The Orbit

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03/14/24-Minnie Polson got burned to a crisp. Her and her house and everything in it. Way it was burned, the color of the smoke, you'd think that fire was carefully and expertly set. Someone took their time. Dispatched Minnie first, maybe, then arranged it so her body and the house got blazed. It was all too perfect and too neat to have been an accident. Poor woman was mostly just a smoky memory. Sugar on the Bones is the 13th novel in Champion Joe's Hap & Leonard series. It drops July 16, 2024, from Mulholland Books. Want to see the cover? Go visit our friends at Murder by the Book. Want to see Champion Joe? Pop by their store in Houston, Texas, on Saturday, July 20. Want to read the book? Well, damn, just go pre-order it, man. You know that. Ain't no sugar like sugar on the bone.

03/14/24-Albert gave me the high sign and I climbed up on the stage. I had on my city-slicker suit with the derby and I felt about as natural as a pig in boots, but it comforted people to see a boy dressed up. It's "The Magic Wagon (an excerpt)," and it's the totally free Mojo story of the week! Enjoy!

02/22/24-This week only! 51% off from Pandi Press! Jane Goes North is "unvarnished, unpredictable, unbeatable,” says Robin Hobb on GoodReads, where it earns 3.7 our of four stars. It’s "a different kind of road trip adventure,” according to The Florida Times-Union, one that’s full of “outrageous wit, memorably quirky characters, and comical situations,” according to Publishers Weekly. And Blu Gilliand, writing for Cemetery Dance, says, “sometimes you just need to dip into the lives of some interesting people and hang out with them for a while. Jane Goes North lets you do just that. It’s not about where they’re going, it’s about how they get there, and what happens along the way.” So dip on in! To get your copy of Jane Goes North, click here! Tzer Island says Jane Goes North is "warm and heartening, reminding us that friendships, however unlikely they might be, are just what we need in difficult times. So, for that matter, is Joe Lansdale."

02/22/24-In a starred review, Booklist says More Better Deals is "a triple helping of gore (served with a soupçon of absurdist humor) ... Lansdale really makes this used car purr." The New York Times Book Review says "The plot is pure James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, but steeped in hillbilly noir." Publishers Weekly says More Better Deals is a "highly enjoyable hardboiled tale set in 1960s Texas ... Populated with an admirable array of laughable miscreants, this droll, savage novel is vintage Lansdale. The author’s storytelling powers remain as strong as ever." And BookReporter says it's "a gripping tale of the strange characters and odd dealings that define 1960s East Texas." Strap yourself in, 'cause this car is on the road now!

02/15/24-Champion Joe's short story "Under the Moon of Arizona" is one of the stories featured in Lawless: New Stories of the American West -- check it out!

02/08/24-On September 20th of last year, Dead Sky Publishing released the first issue of The Case of the Bleeding Wall -- and it immediately sold out! If you missed your original chance to pick up the first issue, which is the start of a four-issue series adapting Champion Joe and Kasey's story from Terror is Our Business, then you'll be glad to know you have a second chance! Dead Sky Publishing has just released a second printing! Check out the full story in Tripwire!

02/08/24-Kasey and Champion Joe talk with "The Inside Flap" about how they had to rein in the goofiness while writing The Case of the Bleeding Wall. Listen here!

01/25/24-Out now! Make room on your bookshelf! The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team and Other Stories is a big, fat collection of never-before-collected stories by Champion Joe, including new ones never before published. You'll discover haunted toilets, strange beasts, the hungry dead, and twisted dreams. You'll spend time with a courageous barber, meet a mythological being, visit ghostly hotels, and run across the Reverend Jedidiah Mercer. And a brave and industrious mouse and a less-than-noble elephant are also here. The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team and Other Stories is 450 pages of Champion Joe's trademark wicked potpourri! It's limited to 1250 copies, so you'd best order your copy before they're gone!

01/11/24-Conversations with Joe R. Lansdale by Andrew J. Rausch and Mark Slade is available now from University Press of Mississippi. The book compiles interviews from newspapers, magazines, and podcasts conducted throughout Champion Joe's prolific career, including conversations with noted peers like Robert McCammon and James Grady; two podcast transcripts that have never before appeared in print; and a brand-new interview, exclusive to the volume. In addition to shedding light on his body of literary work and process as a writer, this collection also shares Lansdale’s thoughts on comics, atheism, and martial arts. Get your copy now!

01/04/24-Champion Joe says, "Happy New Year! And congratulations to my daughter, Kasey, and her fiance, Jonathan Levit, as of 12/31/23!

12/21/23-Champion Joe's excited about the forthcoming Apple TV+ series "Murderbot," based on Martha Wells' best-selling sci-fi book series, The Murderbot Diaries. Maybe you should be, too! To read all about it, click here!

12/21/23-"I don’t remember what I got for Christmas, though I’m sure it was something simple, which was about all our budget would allow. But more important than the lights, the decorations, the presents or the adventure in the woods cutting down the tree was the feeling of being safe and cared for and deeply loved." To revisit Champion Joe's 2011 Texas Observer story "The Battery-Powered Christmas," click here!

12/14/23-Got someone you love? This holiday season, give them the gift of Ugly. Champion Joe returns to the piney, dangerous woods of East Texas in Things Get Ugly. This career retrospective of his best crime stories shows exactly why Marc Guggenheim, creator of the shows "Arrow" and "DC's Legends of Tomorrow," says "Lansdale’s writing hits like a brass-knuckled punch to the face: hard and nasty and visceral," and why Lavie Tidhar, author of Central Station and Maror, calls Champion Joe "the spiritual heir to both Walt Whitman and Elmore Leonard." (Lavie also says, "Joe R. Lansdale is the bard who sings America: in gem-hard, polished prose that never lets up, no matter how ugly things get." And that's pretty cool.) Christa Faust, author of Money Shot, says, "Pulpy, blackly humorous, compulsively readable, and somehow both wildly surreal and down-to-earth, Lansdale is a national fucking treasure." And we love it when Christa swears. Alex Segura, author of Secret Identity, says, "[Things Get Ugly] showcases [Joe's] knack for shady characters, rural noir, and an innate ability to get to the heart of what drives us all." And The Strand Magazine declares, "In this collection of nineteen unforgettable crime tales, Champion Joe brings his legendary mojo and witty grit to harrowing heists, revenge, homicide, and mayhem. No matter how they begin, things are bound to get ugly—and fast." To get your copy of Things Get Ugly, click here!

11/16/23-"This one is full of lunatics." To read the story behind The Drive In: Multiplex -- a collection featuring stories from the world of Champion Joe's Drive-In novels, click here!

11/09/23-Champion Joe says, "Once upon a time the right wanted to get rid of To Kill a Mockingbird, now they want to preserve it, and the left wants to get rid of it. Students saying they don't relate to it, want it to fit contemparary views. It's an anti-racism novel that is supposed to make you uncomfortable. Damn. This is one of the books that showed me what racism was, and how evil it was."

11/02/23-Happy belated birthday to Champion Joe! He had steak, and cake, and watched Killers of the Flower Moon. And how did you celebrate?

11/02/23-The 2023 Crime Fiction Lover Awards are open for nominations — check it out!

10/19/2023-Now available as an ebook! John Shaw just wanted to go fishing and live off the land. Now he is one of only a few survivors involved in a horrific crash between a locomotive and a flying saucer. Stranded in an unforgiving environment, desperate to survive, he and the remaining passengers must outrun, and outsmart, the alien life forms that are picking them off one by one. Packed into a tightly woven, ripping yarn, Shooting Star is a beautifully told story of survival and wit, as the clash between man and invader intensifies, and the end of the human race looms near. Shooting Star is out now, from Pandi Press! To order, click here!

