding Shadows. "The stories in it have not been collected in short-story collections before," he promises, and "this book will also contain novellas. It will be huge in size." And it'll be published by Subterranean Press. To read more about the book and eyeball the cover, click here! 01/24/13-How do you like your Edge of Dark Water? Do you like it as a hardcover or paperback? As an ebook or as a signed, limited-edition slipcased hardcover from England (meaning you'll fid an extra "u" or two in words like "colour")? Whatever the format, we think you'll like it just fine! 01/24/13-"Most Southerners who are honest about their region know that though there is a beautiful side to the South, there is also a gothic snake that lurks in the undergrowth, and it can raise its fanged head at any moment. I think like Flannery O'Connor said about Southerners, 'We still know weird when we see it.' That's true. But sometimes we are part of the weird. I think every region has its dark side. It's just that I know this region better than any other, so that's what I write about. I’m drawn to the darker part of it, because that's the part that haunts me." Click here to read the rest of Tom Piccirilli's interview with Champion Joe! 01/17/13-Champion Joe offers some thoughts on writing. 01/17/13-We're a month away from the paperback release of Edge of Dark Water, a book that's been selected among the best of 2012 by Kirkus, Booklist, The Boston Globe, and LitReactor!
01/10/13-Champion Joe is not only a Champion Mojo Storyteller—he's also a Professor of Martial Arts! On January 26, from 9am to 12pm in Nacogdoches, he'll celebrate 50 years of studying a wide array of martial arts. Everyone is invited to attend, no charge, to this celebration of Professor Joe's life in the arts, and of his contribution, the creation of the system of Shen Chuan Martial Science. There will be demonstrations and discussions covering Professor Lansdale and Shen Chuan, by students and instructors at the Lansdale's Self Defense/Shen Chuan dojo. Professor Lansdale will cap it off with whatever he wants (discussion, demonstration. or good ol' East Texas Ass Whoopin'). Then in the evening, at 7pm, we will gather at Coy Harry's house for some food and reminiscing. More info here! 01/10/13-"The Workplace, Wet or Dry" is an article Champion Joe did on writing for Mulholland Books some time back. You may have seen it, but if not, you can now! 01/03/13-Two weeks ago, we told you Edge of Dark Water had been picked as one of the 100 best novels of 2012 by Kirkus. Last week, Booklist placed it among the year's Best Adult Books for Young Adults. Now you can add this to the accolades: The Boston Globe has listed Edge among the ten best crime books of 2012 and LitReactor has it listed among the best of 2012. If you missed the hardcover, preorder the trade paperback now! 01/03/13-You never read the short-story collection The Shadows, Kith and Kin? Well, you can get the ebook now for only $3.99! 01/03/13-Champion Joe has a short story in Weird Detectives: Recent Investigations ... as if the title alone hadn't already sold you.... 01/03/13-Champion Joe says, "Growing Up Dead in Texas is my favorite of Stephen Graham Jones's many good books. He has the same problem I have. He likes to be varied." He also says, "I'm just going to say it straight out. You need Another Chance to Get It Right by my bro Andrew Vachss." 01/03/13-"The truly fun thing about Fresh Blood & Old Bones is the sheer number of monsters captured in the eighteen tales collected by Kasey Lansdale in this offering of short fiction by established and neophyte horror writers. " Click here to read the full review from Hellnotes, and click here to read the book itself! 12/27/12-Last week, we told you that Edge of Dark Water had been described as one of the 100 best novels of 2012 by Kirkus; as needing a "Do Not Start at Bedtime" warning by Library Journal; "entertaining, eerie and soaked with the East Texas period atmosphere Lansdale owns like no other writer" by The Dallas Morning News; and "our favorite book of the year" by the Austin Chronicle ... and has the Boston Globe raving, "When I reached the final page, something happened that I can't remember ever happening with a book I've read for a review. I wanted to read it again." And the New York Journal of Books declares it "has all the potential of becoming a classic, read by generations to come." Well, in case that didn't sell you, Booklist has named Edge among the year's best Adult Books for Young Adults. Check it out! 12/20/12-Edge of Dark Water (described as one of the 100 best novels of 2012 by Kirkus; as needing a "Do Not Start at Bedtime" warning by Library Journal; "entertaining, eerie and soaked with the East Texas period atmosphere Lansdale owns like no other writer" by The Dallas Morning News; and "our favorite book of the year" by the Austin Chronicle ... and has the Boston Globe raving, "When I reached the final page, something happened that I can't remember ever happening with a book I've read for a review. I wanted to read it again." And the New York Journal of Books declares it "has all the potential of becoming a classic, read by generations to come." Just sayin'...) will be released in trade paperback on February 12, 2013. (And it comes with a bonus: a free download of Kasey Lansdale's song, "Edge of Dark Water"!) Check it out! 12/20/12-Champion Joe says, "I have two stories in The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade, and though I'm proud to be in it, I think these lables that so many people strive for are what sometimes does them in. I've been labled everything, but the only label I will embrace is Lansdale. Still, it's a good anthology, and interesting and odd. I been doing some of this sort of thing for a long time, but I've been doing other things as well, which is why I don't want to embrace a tag. Because I like to change." 12/20/12-Champion Joe also says, "Here's an article on my friend Ardath, and on writing. Ardath passed away some time back, but I like to make sure she's remembered." 12/20/12-And here's a true-life story from Champion Joe: "When I was going to high school in Gladewater, there was this sort of sad-sack school bully who I had a mild confrontation with, and then he left me alone. But later I saw him at school and he was happy for the first time. He came to class laughing, singing a silly song that went, 'If at first you don't suck seed, keep on sucking till you do suceed.' This was unsettling. On top of the song, he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. The cops came and picked him up. Seemed a day or two before he had shot and killed his family and buried them in the yard with a garden tractor. Oddly, it wasn't long after, maybe out on bail or whatever, he showed up outside P.E. class wanting to say hi, like we had all been his buddies and missed him, after him being such a bully. I felt sorry for him in one way, and in another way, not at all. I wonder what happened to him sometimes." 12/20/12-"Unhinged and Unchained is a book of what I hope is interesting tid-bits from my career. One of the Amazon reviews talks about how offensive the opening essay is, and yet the reviewer did like the book. For the life of me I can't figure what he found that offensive. Could it have been something I said?" 12/20/12-A Clutch of Zombies contains a story by Champion Joe, as well as three other authors. And boy is the price right. Looking for a Kindle gift? This might be a good one for those folks who like to read horror, and in this case, zombie fiction. 12/13/12-Dead in the West and four novellas about the Preacher. Now out in paper from Tachyon Books. Get yours! 12/13/12-Friends of The Bubba, check this out: Bubba Ho-Tep (Hail to the King Edition) 12/13/12-So, a bunch of Act of Love got dinged in shipment, and are now for sale for ten bucks. These are beautiful books from Subterranean Press and this volume contains a novella about Marvin Hanson, and an interview. Really nice-looking, illustrated book. And dinged at then is a good price. 12/06/12-Edge of Dark Water is one of the 100 best novels of 2012. No ... really, it is. And if you don't believe us, maybe you'll believe Kirkus. 12/06/12-What's next for Champion Joe? "The Ape Man's Brother! It's a novella about an ape man telling a story about his good friend who they find as a baby and raise, and how outsiders come to take him home, and how while in an alternate New York they are both subjected to civilzation and change. And that's just part of it." The Ape Man's Brother is available now as a Kindle, and will be coming in print soon! 12/06/12-All hail Rick Klaw! The Klaw Man is compiling an anthology called Rayguns Over Texas, and Champion Joe is among the participants. And once The Klaw releases more information than that, we'll share it with ya! 12/06/12-Head to the Subterranean site, where they're accepting preorders on Dead Aim, a Hap & Leonard novella to be published January 2013. Preorder yours before they're gone! 11/29/12-All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky is out in paperback and e-reader. Perfect for classrooms studying the Great Depression, with story notes and questions, as well as an interview with Champion Joe in the back. Check it out! 11/22/12-Sixguns and zombies, a chicken-eating werewolf, deals with the Devil, and things that go bump in the night. John Wayne never had to deal with these kind of shenanigans, or these kinds of rowdies. But Joe R. Lansdale and John L. Lansdale aren't afraid, partner. They make this kind of material their everyday business. Compared to the cowpokes in their stories, John Wayne was a big sissy. Shadows West has got shoot-em-ups and bite-em-ups and blow em-ups, and the appearance of classic bad guys, like Jesse James, sent straight from hell with a bad attitude. We got a horse black as the pit and fast as the wind. We got things that won't die even when they're dead. There are demons and ugly people, both inside and out, giant spiders and unnecessary cursing, and one hot red-head heifer with an eye patch and a bull whip. Check it out! 11/15/12-Champion Joe says, "My Bro Andrew Vachss has a new book out, and I want to mention it again. A Bomb Built in Hell, from Vintage/Black Lizard. It's a humdinger. And if that isn't enough, he and artist Geof Darrow have a pulp-style story out in Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine. Why didn't I know about this magazine? Way, way, cool." 11/15/12-Champion Joe also says, "I'm not saying I haven't done some donkey work to survive, but I rode a good donkey, and tried to make sure once I got the donkey up the mountain it was still a good donkey and I wasn't ashamed for riding it, but not with my dick in its ass. I did the best work I could so that I could do the work I wanted. That sort of work was done early on, especially as I was learning. I didn't know I didn't like riding the donkey till I tried a few times. I have more respect for the artist that works and takes care of their family than the one who always lives by the artist code and everyone be damned that's depending on him. But that can be an excuse to just keep riding the donkey because it's handy in the barn. To be really good and your own writer, you have to leave the farm." 11/01/12-Champion Joe says, "Terrible disaster on East Coast with Sandy having wrecked so much beyond any expectation, or beyond most. Glad to see Obama and Christie putting aside politics and working together. Something I love to see. That's Americans at their best." 11/01/12-InReads says Champion Joe's "crime novels have a twisted gothic imagination to them, his horror works a hard won cynicism, that makes him truly nasty reading." Read the whole article, "Six for the Season"! 11/01/12-It's 56 pages of child-friendly fun! Check out In Waders from Mars, the story of the Martian duck invasion, by Champion Joe, Killer Keith, and Kindly Karen! 11/01/12-Champion Joe says, "Here's a new book from my friend Nancy Collins. She practically invented the modern vampire novel along with Ann Rice, only Nancy takes a different tact. She's been copied by everyone, but she's the real deal." 10/25/12-More good news for Hap & Leonard fans: Champion Joe just turned in a Hap and Leonard novella, Bent Twig, to George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois for their anthology Rogues! 10/25/12-If you come here each week for your totally free Mojo story, you might want to check out The Shadows, Kith and Kin, a collection that includes this week's story. It's now available as an ebook! 10/18/12-Here's the trailer you've been waiting for! 10/11/12-When Edge of Dark Water comes out in trade paperback next year, it'll arrive with a bonus: a free download of Kasey Lansdale's song, "Edge of Dark Water." Two Lansdales for the price of one! 10/11/12-And speaking of the Blonde Nightingale, Kasey has put together a horror anthology that includes short stories by Neal Barrett Jr., Nancy A. Collins, and Champion Joe, among others! Check out Fresh Blood, Old Bones! 10/11/12-The Wicked Library has adapted one of Champion Joe's short stories to audio ... and it's free! Listen here! 10/11/12-Champion Joe's young adult novel All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky, is out now in paperback. Order yours now and see why the Las Vegas Journal Review called it "a winner ... cementing Lansdale’s status as one of the best storytellers of our time." 10/04/12-File this under "Whoop! Whoop!" Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is being inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame later this month. Best get your vanilla cookies and Dr. Pepper while you can, because you know the store shelves will be emptying out shortly.... 09/20/12-You'd think it was a work of fiction, but, no ... it's for real. Click here to purchase Tyler Junior College v. Lansdale (Joe), the US Supreme Court transcript of the case a young Champion Joe brought in order to get his long-haired self into college. 09/06/12-Champion Joe is one of 41 writers (including Andrew Vachss, George Pelecanos, Charles de Lint, Ken Bruen, Chet Williamson, Michael A. Black, Wayne D. Dundee, and Zak Mucha) who has contributed to Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT. As the title implies, it's a benefit book. Unlike most benefit books, 100% of the money raised goes to the beneficiary. So go read, have fun, and feel good about it! 09/06/12-Champion Joe says, "There's a children's book, written for young readers by Keith Lansdale, my son, Karen Lansdale, my wife, and me, titled In Waders From Mars. Yep. That's the correct title. Keith told us the story when he was five. I wrote it down for him, and Karen gave it an ending that worked, and Doug Potter did wonderful illustrations and a beautiful cover. It's going to be up and advertised on the Subterranean site later this month. If you're interested, you might snag a copy. Not that many out there. Fun for the kiddies." 08/30/12-Champion Joe says, "Harry Harrison has died. I read a lot of his stuff in the past. Loved Deathworld and The Stainless Steel Rat." 08/30/12-Since its inception in 2001, Champion Joe has been involved with—and a member of—PROTECT, America's first politicval lobby for child protection. Earlier this week, Mets pitcher RA Dickey also joined the membership organization, in a very public way. Check it out! 08/30/12-Spoiler alert: clicking on this link will give Champion Joe's view on spoilers. 08/30/12-The Ape Man's Brother ... remember that title. 08/30/12-If you liked Edge of Dark Water, maybe you'll want to order the signed limited-edition. Or if you missed it in hardcover, maybe you'll want to get the trade paperback. 08/23/12- "Subterranean Press reports that Joe R. Lansdale has turned in Dead Aim, his newest 20,000 word novella to feature everyone’s favorite dysfunctional duo, Hap and Leonard." Click here to read the rest of the story! 08/23/12-Champion Joe says, "Historian from Nacogdoches Archie McDonald has died. That sucks. I thought a lot of him. A fine man, a fine historian, a great conversationalist." 08/23/12-If you haven't heard about Congressman Todd Akin, you need to read more news. And if you haven't read what Joe's brother Andrew Vachss wrote about Akin, then you need to read that now! 08/16/12-Wondering what the latest is on the film adaptation of Champion Joe's "Christmas with the Dead"? Click here to find out! 08/16/12-Got a Kindle? Get stocked up on Champion Mojo Storytelling! 08/02/12-Last week we mentioned a writing contest. This week ... there's a winner! Read "Two Left Feet" by Champion Dyslexic Storyteller Douglas E Wright! 08/02/12-In case one story isn't enough ... "The Drunken Moon," from Subterranean Press Magazine, Winter 2012! Enjoy! 07/12/12- "As I've grown older I've become even more of an animal lover, and I wish I could quit eating the poor bastards." To read the rest of Out of the Gutter's interview with Champion Joe, click here! 06/07/12-Joe Lansdale's brother Andrew Vachss was on Dave Marsh's Sirius XM radio show back in April. Dave asked Andrew what music he wanted to play; Andrew said, so long as he started with Kasey Lansdale, it didn't matter what came after. You can listen to that interview—which begins with Kasey's track—below! 05/24/12-Champion Joe says, "Write something." He says it in this podcast, "Stories from the Edge." Listen here. 05/24/12-Champion Joe wrote an entry for 20SomethingReads. Even if you're years beyond that, read it here! 05/24/12-Postcards from the Edge says, "Lansdale, casi la definición de autor sui generis, lleva más de 30 años entreteniéndonos con sus muy particulares historias. Ustedes escojan. Sus cuentos o novelas. Sus comics. Sus guiones para televisión." To read the entire review, click here! 05/17/12-Champion Joe had a conversation with his brother, Andrew Vachss. Maybe you read the transcript a few weeks ago, but until you hear the conversation, you haven't heard anything. Listen here. 05/10/12- "This ain’t no Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; assorted family members, authorities, and an all-too-real boogeyman are in no-kidding-gonna-kill-you hot pursuit as the friends raft down the Sabine. An unstoppable read, [Edge of Dark Water should come with the warning 'Do Not Start @Bedtime.'" Read the entire Library Journal review here! 05/10/12-You like Hap & Leonard? Then why not "like" Hap & Leonard? 05/03/12- "Sometimes if I don't write for a day or two, I get backed up — it's like constipation." That's what Champion Joe said to the New York Times. Read the whole article: "A Fresh Discovery, Three Decades in the Making." 04/19/12-The Boston Globe says Edge of Dark Water is "a terrific read. From its pages waft memories of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, and even As I Lay Dying with its journey to lay a soul to rest. When I reached the final page, something happened that I can’t remember ever happening with a book I’ve read for a review. I wanted to read it again." Bookgasm continues the praise, saying it's "another stunning triumph for [Lansdale], who for many years has proven himself one of the most talented American storytellers working today. His latest novel is inarguably one of the best novels of this year." And, in a starred review(!), Kirkus calls Edge a "highly entertaining tour de force." 04/19/12-Champion Joe spoke with Macabre Cadaver about Edge of Dark Water. Read all about it here! 04/12/12-The Dallas Morning News says Edge of Dark Water is "entertaining, eerie and soaked with the East Texas period atmosphere Lansdale owns like no other writer. Joe R. Lansdale could fall into the Sabine River at its filthiest point and still come out dripping nothing but storytelling mojo." Meanwhile, the Austin Chronicle swears that Edge is "our favorite book of the year so far, and one of Lansdale's best, ever. ... It's a doozy of a read, the kind of book we call an 'all nighter' on account of because if you crack this one open at nightfall you'll likely find yourself finishing it come dawn's early light. ... There's no one on earth that writes, or has ever written, like The Nacogdoches Kid, and if you don't believe us, tough titty and your loss, pardner." Now, if that's not enough to restore your faith in Texas journalism, nothing is! 04/12/12-From Spinetingler Magazine: "Edge of Dark Water is a dark tale of loss and despair, of growing up dirt poor, where adults are mean and children are worthless inconveniences. The story is taunt and laced with humor with beautiful prose–writing that's as smooth and deep as the river that flows through town. What I really loved about this book is how I got so caught up in it. Edge of Dark Water is an impressive, riveting story that I devoured quickly and completely enjoyed every minute of. Loved it." 04/05/12-Go into any Barnes & Noble in the next two weeks, and you'll see Champion Joe's Edge of Dark Water on the main table. Here at The Orbit, we got a real position of prominence for it—we keep it in the outhouse, where folks can actually luxuriate and read it. Where do you keep your copy of Edge? 04/05/12-Yeah, that's right. That was the cover of Champion Joe's The Bottoms you saw in the latest issue of Oprah Magazine. And, yeah, that was Bill Paxton who said, "[The Bottoms] has a lot of hair on it. ... I think Joe is one of the best living writers of the Southwest." So, yeah, we figure, for the next couple weeks, Joe's gonna expect his popcorn free. Fair enough. 03/29/12-Champion Joe had a conversation with his brother Andrew Vachss. You can listen in here. 03/29/12-Bill Crider says "[Mark] Twain couldn't have written this book." In the Barnes & Noble Mystery Blog, Jedidiah-Ayres writes, "I gave up marking my favorite passages after 20 pages because they were legion and beginning to completely dominate the pages—to the point that I began to reconsider the unmarked passages—just what was wrong with them, anyhow?" It's Edge of Dark Water, and it's on sale now! 03/15/12-Chris High calls it "a gem of a story." Violin in a Void says "It's told with rich Southern wit [and] very dark humour." And Warren Moore—who is the Associate Professor of English at Newberry College and a reviewer for The American Culture—declares it to be "exciting, creepy, funny — and remarkable." It's Edge of Dark Water, and you'll have a chance to make up your own mind about it in ... less than two weeks! If you're in Houston, Los Angeles, Burbank, Phoenix, or Austin, click here to find the date and time of your Mojo visit! 03/08/12-Champion Joe is hitting the road! If you're in Houston, Los Angeles, Burbank, Phoenix, or Austin, click here to find the date and time of your Mojo visit! 03/08/12-Who is that on the cover of Discover East Texas Magazine? 02/23/12-Champion Joe says, "My brother Andrew has a new novel coming out in March. You can read an excerpt of that novel on our site, by clicking here. And you can read an excerpt from my novel on my brother's site, by clicking here." Enjoy!  02/16/12-The New York Journal of Books says, "A coming-of-age story peopled with original and fascinating blood-and-bones characters. A chillingly atmospheric tale of good and evil and adolescent angst. Edge of Dark Water has all the potential of becoming a classic, read by generations to come." Click here for a preview! 02/16/12-Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale talks about Edge of Dark Water: 02/16/12-Was there an actual aluminum chair factory in Champion Joe's past? Find out for yourself here: 02/09/12-Here's what Library Journal says about Champion Joe's latest, Edge of Dark Water: "Lansdale crafts a perfect noir mood using time, place, and culture for a novel that pits the pretty good against pure evil. This literary thriller will add to his fan base while sating the appetite of the already converted." Sorta makes you want to read it yourself, huh? Well ... check it out! 02/09/12-Oren Moverman has been attached to Ridley Scott's adaptation of "The Big Blow." Read the Indiewire news story here, and then go read Champion Joe's novella (for 99¢!) here! 02/09/12-Champion Joe's not the only one with a new book coming out. Here's the cover of the latest from his friend Charles Saunders:
