Dead in the West [Paperback]

Joe R. Lansdale (Author), Allen Koszowski (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1986

Dead in the West is the story of Mud Creek, Texas, a town overshadowed by a terrible evil. An Indian medicine man, unjustly lynched by the people of Mud Creek, has put a curse on the town. As the sun sets, he will have his revenge. For when darkness falls, the dead will walk in Mud Creek and they will be hungry for human flesh. The only one that can save the town is Reverend Jebediah Mercer, a gun toting preacher man who came to Mud Creek to escape his past. He has lost his faith in the Lord and his only solace is the whisky bottle. Will he renew his faith in himself and God to defeat this evil or will the town be destroyed?

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Space & Time (May 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0917053044
• ISBN-13: 978-0917053047
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,128,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over thirty 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 eighteen 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 Hotep 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." 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ZOMBIES IN SPURS, April 25, 2004

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead in the West (Paperback)

From the opening scene in the old stagecoach to the apocalyptic ending in a church, DEAD IN THE WEST delivers more thrills and spills it in its short length than many 300+ tomes. Joe Lansdale, known for his black humor, whips it out in plenty in this tale of a Reverend who wanders into Mud Creek and finds himself involved in the curse of an Indian wrongly accused of killing a young girl, and lynched. His mulatto woman was also brutally raped and murdered. The curse is purely simple: zombies beget more zombies, and Lansdale spares nothing in his brutally graphic and frightening tale. Joining Rev. Jeb in the spotlight is a delightful young boy named David; the bewitching Abby and her rascally doctor father; and of course the many zombies populating the scene.
The book is relentless and no character is guaranteed safety by the time the book ends; it has a rather "twisty" ending as well; did he ever do a sequel? It would be great!!!
A very good horror story.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A zombified western classic!, October 18, 2001

By 

Chadwick H. Saxelid "Bookworm" (Concord, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dead in the West (Paperback)

A gunslinging preacher wanders into an isolated Texas town haunted by a gruesome secret. One that, like its unfortunate victims, refuses to stay buried. Lansdale whips up a truly classic zombie gut muncher here, one loaded with thrills, chills, gore, his trademarked black humor, and, most surprisingly, a potent human sentiment. Required reading for Lansdale addicts and highly recommended to everyone else.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Western Zombie tale, November 11, 2006

By 

Colin P. Lindsey (Manchester, NH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dead in the West (Hardcover)

I read World War Z recently and found it to be so enjoyable it put me in the mood for more apocalyptic zombie fiction. I had also recently read Joe Lansdale's "The Bottoms" and found it to be a moving, highly literate coming of age story. So I thought, "why not combine the two experiences and read a Lansdale zombie story?" So I ordered this book from Amazon based upon the other reviews and read it last night.

Hmmmm. This wasn't a literate novel like The Bottoms. In fact, it isn't even a novel. At 147 pages, with sparse text on each page, I am not even sure it stretches to novella. There is also little character development; the figures in the book are just stereotyped character sketches. There's the hard-drinking gun-toting preacher who doubts in God, the redneck town bully, the native indian curse, the elderly, good-willed town doctor, his beautiful daughter, the bullied teenager in need of a father figure, and the sheriff tormented by his failing to uphold justice through a lapse in character. The story is a pulp dime-store book and the cover art depicts it well. Now despite what may seem like a list of shortcomings, as long as you aware of what you are buying, I can see how this would be a pretty enjoyable read especially for the younger set. It has the feel and lfavor of a book directed at pre-teens or teenagers. Yes, the characters and story are simple, but if you are hankering for a fast-paced, quick read about zombies battling it out with dead-eyed gunslingers on a mission from God, then this one will hit the spot. The book doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is, an enjoyable pulp combining the zombie and Western genres for a fun little novella. It's kind of pricy for what you get, but if you can pick it up used and like these genres, you'll enjoy this romp.

I prefer denser stories with more development. If you do as well, then let me heartily recommend World War Z if you want a zombie book, or if you want literature let me recommend The Bottoms, a book hauntingly reminiscent of an updated To Kill a Mockingbird. If you like pulps though, I thought this was a reasonably decent one.