10/19/2023-Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers is (under)ground zero for literary scares in Texas. The undisputed, premier annual anthology of Lone Star horror fiction, it’s here to stay and sets the standard. It’s a respected writer’s venue and a major player in Texas literature. And it all started with two of Fort Worth’s native sons. To learn more, click here!

10/12/23-Killer Kasey walks Shudder's blood-red carpet with Matt Venne, who adapted Joe, Kasey, and Keith's short story "The Companion" for "Creepshow"; with Matt and the Companion; and with Joe's "little brother" David Schow.

10/12/23-"When I came out of the womb, I looked at my Mom, I said, 'Hey, you got a pen?'" To listen to Champion Joe's interview with Vick Mickunas on 91.3 WYSO's "The Book Nook," click here!

10/05/23-Champion Joe says, "Spent a delightful afternoon in Ground Zero comic store in Tyler, Texas. Cool place. If you are close by, or even if you aren't, check it out. They practically had to throw me out. I've already read some of my haul." So head to Ground Zero already!

09/28/23-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." Dallas Morning News says, "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." The New York Times Book Review promises, "There’s excessive violence ... raunchy language, sexist attitudes, tasteless humor, adolescent clowning around and general vulgarity ... and a ton of fun." And the Lebanon Daily Record says, "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." Check out Champion Joe's Honkytonk Samurai for yourself!

09/21/23-Champion Joe says, "The Thicket film adaptation, forthcoming from Tubi starring Peter Dinklage, has not had a release date assigned yet. I originally heard October. Maybe, or maybe not. But it is forthcoming. Stay tuned."

09/21/23-More comics fun! On September 20th, Dead Sky Publishing released the first issue of The Case of the Bleeding Wall, a four-issue series adapting Champion Joe and Kasey's story from Terror is Our Business! It features art by Daniele Serra (Hellraiser, The Crow) and colors by Tom Napolitano (Batman/Spawn, We Have Demons). Get your copy now at your local comics store!

09/14/23-"Entertainment is fine, but I like to be awake. I like to be engaged, informed, inspired, and sometimes even challenged. The subject can be what’s happened, what’s happening, what’s going to happen, or what should have happened. It doesn’t matter as long as what’s happening on the page or screen is presented in insightful, original ways and is not celluloid lip service or literary small talk." To read the rest of ER Bill's essay comparing Bubba Ho-tep to Titanic, click here!

09/14/23-Heads up, Italy! The donuts are ready! To get your copy of La Setta delle Ciambelle, click here!

09/07/2023-John Shaw just wanted to go fishing and live off the land. Now he is one of only a few survivors involved in a horrific crash between a locomotive and a flying saucer. Stranded in an unforgiving environment, desperate to survive, he and the remaining passengers must outrun, and outsmart, the alien life forms that are picking them off one by one. Packed into a tightly woven, ripping yarn, Shooting Star is a beautifully told story of survival and wit, as the clash between man and invader intensifies, and the end of the human race looms near. Shooting Star is out now, from Pandi Press! To order your copy, click here!

09/07/2023-In 1988, Joe R. Lansdale’s The Drive-In launched onto the fiction scene and left an indelible mark, influencing generations of genre-spanning writers. In honor of this groundbreaking novel, twenty-one of those writers pay tribute to Champion Joe with all-new stories and novellas set in the bizarre and terrifying universe created by the Champion Mojo Storyteller hisownself, all those years ago. In this quintessential anthology, not to be missed, Lansdale returns and the stories are wilder and darker than ever. Christopher Golden and Brian Keene, who cite Lansdale as an integral influence in their careers, have curated an incredible lineup featuring some of the finest storytellers in the field today. From Mud Creek, Texas, welcome to The Drive In: Multiplex! The Drive In: Multiplex is out now, from Pandi Press! To order your copy, click here!

09/07/23-Champion Joe has joined the lineup of never-say-die Sword & Sorcery authors in Neither Beg nor Yield! When funky stories need to be written, the Mojo one writes a Greasy Bob story. Enjoy!

08/31/23-"I wrote two one-act plays for a Grand Guignol night that was planned. It was supposed to collect plays by a number of writers, and it would end up on Broadway. Which seemed unlikely to me. We all got paid, but it went nowhere. I would like to write another, longer play, however, so that's a play for the near future, I hope. I'm seventy-one, in good health, so I like to think I have a pretty long stretch ahead of me. But when you're my age, you have to realize certain offshoots of the main road are closing, or at least growing shorter. Some I'm pickier. I'd like to direct a film, and just may soon." To read the rest of Champion Joe's interview with the Los Angeles Public Library, click here!

08/31/23-Wishing a very happy 50th anniversary to the Lansdales!

08/17/23-SF Book Reviews 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." Scifimoviepage.com says it's "creepy and interesting, I didn’t want to put it down once I started reading." Horror Review says it's, "a fun and frightening collection of short stories ... Read them and enjoy the escape." Cedarhollowhorrorreviews.com says it "delivers on all cylinders." SFBook says "it's got bags of style and wonderfully rich characters. Highly recommended." Order your copy here!

08/17/23-If you were consuming horror in the late 1980s through the 1990s, no doubt Deathrealm was a big art of your diet! Now that seminal series is back, as an anthology, and Champion Joe is aboard for the ride! Check it out!

08/17/23-Champion Joe says, "The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a film based on the chapter in Dracula that is inspired by the Captain's log concerning having Dracula on board his ship as it travels from Romania to England. This is not a spoiler. We know this from the start. It's been posted by reviewers. I saw it yesterday, and I quite loved it. It's simple, and for me creepy and unsettling in a good way. A kind of delcious horror made of bones and honey. I am the perfect audience for this one. I'm sick of the romantic Dracula, and what we have here is not a fluffy version of the count. It really feels like the novel with its darkness and dread. So, I recommend."

08/10/23-This is Bella. You are welcome to play with her ball or stick. You can even eat her treats. But don't you dare touch her copy of Jack Rabbit Smile. It's one of the titles that's sold out over at the Lansdale Vault, so she's especially protective of it. If you want a special, signed Lansdale book that you can be protective of, head over to the Vault. You'll find all sorts of goodies, but not a first-edition hardback of Rusty Puppy. That's not listed. But if you know, you know, and you can get it for $25, including shipping in the US.

08/03/23-Even if you don't speak Italian, you're gonna want Sweet Potato! It's a hardcover comics adaptation of Champion Joe's short stories "Sweet Potato" and "Not from Detroit" from Cut-Up Publishing, with art by Armando Rossi and a cover by Joseph Palumbo! Pairs nicely with a Chianti!

07/27/23-Champion Joe’s personal favorite of his novels is Paradise Sky, which was described as “a rip-roaring tale" by the Los Angeles Times; a “rollicking adventure” by Publishers Weekly; “a remarkable achievement, an instant classic of Western lit” by The Dallas News; "exciting, inspiring, surreal, and heartbreaking" by The Examiner; "a full-blooded western, served up unapologetically and masterfully" by BookReporter; “rowdy, funny, suspenseful, and often quite moving” by Booklist, and “a winner” by Library Journal. When it was released in 2015, The Houston Chronicle declared, “Lansdale has unleashed something remarkable,” while The New York Journal of Books said, “[T]he action is only outgunned by the author's tilt for beautiful literary prose.” To all of these accolades, Kirkus added, “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.” Take heed, indeed. To get your own copy of this 2016 Spur Award winner, click here!

07/20/23-Champion Joe says The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree is "Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. You need this." Get your Legend here!