02/02/12-"Ardath Mayhar died in the very early hours of February first. I knew Ardath Mayhar for many years. I think somewhere near 37 years." You can read Joe R. Lansdale's memorial to Ardath Mayhar here, and you'll find an earlier article he wrote in honor of Ardath's birthday here. And you should do yourself a favor and read Ardath's short story "Crawfish." 01/26/12-The next knock-out punch from Champion Joe is Edge of Dark Water, to be published March 25 by Mulholland Books. Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say about it in their starred review: "Edgar-winner Lansdale channels Mark Twain in this chillingly atmospheric stand-alone. Lansdale's perfect ear for regional dialogue and ability to create palpable suspense lift this above the pack." Learn more about this new book here! 01/19/12-Champion Joe talks to Reid about writing! Listen to the podcast here! 01/19/12-Celebrate 100 years of Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars with this all-new anthology, Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, that includes a story by Champion Joe! 01/12/12-Champion Joe was honored last week with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association! Here's some of what they included in their press release: "The Lifetime Achievement Award is the most prestigious of the Bram Stoker Awards, given by the HWA in acknowledgment of superior achievement not just in a single work but over an entire career. Past Lifetime Achievement Award winners include such noted authors as Stephen King, Anne Rice, Joyce Carol Oates, Ray Bradbury, F. Paul Wilson, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Brian Lumley, William F. Nolan, and Peter Straub. Winners must have exhibited a profound, positive impact on the fields of horror and dark fantasy." Champion Joe will receive his Award at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City (March 29 - April 1, 2012). For more information on the convention, click here. To learn more about the award, click here. 01/05/12-"[Joe R. Lansdale's] style is so unique and so awesome that I have to actively prevent myself from trying to mimic his tendencies. To put it a little more plainly, it'd be like watching old videos of Michael Jordan dunking, rushing out to the driveway in my old hightop Nikes, and attempting a double-pump slam from the free-throw line. I'd hurt myself. Badly." Click here to read the rest of Jonathan Janz's very kind ode to Champion Joe! 03/20/14-Deadwood Dick stood alongside Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, and Jesse James as a hero in the old Dime Novels of decades past. And just like those other mythic figures, he was, while not accurately portrayed, a real person. Those Dime Novels had Deadwood as a white champion of justice and adventure. In reality, though, Deadwood Dick was a black cowboy, a buffalo soldier, an Indian fighter, and a general hellraiser. Champion Joe takes his shot at rectifying the record with Black Hat Jack: The True Life Adventures of Deadwood Dick, as told by His Ownself. Heroics abound. Curse words fly. Humor flows as free as blood, and there's even a spot of romance. And with all that real-life bravado, there might even be a few lies. 03/20/14-Catch the Cold in July coverage on Sam Shepard's website! 03/20/14-In honor of the movie Cold in July, you can get the original hardback novel and a copy of Kasey Lansdale's Restless cd, signed, which features music from the soundtrack plus 10 other tunes produced by John Carter Cash, for $50. (Shipping prices are in US, add $10 international.) Click here to get yours. 03/20/14-A story by Champion Joe is included in Games Creatures Play, a collection that covers the wide world of paranormal pastimes, where striking out might strike you dead. Check it out! 03/20/14-Want the story behind Bubba Hotep? Here you go! 03/20/14-Wayne caught up with Calhoun one night at a little honky-tonk called Rosalita's, "On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks." It's the totally free Mojo story of the week. Enjoy! 03/13/14-More coverage of Cold in July: 03/13/14-Son of Batman is coming! Champion Joe says, "Coming in May, scripted by me, though Alan Burnett was my wonderful editor on this animated film and helped more than he gives himself credit for, which is none. That ain't right. Yay, Alan. Anyway, here's the trailer." 03/13/14-You read The Drive-In. Now here's The Drive-In 2! 03/06/14-Hap & Leonard TV show! Check it out! 03/06/14-The Bottoms is available as a trade paperback, an audiobook, and a Kindle, and is going to be adapted to film by Bill Paxton! 02/27/14-Champion Joe is the winner of the Best Foreign Author Prize for the 40th edition of the Premio Letterario Internazionale Mondello! Fantastico! 02/20/14-Cold in July is still a few months from hitting theaters, but already they're writing about the next Mojo movie: 02/13/14-Champion Joe contributed a story to Piercing the Darkness, as did Jonathan Maberry, F. Paul Wilson, Christopher Golden, James A. Moore, Jeff Strand, Ronald Malfi, and others. And you can contribute to the Children's Literacy Initiative by ordering a copy here. 02/13/14-Yeah, we know: you're so hot and bothered about Cold in July coming this summer that you're fit to burst. Well ... this ought to put you over the top: 02/13/14-Hap and Leonard alert! There's a new H&L short story in the upcoming anthology Rogues! 02/06/14-Want to be a writer? Check out Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, a collection of "writing secrets" from speculative genre masters like Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, Piers Anthony, Ramsey Campbell, Jack Ketchum, Aimee Bender, writers of The Twilight Zone, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and many more. 01/30/14-Read it before you see it: Cold in July. 01/30/14-Champion Joe visited the Red Oak (TX) High School Book Club. Check it out! 01/30/14-You should check out books by Bill Crider. 01/30/14-A small detail can make a character come alive. Too many details can drown a character. 01/30/14-Grammy Award-winner John Carter Cash introduces fans to country-blues artist Kasey Lansdale right here. 01/23/14-From Joe: "Our family friend Norman Johnson died. He had been ill for some time. He was a very kind and interesting man who had many fascinating life experiences. Knew Elvis, just about everyone in the country-music business. he was very helpful to my daughter when she was starting out. I spoke to him a couple weeks ago, so it's hard to believe. He will be missed." 01/23/14-Publishers Weekly on the hardcover release of The Ape Man's Brother: "Although the tale of the lord of the jungle ... has been told many times, rarely has it been told from the perspective of one of his hominid companions. ... Lansdale is a master craftsman, and even when he is paying homage to a carefully unnamed famous protagonist from a long string of novels and movies, he adds something new (and often unsavory) to the mix."
01/23/14-"Sundance: IFC Acquiring Jim Mickle-Directed 'Cold In July'" 01/23/14-Variety says Cold in July is "arguably the best work Mickle has yet done." 01/23/14-"Cold in July: Michael C. Hall's unforgettable Texas thriller" 01/16/14-From Joe: "We have lost my good friend and great writer Neal Barrett, Jr. He is like family with the Lansdales, and he will be missed. Hell, I miss him already. I wish Neal had known how much people cared about his work. I don't think he realized. He had been ill for sometime, so our talks were not what they used to be, but he was a good friend for many years and we had many adventures together, all of them goofy. As soon as we got together things went haywire. One of my favorite Neal stories is we attended a convention and when we were ready to go to lunch he said, 'Let's go in my car.' So out we went. But he couldn't remember where he parked. He searched and searched for his car. We finally went in ours, and he looked later for it and gave up. He had to wait until the convention was over to find it sitting alone in the parking lot." 01/16/14-CSI and Law & Order and all those other crime shows, they usually miss the mark. But with True Detective, HBO got it right. 01/16/14-In coordination with the release of the film adaptation, Tachyon will publish the official movie tie-in edition of Champion Joe's Cold in July, complete with an introduction by director Jim Mickle and an afterword by Champion Joe. Click here for more information. 01/02/14-Champion Joe talks about his sentimental favorite author, Edgar Rice Burroughs, here. 01/02/14-Heads up, Lansdale, Pennsylvania! Champion Joe will be phoning in to the library reading group, discussing his classic novel Cold in July. Details here! 01/02/14-Want a first look at the film adaptation of Champion Joe's Cold in July? Head to Houston on January 30! 01/02/14-Check out the interview with Killer Kasey in the first issue of Beware the Dark. 01/02/14-"[Hot in December is] a dark story, but Lansdale brings his trademark wit to the table, providing plenty of needed levity even as Chan falls deeper into a rabbit hole of danger and violence. His prose is sharp and lean, and his characterization is spot-on as usual. If you're a Lansdale fan, I don't need to sell you on this. If you're not, this short book is as good a place to jump on as any." To read the October Country's entire review, click here. 12/26/13-Want some post-Christmas fun? Italian comic strip about Champion Joe! 12/26/13-Diane Plumley's list of the Best 100 Mysteries of All Time includes Champion Joe's A Fine Dark Line! 12/26/13-Champion Joe's Edge of Dark Water made the CulturMag Top 11 list for 2013! Check it out! 12/26/13-Fright.com calls The Magic Wagon "an insightful and touching account of Texas circa 1909 that incorporates elements of comedy and the supernatural." To read the full review, click here. 12/19/13-Champion Joe says, "One of my favorite country performers, Ray Price, has died. He was great, and our daughter was lucky enough to open for him three times, and it made her bring her A game for sure, and Ray always brought his. He'll be missed. He had a great voice even until the last." 12/12/13-"My father was not real talkative except when he was telling stories. It was usually under a tree at my grandmothers. We would all sit out there at night and my grandmother would tell stories about coming to Texas in a covered wagon and seeing Buffalo Bills Wild West show. My dad would tell stories. He knew Bonnie and Clyde for example. He also told stories from his folks, stories that were true and others that were probably more apocryphal. He had a very interesting life. I would sit under the tree with the adults while the other kids were off chasing fireflies and listen to the stories. They imprinted me deeply. I remember playing with the other kids and thinking, Ive got to get back to the tree. I would sit down legs crossed and just listen. I absorbed all that because they were good storytellers. My father was an extraordinary storyteller. When he got into it he had a beautiful baritone voice and he had a way of telling a story and a rhythm of telling a story. I think that the voice of many of the things I write that are historical, his voice is the one that permeates the most." Read the entire Suicide Girls interview with Champion Joe here. 12/12/13-Kasey Lansdale joins John Carter Cash at The Rutledge in Nashville on January 18. Check it out! 12/12/13-Craig Clarke says The Big Blow "just may be the perfect story." Read his review here. 12/05/13-Hot in December is a new crime novella by Champion Joe coming from Dark Regions Press! 12/05/13-Check out Kasey in Italy! 12/05/13-Champion Joe is interviewed in the December issue of Nightmare! 12/05/13-Which Champion Mojo Storyteller has a movie adaptation entered into the 2014 Sundance Film Festival? See for yourself here! 11/28/13-Black Friday starts early! Download Kasey Lansdale's Restless album for $7.99! 11/21/13-The Nightrunners is back! Get your copy here! 11/21/13-Heads up, Giddings, Texas! Champion Joe hits town December 7 for the Weird West Fest! 11/14/13-Heads up, Italy! Kasey Lansdale is touring your country with her great Italian band. Check it out! 11/14/13-So, you want an actual paper edition of The Ape Man's Brother? Here it is. 11/14/13-"Christmas isn't that far away. You'd best celebrate it with the Lansdale family." To read the entire review of Christmas with the Dead, click here. 11/07/13-"He's driven the cars, chased the diamonds, known the girls, listened to the psychopaths. Felt ... and fought ... the fears. He's been in the ring, been out of luck, been down ... and come back. He knows you have to bring some to get some. He knows the truth. He writes to share it." To read the entirety of Andrew Vachss' foreword to Joe's Act of Love, click here. 11/07/13-Champion Joe says: "Thanks to Italian comic readers for this very appreciated recognition. I love comics, and they led me to being a writer more than anything, led me to stories and books. Thanks so much." 11/07/13-Looking for a unique Christmas present for the horror and comedy fan, with a bit of drama and some Christmas music? Check out Christmas with the Dead! 11/07/13-Hey, look! New Cold in July paperback! 11/07/13-From Subterannean Press: "The trade edition of Joe R. Lansdale's Bleeding Shadows, the largest collection of his esteemed career, will be out of print on publicaton. At present, we have orders for over 1000 more than are being printed. We always fill our direct orders first, so you still have time to lock in a copy, if you're of a mind." 10/31/13-The Austin Chronicle calls The Thicket "hellish and hilarious . . . a Mr. Toad's wild ride of a story, chronicling the misadventures — both hellish and, as often as not, hilarious — of a righteous lad named Jack searching for his kidnapped sister Lula amid the inhospitable environs of East Texas, circa 1910." To read the entire article, click here! 10/31/13-"Christmas with the Dead is a year-round Christmas drama filled with blood, guns, zombies, and delusional characters; a fantastic zombie flick that will warm your heart . . . then rip it out and eat it." To read the entire review by Horror Society, click here! 10/31/13-According to LitReactor, Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is "the Patron Saint of the Western-Horror mash-up." Check it out! 10/31/13-"The outsider is well represented in The Thicket by ex-slave grave digger Eustace, and Shorty, a bounty-hunting dwarf. Neither is anyone's fool. But there is evil lurking in this finely drawn work as well." To read the entire review by MySanAntonio, click here! 10/24/13-Here's a very cool program that Champion Joe supports (and you should, too). Click on the pic to watch the video:
10/24/13-"Joe R. Lansdale's writing swaggers back and forth through a variety of genres, format, and media, blending elements and tones in unconventional ways, but never losing sight of the importance of story and character. His characters feel authentic, his environments are believable, and his plots are gripping. He's a great storyteller in the most classic American tradition; one gets the sense that if mankind never got around to technology, Lansdale would be roaming the country, regaling campfire crowds." To read the rest of Jon Abrams' overview of Champion Joe's writing, click here! 10/17/13-Ever thought, "I wish Kasey Lansdale would play a concert at my house"? Well, friends, 2014 will mark the kickoff of the RESTLESS house-concert tour. If you have 20 friends who like music and you want to know more about hosting an event, contact Kasey Lansdale. Coming soon to a living room, (or intimate venue) near you.... 10/17/13-Old Mars is a cool book with a cool cover and a cool short story by Champion Joe. Check it out! 10/10/13-Kasey Lansdale is featured in CMA Magazine. Check it out! 10/10/13-Get your audio shorts in a bunch! Champion Joe's "Down By the Sea Near the Great Big Rock" is performed by Corson Bremer over here on Pseudopod. 10/03/13-Fourth Street Review says "Joe R. Lansdale has done (again) what he does best. He has written a wonderful, bizarre story with East Texas roots and enough humor to take the edge off his typical darkness. There are gun fights, torture scenes, whore houses, and humor. In this part western, part coming of age story, none of the characters remain unscathed, but the battle might produce a loyal hero or two. The Thicket is bloody, funny, and, at times, brilliant." So go get some brilliance: The Thicket. 10/03/13-What are the top 20 pieces of short fiction by Champion Joe? Macabre Republic says it's these. 10/03/13-More kind words for The Thicket, these from Hellnotes: "One of the best novels of 2013." 10/03/13-Interview with Jim Mickle, Director of Cold in July as well as the recently released We Are What We Are. Check it out. 10/03/13-What stories inspired The Thicket? From the horse's mouth, here's the answer. 10/03/13-JUST CONFIRMED! Kasey Lansdale, John Carter Cash, Raelyn Nelson, Angel Mary and The Tennessee Werewolves, and Blue Mother Tupelo playing January 18th at The Rutledge in Nashville. STAY TUNED for updates. This is going to be an AWESOME show! 10/03/13-Great stuff on forthcoming film Cold in July based on Champion Joe's novel of the same name. 10/03/13-Publisher Black Labyrinth is starting a Kickstarter Campaing to do a book written by Champion Joe, illustrated by Santiago Caruso. If you're interested and want to be a part of it, here it is. If not, no problem. 09/26/13-Bookgasm says "Looks like the rest of the world is finally realizing what many of us have known for a long time: Lansdale is one of the finest American authors working today. He deserves to be read and cherished by everybody." So if you haven't already, you should read and cherish The Thicket. Bookgasm says so. 09/26/13-Crime Spree Magazine liked The Thicket, too. Here's what they said: "In our house, you can gauge how much Red and I enjoy a book by how much of it we read aloud to each other. By how 'tasty' the dialog is. When the dialog rings true, when you almost forget you're reading a fictional story and the characters start sounding real because what they are saying is exactly what that character would say in that situation, it begs to be read aloud. Needless to say, Kate got a free audiobook version of The Thicket, performed by me, whether she wanted it or not. Her response was, 'Shut up, already! I'll read it myself!'" 09/26/13-Champion Joe wants you to know about the H.E.R.O. Child-Rescue Corps, a program that trains military heroes to utilize technology to identify and rescue child victims of rape and exploitation. Go visit the site, spread the word, support it with donations if you can, and applaud the National Association to Protect Children for pulling together all the government agencies, corporations, foundations, and private donors to make the program a reality. 09/19/13-You never read The Nightrunners? Here's your second chance! 