This collection gathers together some early work, which I like, and it also contains stories that I think, for one reason or another, missed their audience. There is also newer material that I treasure, some that has never before been gathered under one roof, and there are others written specifically for this volume. I love this collection. It’s a mixture of nostalgia and maturity, the reworking of others’ work and the discovery of my own voice. I like to write introductions as a way of inviting you into my house of stories. But now I’ll leave you to it. Just wander from room to room, and take your time. While you’re here, make yourself at home. But please . . . try not to break the furniture on your way out. —Joe R. Lansdale From his Introduction Contents: Introduction: good ju-ju The junkyard The valley of the swastika Duck-footed Dog It washed up Way down there A hard-on for horrror: low budget excitement Edgar Allan Poe's shadow and the aluminum chair collide: one survivor, weak in the knees with pen and paper Once upon a time The drunken moon Christmas monkey I tell you it's love The white rabbit Everybody plays the fool Pentecostal punk rock Jiving with shadows and dragons and long dark trains Dirt devils Trapped int the Saturday matinee The Devil's pants Family The hunt : before, and the aftermath
Author
Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over forty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in more than two dozen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies. He has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others. His novella Bubba Ho-Tep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted to film for Showtime's "Masters of Horror," and he adapted his short story "Christmas with the Dead" to film hisownself. The film adaptation of his novel Cold in July was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Sundance Channel has adapted his Hap & Leonard novels for television. He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.