07/13/23-Locus says, "This is a wild ride, and it’s one of Lansdale’s best, most entertaining standalone novels." Patton Oswalt says, "It’s a fun blend of crime, character, and high weirdness. UFO cultists, donuts, and a homicidal chimpanzee. Feels like a movie Alex Cox would have made if they’d given him the script to 'Any Which Way but Loose.'" Eli Cranor says, "Joe employs his signature dark humor to shine a supremely strange and unflinchingly honest light on our present-day madness. Highly Recommend!" William Boyle says, "It's a full-tilt blast, shot through with Lansdale's searching humanism and deft touch. ... Vibrant and rowdy and just so much damn fun. I've lost faith in a lot of people and things and institutions over the years, but I've never lost faith in Lansdale's books, and this is one of his best yet." Publishers Weekly says, "sharp dialogue and outlandish characters ... make this high-spirited conspiracy especially enjoyable." Dave Writes and Draws says it's "more fun than a murderous chimpanzee in cowboy hat and boots with a penchant for tearing the arms and legs clean off folks." The Associated Press says "As usual, Lansdale’s prose is tight, he has laced his highly entertaining story with sly humor, and he has populated it with a cast of quirky characters." BookReporter says "Brimming with colorful characters and Lansdale’s characteristic bounce, this rollicking crime novel examines the insidious rise of fringe groups and those under their sway with black comedy and glints of pathos." Victoria on GoodReads says "I want this book made into a mockumentary asap." Ben A says it's "pure, 100% Joe Lansdale goodness from start to finish. A crazy plot, larger than life characters and a world just a little bit beyond the normal. It's more than just a story, it's an experience." If you're ready for an experience -- on that includes a murderous chimpanzee -- you're ready for The Donut Legion by Joe R. Lansdale. On sale now.

06/29/2023-BookReporter says, "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 in a failed mob hit, and is trying to avoid them finishing the job. On a chase that blows back East Texas swampgrass, Hap and Leonard try to save the girl without getting themselves killed in the process. The Elephant of Surprise is rich with Lansdale's trademark humor, whip-smart dialogue, and plenty of ass-kicking adventure." Get it here!

06/29/2023-Kirkus calls The Thicket "Alternately violent and tender, with a gently legendary quality that makes this tall tale just about perfect." The Examiner says to expect "gun fights, torture scenes, whore houses, and humor ... 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." The Houston Chronicle says it "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.” The Austin Chronicle calls it, "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.” LitReactor says it's "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.” And it was named one of the best novels of the year by Hellnotes and The Florida Times-Union and among the best historical fiction of the year by Library Journal. It also includes a simple, nifty cornbread recipe. So go grab your copy of The Thicket!

06/22/2023-This episode of "The Jeff Word" is a damn fine bucket of content:

06/15/2023-"Humor in fiction is not writing a story and having a few jokes inserted, or writing jokes and then writing a story around them. Fact is, stories that are mostly jokes aren’t stories. The idea of inserting humor into crime fiction, or any kind of fiction, isn’t the idea. The idea of blending humor into it ‘naturally’ is the more workable and satisfying method. It’s a blend, not a fruit salad." To read the rest of Champion Joe's essay, "Humour in Fiction," published June 13, 2023, by Crime Fiction Lover, click here!

06/08/2023-Champion Joe says "You can find out most anything about my work, books, comics, etc., at Joe R. Lansdale Collecting. I go there to learn things I've forgotten about my own work."

06/01/23-Looking for a signed copy of Things Get Ugly? Click here!

05/25/23-Locus included Moon Lake on its "Recommended Reading" list of 2021 horror books! In a starred review, Booklist says Moon Lake is "a 'Gothic gumbo' that layers a coming-of-age story within a plot encompassing ritualistic murder and racism at its most virulent," and they add that "Lansdale has long been a master of blending realistic human drama with elements of horror, and he's at it again here." This new novel is "rich with mystery, horror imagery, and the trademarked Lansdale humor," according to Ronald Koltnow, and Publishers Weekly calls it a "thought-provoking crime novel ... [with] Texas dialect [that] is pitch-perfect," and "the secrets are juicy, the characters vivid, and the atmosphere is as thick as an East Texas night." The New York Times says it's "a winning mixture of curiosity, hesitancy and gumption." Jason Bovberg says, "every time you immerse yourself into a new Lansdale yarn, you know you’re going to be transported into his own fascinatingly peculiar tone, that easy drawl, whether it’s embedded in a sweaty east-Texas crime yarn, or thrumming inside a supernatural western, or serving a high-flying fantasy filled with talking apes and militarized dirigibles. It’s always like he’s relaxing right in front of you, telling you his story with a crooked smile and a dark twinkle in his eye." Library Journal declares, "Lansdale does it again with this evocative, moody, and earthy rendering of a small Texas town with many secrets waiting to be uncovered." BookPage says, in protagonist Daniel Rusell, "Lansdale ... has created yet another character worthy of a series." BookReporter calls Moon Lake "a work of historical fiction that combines mystery and thriller elements with a love story and even some horror to boot." Dave Writes & Draws says, "[T]he characters, both the good guys and the bad, are complex, thoughtful creations. ... we’re treated to a breakneck plot, action that will indeed quicken your pulse, and scenes to veer hard towards straight-up horror." Shelf-Awareness says, "Lansdale's mindful mixing of the bright and the brutal ... keeps fans clamoring for more." Order your copy now!

05/18/23-"Nobody does noir quite like the bard of East Texas." (And they're talking about Champion Joe!) To read the article "Five Great Summer Reads from Local Authors," published last week in Austin Monthly, click here!

05/11/23-Champion Joe says, "I am so proud of my wife, always, but it's nice to see her recognized in this way." Check out The Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award!

05/11/23-Champion Joe's All the Earth Thrown to the Sky earned all kinds of praise! The Las Vegas Review Journal called it "storytelling at its absolute best"; Bookhound said it's "timeless ... can be shared across generations"; and All Things Horror (of all places) said it has "real heart." BookReporter said, "This historical adventure is a winner."School Library Journal said, "[T]he author's Twain-like twang delivers both ironic and situational humor that will leave readers chuckling." And the San Francisco Book Review said, "The gentle poetry in Lansdale's descriptions proves a beautiful counterpoint to much of the darkness the characters encounter." So go get your own copy and tell us what you think!

05/11/23-Daniel Russell was only thirteen years old when his father tried to kill them both by driving their car into Moon Lake. Now Daniel returns to the site, to try to put the traumatic incident behind him by recovering his father's car and bones. But he discovers something even more shocking among the wreckage: a twenty-year-old relic that has ties to a series of strange murders. Moon Lake, a standalone novel by Champion Joe, is available now. Find your copy here!

05/04/23-Champion Joe says, "I thought about my friends Bill and Judy Crider today, as I often do, and thought I'd share this post he wrote about his first published novel and his short career as Nick Carter, and no, not as part of the Backstreet Boys. Bill and Judy are among the finest human beings I have ever known, and we had a long friendship. Both Bill and Judy are gone, but they're not gone for me. I truly loved those two. Check it out.

05/04/23-If horror is your happy place, Night Worms is for you! Each month, they work closely with their tight-knit network of independent and traditional publishers to bring subscribers the best in horror fiction. They curate a package of books, magazines, publisher freebies, goodies, coupons, collectibles etc. and a few Night Worms exclusives for a reasonable price. We encourage our patrons to consider themselves a 'Night Worm' and promote horror with us by using our unique hashtags on social media. If that sounds like your thing, then June is your month! They've teamed with Pandi Press for a Champion Mojo package themed "At the Drive-In" ... which may give you some idea what the package is about! For a bigger pitcure, click here!

04/13/23-A malevolent scarecrow. Revenge-seeking sirens. Eye-gazing parties. Sea creatures. Long-forgotten murders. Dark Kin is a thrilling feast of a collection featuring collaborations by Champion Joe and his daughter, Kasey. Included are five classic tales and one brand new novella: "The Companion," "Blind Love," "Dark Hill Run," "Tremble," "The Case of the Ragman’s Anguish," and "Sea Legs." Limited to only 250 signed copies, you'll want to get yours now!

03/30/23-Did you miss last week's YouTube kick-off event for the release of The Donut Legion? No worries -- Interabang Books; we got you covered!