09/12/13-The Houston Chronicle says Champion Joe's latest, The Thicket, "reads like a dark version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and feels like a Coen brothers movie. It's the perfect mix of light and dark, with plenty of humor mixed in." To read the entire review in all its glory, click here! 09/12/13-Not to be outdone, LitReactor says The Thicket is "like something in between a wet dream and a nightmare. It’s one of those stories that feel like old folklore being passed down from your grandfather around a campfire . . . if your grandfather was a B-movie film director with a wicked sense of humor and no filter. ... It reads like an old Western fable or fairy tale, filled with dark, red, viscous blood and even darker humor. ... It may be Lansdale's most complete work yet." To read everything between those ellipses, click here! 09/12/13-The Examiner says to expect "gun fights, torture scenes, whore houses, and humor. In this part western, part coming of age story, none of the characters remain unscathed, but the battle might produce a loyal hero or two. The Thicket is bloody, funny, and, at times, brilliant." Whole review here! 09/05/13-"Alternately violent and tender, with a gently legendary quality that makes this tall tale just about perfect." That's what Kirkus says about The Thicket. Read the entire review here. 09/05/13-Champion Joe went to the set of Cold in July and all he got was this picture: 09/05/13-And speaking of Kasey (admit it, you were, weren't you?), in the review of her new album, Music News Nashville describes her as a "stunning product of the great state of Texas [who] has a musical spirit that seems to be all over the place, and she seems to excel at anywhere she goes stylistically." To read the complete review, click here. 08/29/13-Champion Joe says, "I been on set of Cold in July, with Sam Shepherd as well as Michael C. Hall. The filming looks great. Good actors. Good script. Good direction. I smell a real winner with this one." 08/15/13-Champion Joe will be on and off the set for the filming of Cold in July over the next couple weeks. How's that for exciting news?! 08/15/13-And equally exciting: you can get the new Kasey Lansdale CD from Amazon! 08/15/13-Here's a public service announcement for all parents. 07/25/13-The one you've been waiting for is now on sale! 06/27/13-"Eschewing romantic vampires and shambling zombies, [Impossible Monsters] presents monsters that do not merely kill, but suddenly and incomprehensibly consume, destroy, and reduce their victims to mere bones. ... [I]t's clear that [Kasey Lasdale has] worked to fill this anthology with visceral, creative pieces about ordinary people encountering the extraordinary; the book surprises readers with strangeness while tapping deeply into primal fears." To read the rest of the Publishers Weekly review, click here. To read Impossible Monsters, click here. 06/20/13-Champion Joe says, "My new one, The Thicket, is coming out September 10, in all formats. Here and Britian, Germany, and Italy, and very likely other countries. But for the U.S.A, here's one connection to the book. Also Barnes and Noble, or order from your local independent bookstore. Help me put this one over the top. I need your help to do that, so spread the word." 06/20/13-Champion Joe also says, "Just read a great book by one of my favorites, Stephen Graham Jones. You won't see him on bestseller lists, though you should, but man is he original. The book is three stories and they are terrific. The title is Three Miles Past. Check it out." 06/20/13-Champion Joe's "The Case of the Angry Traveler" is just one reason to purchase Impossible Monsters, the new anthology edited by Kasey Lansdale. And that is the second reason. And you better order fast—the limited is already sold out. 06/20/13-Champion Joe and Killer Kasey wrote this story called "Blind Love." If you wan to read it, grab the anthology Dark Duets, coming early 2014. 06/20/13-This should be a lot of fun. Check it out. "Saturday Night from 7-10 on 88.1 fm KVSC: Gypsy McGreevy pays tribute to one of his favorite authors, Joe R. Lansdale, and his talented daughter Kasey Lansdale. I will be playing Kasey's music and music that I'm going to connect to the strange and creative stories of Joe R. Lansdale. The fact that Joe has written a Tarzan novel based on ERB's original outline, Conan stories, Batman novels, stories, and scripts for the animated series, and made graphic novel adaptions from HP Lovecraft and Robert Bloch ... oh man! It's going to be a very odd and cool show!" 06/20/13-The Living Dead is described by the publisher as "an anthology of zombie short fiction." Which isn't nearly as funny as the idea of "short zombie fiction"—which could, of course, be interepreted as fiction about midget zombies. Which makes us wonder, When does that happen? Anyway ... includes stories by Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, and Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale. More info here. 06/13/13-Here's a cool article on Joe's brother Andrew Vachss. 06/13/13-"It was suggested that I said that [Robert E.] Howard killed himself over Novalyne Price. No, I didn't. I did suggest that the loss of her—and his mother, among other things—were the final straw. But the straw was bent at birth, and to blame anyone for his choices is ridiculous." To read the rest, click here. 06/13/13-"I've got an addiction—a fever if you will—and no, it's not for cowbell. It's this consuming need I have for more of my favorite fictional duo of the past twenty years: Hap Collins and Leonard Pine." To read the entire, beautiful blog post, click here. 06/13/13-Champion Joe's good friend Neal Barrett, Jr., is in a "Lone Star State of Mind." 06/06/13-A couple weeks ago, we told you that "Paris-based Backup Media has teamed up with Memento Films International to finance Cold In July, an adaptation of the Joe Lansdale cult novel that will be director Jim Mickle's next film." Well, now we're here to tell you that Michael C. Hall, whose final season as Dexter starts June 30th, will star in the film. Read the full story here. 06/06/13-Jack Parker knows all too well how treacherous turn-of-the-century East Texas can be: His parents did not survive a smallpox epidemic; his grandfather was murdered; now his sister Lula has been kidnapped by a criminal who may believe that wearing a dead man's clothes protects him from death. With bounty hunter Shorty, a charismatic and cunning dwarf, and Eustace, a gravedigging son of an ex-slave, the heartbroken young Jack sets off on an epic quest to rescue his sister from the corrupt men who control much of the new territory. In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground, but blood and redemption rule supreme. The Thicket goes on sale September 10 ... but you can pre-order now. 05/30/13-"Restless," the new album by Kasey Lansdale, is now available for preorder. (And a word to the wise: if you want an actual, hardcopy CD, you best preorder. After preorders, it'll pretty much be download only. Welcome to the future: you didn't get your rocketpack or flying car, and they've taken your vinyl and CDs away.) 05/30/13-You missed Joe R. Lansdale Appreciation Day? Well you can relive it—and read a review of his shorter fiction—here! 05/23/13-For those interested in the DragonCon debacle, here is the latest stop-gap from accused predatory pedophile Ed Kramer, who is trying very hard to avoid prosecution. Notice the nurse who had what she had to say about his condition is connected to DragonCon. Does this mean anything? Maybe. Maybe not. But here's the latest news, though it's heavy on legal talk. 05/23/13-We're thinking of the Oklahoma victims at this time. If you are looking to communicate with loved ones, please use safeandwell.org. If you'd like to donate, here are two options: Text STORM to 80888 for Salvation Army and text FOOD to 32333 for Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. 05/23/13-"Paris-based Backup Media has teamed up with Memento Films International to finance Cold In July, an adaptation of the Joe Lansdale cult novel that will be director Jim Mickle's next film." Read the full story here. Or read this story. 05/23/13-Champion Joe is literally huge in Italy. Check it out. 05/16/13-This interview from Reid Kerr might be of interest to writers and would-be writers. 05/09/13-Champion Joe's latest is The Thicket, and you can win an Advance Reader Copy here! 05/02/13—If you hang around here 'cause you like Champion Joe's Western stories, you'll want to check out this interview. 05/02/13-"Amid the wisecracks and the splatter, the down-home dialogue and the darkness, [Joe] Lansdale has stumbled on to a pretty good portrait of humanity. He just makes us all seem a little more interesting." To read the rest of this insightful article, click here. 05/02/13—For our Italian visitors. 05/02/13-Available on ebook: Cold in July, at only $3.99! Check it out. 05/02/13-This list includes some Mojo, we're very proud to say! 05/02/13-Champion Joe says, "Trent is a friend of mine, and he's having some health problems. If you want to kick in a little bit to help him out, here's the info." 05/02/13-Champion Joe is hitting the road this summer! Look for him at Comicpalooza in Houston and Bouchercon in Albany. 04/25/13-"As a writer you can work so hard toward finding your voice, once found you can squeeze it to death until it becomes a parody of what it was you were looking for. It's okay to relax it. Once you find your natural voice you can play with it, like you would a puppy. It may grow up and change a bit as time goes on, but you can pretty much always recognize the dog without having to have it stuffed and mounted. No matter how many tricks your voice learns, how excited it gets, how calm it finally becomes, it's still your dog (voice)." 04/25/13-Available on ebooks, "Bubba Ho-Tep." And at an amazing price. Check it out. 04/18/13-Champion Joe slipped a piece of Mojo into Old Mars, on sale in October, and A Feast of Frights, on sale now. 04/18/13-Soon to be available through Amazon: Christmas with the Dead, a film based on a Champion Joe story, directed by Terrill Lee Lankford, scripted by Keith Lansdale. Starring Damian Maffei, Brad Maule, Chet Williamson, with a lot of other Lansdale friends and family, including daughter Kasey, who contributed music along with Judy Pancost. It's a long list, too much to put it all here. An odd little piece, not your standard zombie film, not exactly a comedy or a drama. Check out the trailer here. 04/18/13-Killer Kasey turns in an amazing performance! 04/18/13-"It's winter and the news is depressing. Cheer up by reading some Joe R. Lansdale. Even when his sad-sack protagonists fail (or even die), it's entertaining." To read the rest of the Macomb Daily's review of Razored Saddles, click here. 04/11/13-"Sometimes you fail. It happens with everything. Sometimes your failures get published. But here's the thing: if you don't write it, don't put it out there, due to fear of failure, you've already failed. Success is about staying at it, and knowing that you can't walk a high wire forever without at least slipping, and possibly falling now and then. So if it's your burning dream to write, set the dream on fire, and do it. Otherwise, you're just someone with a story in your head, and that's fine enough if it's fine for you. But don't let fear keep it there if you want to let it out." 04/11/13-"After I read the first four pages in Bad Chili, I found myself laughing so hard that I literally started crying and then got stomach cramps. I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to read this unbelievable series. I must’ve had my head buried in a hole of sand." Not only is this a great review; it's also an announcement about Joe R. Lansdale Appreciation Day. (For the record, around here, every day is Joe R. Lansdale Appreciation Day. But we're glad to see that the rest of the world is starting to catch up.) 04/11/13-We're trying to make more readers aware of this strange little book, The Ape Man's Brother, available only in ebooks now, but available in actual book form next year. It's not a Tarzan novel. It's kind of pulp, and kind of not. We're fond of it. Champion Joe's fond of it. Maybe you'll be fond of it, too. 04/11/13-Great news from Germany on Edge of Dark Water. Thanks, Germany. 04/11/13-Nice review of Impossible Monsters, the anthology Kasey Lansdale edited. Go, Kasey! 04/11/13-Ever wonder what a Tarzan story would like like if it took place in Caspak? Champion Joe has the answer for you, in the short story he contributed to The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs. 04/11/13-Champion Joe has signed on to write a Western novella about his character from Soldier'n and Hides and Horns. To be published by Subterranean Press next year. 04/04/13-If you're anywhere near Atlanta, here's a reminder to boycott DragonCon, which is co-owned by alleged child rapist Ed Kramer. 04/04/13-Been looking for A Fine Dark Line in ebook? Look here! 04/04/13-Cover designs for Champon Joe's short-story collection, Bleeding Shadows? Yeah, we can point you to that. 04/04/13-Se si parla italiano, clicca qui. 03/28/13-"Sad news about the death of Rick Hautala, Dave Silva, and James Herbert. Rick and I received the Lifetime Achievement Award together last year, and it was so cool for us to get it together, and it's such a shock this has happened. Dave Silva created a very fine horror magazine, The Horrow Show, which gave so many new writers and beginning writers a shot. I used to write a column for him on movies, and a number of my stories andexcerpts from my work—as well as other tidbits—were published there. Tough news." 03/28/13-If you prefer short stories, especially Champion Mojo short stories, you might enjoy Bleeding Shadows. 03/28/13-"The only true test of miracles: amputees that grow limbs back, and the return of the stinky, rotting dead as whole and living human beings. The rest is just bullshit. Died on the operating table and came back? No, you die, and have begun to rot, and then you come back, that's a miracle. The others are wonderful natural events, but if it requires medical attention and recovery time, it is not a miracle. And don't tell me about 'there are little miracles every day,' like a bird singing in a tree. I want the ones you never see that would prove miracles. And I'm not taking somebody's word for it. Go dig up dead Uncle Charles and bring him back, or pray to have that missing limb or missing eye grow back, and I'm on board. All other mention of miracles is splitting hairs. This stuff, however, that's solid. And if you think I'm going to put up with a bunch of Christians telling about how they were in a car wreck and were supposed to die and didn't? That won't cut it. What I said, and nothing less. Those are absolute miracles. Jesus didn't say, 'Look, I'm curing you of blindness. You go home and put a cold compress on that, and take an aspirin and I'll be around next week to put some salve on it, and in a few days, you should be able to see good as a goddamn hawk.' He said, 'You are cured.' Or so the text goes. But then I have to believe the text. I don't." 03/14/13-From Champion Joe: "Just got the sad news that Dave Silva, founder of the now-gone-but-always-important horror magazine The Horrow Show, just died. David was also a writer and a very nice guy. I hadn't spoken to him in years, and didn't even know he was ill. I'm very sorry to hear it and give my best wishes to all his friends and family." 03/14/13-Ten of Champion Joe's favorite short stories, in no particular order: "The Killers," Ernest Hemingway; "A Good Man is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Conner; "The Henry Miller Dawn Patrol," Philip Jose Farmer; "The Snake," John Steinbeck; "The Next In Line," Ray Bradbury; "Gonna Roll Them Bones," Fritz Leiber; "A Saucer of Lonliness," Theordore Sturgeon; "Desire and the Black Messeur," Tennesse Williams; "Children on Their Birthdays," Truman Capote; "The Halfway Diner," John Sayles. 03/14/13-In the Sunday New York Times, they gave a real nice nod to Edge of Dark Water. Who knew those New Yorkers could even find East Texas? 03/14/13-Prevent cats from taking over the world. Buy this book. Not sure how it prevents them, but I think it does. No. I know it does. Save yourself. 03/14/13-Here's an article about Kasey Lansdale, written by herownself. 03/06/13-"Part of what makes art happen is commerce. Paying bills. Philip K. Dick once dedicated a book to his bill collectors. Some of the best work done has been done to pay bills and survive. And don't come and tell me how art isn't subject to that. Yours may not be, but Hemingway cashed his checks." For more writing tips from Champion Joe, click here. 03/06/13-Bubba Ho-tep action figures. No, really, check it out. 02/28/13-We finally saw an actual printed copy of Edge of Dark Water, and ... it's really nice. We didn't know there was an intro by Dan Simmons, but there is, and it's terrific. It also has a Readers Guide in the back, which we did know about, making it perfect for book clubs. Check it out here. 02/21/13-This speaks for itself: "Behind the Boycott of DragonCon Over Co-Founder Accused of Child Molestation," Deadline, February 19, 2013. 02/21/13-If you like good horror stories by established and newer writers, pick up Fresh Blood and Old Bones, featuring stories by Nancy Collins, Neil Barrett, Jr., and Champion Joe! Only $4.99! 02/21/13-And if you're looking for an All-Joe collection, pick up The Shadows, Kith and Kin, only $3.99! 02/14/13-Impossible Monsters features short stories by Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris, Anne Perry, Chet Williamson, and everyone's favorite Champion Mojo Storyteller, among others. And it's edited by Killer Kasey Lansdale. Order yours now! 02/14/13-Heads up, Houston! Champion Joe and Killer Kasey will be appearing February 19 at Brazos Bookstore. Details here! 02/14/13-From Joe: "Forty years ago yesterday, my wife asked me out on date. She wasn't my wife then, of course. We've been together ever since, and as of August of this year will have been married forty years. I don't know if she regrets that request or not, but I'm still here and so is she." 02/14/13-"Dad told me once that if people don't care about where they live, the way they act, people they associate with, they get lost in the dark, can't find their way back 'cause there's no light left. I had taken a pretty good step into the shadows tonight." You want the rest of the story? It's only 99¢, right here. 02/14/13-A tale of terror set in the wild, weird West! Plug-ugly Norville wound up in Wood Tick, Texas, 'cause his dad was fleeing the scene of a crime—murder. Norville grew up just as ugly, but managed to find a bride and acquire a homestead, good as new but abandoned. The only problem is the well, which is blocked by big, white stones. One by one, Norville unblocks the well, unaware he’s slowly setting free something old and dark and evil.... Keith Lansdale and Brian Denham adapted Champion Joe's The Crawling Sky to comics, for Antarctic Press! First issue is out now, more info here! 02/07/13-It was sale now--but now it's sold out! Dead Aim, the next chapter in the Hap & Leonard series, hit the market and disappeared. Maybe that's because Publishers Weekly called it "tart, smart, and dangerous." Or maybe that's because all those guys who had their asses handed to them by Hap & Leonard are trying to fgure out where they'll be next. Either way, if you want to read a copy now, your only option is to get the ebook. 02/07/13-News about Champion Joe's next novel, The Thicket: It's due in September and it takes place at the turn of the 20th Century. Smallpox, a kidnapping, a murder, a dwarf bounty hunter, and a black grave digger who serves part-time as a tracker, all told by the brother of the kidnapped girl ... and that's only part of the ingredients. There's also a simple, nifty cornbread recipe. 01/31/13-We're less than two weeks out from the trade paperback release of Champion Joe's Edge of Dark Water! So how about celebrating by listening to Killer Kasey's song, "Edge of Dark Water"? Enjoy! 01/31/13-Champion Joe has a new short-stories collection coming out November 2013 titled Bleeding Shadows. "The stories in it have not been collected in short-story collections before," he promises, and "this book will also contain novellas. It will be huge in size." And it'll be published by Subterranean Press. To read more about the book and eyeball the cover, click here! 01/24/13-How do you like your Edge of Dark Water? Do you like it as a hardcover or paperback? As an ebook or as a signed, limited-edition slipcased hardcover from England (meaning you'll fid an extra "u" or two in words like "colour")? Whatever the format, we think you'll like it just fine! 01/24/13-"Most Southerners who are honest about their region know that though there is a beautiful side to the South, there is also a gothic snake that lurks in the undergrowth, and it can raise its fanged head at any moment. I think like Flannery O'Connor said about Southerners, 'We still know weird when we see it.' That's true. But sometimes we are part of the weird. I think every region has its dark side. It's just that I know this region better than any other, so that's what I write about. I’m drawn to the darker part of it, because that's the part that haunts me." Click here to read the rest of Tom Piccirilli's interview with Champion Joe! 01/17/13-Champion Joe offers some thoughts on writing. 01/17/13-We're a month away from the paperback release of Edge of Dark Water, a book that's been selected among the best of 2012 by Kirkus, Booklist, The Boston Globe, and LitReactor!
