Joe R Lansdale Popular Books

Joe R Lansdale Biography & Facts

Joe Richard Lansdale (born October 28, 1951) is an American writer and martial arts instructor. A prose writer in a variety of genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense, he has also written comic books and screenplays. Several of his novels have been adapted for film and television. He is the winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and eleven Bram Stoker Awards. Early life Lansdale grew up in East Texas, the son of a mechanic. Career Lansdale's writing is characterized by a deep sense of irony, and features strange or absurd situations or characters, such as Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy battling a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy in a nursing home (the plot of his Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella, Bubba Ho-Tep, which was made into a movie by Don Coscarelli). His Hap and Leonard series of twelve novels, four novellas, and three short story collections feature Hap Collins and Leonard Pine who live in the fictional town of Laborde, in East Texas, where they find themselves solving a variety of crimes. Hap is a white working class laborer in his mid forties who once protested against the war in Vietnam and spent time in federal prison rather than be drafted, and Leonard is a gay black Vietnam vet. Both of them are accomplished fighters. The stories (told from Hap's point of view) are violent, and characterized by strong language and sexual situations. Lansdale depiction of East Texas is essentially "good" but blighted by racism, ignorance, urban and rural deprivation and corrupt public officials. His novels are also characterized by sharp humor and "wisecracking" dialogue. These books have been adapted into a TV series for the SundanceTV channel and a series of graphic novels in 2017. Season 2 is based on the second Hap and Leonard novel Mucho Mojo and season 3, which premiered on 3/7/18, is based on the third novel The Two-Bear Mambo. Much of Lansdale's work has been issued and re-issued as limited editions by Subterranean Press and as trade paperbacks by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Publications. Lansdale's novel titled Fender Lizards was published in November 2015 by Subterranean Press. In February 2016 two full-length novels Hell's Bounty was published Feb 27 also by Subterreanean Press and a new Hap and Leonard novel titled Honky Tonk Samurai was released Feb 2 by Mulholland Books. On January 31, 2017 Coco Butternut: A Hap and Leonard Novella was released by Subterranean Press and Rusty Puppy was released by Mulholland Books February 21, 2017. A new mosaic novel titled Blood and Lemonade was released on March 14, 2017. Lansdale and daughter Kasey started a new publishing company called Pandi Press to control the re-issue and publication of his older works. Lansdale book of essays and memoirs, Miracles Ain't What They Used To Be, was released by PM Press's Outspoken Author Series. His newest Hap and Leonard release is a novel titled Jackrabbit Smile and released March 27, 2018. He also, along with his daughter Kasey, released a collection of Dana Roberts mysteries titled Terror is Our Business: Dana Roberts' Casebook of Horrors, published in May 2018 by Cutting Block Books. In October 2018 a short story collection titled Driving to Geronimo's Grave and Other Stories has been published by Subterranean Press as a limited edition. His most recent novel is titled More Better Deals and was published by Mulholland Books. Its hardcover and Kindle releases were on July 21, 2020. Since then he released a novel Big Lizard co-written with his son Keith Lansdale released as a limited edition of 1500 hard-copies published by Short, Scary Tales Publications and is also available through Amazon Kindle. His novel is titled Moon Lake and was released by Mulholland Books on June 22, 2021. He released a book of poetry titled Apache Witch as a limited edition that sold out right away and a Nat Love novella, Radiant Apples, published by Subterranean Press. Personal life Lansdale, who was born in Gladewater, Texas, lives in Nacogdoches, Texas, with his wife, Karen. He is the writer in residence at Stephen F. Austin State University. He also teaches at his own Shen Chuan martial arts school Lansdale's Self Defense Systems in Nacogdoches and is a member of the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame as Sōke and the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He is the father of actress, musician and publisher Kasey Lansdale and reporter and screenwriter Keith Lansdale. He has described himself as an atheist, though he has also said that he is not anti-religion. Film and television Lansdale was a contributing writer for Batman: The Animated Series, credited with three episodes, namely "Perchance to Dream" (season 1, episode 26, which aired October 29, 1992), "Read My Lips"(season 1, episode #59 that aired May 10, 1993), and "Showdown" (season 4, episode 2, aired September 12, 1995). Lansdale also wrote "Identity Crisis" on Superman: The Animated Series (season 2, episode 6, airing September 15, 1997), and "Critters" (with Steve Gerber) for The New Batman Adventures (season 2, episode 2, airing September 19, 1998). Lansdale's first film adaptation was Bubba Ho-Tep, based on his novella of the same and released in 2002. The film featured Elvis Presley and a man who believes himself to be John F. Kennedy, confined to an old-age rest home, teaming up to fight a mummy who is stealing their friends' souls. In 2010, Lansdale wrote the screenplay for the animated short DC Showcase: Jonah Hex. The short story Incident On and Off a Mountain Road was adapted for the first episode of the first season of Masters of Horror. It aired on October 28, 2005. Lansdale's story "The Job" was made into an 11-minute short in 1997 by A.W. Feidler. It is available on the out-of-print DVD collection, Short 5 – Diversity, on Warner Home Video. The short story "Drive-In Date" was filmed as a short by James Cahill, from a script written by Lansdale, published in A Fist Full of Stories. The film Christmas with the Dead, based on the Lansdale short story of the same name, was filmed in East Texas in Summer 2011. The film starring Brad Maule, Damian Maffei, and Kasey Lansdale is currently showing on the film festival circuit and at private screenings. The DVD has been released. Actor and director Bill Paxton worked for six years on a film adaptation of Lansdale's novel The Bottoms. In a 2015 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Paxton admitted having difficulty getting the project off the ground. Paxton's death left unfinished projects, including The Bottoms movie. Backup Media and Memento Films International financed Cold in July, an adaptation of Lansdale's cult novel was directed by Jim Mickle, with acting by Michael C. Hall and Sam Shepard. Filming began in 2013. Accompanied by a movie tie-in edition of the original story released by Tachyon Publications, the film was screened at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Nick Damici and Jim Mickle dev.... Discover the Joe R Lansdale popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Joe R Lansdale books.