03/16/23-Champion Joe says, "It won't be long, and a new Hap and Leonard book will exist. Hap is telling me a pretty cool story right now, and I'm writing it down as fast as I can."

03/16/23-"Metallica’s James Hetfield to Star Alongside Peter Dinklage and Juliette Lewis in The Thicket," Yahoo Entertainment, March 2, 2023! Check it out!

03/16/23-"You know who your friends are. They’re the ones who keep your secrets or your car keys when you need them to. They’ll loan you five minutes or $5, tell you when your ideas are good and your breath is bad, and can be counted on, but never out. You’d like to think they’d even take a bullet for you but, as in the novel The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale, you hope you’ll never have to know." To read the entire review, from the Pahrump Valley Times, click here! And to get your own copy of The Thicket, click here! (And that way, you'll know all about it before the movie adaptation hits.)

03/16/23-The World Lansdalean: The Authorized Joe R. Lansdale Bibliography details and organizes the “Joe R. Lansdale Mojo Genre” so that collectors (serious or casual) have a concise listing of the fiction and non-fiction created by one of America’s most popular authors. Providing original release and reprint information regarding Joe R. Lansdale’s novels, collections, miscellaneous books, books edited by, comics, films and TV, stories, poetry, and articles. Also included are listings for numerous interviews and articles about Joe by others. Even his regular readers will be surprised by the incredible output of this important writer. Check it out!

03/16/23-"George R. R. Martin’s ‘Night of the Cooters’ Adaptation, Directed by Vincent D’Onofrio, Wins at LA Shorts Festival," Variety, August 1, 2022! Check it out!

03/09/23-"Peter Dinklage & Juliette Lewis To Lead Dark Western Thriller ‘The Thicket’ For Tubi," Deadline, March 2, 2023! Check it out!

03/02/23-Publishers Weekly says “[Bleeding Shadows] shows off Lansdale’s unmatched talent for blending crime, horror, and the supernatural." Bleeding Shadows is Joe R. Lansdale's largest, most varied collection to date. Weighing in at 488 pages and 150,000 words, these stories, poems, and novellas--supplemented by Champion Joe's introduction and invaluable story notes--move effortlessly from horror, adventure, and suspense to literary pastiche. Check it out!

02/23/23-Cemetery Dance says that Fishing for Dinosaurs and Other Stories goes "perfectly encapsulates the kind of writer Lansdale is: fresh, original, and always reliable. The '“'Lansdale genre'”' is maybe my favorite genre of all, making this collection a must-have." Publishers Weekly says it goes "from tragic to boisterous and back again. ... A master of the genre mashup, Lansdale convincingly slips into a variety of laid-back, down-home personae. Readers with a taste for cheerful butchery will revel in these free-spirited yarns." Sound great? Well, you're too late! Fishing for Dinosaurs and Other Stories is officially out of print! But you can read a free excerpt here!

02/16/23-Horror Novel Reviews says, "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." People Magazine says it "packs one hell of a wallop." The Chicago Tribune describes it as "Colorful ... lunatic ... like a twister" while the New York Times Book Review says it's "Funny ... flashy ... true art." Stephen Graham Jones in The Huffington Post includes it among twenty books that are as great today as they were in the '90s; A.J. Devlin in The Strand Magazine declares it one of the top five mytery-comedy novels of all time; Bookgasm implores you, "If you haven't met Hap and Leonard yet, please get to it." So ... get to it! Grab your copy of Champion Joe's Bad Chili!

02/16/23-Champion Joe says, "Pandi Press, home to some of my backlist, will release its new title by my buddy Del Howison in April. Be on the lookout. The Survival of Margaret Thomas." Author James Sallis adds, "Memories are what we take with us, and what we leave behind. As Americans, we all carry, like memories we can't shake off, rich veins of the frontier myths that gave birth to our literature. Del Howison mines these wonderfully."

02/16/23-Champion Joe says,
Writers these days run in fear. I get questions like: Why do you have black people and gay people in your novels? Answer, because there are black people and gay people. Why do you have beautiful young women, and then have an older woman who is just described as older. Answer, people can be ugly, beautiful or plain. Sometimes older women in my novels are beautiful, Brett Sawyer for one. Books and characters vary. Characters perceptions vary. Guys are ugly in my books — handsome, good, evil, likeable, unlikable, funny, and not so funny. Same for women. Like real life.

Why do you have male characters notice attractive women and think sexual thoughts?
Answer: Biology. Women also notice attractive men in my books and have sexual thoughts. We are not without sexual thoughts and attraction. The crime is when that's all a person notices, and makes people sex objects. Sometimes, however, I'm writing about people who do just that. But people notice each other and biology is a factor. We are usually first attracted to someone due to appearance. Not everyone is attracted to the same kind of appearance. And sometimes their appearance doesn't matter. You just click. But no sexual attraction doesn't seem likely for most people in the world. I had a woman say to me once that when she was younger she hated when men whistled at her, and believe me, I can understand that. But she said that now that she was older she hated that they didn't. I can see that too.

Why do you have black characters in your books and gay characters since you are not black or gay?
Because I don't believe in segregated fiction where one group only writes about their group and no one can make an appearance that isn't of your group. That's just stupid. We are all humans and we need to try and know one another. I can get it wrong, but I'm trying to get it right. Write about white people if you like, black, gay, animals, what have you. Writers shouldn't be subject to that kind of thinking, and the fact people want some form of segregated fiction isn't good for any of us. We should celebrate our connections, and not forget there are those who are less celebrated than they ought to be. But if you only want to write about one group, go for it. Just don't tell me that I have to.

If you write about characters unlike you, not of your race or sexual persuasion, then you hear that you shouldn't. You don't write about them, then you hear, why aren't you including them in your work?

I get shit from those who think I'm Woke, and from those who think I'm not.

I'm not a fan of Woke due to the bully aspect. I'm not a fan of the rabidly anti-Woke for the same reason. Neither group gets to tell me what I think or how I think. I think everyone deserves a fair shake.

Why did you make a minority a villain?
Answer, same reason I made a non-minority a villain. Villains come in all colors, sexual orientation, and political persuasion. It's real life, I choose my good people on the basis of good, and my bad people on the basis of bad. Fiction reflects this. You don't get a pass for being white, black, gay, or anything else.

Why did you kill the dog in your book?
Because dogs can die.

Why did you let the dog live? That seems so sentimental.
Sometimes in the course of a story I decide they don't need to die. Maybe that is sentimentality, and maybe I pay more attention to story than opinion. I, by the way, am a fanatic lover of dogs, and right by me at this moment is Roo-Roo, our beautiful pit bull. Whoa, is it alright to think Pit Bulls can be beautiful? Or is that a discrimination against Chihuahuas? Who said anything about them? Oh, me.

Cats may die in my novels because they are evil.

Just messing with you. I like cats, too. Mostly. Some of them. I knew a cat once that was okay. I wouldn't turn my back on him, though, because like so many cats he had the soul of a serial killer.

Guarantee you, that will set someone off, even if it is a joke. For some, everything is literal and superficial and there is no nuance.

I can joke. You can joke. I can like your joke or hate it. Same for mine. We don't need police telling writers how to write and what to write about. I like satire and irony, and sometimes people don't understand satire and irony. Whatcha gonna do? Send them to school? Give them CliffsNotes on your work? Send a cat over to stalk them?

So many complaints these days are more about gothcha moments and eat-my-self-righteous-dust than about common sense. And that comes from both directions.

Look. I can stumble with my thoughts and characters, but I'm out here walking. You do you. I'll do me.

02/09/23-Champion Joe says, "I think Hap and Leonard are coming to town soon, in a new book. Stay alert. They bring a lot of oddness and excitement when they arrive. Just a warning. They're coming. Not tomorrow, not this year, but not too far off in the future, along with Jim Bob Luke and Vanilla Ride, and a few more surprises. That is all."