01/10/13-Champion Joe is not only a Champion Mojo Storyteller—he's also a Professor of Martial Arts! On January 26, from 9am to 12pm in Nacogdoches, he'll celebrate 50 years of studying a wide array of martial arts. Everyone is invited to attend, no charge, to this celebration of Professor Joe's life in the arts, and of his contribution, the creation of the system of Shen Chuan Martial Science. There will be demonstrations and discussions covering Professor Lansdale and Shen Chuan, by students and instructors at the Lansdale's Self Defense/Shen Chuan dojo. Professor Lansdale will cap it off with whatever he wants (discussion, demonstration. or good ol' East Texas Ass Whoopin'). Then in the evening, at 7pm, we will gather at Coy Harry's house for some food and reminiscing. More info here! 01/10/13-"The Workplace, Wet or Dry" is an article Champion Joe did on writing for Mulholland Books some time back. You may have seen it, but if not, you can now! 01/03/13-Two weeks ago, we told you Edge of Dark Water had been picked as one of the 100 best novels of 2012 by Kirkus. Last week, Booklist placed it among the year's Best Adult Books for Young Adults. Now you can add this to the accolades: The Boston Globe has listed Edge among the ten best crime books of 2012 and LitReactor has it listed among the best of 2012. If you missed the hardcover, preorder the trade paperback now! 01/03/13-You never read the short-story collection The Shadows, Kith and Kin? Well, you can get the ebook now for only $3.99! 01/03/13-Champion Joe has a short story in Weird Detectives: Recent Investigations ... as if the title alone hadn't already sold you.... 01/03/13-Champion Joe says, "Growing Up Dead in Texas is my favorite of Stephen Graham Jones's many good books. He has the same problem I have. He likes to be varied." He also says, "I'm just going to say it straight out. You need Another Chance to Get It Right by my bro Andrew Vachss." 01/03/13-"The truly fun thing about Fresh Blood & Old Bones is the sheer number of monsters captured in the eighteen tales collected by Kasey Lansdale in this offering of short fiction by established and neophyte horror writers. " Click here to read the full review from Hellnotes, and click here to read the book itself! 12/27/12-Last week, we told you that Edge of Dark Water had been described as one of the 100 best novels of 2012 by Kirkus; as needing a "Do Not Start at Bedtime" warning by Library Journal; "entertaining, eerie and soaked with the East Texas period atmosphere Lansdale owns like no other writer" by The Dallas Morning News; and "our favorite book of the year" by the Austin Chronicle ... and has the Boston Globe raving, "When I reached the final page, something happened that I can't remember ever happening with a book I've read for a review. I wanted to read it again." And the New York Journal of Books declares it "has all the potential of becoming a classic, read by generations to come." Well, in case that didn't sell you, Booklist has named Edge among the year's best Adult Books for Young Adults. Check it out! 12/20/12-Edge of Dark Water (described as one of the 100 best novels of 2012 by Kirkus; as needing a "Do Not Start at Bedtime" warning by Library Journal; "entertaining, eerie and soaked with the East Texas period atmosphere Lansdale owns like no other writer" by The Dallas Morning News; and "our favorite book of the year" by the Austin Chronicle ... and has the Boston Globe raving, "When I reached the final page, something happened that I can't remember ever happening with a book I've read for a review. I wanted to read it again." And the New York Journal of Books declares it "has all the potential of becoming a classic, read by generations to come." Just sayin'...) will be released in trade paperback on February 12, 2013. (And it comes with a bonus: a free download of Kasey Lansdale's song, "Edge of Dark Water"!) Check it out! 12/20/12-Champion Joe says, "I have two stories in The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade, and though I'm proud to be in it, I think these lables that so many people strive for are what sometimes does them in. I've been labled everything, but the only label I will embrace is Lansdale. Still, it's a good anthology, and interesting and odd. I been doing some of this sort of thing for a long time, but I've been doing other things as well, which is why I don't want to embrace a tag. Because I like to change." 12/20/12-Champion Joe also says, "Here's an article on my friend Ardath, and on writing. Ardath passed away some time back, but I like to make sure she's remembered." 12/20/12-And here's a true-life story from Champion Joe: "When I was going to high school in Gladewater, there was this sort of sad-sack school bully who I had a mild confrontation with, and then he left me alone. But later I saw him at school and he was happy for the first time. He came to class laughing, singing a silly song that went, 'If at first you don't suck seed, keep on sucking till you do suceed.' This was unsettling. On top of the song, he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. The cops came and picked him up. Seemed a day or two before he had shot and killed his family and buried them in the yard with a garden tractor. Oddly, it wasn't long after, maybe out on bail or whatever, he showed up outside P.E. class wanting to say hi, like we had all been his buddies and missed him, after him being such a bully. I felt sorry for him in one way, and in another way, not at all. I wonder what happened to him sometimes." 12/20/12-"Unhinged and Unchained is a book of what I hope is interesting tid-bits from my career. One of the Amazon reviews talks about how offensive the opening essay is, and yet the reviewer did like the book. For the life of me I can't figure what he found that offensive. Could it have been something I said?" 12/20/12-A Clutch of Zombies contains a story by Champion Joe, as well as three other authors. And boy is the price right. Looking for a Kindle gift? This might be a good one for those folks who like to read horror, and in this case, zombie fiction. 12/13/12-Dead in the West and four novellas about the Preacher. Now out in paper from Tachyon Books. Get yours! 12/13/12-Friends of The Bubba, check this out: Bubba Ho-Tep (Hail to the King Edition) 12/13/12-So, a bunch of Act of Love got dinged in shipment, and are now for sale for ten bucks. These are beautiful books from Subterranean Press and this volume contains a novella about Marvin Hanson, and an interview. Really nice-looking, illustrated book. And dinged at then is a good price. 12/06/12-Edge of Dark Water is one of the 100 best novels of 2012. No ... really, it is. And if you don't believe us, maybe you'll believe Kirkus. 12/06/12-What's next for Champion Joe? "The Ape Man's Brother! It's a novella about an ape man telling a story about his good friend who they find as a baby and raise, and how outsiders come to take him home, and how while in an alternate New York they are both subjected to civilzation and change. And that's just part of it." The Ape Man's Brother is available now as a Kindle, and will be coming in print soon! 12/06/12-All hail Rick Klaw! The Klaw Man is compiling an anthology called Rayguns Over Texas, and Champion Joe is among the participants. And once The Klaw releases more information than that, we'll share it with ya! 12/06/12-Head to the Subterranean site, where they're accepting preorders on Dead Aim, a Hap & Leonard novella to be published January 2013. Preorder yours before they're gone! 11/29/12-All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky is out in paperback and e-reader. Perfect for classrooms studying the Great Depression, with story notes and questions, as well as an interview with Champion Joe in the back. Check it out! 11/22/12-Sixguns and zombies, a chicken-eating werewolf, deals with the Devil, and things that go bump in the night. John Wayne never had to deal with these kind of shenanigans, or these kinds of rowdies. But Joe R. Lansdale and John L. Lansdale aren't afraid, partner. They make this kind of material their everyday business. Compared to the cowpokes in their stories, John Wayne was a big sissy. Shadows West has got shoot-em-ups and bite-em-ups and blow em-ups, and the appearance of classic bad guys, like Jesse James, sent straight from hell with a bad attitude. We got a horse black as the pit and fast as the wind. We got things that won't die even when they're dead. There are demons and ugly people, both inside and out, giant spiders and unnecessary cursing, and one hot red-head heifer with an eye patch and a bull whip. Check it out! 11/15/12-Champion Joe says, "My Bro Andrew Vachss has a new book out, and I want to mention it again. A Bomb Built in Hell, from Vintage/Black Lizard. It's a humdinger. And if that isn't enough, he and artist Geof Darrow have a pulp-style story out in Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine. Why didn't I know about this magazine? Way, way, cool." 11/15/12-Champion Joe also says, "I'm not saying I haven't done some donkey work to survive, but I rode a good donkey, and tried to make sure once I got the donkey up the mountain it was still a good donkey and I wasn't ashamed for riding it, but not with my dick in its ass. I did the best work I could so that I could do the work I wanted. That sort of work was done early on, especially as I was learning. I didn't know I didn't like riding the donkey till I tried a few times. I have more respect for the artist that works and takes care of their family than the one who always lives by the artist code and everyone be damned that's depending on him. But that can be an excuse to just keep riding the donkey because it's handy in the barn. To be really good and your own writer, you have to leave the farm." 11/01/12-Champion Joe says, "Terrible disaster on East Coast with Sandy having wrecked so much beyond any expectation, or beyond most. Glad to see Obama and Christie putting aside politics and working together. Something I love to see. That's Americans at their best." 11/01/12-InReads says Champion Joe's "crime novels have a twisted gothic imagination to them, his horror works a hard won cynicism, that makes him truly nasty reading." Read the whole article, "Six for the Season"! 11/01/12-It's 56 pages of child-friendly fun! Check out In Waders from Mars, the story of the Martian duck invasion, by Champion Joe, Killer Keith, and Kindly Karen! 11/01/12-Champion Joe says, "Here's a new book from my friend Nancy Collins. She practically invented the modern vampire novel along with Ann Rice, only Nancy takes a different tact. She's been copied by everyone, but she's the real deal." 10/25/12-More good news for Hap & Leonard fans: Champion Joe just turned in a Hap and Leonard novella, Bent Twig, to George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois for their anthology Rogues! 10/25/12-If you come here each week for your totally free Mojo story, you might want to check out The Shadows, Kith and Kin, a collection that includes this week's story. It's now available as an ebook! 10/18/12-Here's the trailer you've been waiting for! 10/11/12-When Edge of Dark Water comes out in trade paperback next year, it'll arrive with a bonus: a free download of Kasey Lansdale's song, "Edge of Dark Water." Two Lansdales for the price of one! 10/11/12-And speaking of the Blonde Nightingale, Kasey has put together a horror anthology that includes short stories by Neal Barrett Jr., Nancy A. Collins, and Champion Joe, among others! Check out Fresh Blood, Old Bones! 10/11/12-The Wicked Library has adapted one of Champion Joe's short stories to audio ... and it's free! Listen here! 10/11/12-Champion Joe's young adult novel All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky, is out now in paperback. Order yours now and see why the Las Vegas Journal Review called it "a winner ... cementing Lansdale’s status as one of the best storytellers of our time." 10/04/12-File this under "Whoop! Whoop!" Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is being inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame later this month. Best get your vanilla cookies and Dr. Pepper while you can, because you know the store shelves will be emptying out shortly.... 09/20/12-You'd think it was a work of fiction, but, no ... it's for real. Click here to purchase Tyler Junior College v. Lansdale (Joe), the US Supreme Court transcript of the case a young Champion Joe brought in order to get his long-haired self into college. 09/06/12-Champion Joe is one of 41 writers (including Andrew Vachss, George Pelecanos, Charles de Lint, Ken Bruen, Chet Williamson, Michael A. Black, Wayne D. Dundee, and Zak Mucha) who has contributed to Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT. As the title implies, it's a benefit book. Unlike most benefit books, 100% of the money raised goes to the beneficiary. So go read, have fun, and feel good about it! 09/06/12-Champion Joe says, "There's a children's book, written for young readers by Keith Lansdale, my son, Karen Lansdale, my wife, and me, titled In Waders From Mars. Yep. That's the correct title. Keith told us the story when he was five. I wrote it down for him, and Karen gave it an ending that worked, and Doug Potter did wonderful illustrations and a beautiful cover. It's going to be up and advertised on the Subterranean site later this month. If you're interested, you might snag a copy. Not that many out there. Fun for the kiddies." 08/30/12-Champion Joe says, "Harry Harrison has died. I read a lot of his stuff in the past. Loved Deathworld and The Stainless Steel Rat." 08/30/12-Since its inception in 2001, Champion Joe has been involved with—and a member of—PROTECT, America's first politicval lobby for child protection. Earlier this week, Mets pitcher RA Dickey also joined the membership organization, in a very public way. Check it out! 08/30/12-Spoiler alert: clicking on this link will give Champion Joe's view on spoilers. 08/30/12-The Ape Man's Brother ... remember that title. 08/30/12-If you liked Edge of Dark Water, maybe you'll want to order the signed limited-edition. Or if you missed it in hardcover, maybe you'll want to get the trade paperback. 08/23/12- "Subterranean Press reports that Joe R. Lansdale has turned in Dead Aim, his newest 20,000 word novella to feature everyone’s favorite dysfunctional duo, Hap and Leonard." Click here to read the rest of the story! 08/23/12-Champion Joe says, "Historian from Nacogdoches Archie McDonald has died. That sucks. I thought a lot of him. A fine man, a fine historian, a great conversationalist." 08/23/12-If you haven't heard about Congressman Todd Akin, you need to read more news. And if you haven't read what Joe's brother Andrew Vachss wrote about Akin, then you need to read that now! 08/16/12-Wondering what the latest is on the film adaptation of Champion Joe's "Christmas with the Dead"? Click here to find out! 08/16/12-Got a Kindle? Get stocked up on Champion Mojo Storytelling! 08/02/12-Last week we mentioned a writing contest. This week ... there's a winner! Read "Two Left Feet" by Champion Dyslexic Storyteller Douglas E Wright! 08/02/12-In case one story isn't enough ... "The Drunken Moon," from Subterranean Press Magazine, Winter 2012! Enjoy! 07/12/12- "As I've grown older I've become even more of an animal lover, and I wish I could quit eating the poor bastards." To read the rest of Out of the Gutter's interview with Champion Joe, click here! 06/07/12-Joe Lansdale's brother Andrew Vachss was on Dave Marsh's Sirius XM radio show back in April. Dave asked Andrew what music he wanted to play; Andrew said, so long as he started with Kasey Lansdale, it didn't matter what came after. You can listen to that interview—which begins with Kasey's track—below! 05/24/12-Champion Joe says, "Write something." He says it in this podcast, "Stories from the Edge." Listen here. 05/24/12-Champion Joe wrote an entry for 20SomethingReads. Even if you're years beyond that, read it here! 05/24/12-Postcards from the Edge says, "Lansdale, casi la definición de autor sui generis, lleva más de 30 años entreteniéndonos con sus muy particulares historias. Ustedes escojan. Sus cuentos o novelas. Sus comics. Sus guiones para televisión." To read the entire review, click here! 05/17/12-Champion Joe had a conversation with his brother, Andrew Vachss. Maybe you read the transcript a few weeks ago, but until you hear the conversation, you haven't heard anything. Listen here. 05/10/12- "This ain’t no Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; assorted family members, authorities, and an all-too-real boogeyman are in no-kidding-gonna-kill-you hot pursuit as the friends raft down the Sabine. An unstoppable read, [Edge of Dark Water should come with the warning 'Do Not Start @Bedtime.'" Read the entire Library Journal review here! 05/10/12-You like Hap & Leonard? Then why not "like" Hap & Leonard? 05/03/12- "Sometimes if I don't write for a day or two, I get backed up — it's like constipation." That's what Champion Joe said to the New York Times. Read the whole article: "A Fresh Discovery, Three Decades in the Making." 04/19/12-The Boston Globe says Edge of Dark Water is "a terrific read. From its pages waft memories of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, and even As I Lay Dying with its journey to lay a soul to rest. When I reached the final page, something happened that I can’t remember ever happening with a book I’ve read for a review. I wanted to read it again." Bookgasm continues the praise, saying it's "another stunning triumph for [Lansdale], who for many years has proven himself one of the most talented American storytellers working today. His latest novel is inarguably one of the best novels of this year." And, in a starred review(!), Kirkus calls Edge a "highly entertaining tour de force." 04/19/12-Champion Joe spoke with Macabre Cadaver about Edge of Dark Water. Read all about it here! 04/12/12-The Dallas Morning News says Edge of Dark Water is "entertaining, eerie and soaked with the East Texas period atmosphere Lansdale owns like no other writer. Joe R. Lansdale could fall into the Sabine River at its filthiest point and still come out dripping nothing but storytelling mojo." Meanwhile, the Austin Chronicle swears that Edge is "our favorite book of the year so far, and one of Lansdale's best, ever. ... It's a doozy of a read, the kind of book we call an 'all nighter' on account of because if you crack this one open at nightfall you'll likely find yourself finishing it come dawn's early light. ... There's no one on earth that writes, or has ever written, like The Nacogdoches Kid, and if you don't believe us, tough titty and your loss, pardner." Now, if that's not enough to restore your faith in Texas journalism, nothing is! 04/12/12-From Spinetingler Magazine: "Edge of Dark Water is a dark tale of loss and despair, of growing up dirt poor, where adults are mean and children are worthless inconveniences. The story is taunt and laced with humor with beautiful prose–writing that's as smooth and deep as the river that flows through town. What I really loved about this book is how I got so caught up in it. Edge of Dark Water is an impressive, riveting story that I devoured quickly and completely enjoyed every minute of. Loved it." 04/05/12-Go into any Barnes & Noble in the next two weeks, and you'll see Champion Joe's Edge of Dark Water on the main table. Here at The Orbit, we got a real position of prominence for it—we keep it in the outhouse, where folks can actually luxuriate and read it. Where do you keep your copy of Edge? 04/05/12-Yeah, that's right. That was the cover of Champion Joe's The Bottoms you saw in the latest issue of Oprah Magazine. And, yeah, that was Bill Paxton who said, "[The Bottoms] has a lot of hair on it. ... I think Joe is one of the best living writers of the Southwest." So, yeah, we figure, for the next couple weeks, Joe's gonna expect his popcorn free. Fair enough. 03/29/12-Champion Joe had a conversation with his brother Andrew Vachss. You can listen in here. 03/29/12-Bill Crider says "[Mark] Twain couldn't have written this book." In the Barnes & Noble Mystery Blog, Jedidiah-Ayres writes, "I gave up marking my favorite passages after 20 pages because they were legion and beginning to completely dominate the pages—to the point that I began to reconsider the unmarked passages—just what was wrong with them, anyhow?" It's Edge of Dark Water, and it's on sale now! 03/15/12-Chris High calls it "a gem of a story." Violin in a Void says "It's told with rich Southern wit [and] very dark humour." And Warren Moore—who is the Associate Professor of English at Newberry College and a reviewer for The American Culture—declares it to be "exciting, creepy, funny — and remarkable." It's Edge of Dark Water, and you'll have a chance to make up your own mind about it in ... less than two weeks! If you're in Houston, Los Angeles, Burbank, Phoenix, or Austin, click here to find the date and time of your Mojo visit! 03/08/12-Champion Joe is hitting the road! If you're in Houston, Los Angeles, Burbank, Phoenix, or Austin, click here to find the date and time of your Mojo visit! 03/08/12-Who is that on the cover of Discover East Texas Magazine? 02/23/12-Champion Joe says, "My brother Andrew has a new novel coming out in March. You can read an excerpt of that novel on our site, by clicking here. And you can read an excerpt from my novel on my brother's site, by clicking here." Enjoy! 02/16/12-The New York Journal of Books says, "A coming-of-age story peopled with original and fascinating blood-and-bones characters. A chillingly atmospheric tale of good and evil and adolescent angst. Edge of Dark Water has all the potential of becoming a classic, read by generations to come." Click here for a preview! 02/16/12-Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale talks about Edge of Dark Water: 02/16/12-Was there an actual aluminum chair factory in Champion Joe's past? Find out for yourself here: 02/09/12-Here's what Library Journal says about Champion Joe's latest, Edge of Dark Water: "Lansdale crafts a perfect noir mood using time, place, and culture for a novel that pits the pretty good against pure evil. This literary thriller will add to his fan base while sating the appetite of the already converted." Sorta makes you want to read it yourself, huh? Well ... check it out! 02/09/12-Oren Moverman has been attached to Ridley Scott's adaptation of "The Big Blow." Read the Indiewire news story here, and then go read Champion Joe's novella (for 99¢!) here! 02/09/12-Champion Joe's not the only one with a new book coming out. Here's the cover of the latest from his friend Charles Saunders:
02/02/12-"Ardath Mayhar died in the very early hours of February first. I knew Ardath Mayhar for many years. I think somewhere near 37 years." You can read Joe R. Lansdale's memorial to Ardath Mayhar here, and you'll find an earlier article he wrote in honor of Ardath's birthday here. And you should do yourself a favor and read Ardath's short story "Crawfish." 01/26/12-The next knock-out punch from Champion Joe is Edge of Dark Water, to be published March 25 by Mulholland Books. Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say about it in their starred review: "Edgar-winner Lansdale channels Mark Twain in this chillingly atmospheric stand-alone. Lansdale's perfect ear for regional dialogue and ability to create palpable suspense lift this above the pack." Learn more about this new book here! 01/19/12-Champion Joe talks to Reid about writing! Listen to the podcast here! 01/19/12-Celebrate 100 years of Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars with this all-new anthology, Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, that includes a story by Champion Joe! 01/12/12-Champion Joe was honored last week with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association! Here's some of what they included in their press release: "The Lifetime Achievement Award is the most prestigious of the Bram Stoker Awards, given by the HWA in acknowledgment of superior achievement not just in a single work but over an entire career. Past Lifetime Achievement Award winners include such noted authors as Stephen King, Anne Rice, Joyce Carol Oates, Ray Bradbury, F. Paul Wilson, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Brian Lumley, William F. Nolan, and Peter Straub. Winners must have exhibited a profound, positive impact on the fields of horror and dark fantasy." Champion Joe will receive his Award at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City (March 29 - April 1, 2012). For more information on the convention, click here. To learn more about the award, click here. 01/05/12-"[Joe R. Lansdale's] style is so unique and so awesome that I have to actively prevent myself from trying to mimic his tendencies. To put it a little more plainly, it'd be like watching old videos of Michael Jordan dunking, rushing out to the driveway in my old hightop Nikes, and attempting a double-pump slam from the free-throw line. I'd hurt myself. Badly." Click here to read the rest of Jonathan Janz's very kind ode to Champion Joe! 12/22/11-"The gentle poetry in Lansdale's descriptions proves a beautiful counterpoint to much of the darkness the characters encounter. I can only hope [All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky] will find its way onto recommended reading lists of all sorts. It most definitely deserves it." Read the entire piece from SanFranciscoBookReview.com here! 12/15/11-If you've ever wanted to be a writer—or if you're a writer and want to know the way another writer thinks—you ought to check out Champion Joe's Facebook notes. He's posted 24 essays on writing. Check them out here! 12/15/11-The new issue of Fantasy features "Torn Away," a story by Champion Joe . . . and you can read it here! 12/01/11-Last week, BookReporter was raving about All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky. This week, School Library Journal has their say! "[T]his is a fast-paced, exciting story in which historical details are smoothly incorporated, characters are quickly but effectively sketched, and the author's Twain-like twang delivers both ironic and situational humor that will leave readers chuckling." Click here to get a taste of that Twain-like twang! 12/01/11-It's holiday gift-giving time, and Kasey Lansdale is your own, personal Christmas elf! She'll sell you any book by Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, signed, with free shipping anywhere in the US! We know you weren't so good this year, but Kasey is a forgiving elf. Click here to get in on this deal!
12/01/11-The folks at Protect aren't so forgiving. No free shipping, no signed nothing. But you can still load up on the same T-shirt Hap & Leonard wear to work—a Hanson Investigations cotton tee—and 100% of the profits will go to the National Association to Protect Children. Click here to suit up for work!