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  • Mucho Mojo synopsis, comments

    Mucho Mojo

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Mucho Mojo  is the basis for the second season of the new Sundance TV series Hap and Leonard.  Hap and Leonard return in this incredible, maddash thriller, loaded with cr...

  • Bad Chili synopsis, comments

    Bad Chili

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Hap and Leonard is now a Sundance TV series.With his trademark knack for gutbusting laughter and headsplitting action, Joe R. Lansdale serves up a bubbling cauldron of murder...

  • Old Venus synopsis, comments

    Old Venus

    George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

    Sixteen allnew stories by science fiction’s top talents, collected by bestselling author George R. R. Martin and multipleawardwinning editor Gardner Dozois   From pulp adventu...

  • Vanilla Ride synopsis, comments

    Vanilla Ride

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Hap and Leonard is now a Sundance TV series starring James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams.Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, the kings of East Texas mischief and mayhem, retu...

  • Savage Season synopsis, comments

    Savage Season

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Savage Season is the basis for the first season of the Sundance TV series Hap and LeonardA riproaring, highoctane, Texassized thriller, featuring two friends, one vi...

  • Mammoth Books presents A Clutch of Zombies synopsis, comments

    Mammoth Books presents A Clutch of Zombies

    Albert E. Cowdrey, Joe R. Lansdale, Karina Sumner Smith, Scott Elderman & Stephen Jones

    In this grizzly anthology of the undead, four fascinatingly horrid dystopian universes are described, with zombies taking centre stage.Included are:What Will Come After Scott Edel...

  • The Animals After Midnight synopsis, comments

    The Animals After Midnight

    Jeff Johnson

    "Elmore Leonard fans should be pleased." Publishers Weekly"Darby Holland is a modern hero in the mod of Sam Spade and Marlow only with more tattoos and in steeltoed boots."  A...

  • Lost Echoes synopsis, comments

    Lost Echoes

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Since a mysterious childhood illness, Harry Wilkes has experienced horrific visions. Gruesome scenes emerge to replay themselves before his eyes. Triggered by simple sounds, these ...

  • Captains Outrageous synopsis, comments

    Captains Outrageous

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Hap and Leonard is now a Sundance TV series starring James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams.Hap Collins and Leonard Pine find mucho trouble, this time in Mexico, when they...

  • Odd Partners synopsis, comments

    Odd Partners

    Mystery Writers of America, Anne Perry, Allison Brennan, Jeffery Deaver & William Kent Krueger

    Unlikely pairs join forces to crack a slew of intriguing cases in an anthology edited by New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry, featuring original stories by Jacqueline Wins...

  • Rumble Tumble synopsis, comments

    Rumble Tumble

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Hap and Leonard is now a Sundance TV series starring James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams.Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are in for an actionpacked adventure when they cro...

  • Sunset and Sawdust synopsis, comments

    Sunset and Sawdust

    Joe R. Lansdale

    In the middle of a cyclone, beautiful, redhaired Sunset Jones shoots her husband Pete dead when he tries to beat and rape her. To Camp Rapture’s general consternation, Sunset’s mot...