02/02/23-Champion Joe says, "'The Next 60: Where are my Flying Cars?' was written in 2014, and though I wouldn't call it an overly optimist piece, it seems more so after four years of Trump, the orange turd, and a congress that in general is mainly about getting over on the other guy. Still, I am hopeful. This is what I thought in a New Years style piece I wrote for Texas Observer. Ah, nostalgia, and learning that something can go off the rails in no time flat." To read the article, click here.

02/02/23-"If you shoot a man in your living room — even if the man was an intruder, creeping around your house in the middle of the night looking to visit who knows what sort of mayhem upon you and your family; even if your house is located in East Texas, where shooting intruders is considered a God-given right; even if the cops eventually clear your name and the press declares you a hero — you’re still responsible for getting rid of the blood." To read the rest of Josh Rosenblatt's review of the film adaptation of Cold in July, click here.

02/02/23-Back in the nineties, Champion Joe's "The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance" received a Bram Stoker Award and appeared to be the start of a series. But it wasn't. So now we’re taking a time machine back to the original story, involving jobless Plebin Cook, his daughter Jasmine, a used-bookstore owner named Martha, circus dogs, mannequins, and a serial killer, and we’re adding a quirky, short novel, "The Events Concerning Two Stabbed Clowns in a Bloody Bathtub." The novel is wilder than the original tale and answers the question: What did Plebin and the gang do next? Check out The Events Concerning, coming this month from Subterranean Press! Ben A says, "I didn't want it to end." Jim Andrew Clark says, "Made me laugh out loud. I loved every word." Dave Writes and Draws says, "Pick up The Events Concerning. I promise you’ll be entertained."

02/02/23-Publishers look at a lot of things when they decide how to promote the books. A few things you can do to support authors that don't all cost money are:

1. Pre order their books. (okay, this one costs) BUT... If there are early orders, publishers interpret that as excitement and push the book more on the front end. It's a huge help for creators as there is a self fulfilling prophecy that can take place.

2. You can add titles to your "want to read" bookshelf on Goodreads. Same as above. If people are interested in the book, publishers will do more to push it.

3. Good reviews on all platforms are also very helpful. Social proof is a big element for these companies to get behind you.

4. Posting on social media. Publishers love to see tweets, posts, reels etc about the new book. Whether you have read it or not, just knowing people want to gives the book a valuable boost. Tagging the publisher in these posts is even better!!

5. Letting your local library know you would like them to carry the books is another way to support the author.

So that's the flash tutorial on how to support your favorite authors. I hope you will find the time to do one or more of these things. We spend months with the work, so it feels great to see the readers excited to read it. Thank you to everyone who continues to support, discover, recommend and participate in the dialogue on social media.

02/02/23-"Un libro facile da leggere ma difficile da abbandonare, di quelli da tenere a portata di mano per rubare ancora qualche riga di lettura nei tempi morti della giornata." To read the rest of the review of Joe and Kasey's Non aprite quella morta, click here.

01/12/23-Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviews says Born for Trouble is "like slipping into a pair of comfortable old shoes, which ... may also happen to be a little bloodstained." Library Journal says, "This is the 20th 'Hap and Leonard' book and it’s just as good and fresh as the first, offering high voltage action mixed with down-home humor." The Houston Chronicle says Champion Joe "possesses a gift for intricate storytelling. This collection is a welcome addition." Ace Atkins says, "Lansdale isn’t just a brilliant storyteller with heart, he’s also funny as hell, with tales of mummified dachshunds, homicidal bookmobiles, and a psychopathic hunt club. [Born for Trouble] is an absolute blast and a gift to all of us devoted fans." Ed Brubaker says, "Joe Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard stories are right up there with Richard Stark’s Parker books to me ... Born for Trouble is yet another masterclass in how it’s done." Dave Writes and Draws says, "Settling down with this collection is like getting together with old, cherished friends — the kind of friends who you just know are going to get you in trouble, and you just don't care." S.A. Cosby says it's "a road map through 20th-century crime fiction, and your guides are two of the greatest, most intriguing characters ever created, Hap and Leonard. Rambunctious, complex, and endlessly fascinating, these two best friends offer a clear yet sometimes painful view of America in general, and East Texas in particular." Michael Langston says, "Not since the late great Elmore Leonard has a writer so completely revamped the genre of crime-fiction — Lansdale takes it to places it's never been before in ways you never imagined." Ginger Nuts of Horror says, "This is binge-worthy stuff!" Nonstop Reader says it's "violent, outlandish, over the top, and hysterically funny (often at the same time and with a suddenness which leaves the reader with whiplash)." So ... what say you?

01/12/23-When you meet him, Hap Collins seems just like a good ol’ boy. But even in his misspent youth, his best pal was Leonard Pine: black, gay, and the ultimate outsider. Together, they have mostly found their way as partners in crime-solving and, at least as often, as hired muscle.As Hap wrestles with his new identity as a father, and Leonard finds love in a long-term relationship, the boys continue their crime-solving shenanigans. They uncover the sordid secret of a missing bookmobile, compete in a warped version of the Most Dangerous Game, regroup after Hap’s visit to the psychologist goes terribly awry, and much more. So sit yourself back and settle in - Born for Trouble is East Texas mayhem as only the master mojo storyteller Lansdale could possibly tell. Available now from Tachyon Press!

01/05/23-Booklist says it has plenty of "smart-ass humor, fisticuffs, broken hearts, and gunplay." Kirkus says, "The dialogue throughout is worth the price of admission ... [an] irresistible combination of relaxed badinage and playful threats that sometimes spiral into serious consequences while still remaining playful." Publishers Weekly says it's "Full of humor, gritty drama, and insightful observations." Fort Worth Weekly says it's "manna from redneck heaven — especially if your idea of rednecks includes a liberal white man and a gay, Republican black man — both of whom are backwoods brawlers to boot." It's Of Mice and Minestrone – Hap and Leonard: The Early Years, and it's available now!

01/05/23-Conversations with Joe R. Lansdale by Andrew J. Rausch and Mark Slade is available now from University Press of Mississippi. The book compiles interviews from newspapers, magazines, and podcasts conducted throughout Champion Joe's prolific career, including conversations with noted peers like Robert McCammon and James Grady; two podcast transcripts that have never before appeared in print; and a brand-new interview, exclusive to the volume. In addition to shedding light on his body of literary work and process as a writer, this collection also shares Lansdale’s thoughts on comics, atheism, and martial arts. Get your copy now!

12/29/22-Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year from the Lansdale family to you.

12/15/22-"Waiting in line at a concert, a guy has naively asked what you do for a living. When you gather that he might be a potential reader, you ask whether he thinks a story about a monk could be interesting if the monk has gone back on his blood-promise of loyalty to family by joining a monastery." This and more fun from Blake Sanz, in "Ten Ways of Being in the Weeds With Your Novel, and Ten Ways Out," from Poets & Writers! (And, hey ... aren't poets writers, Poets & Writers?)

12/01/22-Paul Carro on Dark Delicacies II: Fear, in his article "The best horror anthology story standouts – cream of the crop": "Solid anthology but the cream of the crop standout is bar none, 'Dog' by Joe R. Lansdale. A tale about a man on a bike being chased by a dog is like Cujo on steroids. Highly intense and fast-paced, the story never lets up from the first page. It never slows down and the poor character’s bike trip just gets worse and worse. This one will keep you on the edge of your seat and thinking about it long after." To purchase the book, click here!

12/01/22-The famed Ellen Datlow has her own list: "Recommendations for Best Horror #14-long list." You might find some Lansdales among the alphabetical listings if you click here!

12/01/22-And then there's "The 10 Best Scariest Zombie Movies to Watch This Holiday Season."