11/24/11-Have you read All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky? BookReporter has, and they say, "This historical adventure is a winner, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it lands Lansdale even more awards." Click here to read the whole review! Then click here to get your own copy! 11/17/11-Gere Donovan Press has just released a bunch of Champion Joe's backlist titles as ebooks. Check it out! 11/10/11-"[Cold in July] is one of those books that you literally can't put down because you just have to know what is going to unfold next, especially once the reality behind the dead burglar starts to take shape. After that there just is no turning back." Click here to read William Malborg's entire review! 11/10/11-If you haven't yet read Triumph of the Walking Dead, here's your chance to win a copy! 10/27/11-Champion Joe's latest, All the Earth Thrown to the Sky, has earned all kinds of praise! The Las Vegas Review Journal calls it "storytelling at its absolute best"; Bookhound says it's "timeless ... can be shared across generations"; and All Things Horror (of all places) says it has "real heart." You can get your own copy right here, then you can say nice things about it, too! 10/27/11-Some folks have been comparing Champion Joe's latest, All the Earth Thrown to the Sky, to his 2000 novel, The Bottoms. But one gal has been comparing The Bottoms to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Click here to read the Philosophy of KLo. 10/27/11-Mojo Joe says, "Put your ass in a chair and write." He said some other stuff, too, but we like it when he says "ass." 10/27/11-Too lazy to read an interview? The Night Crew has just what you're looking for: a podcast interview of Champion Joe! 10/27/11-If you like zombies, you'll love Triumph of the Walking Dead—and Champion Joe wrote the foreword. Check it out! 10/13/11-If you like urban fantasy, you'll want to check out Down These Strange Streets, a collection of short stories by authors like Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Diana Gabaldon, Simon R. Green, and ... Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale! Champion Joe's original contribution is "The Bleeding Shadow," about a Depression-era blues musician who calls on supernatural powers to improve his skills. 09/29/11-Champion Joe and artist Peter Bergting are teaming up for a four-issue comics adaptation of HP Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror! Read all about the series, which launches in October, by clicking here! 09/22/11-"It's been a long while since I've read an opening of a book that's as powerful and as thoughtfully wrought as the first few chapters to Joseph R. Lansdale's All the Earth Thrown to the Sky." Well, we don't know any Josephs around here, but if you want to read the rest of this review, click here. 09/22/11-She's singing, she's writing, she's acting, she's editing, she's modeling ... is there anything that Killer Kasey Lansdale can't do? 09/15/11-Champion Joe says, "All the Earth Thrown to the Sky came out September 13th, and is doing very well. Thanks to the readers who picked it up. And I hope they spread the good word." You can hear Joe talk about this book on his new YouTube channel! 09/15/11-And if you like YouTube, you'll want to check out this channel that features the martial art developed by Champion Joe, Shen Chuan. 09/15/11-So what's next for Joe? Edge of Dark Water! 09/15/11-Who's Damian Maffei? Well, he's the guy who stars in Christmas With the Dead. He's also the guy who thought he was hot shit, only to realize he was "more like misshapen steamy shit." And before that, he thought he was Godzilla. 09/08/11-"These are not your typical zombies. As a matter of fact, the main character doesn't consider them zombies at all. And they are not dead people resurrected. They are live people that have suffered through an event that has changed them. They have some movements and properties that haven't been done before. But I don't want to say too much right now and spoil things for the future viewers." Click here to read the entire interview with Christmas With the Dead director Terrill Lee Lankford. 09/08/11-Terrill Lee Lankford isn't the only one talking about the film. Check out the second interview with Boscoe Bear! 09/01/11-Boscoe Bear spills the dirt about the behind-the-scenes craziness of the film adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale's Christmas With the Dead! 09/01/11-If you liked The Boar, Champion Joe has something
special for you: a young-adult novel titled All the Earth
Thrown to the Sky. It goes on sale September 13, and can be preordered here. Here's a taste:
"The wind could blow down a full-grown man, but it was the dust that was the worst." Jack Catcher has just
lost both his parents--his mom died of sickness and his dad of a broken
heart--and he now has to get out of Oklahoma, where dust storms have killed
everything green, hopeful, or alive. Nothing is left from this place he once
called home. So when former
classmate Jane and her little brother Tony show up in his yard with plans to
steal a dead neighbor's car and make a break for Texas, Jack doesn't need much
convincing. But a run-in with one of the era's most notorious gangsters puts a
crimp in Jane's plan, and soon the three kids are hitching the rails among
hoboes, gangsters, and con men, racing to warn a carnival wrestler-turned-bank
robber of the danger he faces and, in the process, find a new home for
themselves. This road-trip adventure
from the legendary Joe R. Lansdale is a thrilling and colorful ride through
Depression-era America, where home could be found in the most unlikely of
places and family formed by those who traveled with you the longest.
08/18/11-"Back then, it was still thought okay to blacken your face, whiten your lips, talk in exaggerated accents, play music, and tell jokes about how lazy and care-free black folks were. I'm closing in on the sixty year mark, and I saw, if not the last 'Nigger Minstrel' in the East Texas area, then one of the last. What's most surprising about it is I saw it in the auditorium of Mt. Enterprise School where I went from first to fifth grade." Click here to read Champion Joe's entire essay, as published August 2 by MulhollandBooks.com. 08/18/11-What will the film adaptation of Champion Joe's "Christmas with the Dead" look like? Click here to see for yourself! 08/04/11-Hats off to Champion Joe, who was inducted last week into the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Recognized as a Soke (the Founder and Grandmaster of a system, in this case, Shen Chuan). Lots of great martial artist there, a smattering of ninth and tenth dans, of which Joe was one. Pretty cool.
07/07/11-Champion Joe won his eight Bram
Stoker Award, this one for his short story "The Folding Man," from Haunted
Legends. Congratulations, Joe! 07/01/11-Champion Joe
says, "Martin Greenberg was the king of anthologies. He bought a lot of my
stories over the years, and stories by numerous writers, but even more
important, he was a good guy. His death is sad news. Nothing can soothe this
kind of situation, but I send my best to his family." 06/16/11-"The best fatherly advice he
ever gave me would be good advice for everyone. Do what you say you re going to
do, and do it the best you can." Click
here to read the entire interview with Keith Lansdale, son of the Mojo one
and screenwriter of Christmas with the Dead! 06/16/11-"The dialogue between Hap
and Leonard is absolutely perfect. It is
sincere, sharp and so funny I've had to stop recording because I was laughing
too hard to continue." Click
here to read the entire interview with Phil Gigante, who performed the Hap &
Leonard novels for Brilliance Audio. 06/02/11-Christmas with the Dead,
based on a Joe Lansdale story of the same title, scripted by his son, Keith
Lansdale, began shooting yesterday in Nacogdoches. It's the beginning of a
five-week shoot. It stars Damian Maffei and Brad Maul, with Kasey Lansdale,
Chet Williamson, and Adam Coats as the main cast. It should be ready for
release next year. It is directed by Terrill Lee Lankford. 05/26/11-To promote the release of
"L.A. Noire," Rockstar Games commissioned eight original
crime-fiction short stories that take place in 1940s Los Angeles. Champion Joe
was one of the authors they brought on board. That's the good news. The great
news is, you get to read the story for free. Click
here to read "Naked Angel"! 05/19/11-Ellen Datlow is at it again, this
time with an anthology titled Supernatural Noir. And in case that
doesn't tell you everything you need to know, we've included this
super-handy link! 05/19/11-Apparently, Ellen Datlow doesn't have
a monopoly on the anthology, 'cause Champion Joe also has a story in David
Morrell and Hank Wagner's Thriller: 100 Must-Reads! Check
it out! 05/12/11-"Kasey is not a writer
trying to be a singer, but a writer that was born to sing. She can't even
remember when she started singing." Click here to read Gabino
Iglesias' entire profile of Kasey Lansdale, as published May 09, 2011, by
the Austin Post. 05/05/11-Darkness: Two Decades of
Modern Horror collects 25 great horror stories from 1984 to 2005 (including
one by Champion Joe). Now, you and I know that's really a bit more than two
decades, but since editor
Ellen Datlow has put together an amazing anthology,
we'll overlook that fact. Click
here to order your copy! 05/05/11-And in case you missed it . . .
Ellen Datlow's previous anthology, Haunted Legends (co-edited by Nick
Mamatas) also "stand[s]
out from the pack," according to Fangoria! 04/21/11-Maybe you've heard about the
forthcoming film adaptation of Champion Joe's "Christmas with the
Dead"? If not . . . click
here to read the inside story, then click here to
order the advance T-shirt (so everyone knows you've got the inside track)! 04/14/11-If you want to wear your love of
Hap & Leonard on your sleeve . . . and chest . . . and back, you'd best get
your order in to Novel-Tees for a T-shirt from Hanson Investigations. Click
here to place your order! 04/07/11-Maybe you've read about Bob
Parsons, the CEO of GoDaddy. Or maybe you haven't. So here's the deal: he went
to Zimbabwe and killed an elephant. Now, Champion Joe says, "Any
indiscriminate killing of animals for trophy or entertainment sake repulses
me." But he also says, "This is a different situation that involves
the survival of people." Click here to read the whole
story. 03/31/11-"Everything good we've come
to expect from these unlikely friends and partners is [in Devil Red]:
the sarcastic dialogue, the complex and unexpected plotting, the whiplash
violence, and, of course, the twangy, self-aware yet self-depreciating
first-person narration from Hap. But this novel has them dealing with their
mortality more than any previous adventure." Click here to read
Bookgasm's complete review of the latest Hap & Leonard adventure! 03/31/11-And don't stop there! Click here to
read Texas Monthly's review of Joe's latest! 03/31/11-Champion Joe says ebooks are the
new paperbacks! Read
the latest interview, from The Damned Interviews. 03/24/11-IDW had a hot comics series in
2002 called 30 Days of Night. It spawned two movies, and . . . now a
sequel comics series. This time around, Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R.
Lansdale will write it, with Sam Kieth illustrating. Ships in May! Check
it out! 03/17/11- Devil Red, the latest Hap
& Leonard adventure from Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, is out
now! Click
here to read an excerpt! 03/17/11-Champion Joe is tweeting his head
off about Devil Red. Check out
his tweets, including links to interviews he's done over the last few days! 03/17/11-"It s hard to resist the
usual hyperbole, but damnit [Crucified Dreams] is the best anthology I
have read in years." Click
here to read the whole review of Champion Joe's recent anthology, which
includes works by Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, David Morrell, Tom Piccirilli,
Jonathan Letham, and many, many more! 03/03/11-Want to hear great music and also
keep updated on Christmas with the Dead news? Then go to www.youtube.com/user/kaseylansdale
and SUBSCRIBE to the channel! 02/17/11-The film adaptation of Christmas
with the Dead, starring Damian Maffei, with supporting actor Brad Maule,
has also added Kasey Lansdale to the roster. Script is currently being written
by Keith Lansdale, and it's a doozy. To be shot in June. More information to
follow. 02/17/11-Hey, Hap and Leonard fans! The
latest novella, Hyenas,
is out this week. And watch for Devil Red
next month! 02/17/11-Flaming Zeppelins: The
Adventures of Ned the Seal is a "crazed, raucous and mashed-up tribute
to . . . Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Mark Twain, along with bits of L. Frank
Baum, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley and the dime-novel adventures of Buffalo Bill
Cody and members of his Wild West Show. Yep, Lansdale crams all of these
together, and then some, while adding his own unmistakable voice and
attitude." Read the whole
Bookgasm review here! 02/17/11-Bill Crider eats Alien pet with a
side of fries. For more fun like that, follow
Champion Joe on Twitter! 02/10/11-Champion Joe's
"Stars Are Falling" has been picked up again! This time it's for Best
Fantasy and Horror of the Year, edited by Paula Guran. 02/03/11-Champion Joe's "The
Stars are Falling" has been selected for inclusion in The Best Mystery
Stories of the Year, and "The Folding Man" is on the ballot for
the Bram Stoker Award! More information as it becomes available! 01/26/11-Ellen Datlow has selected the
contents of her forthcoming anthology, Best Horror of the Year Volume Three,
and among the selections . . . "The Folding Man" by Champion Joe! 01/13/11-Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is
joining Mulholland
Books.
They'll be publishing his '30s-era novel The Edge of Dark Water in Fall 2011. 01/13/11-Happy
New Year! Want to make it even happier? Pick up a first edition Cold in July
for $15.00, or two for $25.00 (plus s&h)! One for you and a friend! Send Kasey a
message if you want in on that deal! 01/13/11-"Green
sky. Quiet mother. Oh, my goodness, I thought. It s the Damn Bomb. In less than
a day radioactive lizards would be tramping over our back yard and licking
clean our busted mayonnaise jars and nosing through my comic books." Click
here to read "The Day Before the Day After," written by Champion
Joe for the Texas Observer. 01/13/11-What were Champion Joe's favorite
comics and books growing up? Click
here to find out! 01/06/11-There's a new film on the way,
based on Champion Joe's short story "Christmas with the Dead." Click
here for the inside scoop! 12/30/10-"Upon its independent debut in
the 1980s, the Black Lizard imprint earned distinction by reprinting older
classics of the crime fiction genre: Thompson, Goodis, Willeford.
Since its acquisition by Random House as part of the Vintage line, Black Lizard
has spotlighted more recent books by living authors of no lesser stature, such
as Jonathan Lethem and Nicola Griffith. In bringing us Joe Lansdale's
quietly brutal, harshly elegiac novel The
Bottoms, the current editors have once again established that the
noir lineage continues to flourish in the twenty-first century." Click
here to read Barnes & Noble's entire review of the new trade-paperback
release of The Bottoms! 12/30/10-Classics Mutilated topped the
Christmas wishlist for Ain't It Cool News! (Yeah, we know, we're telling you
kinda late. But you weren't gonna buy it for them, anyway.) Click here to see for yourself! 12/16/10-Wear your literary passions on
your chest! The Runaway Mule is offering a couple of Champion Joe T-shirts for
sale: a profile of the Mojo one hisownself, and a fine Hap Collins quote. Click here to get your T-shirt! 12/16/10-If you've ever looked at the very
top of this page, you know that Champion Joe wrote a Mark Twain/HP Lovecraft
mash-up for Classics Mutilated. If you want to check out some more fun
from those fellas--and you know you do--click
here for a tasty free sample! 11/25/10-A few weeks back, we mentioned
the Hap & Leonard novella that's coming out early next year. Well, here's
a first-look at the cover of Hyenas. 11/18/10-"If Universal horror
monsters crossed paths with Lovecraft s darkest designs on a Western set, you
might have something approximating one of the entertaining stories in this
quintet." Click
here to read the entire review of Deadman's Road by the Sacramento
Book Review! 11/11/10-"East Texas has its own kind
of dark side that comes deep-fried, baptized, and sanctified with a side of
hollow points and racial epithets. That's my beat, here in the shadows and
sticky heat, nestled up tight as a hungry chigger in a fat man's armpit."
If you ever wondered where Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale gets his
ideas . . . just
click here! 11/11/10-"Joe R. Landsdale's 'The
Folding Man' [is] a genuinely creepy reimagining of an American urban legend.
It's told with such honesty that I found myself reading it as though it were a
true story rather than a work of fiction based in myth." Click here to read the rest of
Lyndsey Holder's review of Haunted Legends! 11/04/10-"Joe R. Lansdale is a lot
like Barbie." That's how Rick the Klaw starts his analysis of Champion
Joe's work, so you know it's a serious analysis. Read it for
yourself here! 09/16/10-"We were so poor that my dad
used to say that if it cost a quarter to crap, we'd have to throw up."
That and more in Champion Joe's latest column for the Texas Observer. Click here to read
"Doggone Justice"! 09/09/10-"Here we are in the 21st
Century, practically drowning in vampires and zombies, but nobody beats
Lansdale's [thirty-year-old] Dead in the West." Click here to
read the rest of what the Agony Column has to say about Deadman's Road. 09/02/10-You heard it here first: Champion
Joe is tweeting! Catch his Twitter feed at #joelansdale! 08/26/10-If you like Edgar Rice Burroughs and Otis Adelbert Kline--or, for
that matter, Michael Moorcock--you'll dig this: Champion Joe has written a
novella that's an homage to the first two legends, and it will be published in
a Planet Stories Double Feature with one of Moorcock's long-out-of-print first
stories this October! Get
the full scoop here! 08/26/10-Couple weeks ago, we told you
about Devil Red, the new Hap & Leonard novel coming out in March.
(Scroll down to 08/12/10 if you missed that.) Well, before then, in January
2011, Subterranean Press will release Hyenas, a Hap & Leonard
novella. Click
here for more information! 08/26/10-Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R.
Lansdale talks genre fiction and the future of publishing with Desmond Reddick
on "Dread Media." Take
a listen by clicking here! 08/19/10-Booklist calls it
"one of the wildest alternate-worlds, rip-in-space-time, sf-pastiche romps
this side of '50s B movies." Publishers Weekly calls it
"irrepressible, irreverent, and unpredictable." We just call it Flaming
Zeppelins: The Adventures of Ned the Seal. 08/19/10-Publishers Weekly says
Champion Joe's "The Folding Man" is "riveting." So if you
want to be riveted, check out Haunted
Legends, the collection that includes that fine short story! 08/19/10-That book I just mentioned? Haunted
Legends? Well, it's edited by Ellen Datlow. And she just completed another
collection: Supernatural Noir. That book will contain a story by the
Mojo one titled "Dead Sister." Look for it in 2011 from Dark Horse,
and look
here for the table of contents. 08/19/10-And Champion Joe went and edited
a collection hisownself. It's called Crucified Dreams, and it includes
stories by Harlan Ellison, David Morrell, and Mojo Joe. Click
here! 08/12/10-You had to wait eight years
between the sixth and seventh Hap & Leonard novels. So how long will it be
till we see the eighth novel? Why, not long at all! Devil Red is due out
March 15, 2011, from Knopf! Here's the publisher's description: Hap Collins and Leonard Pine return
in a red-hot, mayhem-fueled thriller to face a vampire cult, the Dixie Mafia,
and the deadliest assassin they ve ever encountered Devil Red. For a
first look at the cover of Devil Red, click here! 08/12/10-Champion Joe's Edgar
Award-winning, New York Times Notable Book of the Year, The Bottoms,
will be released in paperback by Vintage this December. Check
it out! 08/05/10-Mr. Digressius checked in with
another glowing review for Champion Joe, this time for his Jonah Hex animated
feature that appears on the Batman: Under the Red Hood deluxe Blu-ray
DVD release. Click
here to read the review. Click
here to purchase the DVD. And click here if anyone's ever said to you, "The
kitten's trying to tell the big cat where to get his milk." 08/05/10-Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R.
Lansdale is usually the guy telling the stories. But from November 26 through
December 4, he'll be the guy judging the stories. He's been asked to
participate in the Jury of the International Feature Film Competition of the 28th
Torino Film Festival in Italy. Check it out! 07/22/10-If you're hankering
for a couple new short stories by Champion Joe, you're in luck! Last month,
William Morrow published Stories:
All-New Tales, a collection compiled by Neil Gaiman
and Al Sarrantonio; it includes "The Stars Are Falling," by
Champion Joe. Go back a little further, to March, and you'll find Warriors,
which includes Joe's "Solderin'." [Thanks, Craig!] 07/22/10-Less than a week from now, on
July 27, Vintage will release the latest Hap & Leonard, Vanilla
Ride, in trade paperback! If you missed it in hardcover, here's your
chance to catch up. 07/15/10-Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are
hitting the water for a new adventure, courtesy of Champion Mojo Storyteller
Joe R. Lansdale! But this time around, they'll have to contend with bizarre
fantasy and supernatural elements out of both H. P. Lovecraft and Uncle Remus. It's all part of IDW's forthcoming series Classics
Mutilated, and it's debuting at the San Diego Comic-Con: International in
two weeks. Click here for more
information, and for a look at the cover! 07/08/10-"It's early yet, but mighty East
Texas hunters should get out their guns and oil them up, buy shells, proper
clothing and a game bag, and pack a lunch. Squirrel season is upon us." Click
here to read Champion Joe's "Blood Sport," as published June 18,
2010, by the Texas Observer. 07/01/10-"There are gangs of
overweight scooter riders, sometimes in corrective shoes that never touch the
ground, whipping about with bags of open cookies in their laps, devouring as
they shop, consuming enough calories to fuel an Olympic rowing team. Fact is,
there's something ominous about how the scooter riders congregate near the hot
dog and ice cream aisles like motorcycle gangs, missing only the insignia on the
leather jackets that read something like: WALMART ANGELS or BAD MOTOR SCOOTERS.
They're the kind of folks who look at you when you walk by as if, on a moment's
notice, they might snatch a can of potted meat and throw it at you because
you're ambulatory." Click here
to read all of Champion Joe's article "Walmart, I Can't Quit You,"
as published February 12, 2010, by the Texas Observer. 06/24/10-Ever have a nightmare? Ever have Joe
R. Lansdale's nightmare? How about Jeffrey Ford's, Ramsey Campbell's, or
Caitlin Kiernan's? Well, now you can! Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas have put
together Haunted Legends, a collection of urban legends as interpreted by
twenty masters of horror writing. You can buy the
book here, and you can see
the cover here. 06/17/10-Well, you missed the online radio
conversation between the Funky Werepig and Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R.
