|
Bumper Crop, Joe R. Lansdale. Illinois: Golden Gryphon Press, 2004
Hardcover, $24.95 ISBN 1-930846-24-x
Following the best-of
short story collection High Cotton,
Joe R. Lansdale, collects more of his best short stories from the 80's in Bumper Crop, spanning the early career
of one of the most underrated writers in America. Generally billed as "horror," these
stories span a gamut of styles from old fashioned edge-of-your-seat thrillers
such as; "God of the Razor," where a man encounters an other-worldly
terror in the basement, to surreal portraits like, "Fish Night,"
where two men on a lonely road suddenly find themselves swimming in an ocean
in the sky, or "Bestsellers Guaranteed," where even the least
talented writer can have success...for a price. But these stories aren't your
run of the mill horror. Don't forget, Joe R. Lansdale is the man who brought
us Bubba Ho-Tep,
the soon-to-be cult classic film portraying a not-quite-dead
Elvis in his waning years in a nursing home in Mud Creek, side-by-side with a
black JFK facing a hillbilly mummy.
Armed with Texas wit and an eye for telling detail, Lansdale plops us down into worlds filled with monsters
and foolish men, vampire houses, and blood drinking aliens who just happen to
hang out in bars. These stories are at turns funny, gripping and wry.
Sometimes commenting on society, sometimes just scaring the hell out of you,
but always effective. Each story is introduced by the author with a little
background info on how the story came to be, why it came to be, where it was
published, or not published, and whatever happens to be on Lansdale's mind about the story. These introductions are
often nearly as entertaining as the stories themselves, and give us insight
into the mind behind them.
Lansdale has written over twenty books, including the
Leonard Pine and Hap Collins mystery series, and has received the Edgar
award, American Mystery Award, two New
York Times Notable Book awards, and others. He has published over two
hundred short stories, and has written for comic books, animated televisions
shows such as Batman, and the big
screen.
- CL Bledsoe
|