  • Old Mars synopsis, comments

    Old Mars

    George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Michael Moorcock, Joe R. Lansdale & James S. A. Corey

    Fifteen allnew stories by science fiction’s top talents, collected by bestselling author George R. R. Martin and multipleaward winning editor Gardner Dozois   Burroughs’s A Pr...

  • Twilight Zone synopsis, comments

    Twilight Zone

    Carol Serling

    An original anthology celebrating Rod Serling's landmark television seriesWhen it first aired in 1959, The Twilight Zone was nothing less than groundbreaking television. Freed from...

  • Exit Wounds synopsis, comments

    Exit Wounds

    Paul Kane & Marie O'Regan

    A brandnew anthology of crime stories written by masters of the genre, including Jeffrey Deaver, Elly Griffiths and Joe R. Landsdale.Featuring both original inuniverse stories and ...

  • Best of Joe R. Lansdale synopsis, comments

    Best of Joe R. Lansdale

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Godzilla’s in a twelvestep program. A soulsucking Mummy stalks Elvis and John F. Kennedy. Joe Bob Briggs has a moral dilemma: If your girlfriend turns zombie on you, what do you do...

  • Honky Tonk Samurai synopsis, comments

    Honky Tonk Samurai

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Only Hap and Leonard would catch a cold case with hot cars, hot women, and ugly skinheads. The story starts simply enough when Hap, a former 60s activist and selfproclaimed white ...

  • In Sunlight or In Shadow synopsis, comments

    In Sunlight or In Shadow

    Lawrence Block

    A truly unprecedented literary achievement by author and editor Lawrence Block, a newlycommissioned anthology of seventeen superblycrafted stories inspired by the paintings of Edwa...

  • The Bottoms synopsis, comments

    The Bottoms

    Joe R. Lansdale

    This Edgar Award winner is "equal parts morality tale and pageturning thriller" (Denver Post)classic American storytelling in its truest, darkest, and most affecting form, with ech...

  • Nights of the Living Dead synopsis, comments

    Nights of the Living Dead

    Jonathan Maberry & George A. Romero

    In 1968, the world experienced a brandnew kind of terror with the debut of George A. Romero’s landmark movie Night of the Living Dead. The newly dead rose to attack the living. Not...

  • Devil Red synopsis, comments

    Devil Red

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Hap and Leonard is now a Sundance TV series starring James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams.If there’s one thing Hap Collins and Leonard Pine like, it’s troubleand they es...

  • Dangerous Women synopsis, comments

    Dangerous Women

    George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

    The World Fantasy Awardwinning collection of stories featuring the best and the bravest females across genre fiction.All new and original to this volume, the 21 stories in Dangerou...

  • Rogues synopsis, comments

    Rogues

    George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Gillian Flynn, Neil Gaiman & Patrick Rothfuss

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA thrilling collection of twentyone original stories by an allstar list of contributorsincluding a new A Game of Thrones story by George R. R. Martin!If yo...

  • The Mammoth Book of Nightmare Stories synopsis, comments

    The Mammoth Book of Nightmare Stories

    Stephen Jones

    Winner of the British Fantasy AwardSixteen rare terror tales not to be read at night! To sleep, perchance to dream . . . of horrors! Here are some of the stories that gave their ow...

  • Down These Strange Streets synopsis, comments

    Down These Strange Streets

    George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Diana Gabaldon, Simon R. Green, S.M. Stirling & Carrie Vaughn

    In this collection of urban fantasy stories, editors George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois explore the places where mystery waits at the end of every alley and where the things th...

  • The Two-Bear Mambo synopsis, comments

    The Two-Bear Mambo

    Joe R. Lansdale

    The basis for the third season of the new Sundance TV series Hap and Leonard coming Spring 2018. Full of savage humor, heartstopping suspense, and a cast of characters so...

  • Warriors 3 synopsis, comments

    Warriors 3

    George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

    From George R. R. Martin's Introduction to Warriors: "People have been telling stories about warriors for as long as they have been telling stories. Since Homer first sang the wrat...

  • Lucky Supreme synopsis, comments

    Lucky Supreme

    Jeff Johnson

    Best Crime Novel of the YearJoy Ride through the Tattoo Underworld of Portland's Old Town.The night world of Old Town, Portland, Oregon, has gone mad in the grip of gentrification,...

  • Leather Maiden synopsis, comments

    Leather Maiden

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Abrash amalgam of terrifying suspense, raw humor, and intriguing mystery that unfolds in the vividly rendered shadowy lowlands of East Texas.After a harrowing stint in the Iraq war...