Lansdale. But thanks to the magic of the Interweb, you can listen
to the replay anytime you like by clicking here! 05/20/10-Spinetingler
magazine says Joe R. Lansdale is like "Kurt Vonnegut . . . but with cannibals and monsters who puke up
popcorn-shaped eyeballs." Read
the rest of the fun stuff they have to say, and their interview with Champion
Joe, by clicking here! 05/13/10-You
been coming here for--what?--about 12 years now? Well, if you haven't
read where the history of the Orbit Drive-In, now's your chance. Click
here to read Fangoria's review of The Complete Drive-In, a
collection of Champion Joe's fine trilogy! Then click
here to read the review from The Onion's AV Club! 05/06/10-"East
Texas is a different kind of place. It's a mixture of cultures, and a lot of
independent thinkers--though these days, with all this Tea Party crap going on,
there seems to be a kind of anti-intellectual thing that scares me. But then
again, on an individual basis, I love the people of Texas, especially East
Texas. I like the stew of black, white, Hispanic, American Indian and, most
recently, Asian and Middle Eastern and others. The region is unlike the rest of
Texas, in that it's a cross between Western and Southern culture, with the
latter being more predominant." Click
here to read the rest of John Porter's interview with Champion Joe, as published by Fangoria! 04/29/10-"[W]hat I'm trying
to recreate for people coming to [By Bizarre Hands] brand new is the way
I felt when I first read this collection, and that feeling was a powerful sense
of newness like seeing the Northern Lights for the first time. And I've been
thankful, dedicated, and loyal to Joe since. To put it simply, he's made a
believer out of me." Click here
to read everything Mr. Digressius has to say about the initial release of By
Bizarre Hands and the forthcoming release of the new celebratory and
expanded edition of that classic short-story collection! 04/29/10-You know what Mojo
storytelling reads like. But how about Mojo poetry? To find out, grab a copy of
Twice the Terror: The Horror Zine, the second book from the folks who
publish The Horror Zine online. No
publication date has been announced yet, but check out their site anyway-they
do good work! 04/22/10-Feeling punchy? Watch Champion Joe work his
Shen Chuan magic! 04/22/10-SheNeverSlept.com interviewed
Champion Joe, and you get to read the whole thing! Click here to check
it out! 04/15/10-Last month, RevolutionSF asked
you to submit an original fun, weird, 67-word short story for their contest to
win a copy of The Best of Joe R. Lansdale. You did! And you are
weird! Check out the winners here, here, here, here, and here! 04/01/10-Looking for a nice coming-of-age
story? Check out this list of 32
coming-of-age stories, as voted on by members of GoodReads. Three books by
Champion Joe, and a whole bunch of books Joe hisownself likes. 04/01/10-WritingRaw asked Champion
Joe seven questions. His
answers are here! 03/25/10-It's
spring-cleaning time, and Kleaning Lady Kasey wants your help . . . reducing
the stacks and stacks of signed books by Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R.
Lansdale that are cluttering her office! Send
her an email to see what's available! 03/25/10-How
do you like your noir? If you like it geezer, we've got what you're looking
for. Busted Flush Press is releasing Damn Near Dead 2, an anthology of
geezer noir that includes a story by our own Champion Joe. Check
it out! 03/18/10-You
want Zombie Western? Champion Joe--who created the genre--has got Zombie
Western for you! This October, Subterranean Press will publish Deadman's
Road, a collection that includes the entirety of Dead in the West plus four
short stories--one of which has never been collected, and one that has never
been printed--featuring monster-hunter Reverend Jedidiah Mercer. Click
here for more information! [Thanks, Rick!] 03/11/10-
Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is "Indisputably one of horror's most revered
craftsmen." And that's not just our opinion; it's also the opinion of Booklist!
Don't believe us? Click
here to read it for your ownself! 03/11/10-Champion
Joe and John L. Lansdale have teamed up with artist Kevin Colden for a
comic-book adaptation of Robert Bloch's "Yours Truly, Jack the
Ripper." Look for it this summer from IDW! 03/11/10-Norman
(Dark Harvest) Partridge has added a new feature to his Web site: a
series of interviews with authors, editors, and other creative folks about how
they got their start in publishing. First up? Champion Joe! Click
here to read the whole blessed thing! 03/11/10-"Take
a big, fat oak barrel, pack in Ray Bradbury and Charles Bukowski, slice and
dice a few big, young scorpions with all six juicy segments of their tails, add
some boiled spinach and watery buckwheat, pickle all with half Jack Daniel's
Tennessee Whiskey and half Southern Comfort, piss, and spit some chewing
tobacco into the mix, then seal it up good. Let the barrel sit for a few years,
forgotten, in a beat-up Pontiac pickup truck parked in the last row of the last
aisle in the last drive-in down a long, dusty road. When you finally open it up
you'll find an author like Joe R. Lansdale. Just stand back a bit when you do
'cause he might be cussin' up an awful lot and swinging low." To read the
rest of the review of The Best of Joe R. Lansdale from Zombos' Closet
of Horror, click
here! 03/04/10-By
Bizarre Hands was Joe R. Lansdale's first short story collection and is
held by many to be the most important horror collection published in the
Eighties-some have argued that it's the best collection published since Ray
Bradbury's Dark Carnival in 1947. It's with that in mind that
Morning Star is releasing By Bizarre Hands Rides Again, a signed,
hardcover edition of that famed book with all the original material plus four
additional short stories. It's limited to 300 copies, so you'd best preorder
your copy if you want to be sure to get one. Click
here for more information! 03/04/10-"If you believe everything you read in Joe
Lansdale's work, Texas is a magical place running amok with mercenary biker
gangs, killer ducks, madmen, madwomen, avenging Egyptian spirits, friendly
armadillos, serial killers, possessed scarecrows, steam-powered giant robots .
. . the list unravels like a lizard's tongue, and is just as rough and
prickly." Click
here to read Ross Thompson's unabridged interview Champion Joe! 03/04/10-By
Bizarre Hands isn't the only Champion Joe treasure to re-emerge. In May,
Underland Press will release the collected Drive-In trilogy! Click
here to listen to The Agony Column talk with Joe on this and all things Mojo! 02/25/10-Champion
Joe has an original short story in the collection The Bleeding Edge,
which ships today. Click
here to read all about it! 02/25/10-In
The New Republic a couple weeks ago, Washington Post columnist,
Brookings Institution senior fellow, and Georgetown University professor EJ
Dionne, Jr. reviewed Bubba Ho-Tep. Click here to the read it! 02/25/10-If
you've ever thought about picking up Champion Joe's classic Dead in the West,
maybe Bill Ward's review will push you over the edge. He calls it "one part Pale Rider, one part Night
of the Living Dead, and one hundred percent Lansdale." Read the whole review
here! 02/18/10-Tachyon
Press has released a collection of short stories by Champion Mojo Storyteller
Joe R. Lansdale this week! It's called The Best of Joe R. Lansdale, and
you can order
your copy here. But that's not all! You can read
an interview with Champion Joe here! 02/18/10-"If there is one time when I am really
tempted to use profanity in a review, it's when I'm talking about the work of
Joe R. Lansdale." That's how Bill Ward begins his review of Champion Joe's
Vanilla Ride. Click
here to read the whole thing, and see which cuss words Bill uses! 02/11/10-Texas
Magazine says the short stories in Champion Joe's collection Sanctified
and Chicken-Fried "display
his capacity for creating three-dimensional characters, showcasing secreted
sexual habits, and personifying the racist underbelly of East Texas without
apology--always with well-timed suspense; often, with a sobering dose of the
sordid." And if you don't believe us, click
here to read it for yourself. 02/04/10-Champion Joe was
interviewed by Necrotic Tissue in their ninth issue. You can get that
magazine here!
(And be sure to check out Jason Ridler's "Monsters" in that same
issue!) 01/28/10-Looking for a
great book for teens? The American Library Association says Champion Mojo
Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is your go-to guy! They've named his graphic-novel
adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Pigeons from Hell one of the 2010 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. Click
here for the whole list! 01/21/10-"I can't think about Edgar Allan Poe without thinking
about my life, because he was there in dark spirit, in my room and in my head.
He was out there in the shadows of the East Texas pines, roaming along the
creeks and the Sabine River, a friendly specter with gothic tales to tell. It
was a perfect place for him. East Texas. It's the part of Texas that is behind
the pine curtain, down here in the damp dark. It's Poe country, hands
down." That's how Champion Joe starts his review of the Edgar Allan Poe
exhibition at Austin's Harry Ransom Center. Click here to
read the entire piece, as published November 27, 2009, by The Texas
Observer. 01/21/10-Painter Davide Coroneo produced a series
called "The Forty-nine Portraits." The collection, which was
displayed in Tuscany's Impruneta, features images of various pop-culture icons,
including Andy Warhol, Buddy Holly,
Harpo Marx, and . . . Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale. You can
see Coroneo's Web site by clicking here,
and you can see
Coroneo's portrait of Champion Joe by clicking here! 01/14/10-Publishers
Weekly gave a starred review to The Best of Joe R. Lansdale,
declaring, "Always
entertaining, champion storyteller Lansdale shares his best weird yarns in this
terrific collection. . . . This is a great introduction to the raunchy,
cheerfully unclassifiable East Texan bon vivant." Read the review by clicking here,
then preorder your copy of this paperback book (shipping February 15) by clicking here! 01/14/10-Publishers
Weekly isn't the only one showing Joe some love for this new collection. Fatally
Yours raves, "The Best of Joe R. Lansdale is a must-have book for the lover of the weird, the
champion of the bizarre and the fan of the outrageous. If you are looking for a
unique experience that will leave you equal parts stunned and nostalgic,
frightened and amused, look no further than the 'high priest of Texan
weirdness' himself, Joe Lansdale." Click
here to read the whole review! 01/07/10-"As Mark Twain employed the detective trope to study 19th
century U.S. racial mores in Puddn'head Wilson, the Hap and Leonard
books explore questions of race, sexuality and religion in modern red-state
America. Hap is a white heterosexual good old boy. Leonard is a black
homosexual Vietnam vet. The former is introspective and diplomatic. The latter
busts heads and sorts details later. The two are best friends, but conflict is
in store for the outrageous duo just around the next pine tree." Click here to read
the rest of Stayton Bonner's review of Vanilla Ride, as published
December 11, 2009, by The Texas Observer. 12/31/09-"This is
the old Joe Lansdale I used to know, the one who put out Bestsellers
Guaranteed and Stories by Mama Lansdale's Youngest Boy. This is Joe
having come a long way in his writing and, for whatever reason, going back to
the old days. . . . [T]his is KISS recording the back-to-our-roots Rock And
Roll Over after the crazily successful, symphonic hard-rock heights of Destroyer.
This is Joe Lansdale having proven himself to the bigwigs in the mainstream by
winning an Edgar Award as well as literary circles by winning the Grinzane
Cavour, now proving to his fans that he hasn't lost anything about himself in
the interim." To read the rest of Mr. Digressius' review of Champion Joe's
short-story collection Unchained and Unhinged, click
here! 12/17/09-Champion Joe on
Andrew Vachss' latest novel: "Haiku is my favorite of all Andrew's books. Lean and literary,
smooth as swallowing a poison snowflake. A Haiku of a novel from one of the
most original writers alive." So go
check it out for yourself! 11/19/09-Get this: Kid
Rock, Nicole Kidman, Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire, and Kris Kristofferson all
got to meet Killer Kasey Lansdale at the Country Music Awards and the BMI
Awards! Check out pictures
of the lucky stiffs by clicking here. 10/29/09-What's the
current state of horror? Find out from those in the know! Click here
for the horror-panel blog! 10/08/09-Best get your
act together, if you're going to make it to Fencon IV! It's less than a year
away, on September 17-19, 2010. Champion Joe is the Toastmaster at this Dallas
convention. Click here for
details! 10/01/09-Did you miss Champion
Joe at KillerCon? Meghan Knierim didn't. And
you can see her pictures by clicking here! 09/10/09-The Washington Times proclaims, "Joe R. Lansdale's Vanilla Ride is the best
crime novel I've read in years." Don't believe us? Read
the review for yourself. Then read
the book! 08/20/09-The
Los Angeles Times says, "A
rich blend of elements that will make readers thirsty for the earlier novels, Vanilla
Ride is anything but ordinary crime writing by one of the best in the
business." Click
here to read the full review! 08/06/09-When Champion Joe gets together with Rick Klaw, they can
go on for hours. And that's what they did, for the Klaw's article the
San Antonio Current. But only a fraction of what they talked about made it
into the article. For the full boat, click here! 08/06/09-"With four or five the stories being quite excellent
and great fun to be had all the way through, Son of Retro Pulp Tales
[edited by Champion Joe and his son, Skull-Splitter Keith Lansdale] is way
ahead of the curve and a mighty satisfying read. . . . In every one of these
stories you sense the pure glee the writers had in shaping these cheap thrills
from their own fond memories. This has the sense of wonder, adventure, and just
plain fun that should never go out of style." Click
here to read the complete review, from io9! 07/30/09-Champion Joe was on Blog Talk Radio, on the show
"The Funky Werepig." Yeah, "The Funky Werepig." If I gotta
say anything else to sell you on clicking
over, there's really something wrong with you. 07/30/09-Want to see the Mojo one's interview with the legendary Ron Bennington? The stills from the staged reading of "Bob The
Dinosaur Goes To Disneyland"? Preview the lobby cards and posters for the
upcoming event, A Night of Joe R. Lansdale? Then head on over to the
brand new BellMojo.com! 07/30/09-Ever
wonder how you can be a Champion Mojo storyteller? Or at least a contender? Now
there's a book to help you with that. Champion Joe hisownself and a whole bunch
of other writers have put together Writers Workshop of Horror, an
anthology of essays by the greats in the field, all giving advice on how to
write for the field. Click
here to learn more, and to get your own copy! 07/23/09-Ever wonder how Champion Joe would answer the question,
"What flavor Jell-O would you
most like to see hot chicks wrestle in?" Or what kind of guys would ask
that kind of question of Champion Joe? Click here for the answer. 07/09/09-What? Haven't purchased Vanilla
Ride yet? Well, have a free taste
here! 07/02/09-"Joe Lansdale may be Texas' bloody
answer to Mark Twain." That's what Joe O'Connell writes in his review of
Vanilla Ride and Sanctified and Chicken-Fried, published June 26 in the Austin
Chronicle. And that's all well and good. But you'll want to click
here to read the article to find out what Champion Joe's dad did to the
neighbor who hit young Joe's dog with a steel pipe, how his mom inspired the
story "Bubba Ho-Tep," and why it makes sense that Batman, Shakespeare
and The Iliad could all come together for a single story! 07/02/09-If you think Joe can write, wait
until you hear him speak! Champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale was
interviewed by Jeff Rutherford for the eighth episode of "The Reading and
Writing Podcast." Listen
to it by clicking here! 07/02/09-Onyx Reviews calls Vanilla
Ride "a perfect balance
between violence and comedy, one that is difficult to pull off." Click here to read
the entire review, or click
here to buy your own copy and make up your own mind! 06/18/09-Joe writes, "Bette Farmer,
Philip Jose Farmer's wife, has died. She was a bright and beautiful lady, and
was as important to Phil's career as any editor, agent or publisher. She was
the rock on which he stood. And what a fine lady. She will be missed." 06/11/09-Ever wonder what Champion Joe
sounds like when he speaks Italian? Check out
this TV interview from Italy! 06/11/09-The Mojo one has been surfing the
web on his virtual tour! Want to see where he's stopped, and read what he's
written on fans' pages? Go to joelansdale.blogspot.com
for a list of pages visited! 06/11/09- Fans and you-ought-to-be-fans of
the Hap and Leonard series will be pleased that Vintage is reprinting the first
three in the series. And, hey, that's not us talking--that's
ReviewingTheEvidence.com. Check it out! 06/11/09-And they're not the only ones
crowing about the Vintage re-releases! On the release of Two-Bear Mambo
and Bad Chili, Bookgasm writes, "[F]rom
the amazing mind of Lansdale, who loves to pass along a damn-good story and
never fails to entertain. If you haven't met Hap and Leonard yet, please get to
it." 06/11/09-If you're more partial to moving
pictures than written words, you'll want to check out this
article in Fangoria about the film adaptation of Champion Joe's short story
"Mister Weed-Eater"! 06/11/09-Horror Bound Magazine
reviewed the short-story collection Sanctified and Chicken-Fried, resulting in
our favorite pull-quote of the last 78 days: "Joe R. Lansdale is a true
master of his craft. He could write a first person account of a deaf-dumb-blind
kid stirring a pile of wet dog sh*t with a popsicle stick and make it as feverish
a page turner as any I've ever read." Read the whole
blessed review here! 06/04/09-Speaking of blogs, Champion Joe's
got his own now! Click here to read
the latest from Joe hisownself--and to see Killer Kasey's swell new
outfits! 06/04/09-And while you're bouncing around
the Web, check out Horror Bound
Magazine's interview with Champion Joe! 05/21/09-The second issue of Zombie
Tales, a comic from Boom!, is out now, and it features a story written by
champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale and illustrated by the legendary
Eduardo Barreto. Get yours now! 05/21/09-The fifth issue of Morpheus
Tales is the "Undead Special" issue. We're going to pick that one
up because it features short fiction by champion Joe. But even if it didn't,
we'd pick it up, 'cause we think being undead is pretty special, too. Look
for it in July! 05/07/09-Hey, everyone! Killer Kasey
Lansdale has a message for you! Click here to retrieve it. 04/30/09-All you folks that have been
aching for another film adaptation of champion Joe's Mojo magic will want to check
out the story in Fangoria about the forthcoming Mister Weed-Eater! [Thanks,
Damian!] 04/23/09-The friendly folks at Bookgasm
say that Leather Maiden is "unlike any thriller you've ever
read." Read that and all the other nice things they said by clicking
here! For that matter, read what they had to say about Sanctified
and Chicken-Fried, and the
Hap & Leonard trade paperbacks! 04/09/09-Ever wonder where champion Joe
got the idea for "Bubba Ho-Tep"? Well, stop wondering and start reading!
Ross Thompson asked the question and got the answer, and it's published in the
latest issue of AU. Click here
to read it for yourself! 04/02/09-"He may be violent, gruesome and shocking, but [Joe]
Lansdale is also one of the greatest yarn spinners of his generation: fearless,
earthy, original, manic and dreadfully funny." That's what Jane Sumner of
the Dallas Morning News wrote about our very own champion Joe. Click
here to read the rest of what she wrote about him, and about his new
short-story collection, Sanctified and Chicken-Fried! 04/02/09-This just in from a couple of folks from the Mud Creek
Asylum: "Hey, Mojo-fanatics,
it's Patrick J. Kennedy from BellMojo Productions. If you are a member of
Facebook and want to check out the new exclusive interview with Joe R.
Lansdale, click
here! If you're not a member, it's free to join up and then you can also follow
updates about the film adaptation of Joe's "Mister Weed-Eater,"
being developed by Damian Maffei, star of Closed for the Season, and
Brian Fitzpatrick, co-creator of the Hobo-Horror short Throwaway! 03/26/09-Champion Joe remembers his hero
Philip Jose Farmer. Click
here to read his piece. 03/26/09-Ever wonder what champion Joe's
childhood looked like? Stop wondering and click
here! 03/19/09-Back in January, Vintage
re-released the first two Hap & Leonard novels, Savage Season and Mucho
Mojo. Click
here to see the bitchin' cover they have for the re-release of The
Two-Bear Mambo! And here
for the re-release of Bad Chili! Both coming in May! 03/19/09-If all that doesn't make you a
little unchained and unhinged, then how about this
gem that's shipping from Subterranean Press? 03/12/09-Amazon says champion Joe's latest
collection, Sanctified
and Chicken-Fried: The Portable Lansdale, went on sale March 1. Well, it
didn't. It ships next week. But preorders are such that the hardcover is almost
gone already. So . . . if you were expecting a hardcover, order now. And enjoy! 03/12/09- The Boar was recently
published in Germany! Deutschlandradio says that it is written like wonderful
minimalist poetry, that Joe is a big deal and folks should check him out. But
they say it in German. If that doesn't put you off, click here.
Or if you just like pictures of cute baby boars, click here.