12/01/22-Champion Joe says, "I was joking with someone a few years back, and as we were both Edgar Rice Burroughs fans, they said Travis McGee was in the lineage of Tarzan or one of the all-connected hero biographies Philip Jose Farmer constructed. I said, That's cool. I once had Hap and Leonard called the illegitimate sons of Travis McGee. And that's when whoever it was I was talking to was most likely part of the same peerage. That's funny and cool. And the more I know the fellas, the more I believe it."

12/01/22-"I think on some level that [writing screenplays is] not an art—it’s a craft. You’re writing something, and as soon as you write it, even if you’re artistic in your moment, as soon as you finish and hand it to somebody to interpret, it’s already got other eyes, other ideas and visions involved. Once the actors come into it, they all have their own take on the material—they have their own sound and their own look, their own body movements which change it to some degree. The director has their own ideas about it, even the stage direction, the cinematography, that combination of things. I don’t believe in the auteur theory at all. I believe the director’s the general and I believe the writer’s the engine. Everything after that is just different philosophies and interpretations." To read the rest of this 2017 Cemetary Dance interview with Champion Joe, click here!

11/24/22-Champion Joe says, "HAPPY THANKSGIVING." Just like that -- in all-caps. So you best be sure to make it happy!

11/24/22-How about this headline?! "Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award." From the release: "The Horror Writers Association is delighted to announce the immediate renaming of the Silver Hammer award to the Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer award in honor of the tremendous amount of work Karen did starting the HWA." To read the whole story, click here!

11/24/22-Patton Oswalt says,"It’s an fun blend of crime, character, and high weirdness. UFO cultists, donuts, and a homicidal chimpanzee. Feels like a movie Alex Cox would have made if they’d given him the script to 'Any Which Way but Loose.'" Author Eli Cranor says, "Joe employs his signature dark humor to shine a supremely strange and unflinchingly honest light on our present-day madness. Highly Recommend!" Get ready for something sweet. The Donut Legion by Joe R. Lansdale. March 2023.

11/24/22-Want to get a signed copy of The Donut Legion, Champion Joe's next novel? Preorder now through Murder by the Book and that's exactly what you'll get! So what are you waiting for? Click here to pre-order The Donut Legion!

11/17/22-AUTHOR TV is coming. Check out the promo trailer beloew. Besides Champion Joe, the show will have programs featuring David Morrell, Dean Koontz, Craig Johnson, and too many other authors to name, but you can check out who and what in the video.

11/17/22-Champion Joe says, "Oh, hell yeah. You need this. Brilliant. Strange. Marvelously and stylishly written. One of my favorite writers, Owen King kicks this dude out of the park. So unique. The Curator. You can check it out here, and preorder if it grabs you. And it should."

11/17/22-"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!" And Monster Librarian says, "I loved this book from start to finish. Highly recommended." So go get your silly, violent, highly recommended five-star Adult Swim distraction here!

11/10/22-Strange monsters, wild fights, beautiful ghosts, JFK, John Henry, and ... Elvis! It's the audiobook adaptations of Bubba Ho-Tep and Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers, together in one package, narrated by Jude Gerard Prest! by Champion Joe and Kasey Lansdale hits next week! Check it out!

11/10/22-Heads up, Italy! Non Aprite Quella Morta by Champion Joe and Kasey Lansdale hits next week! Check it out!

10/27/22-"The Sabine is a long and narrow river, but it has a sense of mystery about it. Jack Kerouac called the river and its banks the Mansion of the Snake in his famous novel, On the Road. He called it an “evil old river” and said, “We could almost hear the slither of a million copperheads." That's from Champion Joe's essay, "The Tall Tale of the Sabine River Goat Man and the Haunted Cemetery." To read the rest of the essay, published in Texas Monthly, just click here!

10/27/2022-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 blew 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.

10/27/22-Normally we're partial to pithy pull quotes, but here's the eloquent guts of what Publishers Weekly had to say about Champion Joe's prequel to Bubba Ho-Tep, Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers: "As this prequel opens, Elvis Presley is glumly making crappy films and crappier songs, but it’s for a good cause: supporting his other job of fighting things that go bump and squish in the night. Colonel Parker, Elvis’s manager, claims something awful has pushed through the interdimensional boundaries, rolling its victims up into human donuts and sucking the insides out of them. Along with psychic Blind Man, logistics man Jack, singer Jenny Jo Dallas, hammer-wielding John Henry, and body man Johnny Smack, Elvis and Parker head to a New Orleans house to face the bloblike Big Mamma and her minions. "

10/27/22-Champion Joe says, "Ascension by Gregory Dowling is a way-cool historical mystery in Venice. Complicated, but smart plot. It was a nice change up." Check it out!

10/20/22-You'll find soup-to-nuts Lansdale on this episode of The Dark Tome!It's a radio-play of their story "Blind Love," with Kasey playing the role of Jana!

10/13/22-"We wrapped principal photography on Night of the Cooters back in August, you may recall,” George R.R. Martin said in a statement. “That’s our adaptation of the classic short story by the one and only Howard Waldrop. Shot entirely in greenscreen in Santa Fe, from a screenplay by Joe Lansdale. Directed by Vincent d’Onofrio, who also starred. After that, we turned it over to the wizards at Trioscope, who have been busily working on it ever since with their groundbreaking animation process.” To read the rest of this story from Deadline — including details of the forthcoming screening at the Santa Fe International Film Festival this Wednesday —click here!

09/29/22-Champion Joe says, "What I love about The Nightrunners is that it's still pissing some people off, disgusting others, and giving a different set of readers an exhilarating ride. It's a tough one still, all these years later, still retaining its power, or so I think. Check it out here." Adrenalin-charged horror and vintage Lansdale at its finest, The Nightrunners is brutally violent. Part pulp-noir, part splatter, this is a tale of survival and revenge. In this newly reimagined collection alongside the original 1987 novel, the reader is treated to two additional stories inspired by the novel, including the first appearance of the God of the Razor. Check it out!

09/22/22-"Bruce Campbell Offers Cheeky Response to Austin Butler's Acclaimed Elvis Performance." With a headline like that, how can you not read this MovieWeb article?

09/15/22-"They’re like brothers. Quarrelsome, but they love each other and stand for each other come what may." To read all of Champion Joe's interview with Paul Semel, click here!

08/25/22-Champion Joe says, "I love The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown by Lawrence Block. I had the privilege of reading this book early, and it knocked me out. Vibes of Fred Brown and Jack Finney."

08/18/22-Champion Joe says, "George R.R. Martin asked me to spread the word about 'House of the Dragon.' It's coming quick -- August 21. Here's some information for it."

08/18/22-Champion Joe says, "We saw The League of Super Pets today, and loved it. Krypto fan here, and Ace the Bat Hound." No mention of the stale popcorn or the Dr. Pepper, but I think we can safely assume that was good, too.

08/04/22-The Mucho Mojo graphic novel hit bookstores this week! Did you get your copy?

07/28/22-"I did it because I wanted to celebrate Joe, that’s what it is. If it turns more people on to him, that’s great. He doesn’t need my help with that. It’s just a matter of getting his name out there to people who might not have heard of him. That’s great, it’s been really rewarding. They’re all telling me about all the books they’ve read." That's Hansi Oppenheimer on her reason for making the documentary "All Hail the Popcorn King." To read the rest of the interview with her and Champion Joe, check out this piece on Cemetery Dance!

07/21/22-"Joe Lansdale shares what it was like experiencing the Elvis cultural phenomenon as a young man; the power of black music and Presley’s relationship to it; youth culture and sex; and Luhrmann’s new movie as a work of art and a type of true lie." If that sounds like your jam, listen to this episode of "The Chauncey DeVega Show"!

07/21/22-Check out this interview with Champion Joe's brother, John L. Lansdale!

07/14/22-Champion Joe wants all his fellow Edgar Rice Burroughs fans to know about this special letterpress edition of At the Earth’s Core!