And send your Mojo waves of thanks to our German pal, Olaf! [Thanks, Olaf!] 03/05/09-The (Texas) Eagle says champion
Joe's Hap & Leonard novels are "fast-paced and often humorous." Of course, they also say they're
"told in the voice of Hap Collins and have a lot of sex, violence and
profanity, so consider that a warning." We assume they're warning folks
about Hap, not the sex, violence and profanity. Folks like sex, violence and
profanity, don't they? Anyways, click here if you want to read more. 03/05/09-Over in Boston, the fellas at The Edge
said, "Joe R. Lansdale knows how to tell a damn
fine story." Click here to read all about those damn fine stories. 03/05/09-Publishers
Weekly got a listen to Phil (not a porn name) Gigante's audio adaptation of
Savage Season, and wrote that his performance is "mesmerizing: he
infuses this book with attitude and style, imbuing each character with a rich
distinct voice that resonates well with each personality. His narration is
crisp and smooth, with a good distribution of tension according to the given scene." Click
here to listen to samples. Or here,
to read the review. 02/26/09-Did you know champion Joe teaches
creative writing at Stephen F. Austin State University? Or that he'll be
teaching in Italy this summer? Neither did I--until I read The Velvet
Interview. Click
here to read it yourownself! 01/29/09-You somehow miss those first two
Hap & Leonard novels, Savage Season and Mucho Mojo? Then
you'll want to send a big letter of thanks to the fine folks at Vintage/Black
Lizard, who have re-released those '90s classics! Click here for more
information! 01/29/09-Modern Tonic says,
"[Champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale] has long challenged traditional genres by mashing up
mystery, comedy, thriller and Western themes. Bloody and unrelenting, Lansdale's
work is not for the squeamish. Nor is it for readers interested in a
too-good-to-be true gay role model. Leonard's raunchy gallows humor, not to
mention his platonic devotion to buddy Hap, make Savage Season and Mucho
Mojo crackling good reads." Don't believe us? Go see for yourself, by clicking here! 01/22/09-The
Orbit's very own songbird, Kasey
Lansdale, has entered a contest to be the opening act for Little Big Town.
We're not asking for anyone to vote for her who hasn't heard her music at kaseylansdale.com, BUT, if you have
heard it and you like it, then you can vote
for her to be an opening act for Little Big Town by clicking here. 01/22/09-The
crazy folk at BellMojo have another fun event planned, this one in support of Protect,
America's first political lobby for child protection. This music festival--the
BellMojo Broken Hearts Bash--will take place Friday, February 13, 2009, in Bellmore, New York. Line-up
includes The Vinyl Stash, Dangered Ace (featuring Paul Ranieri) and Burlesque
performances by Legs
Malone, the girl with the 34½-inch inseam, so you got to figure this
February one will be the perfect precursor to Valentine's Day. Visit myspace.com/bybizarrehands for more info! 01/22/09-Did
we mention that Kasey Lansdale has
entered a contest to be the opening act for Little Big Town, and that you can vote
for her by clicking here? 01/15/09- When Ellen came to the moonlit mountain curve, her
thoughts, which had been adrift with her problems, grounded, and she was
suddenly aware that she was driving much too fast. She was heading straight for
an 01/15/09-The Fantasy Book Critic says that
Champion Joe's comic-book adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Pigeons From Hell
is full of "scathing
wit and wild, otherworldly creations." You can get the collected series
now. (Thanks for that update, Jared!) Click
here to read the full description, find a link to a preview, and find a
link to order the book. (That Fantasy Book Critic makes everything easy, huh?) 01/08/09-Sure, Sanctified and
Chicken-Fried: The Portable Lansdale will be out soon--in March, in fact.
But in case you can't wait that long, Champion Joe will read to you a story
included in the collection, one that's never before been published. Click here to watch him read
a bit of "Dirt Devils"! 01/08/09-If you like Bubba Ho-Tep, and you like Doom,
and you like Legos . . . then, oh boy, do you have some strange tastes. But, oh boy,
do we have a treat for you! Click
here for Bubba Lego Tep, starring Lego Elvis! [Thanks, T!] 01/01/09-Welcome
to the new year! And what better way to welcome a new year than with a new CD
from Champion Joe's killer crooner of a daughter, Kasey Lansdale? Click here to preview her CD,
"No More Rain"! 01/01/09-And
if it's listening you want to do, don't stop there! Brilliance Audio is
releasing audiobook-adaptations of the Hap & Leonard classics Savage
Season, Mucho Mojo (both January 13), Two-Bear Mambo, and Bad Chili
(both May 5). And then, on June 30, to coincide with the hardcover release of
the new Hap & Leonard chapter, they'll release the audiobook of Vanilla
Ride! 2009 is the Year of Hap & Leonard! Click
here to listen to samples of those audiobooks, all read by Phil Gigante
(not a porn name, it turns out)! 12/25/08-Last
week we mentioned to you that the latest issue of Irish pop-culture magazine AU
had a two-page feature on Champion Joe. This week, the author of that piece
sends you a present: Click here
to READ the article. [Thanks, Ross!] 12/18/08-Champion
Joe's brother, Andrew Vachss, has been writing novels about career-criminal
Burke since 1985. The 18th and final novel in that series, Another
Life, goes on sale December 30, and Joe advises everyone to check back in
for the end of that series. Vachss will also be doing a three-hour webcast on
January 14, where he'll answer any and all questions live on camera. Click here
for more information! 12/11/08-Hap
& Leonard fans, hold onto your hats! Mud Creek's favorite sons are coming
back, in a big way! First, Vintage will re-release the early novels
in trade paperback in January 2009. Then, an all-new Hap & Leonard, Vanilla
Ride, will come out in hardcover from Knopf, in summer 2009. And then,
Knopf will release another original Hap & Leonard hardcover will come out
in 2010! The boys are back in town! 12/04/08-The Geek Curmudgeon says Sanctified and Chicken-Fried:
The Portable Lansdale is "one of the first 'must have' 2009
publications." Click
here to read his review! 11/20/08-Champion
Joe says, "March of 2009 is
the tentative release date for Sanctified and Chicken-Fried: The Portable
Lansdale, one of the most important short story collections I've done, and
the first printing is only 1500 in clothbound. It will go fast. It's from the
University of Texas Press and I want to alert readers of this site first, to
give them a chance to get a jump on the order for the collection. It contains a
wide variety of stories by me, never arranged in this manner; novel excerpts;
and a brand new story of the 1930s. And if that isn't enough, it has a nifty
introduction by Dr. Bill Crider. And what a cool cover." Click
here to see that cover, and the covers of the Vintage editions of the Hap
& Leonard books! 11/13/08-If you've been wondering what
2009 will bring, wonder no more! Click here for a first look
at the covers of Champion Joe's first three releases in the new year: the
trade-paperback releases of the Hap & Leonard classics Savage Season
and Mucho Mojo, and Sanctified and Chicken-Fried: The Portable
Lansdale, from University of Texas Press! (Who knew Joe was portable? Can
you take him on a plane? Will he clear security?) 11/06/08-Finally! If you've been waiting
for us to update Champion Joe's bibliography, the wait is over! Click here to read the updated list
of Joe's books. 10/30/08-Happy birthday, Joe Lansdale! It
was hisownbirthday two days ago, on the 28th. Raise a glass of Dr.
Pepper in his honor! 10/30/08-A "Rest in Peace"
shout-out to Rudy Ray Moore, the comedian and filmmaker best known for the Dolemite
movies. Mr. Moore passed away October 19. Say hi to Petey Wheatstraw, Rudy! 09/18/08-
The Chicago Sun-Times had this to say about Leather Maiden: "There are scenes that stand your hair on end while you
fall out of your chair laughing. . . . Be thankful [Lansdale] crafts such wild
tall tales. . . . [His] latest spans cunning, humor so salty it burns, and a
fevered, cleansing imagination, moving Leather Maiden from a story about
journalism to an ornery fable about the ties that bind--and rend--a small
town." Get
your copy here! 09/11/08-The
Washington Post calls Leather Maiden "Joe R. Lansdale's
latest superb redneck-noir job. Lansdale is both as humane and as tasteless as
anybody writing crime fiction today. Reading him is like riding the best
tilt-a-whirl you've ever been on while still keeping your lunch down." Get
your copy here! 09/11/08-The Marin Independent Journal
says, "Lansdale
writes about the poor, emotionally traumatized, violent and stoically heroic
better than almost anyone. His characters can be off-the-charts weird, yet
lovable in a strange S&M way." They didn't just say all that for no
reason--they said it 'cause they like Leather Maiden. And you will, too, when you get
your copy here! 09/04/08-Joe
Lansdale weighs in on the presidential elections! "E dire che la destra aveva invocato pioggia su
Obama," he tells Italian newspaper La Repubblica. So . . . now you know! 09/04/08-The
Dallas Morning News writes this about Leather Maiden: "Mysteries usually
begin with a drop of blood and end up with a barrel full. But Mr. Lansdale
tells this one Texas-style. It's a tall tale so boldly preposterous that we're
too enthralled to notice the duplicity. It's a puzzle, a game, a carnival act
of murder and mayhem. Cason and Booger sleuth it all out like perverted Hardy
Boys. And when it's over there's death aplenty, but where's the blood? Don't
ask. There's no blood in the Emerald City." Get
your copy here! 09/04/08-The folks at Details write, "Black humor and
bad taste abound in Lansdale's Edgar-winning body of work, and the cult
author's newest literary thriller--about Casey Stanton, a hard-drinking,
Pulitzer-winning journalist (and Gulf War vet) who returns to his rural Texas
hometown after losing his job in spectacular fashion--is no exception. As he
investigates a cold-case murder for the local paper and stalks his ex, Stanton
emerges as an appealingly ripe hayseed Sam Spade." Get
your copy here! 08/28/08-The Los Angeles Times writes, "Leather
Maiden makes you want to sit on a porch listening to [Lansdale] spin a yarn
that you know doesn't contain a true sentence. . . . At the beginning of David
Lynch's film 'Blue Velvet,' you may remember that the camera presents a typical
American neighborhood and then moves closer, right through the sod and down
into the ground as a metaphor for the nasty secrets hiding behind the veil of
societal correctness. Lansdale's novel is a trip into that same hidden shame.
You may not enjoy the exposure, but you'll definitely enjoy the ride." Get your
copy here! [Thanks, Judi!] 08/28/08-Joe's not the only Lansdale on the road these days! Kasey
Lansdale is taking part in the Great Texas Ranch House Tour, which kicks off
September 5 - 7 at the West Texas Horse Expo at the Midland, Texas Horseshoe
Arena! 08/21/08-HorrorReader.com
writes, "Joe R. Lansdale
excels at crafting dark, suspenseful and humorous fiction, and Leather Maiden makes for yet another
excellent addition to his already impressive body of work." Get
your copy here! 08/21/08-The
Austin Chronicle writes, "The
ever-prolific Joe R. Lansdale . . . certainly knows from fucked-in-the-head. .
. . Entertaining and distressing in equal measure, and for all kinds of
reasons, Leather Maiden is a bruising jolt from an
immoral moralist." Get your
copy here! 08/14/08-The Agony
Column has this to say about Joe's latest, Leather Maiden: "[D]on't even bother to pick this one up and try
to read it in the store, because about ten hours later, somebody is going to
come along and tell you to stop reading and just buy the damn book, already.
Lansdale is firing on all six, slick cylinders." 08/07/08-Congratulations to Mud Creek's favorite daughter, Kasey
Lansdale! This past Saturday, she was married to Adam Coats. We wish them all
the best! (But, next time, maybe you could hold the reception here at The
Orbit. . . ? Plenty of wide-open space!) 08/07/08-The
(Nashville) City Paper loves Leather Maiden! Reviewer Ron Wynn writes, "Joe Lansdale has won both domestic and
international awards for his past mystery novels, but he's never written one
quite like his new volume Leather Maiden. . . . Some of the
conversations here are hilarious, even if the language is anything but
politically correct. [Main character Cason] Statler is working in Texas small
towns and country communities, where folks don't mince words, and often aren't
shy about expressing disdain and wallowing in stereotypes. These ingredients
only add more punch and sparkle to a tremendous work that deftly blends farce
and dry wit with adventure and crime solving." But don't take his word for
it--get
your own copy now! 07/31/08-The folks at Library Journal recommend Leather Maiden, saying, "With its mysterious disappearances, abandoned houses,
midnight trysts, and hidden culverts, Lansdale's latest is a contemporary Hardy
Boys story on crank, read to best advantage late at night under the covers,
with the aid of a flashlight." Read the entire
review here! 07/31/08-The folks at Texas Monthly also recommend Leather Maiden! They write, "[T]he combination of back-porch storytelling and
breakneck suspense . . . makes Leather Maiden a must-read for thriller
fans." Read
the entire review here! 07/10/08-Champion
Joe says, "Lewis Shiner's latest, Black & White, is killer.
Strong characters, suspenseful situations, and tremendous insight. A novel that
doesn't flinch from social issues, and is so gracefully written it makes you
want to weep. Should not be missed. Lewis Shiner is the real deal, and this is
his finest work." Click
here to learn more! 06/05/08-If you're looking for a little humor in your horror, check
out the anthology Blood
Lite, which includes the story "Mr. Bear" from champion Joe! 06/05/08-George
Pelecanos calls it "gripping,
ferocious, and very funny"! Scott Phillips says it "walks a delicate
line between grotesquerie and moral outrage all the while managing to be
funnier than anything I've read all year"! Ken Bruen pronounces it
"the novel of the year"! And Italian newspaper
Corriere della Sera proclaims, "D' Alema e i libri pulp di
Lansdale: vendette orribili ma giuste"! It's The
Leather Maiden, champion Joe's latest, and it will be released August 5,
2008! (And, no, we can't read Italian. But that last one sure looks fancy,
doesn't it?) 05/22/08-And if you were wondering what Kasey's been up to . . .
she was a big hit at the blues festival in Italy where she shared the event
with James Blood Ulmer, Ponte Bon of Texas, Grayson Capps, and a lot of super
Italian blues musicians. In July, she plays in Norway at a country festival
with legendary female vocalist Lynn Anderson. 05/01/08-"I
relate to [Robert E.] Howard as a small town boy who wanted to do something the
people around him didn't understand. Like him, I did it. Unlike him, I never
had the urge to shoot myself." Read all of Chris Arrant's interview with
Joe R. Lansdale, as published April 29, 2008, by clicking here!
(Thanks, Jeff!) 05/01/08-Some folks have asked
what, exactly, Joe's forthcoming book, Leather Maiden, is all about. Big
Bill Crider answers that question here!
04/24/08-Stop what you're doing
and head to the comics store! Champion Joe has written a four-part comics
adaptation of Robert E. Howard's classic "Pigeons from Hell," and the
first part is in stores now. Click here for
more information! (Thanks, Tarhan!) 04/24/08-And while we're on the
subject of comics . . . a package arrived here in Mud Creek posted from Italy.
Inside: an amazing Italian graphic novel adapting Champion Joe's short story
"Way Down There." If you want to go searching for it, it's titled
Laggiu Nel Profondo; is adapted by Luca Crovi and Andrea Mutti; and is
published by Edizioni BD. And when you're at the comic conventions this summer,
tell every publisher you meet that you want them to print it over here, in
English! Take a gander . . .
. 04/03/08-In case you missed it,
Marvel Comics is making it up to you! Champion Joe wrote a couple of stories
about the Thing time traveling back to the Old West, and they'll be back in
print in Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four: Volume 8, shipping May 21. 03/27/08-Cason Statler is
drinking too much, stalking his ex-girlfriend, and wallowing in envy of his
older brother. All he has going for him is his new job as columnist for a
small-town paper. He thinks he can ride that last bit into something bigger by
investigating a cold-case murder . . . until he rides it straight into a serial
killer. Strap yourself in for Champion Joe's latest wild ride! The Leather
Maiden will be released in hardcover from Knopf in August! 12/27/07-They love Joe in
Italy! So . . . who's "they"? Well here's
two "they," with Joe hisownself! Bongiorno! 08/16/07-Nominationsfor the 2007
World Fantasy Awards are in, and it's going to be a tough race in the Anthology
category, where Champion Joe is up against ... Champion Joe! Two anthologies on
which Joe worked are both up for the award: Cross Plains Universe(which
he co-edited with Scott Cupp), and RetroPulpTales (which he edited by
hislonesome). Congrats, Joe! 07/12/07-The Grist Mill's audio
adaptation of champion Joe's "God of the Razor" has been honored with
an Ogle Award, an annual award given to an outstanding horror/fantasy audio
theater production. Producer Scott Hickey, of STH Productions, received the
award at the CONvergence Convention in Minneapolis on Friday, July 6th.
Wanna take a listen? Click here!
[Thanks, Scott!] 06/21/07-"When the Vietnam
war came, Joe R. Lansdale told them he wouldn't fight. They sent him to get his
head checked; the doctor determined he was nuts and they said they'd rather
recruit dogs than draft him." Click here to read Dave Maass' entire interview with champion Joe,
as published May9, 2007, by the San Antonio Current. 06/21/07-Our pal Hunter Goatley
hasn't checked in for a while, but champion Joe checked into Hunter's page, and
wanted you to know that Hunter's loaded onto his site an audio interview of F. Paul Wilson conducted by champion Joe way
back in 1990. He also wants to remind everyone that he still has audio files of
Joe
reading "By Bizarre Hands" and Joe
being interviewed at the 1990 FantasyCon. [Thanks, Hunter!] 05/03/07-Author Chet Williamson
hit the Austin Music Festival with his camera. The results? Click here! [Thanks, Judi! Thanks, Chet!] 04/05/07-Champion Joe was honored
with the Grand Master Award at the annual World Horror Convention last weekend,
where he also picked up a Bram Stoker award for editing Retro Pulp Tales.
Wanna see what it looked like? Click here! [Thanks, Judi!] 03/22/07-Kasey Lansdale is taking
the country music world by storm! Check out this TV news feature on Champion Joe's daughter,
including an interview with Joe hisownself! [Thanks, Richard!] 03/01/07-Twenty years ago,
Champion Joe wrote a story called "The God of the Razor." That story
has become a classic in the horror genre. Subterranean Press will celebrate
that classic story with a special release in their Signature Series, scheduled
for this October. Want to know more? Click here! [Thanks, Judi!] 02/22/07-Lansdale's latest, Lost
Echoes (Vintage paperback original), is in stores now! Why should you get
it? Because Publishers Weekly says so! Here's their starred
review: In this superior East Texas crime thriller from
Stoker-winner Lansdale (Sunset and Sawdust), Harry Wilkes discovers
after a severe childhood ear infection that he has a peculiar
"hindsight." Harry can not only see dead people but see and hear
violent events as they occurred in the recent or distant past. "It's like
I hear and see ghosts in sounds," he tells his father. By the time he's a
college student, Harry's psychic abilities have driven him to booze. After
meeting alcoholic Tad Peters, a retired martial arts expert, Harry becomes
Tad's surrogate son and student. The two forge a pact to sober up together.
Their resolve is tested when Harry agrees to help Kayla Jones, an old childhood
crush now a cop, solve her father's murder, which her boss, the local police
chief, has dismissed as a suicide. Lansdale's down-home prose erupts with
explosive twists and razor sharp insights into how "echoes from the
original sounds" can never be silenced until action is taken to defeat the
fear that created them. 02/22/07-Booklist says so,
too! Here's their review: The prolific Lansdale returns, after
sojourns in pulp, sf, and horror, to work his peculiar mojo on the supernatural
crime thriller. Harry Wilkes has inherited his family's curse of experiencing
"dark sounds," full-sensory recordings of traumatic events that can
be unleashed by, for example, the banging of a toilet lid upon which a guy once
blew his brains out. Booze helps hold the "ghosts in the noise" at bay,
but his life as a drunken recluse isn't going well. He gets things under
control with the help of an eccentric sensei named Tad, but when a boyhood
girlfriend named Kayla comes home to find her father's killer, Harold grits his
teeth and journeys into the dark once more. Lansdale's prose finds the perfect
pitch between the laid-back cadences of front-porch storytelling and the
thriller's demand for growing urgency. He is a bit unreconstructed when it
comes to gender relations-or at least the vocabulary to describe them-but he's
got both the charisma and the balls to pull it off. Funny and scary, with a
barn-burner ending. 02/22/07-If Joe R. Lansdale could
be any monster he wanted, he'd be the Wolf Man. If he could be any historical
figure, he'd be Wild Bill Hickock. Want to know more? Read
his interview with Sci Fi Weekly! 02/08/07-Kasey Lansdale will come
to you! Coming off an Italian tour, opening for Ray Price at the famous
Paramount Theater in Austin, playing throughout East Texas, the popularity of
Kasey Lansdale and The Daletones is growing. They are anxious to spread out
beyond their current programs and play new venues, and would love to hear from
anyone wishing to hire Kasey and the band, or her trio. Examples of her music
and information about this band can be found on www.kaseylansdale.com! 12/14/06-"Hisgenre-bending,
often hard-edged work never flinches in its depiction of the people he knows so
well, 'real Texans' found in his beloved East Texas." Click here to read Melissa Mia Hall's entire articleabout champion
Joe, as published December 11, 2006, by Publishers
Weekly![Thanks, Rick!] 11/09/06-Champion Joe's daughter,
Kasey Lansdale,
just returned from a tour of Italy, where she played to packed houses and
received a rave review in Liberta, a national newspaper. Meanwhile, back
home, she opened for country legend Ray Price in Austin's historic Paramount
Theatre. If you haven't yet heard her, golisten now! 11/02/06-Wantan extra dose this
week? RevolutionSF has proclaimed Champion Joe's "Night They Missed the
Horror Show" one of the "13 Scariest" for 2006.That means you
can read
it for free by clicking here! 10/26/06-Congratulationsto champion
Joe, who just returned from Italy, where he was awarded the Grinzane Cavour
Prize for Literature! (The last seven recipients were all Nobel prize award
winners, so, y'know, just keep reading and see what happens!) 08/24/06-Award-winningmystery writer
and Lansdale buddy Bill Crider filmed two short clips of Joe R.Lansdale,
hisownself, at this year's Armadillocon. Clickhere
to see a brief interview with champion Joe, and clickhere to
see him reading from The King and Other Stories! [Thanks,
Rick!] 05/18/06-Didyou miss Don
Coscarelli's adaptation of champion Joe's "Incident On and Off a Mountain
Road"? Here's your second chance! Showtime's "Masters of Horror"
is now available on DVD. Click here to get your copy! [Thanks, Tarhan!] 05/18/06-ChampionJoe talked to
the folks at Westfield Comics, and they wanted us all to know what he had to
say. Click
here to read the interview! 03/09/06-DavidSilva and Paul
Olson have an early April Fool's joke for you: A spoof that ranin The Horror
Show on April 1, 1987, complete with a sidebar by champion Joe! Check
it out by clicking here! (And Joe adds, "What's scary
about Iocus is I actually started to write all the stories at one point, and
have used the pennames Richard Dale and Keith Jordan, but, alas, never for any
of the stories I listed.") [Thanks, Andrew! Thanks, Judi!] 02/16/06-Pickup the latest issue
of The Book of
Dark Wisdom for an interview with champion Joe. [Thanks,
Judi!] 01/12/06-Joe may be the champion
Mojo storyteller, but another Lansdale is the champion Mojo songbird! Click here to have a listen to Kasey Lansdale, daughter of the Mojo
one!
01/12/06-Booklist calls Flaming
London, Joe's latest, "one of the wildest alternate-worlds,
rip-in-space-time, sf-pastiche romps this side of fifties B-movies."
So check it out already!
12/22/05-JerryWilliamson died
Thursday, December 7. He had been in a coma with complications from a brain
tumor. There are two people in the entire world who have earned Lifetime
Achievement Awards from the Horror Writers of America. One is Stephen King; the
other is Jerry. Jerry was an inspiration to many writers, some of whom kept
with the trade solely as a result of Jerry's words of encouragement. He'll be
sorely missed. 12/22/05-Thefirst issue of Cryptic
Magazine will include an eight-page comics story written by champion Joe
and illustrated by Mark Kidwell. Look for the magazine in January 2006, and in
the meantime, check out the cover here! 12/08/05-How old was champion Joe
when he started writing? How old was he when he sold his first piece? The
answers to these questions and more are provided to you by Jake Magazine!
So
click here and get the answers!
12/08/05-Joe fans will want to
check out an anthology called Lords of the Razor, which will include
stories inspired by champion Joe's "Lord of the Razor" story,
including writing by Stephen Gallagher and Tim Lebbon. It also includes Joe's
original story, plus a new one! [Thanks, Judi!]
11/10/05-I'd love to tell you all
about Flaming London, but Publishers Weekly seems more qualified,
so.... StarredReview. Against the backdrop of a Martian invasion à la The
War of the Worlds, Lansdale's rip snorting sequel to Zeppelins West
(2001) chronicles the fantastic adventures of two elderly authors, Samuel
Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain) and Jules Verne. Other members of the madcap
cast include a young H.G. Wells, Sitting Bull, a Martian ape, a steam-powered
robot and an intelligent seal (and future dime novelist), whose diary and
journal entries form the bulk of the narrative. All must deal with the havoc
caused by Wells's dang time traveler, the hero of The Time Machine, who
has opened multiplying cracks in the time continuum. Seasoned with earthy,
down-home humor, Lansdale's homage to Twain, Verne and Wells is sci-fi fun at
its boisterous, silly best. Timothy Truman's delightful cover art and interior
illustrations perfectly complement the text. (Dec.)
11/03/05-Thomas Scott McKenzie
talked to champion Joe about writing, publishing, and that crazy Shen Chuan! If
you want to know specifics, click here to read the whole thing, as published
on Slushpile.net on November 2, 2005!
10/13/05-Joe confesses, "I
haven't fought zombies." If you're wondering what else Joe hasn't fought, check
out this swell interview with Norman Prentiss, as published
by Off the Shelf in September 2005. [Thanks, Judi!]
09/01/05-With thousands dead, and
tens of thousands left without a home, food, electricity, potable water, or a
means of earning a living, Hurricane Katrina is being called the worst natural
disaster to ever hit the US. If you're looking for a way to help, before you
pledge any money to anyone, do some quick research to see if your money is really going where you
want it to go. Two places we're sending money are SecondHarvest
and MercyCorps . 08/11/05-Mad Dog Summer and
Other Stories has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award! What? You never
saw it? Well, you're too late now! Next time don't wait! 08/04/05-Champion Joe talked with
Fangoria about "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road." You can
eavesdrop by clicking here! [Thanks, Judi!]
07/14/05-If you head over to Ranch Records,
and click on Rawkus, you'll find Champion Mojo songbird Kasey Lansdale! You can
hear her sing "Back of My Smile" (though its labeled "No More
Rain"), absolutely free! Check it out!
06/02/05-Success in California!
In a feat of political leadership, Jim Battin has done what most observers
thought was impossible. Shortly after 10:00 a.m. PST today, Battin got Senate
Bill 33,which will close the incest-exception loopholes in California, passed
on the floor of the California Senate, 31-1. Those following this battle know
that S.B. 33 was gutted last week. But Battin had the bill amended back
to its original verbiage before taking it to victory. Click
here to join the celebration at Protect.org! 05/26/05-Doyou love Joe R.
Lansdale? Do you love splatter movies? Do you speak Italian? Then
this is the place for you!
05/19/05-Champion Joe has long
been great friends with fellow novelist Andrew Vachss. On the eve of the
release of Andrew's new novel, Two Trains Running, champion Joe
conducted an audio interview to discuss what he calls Andrew Vachss' best novel
ever. Listen
to the pair discussing that novel by clickinghere!
05/19/05-If talking ain't enough
for ya....champion Joe and Timothy Truman are joined by fiddler Colin
Williamson for "The Ballad of a Feller Named Oscar Wilde," a song
about the true [swear on a stack of first-printing Magic Wagons] story of
Oscar Wilde's trip through the Lone Star state. Click here to hear the jam!
04/28/05-This guy must have
started reading Freezer Burn-but, clearly, he didn't make it to the end.
Check out 'Everybody thought he was nuts,' from the 4/27/05
edition of the Chicago Sun-Times.
04/21/05-Lotsa folks like Joe for
his stories, but just as many like him for the way he kicks butt. Ol' butt
kickin' Joe has written an introduction to the book of another butt kicker,
Mike Casto, in which Mr. Casto teaches you how you can kick butt. To
find a copy of that martial arts book, called A Pondering of Principles,
click here!
04/21/05-"Each story is about
eight pages in length. When you finish one, you can't help but reach for
another one." That's what CNN had to say about champion Joe's short-story
collection, Bumper Crop. It's
available now in trade paperback, so go on andget it!
02/04/05-OssieDavis died today at
87. Champion Joe writes, "I met him briefly on the set of Bubba Ho-Tep,
talked to him a little, enough to discern he was the class act I suspected all
along. What a wonderful and incredibly talented man. Damn. A guy that could do
anything and everything, and did. And did it well."
10/14/04-Champion Joe has been
honored by the folks at the Mid-South Booksellers Association, who have named A
Fine Dark Line the best novel of the region. We always said them Mid-South
folks have far better taste than them folks in the Right South or the Left
South. Thanks, Mid-South! 08/05/04-"Those that see
Texas as idyllic or as the pit are both wrong. It's both of these
simultaneously." Read all of Joe Mammy's interview with champion Joe by clicking
here.
06/17/04-Hungry for some Hap and
Leonard? Get a taste of the next book-not due out until sometime into the next
decade-called Blue
to the Bone! [Thanks, Dale!] 06/10/04-Winning the Bram Stoker
Award for Superior Achievement in a Screenplay is [insert drum roll here] Don
Coscarelli, for his adaptation of champion Joe's novella Bubba
Ho-Tep! If you want to read that screenplay, grab a copy of the signed,
limited-edition Bubba Ho-Tep book ! [Thanks, Judi!]
06/03/04-Protect, America's first
political lobby for child protection, has had a victory in Tennessee! They've
eliminated the incest-exception law in that state. Read
all about it here!
05/13/04-"Eachstory is about
eight pages in length. When you finish one, you can't help but reach for
another one." That's what CNN had to say about champion Joe's latest
short-story collection, Bumper Crop. Readwhat else they had to say here! [Thanks,
Kim!] 04/08/04-Where was champion Joe
born? What did his father do? Who was his inspiration? These questions and more
are all answered in the totally comprehensive article on the Mojo one in the Houston
Chronicle! Check it out! [Thanks, Kim!]
04/08/04-Publishers Weekly
likes champion Joe's latest novel, Sunset and Sawdust, which they call
"wild and wooly....The book opens with a cyclone, ends with a plague of
grasshoppers and in between there's insanity, extreme violence, sex, grotesques
aplenty and an excellent dog. What's not to like?" So
go get it, already! [Thanks, Kim!]
01/08/04-Champion Joe says,
"James Grady writes with authenticity and heart. I can't wait to read what
he writes next." If you want to find out what James Grady willwrite next, click
here-and tell him Champion Joe sent ya!
09/11/03-BubbaHo-Tep won a
People's Choice Silver Award! Read
all about it here. [Thanks, Judi!] 08/07/03-When champion Joe is
looking to read an excellent Western, he'll grab one of Jory Sherman's
books-and he suggests you should do that, too. Find out more about Jory by clicking
here.
06/12/03-AFine Dark Lineby
Joe R. Lansdale, narrated by Dick Hill, has received an Audiofile Earphones
Award. This is the mark of a truly outstanding audio program. Congratulations
to all who were involved in this recording-most notably Dick Hill, Laura
Grafton, and Mikael Naramore! [Thanks, Rick!] 06/05/03-Even in Hungary they're
hungry for a slice of Mojo! Checkout this
Hungarian website, which includes two books by champion Joe!
[Thanks,Judi!]
04/10/03-Just because you live in
France doesn't mean you have to be a world away from Mudcreek, TX. Champion Joe
is available en Francais, at Entre-deux-Noirs!
03/06/03-You probably haven't yet
seen Bubba Ho-Tep, Don Coscarelli's film adaptation of champion Joe's
short story. But those who have are raving about it-including the judges at the
HBO US Comedy Arts Festival, who honored Coscarelli with BestScreenplay, and
star Bruce Campbell with Best Actor.
02/20/03-You thought we called
champion Joe a champion simply 'cause of his straight teethand thick coat? Heck
no! He's a champion martial artist. But don't take ourword for it-go visit the Texas Martial
Arts Hall of Fame and see for yourself! [Thanks, Danny!]
02/13/03-The hits keep rolling in!
A Fine Dark Line-champion Joe's latest-hit #10 on the LosAngeles
Times bestseller list, and #5 on the Denver Post bestseller list.
Rock on, Joe!
02/13/03-MojoJoe, for those who
don't know, lives down in Nacogdoches, Texas-the town that was showered by the
shuttle Columbia last week. Here's what occurred, in champion Joe's own
words.[Thanks, Kim!] 01/09/03-Champion Joe isn't just
an outstanding writer-he's also a stand up human being. And if you want to
stand beside him, the place to do it is Protect.org.
Our very own Mojo man is anadvisor to the organization-and he advises everyone
to get involved!
01/02/03-Stepback in time to hear
an audio
interview with Champion Joe from September 15, 1990.Recorded
at Fantasycon XV in the UK,this41-minute interview is downloadable in RealAudio
and MP3 formats. [Thanks, Hunter!] 01/02/03-JoeR. Lansdale isn't
just a great writer-he's a great storyteller. Find out for yourself by
downloading champion Joe's reading of "By Bizarre
Hands," courtesy of Admiral Hunter Goatley!
11/28/02-Andspeaking of Thanks
and writing ... champion Joe is thankful for the writing of Neal Barrett. He
says you should go check out the free story posted at NealBarrett.com.
Enjoy! 10/17/02-Jesuis un grande canard!
Even the French love champion Joe! Check it out! [Thanks, Gratiane!] 09/12/02-ToastmasterJoe laid it
down solid for attendees of Armadillocon 24--though there appears to be
something in his cheek, and we're sure hoping it's his tongue. Read the transcript of his toast here. [Thanks,
Rick! You suck!]
08/01/02-Judi Rohrig went to
Conestoga, and all she got was a day of shooting with champion Joe. She
uploaded these here
pictures, so you wouldn't have to make the trip yourself.
[Thanks, Judi!]
07/04/02-Champion Joe and his
daughter, killer Kasey Lansdale, rub elbows with Bruce Campbell. Click
here!
06/27/02-Dale's Hap & Leonard
page is no longer just a Hap & Leonard page. Now it's a Hap & Leonard
& Smokey & Jim Higgins & Jubil Raines & BillyBob Nolan ...
well, you get the idea. Check
out the new feature here!
06/20/02-DonCoscarelli, Bruce
Campbell and champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale sit around a table
talking about Bubba Ho-Tep ... and dicks. Check
it out! [Thanks, Gordon!] 06/20/02-Our man Dale has done it
again! This time, he's put together a map so all you Hap and Leonard fans can
see just where our dynamic duo has whomped heads! Click
here to view the map.
06/13/02-"Purefun," "flat-out
wonderful," "liberated, hilarious and impressive"-that's how the
critics are describing Don Coscarelli's film adaptation of Bubba Ho-Tep. Read
the reviews at Ain't
it Cool News, Creature
Corner, and Dark
Horizons! [Thanks, James and Gordon!]
06/06/02-Speaking of hosting Joe
... take a look
at these pictures from champion Joe's appearance at the
Borders in Ft. Worth. And say a big Thank You to Steve Sabatka for providing
same! [Thanks, Steve!]
05/30/02-ChampionJoe was guest
speaker at the Burroughs "Dum-Dum" and honored with the Golden Lion
Award by the Burroughs Bibliophiles
for his contributions to Edgar Rice Burroughs and his creations.(This, of
course, in regard to Joe finishing ERB's final Tarzan novel.) Joe says,
"My favorite of all my awards."
02/14/02-Champion Joe's got a
buddy by the name of Robert R. McCammon. Champion Joe and Big-hearted Robert
interviewed each other a while back. You can read
those interviews on Big-hearted Robert's new website. So what
are you waiting for?[Thanks, Hunter!]
02/07/02-Joe ain't the only
champion Lansdale, y'know-there's also champion Mojo photographer Karen
Lansdale! Take a peek at her magic here.
[Thanks, Judi!]
01/31/02-ChampionJoe's Mojo runs
all the way to Italy! If you speak Italian, check it out! [Thanks,
Judi!] 11/29/01-You come to The Orbit
more than twice, you're sure to catch Judi here-she's a reg'lar! She ran into
champion Joe down Texas way, and wrote this
here story about it, with pictures and all. Enjoy! [Thanks,
Judi!]
10/18/01-Champion Joe's "Bob
the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland" comes to life in a comics adaptation!
Read it online here!
[Thanks, Rick!] 08/30/01-Whether you're a Hap
&Leonard fan or one of the uninitiated, you're going to love this! Champion
Joe co-wrote a Hap & Leonard short story with Andrew Vachss back in 1999.
Previously available only in a limited edition, you can now read "Veil's Visit" here. Then be sure to
pick up the new Hap & Leonard novel, Captains Outrageous, and Andrew Vachss' new
novel, Pain Management. [Thanks, Kim!] 08/16/01-Someof champion Joe's
Mojo magic is available in "Talking Book" and Braille editions. Check
it out by visiting the website for the National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, and
searching "Joe Lansdale." [Thanks, Kim!] 08/02/01-Ablast from the past!
Take a look at champion Joe back when he was young champion Joe, in this
picture
taken at Aggiecon in 1980! The folks with him are his good
friends Bill and Judy Crider. 08/02/01-Die-hardcollectors will
love the latest feature added to Dale's Hap & Leonard page: Go here,
click on the covers, and up pops a page with a bunch of the variations on the
covers![Thanks, Dale!] 05/17/01-Ifyou want to hear what
champion Joe has to say for himself, click
here. And thank dynamite Dale for allhis hard work! [Thanks,
dynamite Dale!] 05/17/01-Oneof the things
champion Joe will tell you is that Ardath Mayhar writes damn fine books. You
can find out more about Ardath at her official web site,
and about her latest book-adouble novel in trade paperback, featuring The
Snowlost and Exile on Vlahil-through StoneDragon Press. 05/07/01-Congratulations to our
very own champion Mojo storyteller, Joe R. Lansdale! The Bottoms was
awarded the Edgar for Best Novel of 2000. Rock on, Joe!
01/18/01-Whenyou're done getting
your fill of this week's Mojo feature, be sure to head overto NickSharman.co.uk for a midnight snack. It's the
home page for one of Joe R. Lansdale's favorite writers, Mark Timlin. 01/04/00-This week we have a special
Mojo game for you, called Around the World with Rick Klaw! See if you can guess
what these Web sites—uncovered by The Klaw himself—are saying about champion
Joe! Click here
forweb site #1, and herefor web site #2.
01/04/00-Wanta look-see at a
hunka burning Joe? Click here,
here, and here!
[Thanks, Judi! Thanks, Kim!] 12/14/00-The New York
Times has chosen champion Joe's latest, The Bottoms, as one of their
notable books of the year, calling it a "mesmerizing period mystery ...
that draws on the idiom of regional folk legend to filter the horror of race
violence and serial murder in a small East Texas town during the
Depression." If you haven't already picked it up, go get it now! 10/05/00-Whathappens if you throw
little Joe Lansdale's puppy in the creek? Find out in this interview with Mike Shea of The Austin Chronicle.
[Thanks, Rick!] 09/28/00-DynamiteDale's Hap and
Leonard page is complete! Check it out,
and let Dale know what you think! 09/14/00-Youever discover something
so great, you couldn't put words to it? Well, damned if Rick Klaw hasn't found
the words. Check out "Being
Dragged by a Runaway Mule." 08/10/00-Thefine folks at
About.com had a nice long chat with champion Joe recently. Eavesdrop on their
ramblings here! [Thanks, Judi!] 06/29/00-"People always talk
about a lot of my books being on the cutting edge and all this stuff. I always
think of myself as an old-fashioned storyteller that's writing for now."
Read the entirety of Judi
Rohrig's interview with champion Joe! 05/04/00-Everwonder what kind of
in-home security system you'd need if you were a champion Mojo storyteller? Click
here for the answer! 04/13/00-ChampionJoe is beloved
the world over! Want to see the cover treatments of his German editions? Click here and
here! [Thanks, Judi!] 09/09/99-Here'sa rare piece o'
Joe for ya: Back in 1996, Texas Magazine celebrated Writers Month by
commissioning a batch of Texas authors to contribute to a collaborative story.
Champion Joe's piece of the pie is
here. [Thanks, Judi!] 03/18/99-Checkout this excellent Scandanavian Lansdale page. You won't be able to
read most of it, but you'll definitely want to seethe totally amazing cover
treatment on Savage Season! 09/10/98-Here's a fun one for ya!
The folks at Mysterious Press hired Mojo man Joe R. Lansdale to interview those
blazing stars of the literary world, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine! Read the interview! 07/01/98-Welcometo the grand
opening of The Orbit, the official drive-in theatre of champion Mojo
storyteller Joe R. Lansdale! |
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