07/07/22-Available for $2.99 on Kindle for a limited time! Publishers Weekly called Edge of Dark Water a "chillingly atmospheric stand-alone," and the reviewer at Library Journal said it "puts me in mind of Daniel Woodrell with a touch of To Kill a Mockingbird." The New York Journal of Books said it "has all the potential of becoming a classic, read by generations to come." It was picked as one of the 100 best novels of 2012 by Kirkus. Booklist placed it among the year's Best Adult Books for Young Adults. The Boston Globe listed it among the ten best crime books of 2012 and LitReactor included it among the best of 2012. You can read an excerpt by clicking here, and you can order your copy here!

06/30/22-Champion Joe says, "Of Tim Bryant's cool and unique books, Bywater may well be the coolest. Loved it."

06/30/22-And while you're checking out other books, add Stephen Mertz's Say it was Murder to that list!

06/16/22-All hail Champion Mojo Instagrammer Joe R. Lansdale!

06/09/22-Champion Joe's "Sweet Potato" is one of 29 tales of monsters and the monstrous in Screams from the Dark, a new anthology from Ellen Datlow!

06/09/22-The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has announced the top ten finalists in each category of the 2022 Locus Awards ... and they've included Moon Lake for best horror novel! Check it out!

Joe R. Lansdale on Austin Liti Limits from Larry Brill on Vimeo.

06/09/22-Ghost Stories LIVE! is a free show telecast on YouTube and Facebook presented bi-monthly at Blue Umbrella Books, a brick-and-mortar indie bookshop in Westfield, MA. They are raising funds to support the bookshop they've made their home, and giving an opportunity to their far-flung friends who cannot personally patronize the shop to still ensure that great events are produced and shared there. Want to help? click here!

06/02/22-Champion Joe says, "We had a wonderful experience with family and our friend Antonello Grimaldi experiencing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana for the first time as we presented the new book, Moon Lake. If you're ever in Milan, I recommend you stop by. Tell them Joe sent you."

05/19/22-Conversations with Joe R. Lansdale brings together interviews from newspapers, magazines, and podcasts conducted throughout the prolific author’s career. The collection includes conversations between Lansdale and other noted peers like Robert McCammon and James Grady; two podcast transcripts that have never before appeared in print; and a brand-new interview, exclusive to the volume. In addition to shedding light on his body of literary work and process as a writer, this collection also shares Lansdale’s thoughts on comics, atheism, and martial arts. Check it out! Shipping December 2022!

05/12/22-"[O]ne of [Vertigo]’s first notable little hits didn’t just reject any kind of sex appeal, it took down its drawers and took a giant turd on the very idea. In fact, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Truman and Sam Glanzman’s revival of the classic Western character Jonah Hex were arguably the least sexy comics Vertigo ever published, revelling in filth and dirt to a truly disquieting degree." To read all of Robert Smith's "Ornery, Dusty, and Gross: The Oddball Jonah Hex Comics of DC’s Vertigo Imprint," click here!

05/05/22-Congratulations to Champion Joe on his Bram Stoker Award nomination for "Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection" for Apache Witch and Other Poetic Observations! You can read a bit about the five nominees by clicking here!

04/28/22-The most evil and powerful criminals in the world are sequestered in a prison on a remote island. When that island is rocked by a violent storm, the prison staff goes out looking for a missing member of their crew. But instead they find the burial site of prisoner 489 -- a prisoner who required multiple surges of electricity for his execution -- has been unearthed. And the body that was inside is nowhere to be found. Champion Joe's Prisoner 489 is now available as an ebook as well as a paperback!

04/28/22-Champion Joe swung by "The Bookshop Podcast" -- listen here!

04/28/22-Champion Joe is one of more than twenty contributors to Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action! Whether you're a fan or horror or a fan of the climate, this one's for you!

04/28/22-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!

04/21/22-This week, "Staring Into The Abyss" — the roundtable podcast about all things horror — dissects Champion Joe's "Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back"! Listen here!

04/21/22-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, Texas 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. The wild wind blows boxer John McBride into town, a white prize fighter with seemingly superhuman fury and skill. As black boxer Jack "Li'l Arthur" Johnson prepares to fight this fierce opponent, the storm closes in. If he can survive the ring and the vicious undercurrents of the Jim Crow south, Li'l Arthur will still have to fight his way through the storm winds, the rising flood waters, and the violent night. On September 8th, 1900, a hurricane ripped apart Galveston, Texas, killing nearly 8,000 people and nearly obliterating the town. Lansdale's The Big Blow brings dimension to many who lost their lives that day, and a few who survived.

04/21/22-Champion Joe says, "Friend, actor, and author Bruce Campbell writes a funny satire that I greatly enjoyed. Light, but insightful." Check out House Divided: A Political Satire!

04/21/22-Champion Joe says, "Met an author at a signing in Vernon named Roger Browning. He gave me two of his books. They are unique. The Reckoning of Rance and Last of the Knowers. I think they are worth you checking out. Unique, almost experimental at times. He has written hundreds of novels by hand that he threw away. Interesting fellow. I liked him. Anyway, check him out."

04/14/22-Announcing the official line-up for The Drive-In:Multiplex — a tribute to Champion's The Drive-In trilogy, with blood and popcorn. Featuring all-new stories and novellas. Edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene. Signed, limited edition hardcover. Published by Thunderstorm Books Pre-orders begin this summer!

04/14/22-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. Hot in December by Champion Joe is a fast-paced psychological thriller in the vein of Dean Koontz and Lee Child -- check it out!

04/07/22-What would it look like if George R.R. Martin, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Champion Joe stayed up a bit late one night, eating greasy popcorn, drinking Dr. peppers, and talking about Howard Waldrop? Maybe something like this:

04/07/22-Black is the Night is an anthology of exclusive new short stories in tribute to the master of pulp-era crime writing, Cornell Woolrich. It's a gritty and thrilling anthology of 28 new stories by authors including Neil Gaiman, Kim Newman, James Sallis, AK Benedict, Samantha Lee Howe, and our very own Champion Joe! Joe R. Lansdale and many more. Check it out!

03/31/22-Champion Joe says, "I want to thank everyone who picked up a copy of Born for Trouble, and all my works, really. It's been fun to see the boys come together again and hear from so many of you about your time with them. These stories were available so briefly in different collections, it's a joy to see them all in one place for anyone who may have missed them previously. Bringing stories together that were only briefly available in limiteds and small runs in this way allows for an affordable edition for the more casual reader who may not be picking up those hardbound collections. I appreciate the continued support, and look forward to what's coming around the bend..."

03/10/22-Hey, Italy! Your edition of Moon Lake is out now. Godere! Luca Briasco -- who translates Champion Joe's books into Italian -- was online and answering questions in support of the release of Moon Lake! Check it out!

03/03/22-Champion Joe says, "I STAND WITH UKRAINE." He adds, "Being for Ukraine is not the same as being for war. I could find things to dislike about most sides. But Putin is clearly the aggressor here. He can end it by stopping. Hitler could have stopped from invading Poland, but he didn't. I'm anti-war, but there are times when you do take a stand against aggression, and you want it stopped before it broadens. I think sanctions are the right approach, and supporting the Ukrainians with weapons and food. Those with magic wands who can stop it by that method, wave those wands. Otherwise, we have to hope sanctions drive out the Russians and the war doesn't spread."

02/03/22-Want a signed copy of Born for Trouble? Murder by the Book can help you out.

02/24/22-Del Howison is a journalist, author, and the Bram Stoker Award-winning editor of the anthology Dark Delicacies: Original Tales of Terror and the Macabre by the World’s Greatest Horror Writers. He's also the latest author to join Pandi Press! Check it out!

02/24/22-Congratulations to Champion Joe on his latest Bram Stoker Award nomination, for "Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection" for Apache Witch and Other Poetic Observations!

02/17/22-Fantasy & Science Fiction says that High Cotton collects "the stories that built Lansdale's reputation as one of the most audacious writers... [O]nly for the strong at heart, the fearless reader who can face its powerful subject matter as unflinchingly as did the author." The Denver Post says, "The tales are as weird and hard-edged." High Cotton is a strange mixture of dark crime, even darker humor, and adventure tales. The stories are varied in setting and theme, but they are all pure Lansdale: eerie, amusing, and occasionally horrific. In “The Pit,” modern gladiators square off against one another using Roman methods. An alternate-history tale called “Trains Not Taken” shows Buffalo Bill as an ambassador and Wild Bill Hickok as a clerk. Lansdale’s love of large lizards and humor are evident in the stories “Godzilla’s Twelve Step Program” and “Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland.” Check it out!

02/17/22-"Put your ass in a chair and write. My own advice is that, and write like everyone you know is dead. Write for yourself, and then hope others like it." This and more from Champion Joe in his interview with AdviceToWriters.com!

02/17/22-The Big Blow! Freezer Burn! A Fine Dark Line! Three of Champion Joe's classics, all available now from Pandi Press!

02/10/22-Champion Joe says, "I love comics, but I’ve satisfied a lot of my itch there, but now and again I get a bit of comic hives and I want to scratch. I would and probably will do more comic work. I no longer have any characters I’m dying to do, as I’ve done many, but who knows. A Batman comic would be fun." To read the entire interview Joe did with Cat Rambo, click here!

02/10/22-Kirkus called A Fine Dark Line a "Funny, scary, heartwarming, heart-pounding, Tom Sawyer–ish, Huck Finn–ish, provocative, evocative, sometimes actually wise: the best ever from talented Lansdale -- a genre-crossing tour de force to spark the most jaded appetites." To get your copy, click here!

02/03/22-Champion Joe says, "We lost our lovely red-nose pit bull, NICKY, to bladder cancer. He was almost nine years old. I learned from having him that we are especially fond of pit bulls. They are great dogs. We miss him terribly. Someday, another.... Someday."

02/03/22-Champion Joe says, "Keith and I at a '50s diner on a road trip not too long ago. We're in California here. Not far down the street was an identical diner. I can't remember their names, but they were something like Betty Lou's and Bobby Sue's."

01/27/22-"Big Lizards, Tiger Kings & Other Weird Fiction." If this title of the recent episode of "The Brig" isn't enough for you, maybe the sebheader will clinch it: "Keith Lansdale chats about his books and screenplays, how Bruce Campbell became Elvis, and his famous dad, Joe." Check it out!

01/27/22-The Magic Wagon takes place at the turn of the century, 1909, and the West as we think of it was gone, but there is a residual, somewhat ghostly residue of its existence, though much of what we think about the West is wrong and is built on movie images. That's part of what the story is about. We don't even know if this is Wild Bill's body, not actually. But in Billy Bob's mind it is for certain. And for him the Dime Novel idea of what the West was is pervasive with him. He prefers the myth to the truth. The myth gives him comfort. What's going on here is a story told by a kid who has had a rough life in a short time, and he's telling a story that manages to be about age and race and broken dreams. It deals with some real historical figures, but the truth is, Buster is an unreliable narrator. He tells what he thinks he knows, and senses what he thinks is going on, a kind of supernatural aspect, but that may or may not be more in his head than in reality. And hey, you get a wrestling chimpanzee.Check it out! — now with added features, including a short story, an introduction, and a cool essay about Champion Joe by his wonderful son, Keith Lansdale!

01/27/22-Champion Joe says, "Halloween Nights: Tales of Autumn Fright looks like great fun. James Moore is involved, so that elevates the possibilities." Check it out!

01/20/22-Champion Joe says, "Back in the day a lot of us tried our hands at 'sword and sorcery.' I even wrote several very bad ones, a couple collaborations with Ardath Mayhar, but even she couldn't save them. They were published, however. Ramsey Campbell, on the other hand, wrote some good ones. I remember reading some of them in the short-lived Sword and Sorcery anthology. The heat for 'sword and sorcery' tales of that era came and went so fast I forgot I wrote a few. In Far Away & Never, a collection by Ramsey, you can read some good ones. Check it out."

01/13/22-A very Lansdale Christmas! MIA: Danni Trest & Nicky (okay, & Buster)

01/13/22-Champion Joe says, "Old friend Willie Siros has passed away. His impact on Texas Science Fiction conventions, for one, his love of books and how he supported writers is unmeasurable. He and his bookselling friend, Scott Cupp, supported my early work and always went out of their way to give a Texas boy some exposure on the literary scene. They've done the same for so many. I wish all his loved ones my condolences and best wishes, though at a time like this, either feels hollow. Willie will be missed."

01/13/22-Champion Joe says, "The hits keep on coming. Jim Bardwell posted the announcement of his wife Suzanne's death on his page for the Daily Mirror. A newspaper in Gladewater, Texas, my hometown, where Jim and Suzanne operated the newspaper. Suzanne was a wonderful person, and we hopefully thought we would have a visit soon. I'm glad we had the emails of late. She was a smart, talented, dedicated, and funny friend. Jim and Suzanne are good people, and I have a hard time thinking of Suzanne in the past tense."

01/13/22-Last month on the BIG Hap & Leonard Read-Along with Mother Horror, the group took a look at Mucho Mojo. Up this week: Two-Bear Mambo! It's an online book group, where everyone reads every Hap & Leonard novel in order, then discusses it online. Join now!

01/06/22-"Martial arts is a construct for life, if you study it correctly. It doesn’t make everyone a good person, but it certainly has helped a lot of people get to that location. I’m grateful for it. I owe almost everything to it. I still teach, but only private lessons. I hurt more, but if I don’t practice, I hurt a lot." To read the entire interview with Champion Joe from The Mystery Tribune, click here!

12/30/21-Champion Joe says, "Today I'm thinking of my brother Andrew Vachss, who has died. What a loss to the world. A great writer, but more importantly a great advocate for children. He was a true warrior. I miss him. My thoughts to Alice Vachss. My thoughts to those whose lives he touched, including mine."

12/23/21-If you're a professional reviewer and use Netgalley, Born for Trouble: The Further Adventures of Hap and Leonard, is up and available for request.

12/16/21-"When a machine gun accidentally goes off and destroys the puppet, the image of bullets ripping through Scarface’s body—graphically animated and held for long, agonizing seconds— becomes one of the most disconcertingly violent moments imaginable, not just on a kid’s show, but on television in general." That's Champion Joe's contribution to "Ten WTF-Did-I-Just-Watch? Moments in SFF Television"!

12/09/21-Daniel Russell was only thirteen years old when his father tried to kill them both by driving their car into Moon Lake. Now Daniel returns to the site, to try to put the traumatic incident behind him by recovering his father's car and bones. But he discovers something even more shocking among the wreckage: a twenty-year-old relic that has ties to a series of strange murders. Moon Lake, a standalone novel by Champion Joe, is available now. Find your copy here!

12/02/21-Champion Joe wrote the introduction to Research into Marginal Living: The Selected Stories of John D. Keefauver! Keefauver -- who could be quirky, humorous, ribald, or macabre, in varying measures -- was a favorite of Joe's. He was a mainstay of magazines like Omni, Playboy, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Check it out!

12/02/21-When you meet him, Hap Collins seems just like a good ol’ boy. But even in his misspent youth, his best pal was Leonard Pine: black, gay, and the ultimate outsider. Together, they have mostly found their way as partners in crime-solving and, at least as often, as hired muscle.As Hap wrestles with his new identity as a father, and Leonard finds love in a long-term relationship, the boys continue their crime-solving shenanigans. They uncover the sordid secret of a missing bookmobile, compete in a warped version of the Most Dangerous Game, regroup after Hap’s visit to the psychologist goes terribly awry, and much more. So sit yourself back and settle in - Born for Trouble is East Texas mayhem as only the master mojo storyteller Lansdale could possibly tell. Available March 2022 from Tachyon Press!

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."

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