Customer Reviews

Unchained and Unhinged

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Most satisfying. While I was hoping for another gem like "The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance", this collection works fine without it. Short, sharp tales, guaranteed to amuse for the few minutes it takes to read them.

This is the old Joe Lansdale I used to know, the one who put out Bestsellers Guaranteed and Stories by Mama Lansdale's Youngest Boy. This is Joe having come a long way in his writing and, for whatever reason, going back to the old days. Allow me a rock comparison: this is KISS recording the back-to-our-roots Rock And Roll Over after the crazily successful, symphonic hardrock heights of Destroyer. This is Joe Lansdale having proven himself to the bigwigs in the mainstream by winning an Edgar Award as well as literary circles by winning the Grinzane Cavour (an Italian literary award that, believe it or not, has been awarded to Nobel prize winners in the past; go research it and find it out for yourself; it's absolutely amazing stuff), now proving to his fans that he hasn't lost anything about himself in the interim. This is Joe Lansdale just as shocking, creepy, and grotesque as he's ever been. But let me warn you: this collection of six essays (four about writers, two about writing) and ten stories (ranging from horror to science fiction to grotesque anomalies) has an opening essay so offensive that I, a huge fan of Joe's, put this book down after reading it for about a month and a half after receiving it. I'm very thankful, however, that I went back. WARNING: SPOILERS HEREAFTER. To be honest, I wasn't all that taken with the three essays about Robert E. Howard, and, indirectly in one, Edgar Rice Burroughs. I think his introduction to Pigeons From Hell was better than these. And "Just Do It" is the essay that made me run away from this book for a while; to put it nicely, obscene language runs rampant and uncontrolled, and, I still think, unuseful (at least to a reader). I've never read anything more offensive other than a highbrow, literary icon who described feminist writing as a bear that's stuck a corncob up its rear while hibernating and then expelling the buildup all over the cave walls upon waking; Joe's stuff in this essay is that, well, bad. If you can bear it (ha!) and stick around (yuck), then you'll find a host of literary gems thereafter. Maybe Joe gave his readers a challenge with that first essay, I don't know, but the rest of it is wonderful. Joe picks out two writers that are, I'm sure, going to be so-called "rediscovered" by filmakers when they get hold of these appreciative essays of Joe's: Henry Kuttner and Leslie Whitten. I was glad to be introduced to them. You get a great essay about writing advice. And then the stories. I don't want to recount all the stories, but "Surveillance" is a sci-fi warning about safety in the future, "Coat" is a classic Lansdalian cautionary tale, "Dragon Chili" takes off where Swift's "Immodest Proposal" stopped shy of daring to outrightly name and offend those he was trying to offend with his little story, "Big Man: A Fable" is the funniest piece of Joe's newest writing I've read (I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud while reading this one), "Jack's Pecker" is Chekhov's "The Nose" mixed with Philip Roth's "The Breast" mixed with methamphetamine and a large dose of writing skill, "Hanging" is a very short story that should scare the bejeepers out of anyone who's ever thought of hanging themselves or committing suicide (seriously, folks), "Hole" is a scary story for the kiddies, "December" is a poetic evocative piece, and "Rainy Weather" is a piece of mystery fiction that you won't find (but should be able to; both mags would be much better for it) in Ellery Queen or Alfred Hithcock magazine. I'm telling you straight: these are great Lansdale pieces. If you're a Lansdale fan, you absolutely can't go wrong with this one. This is Lansdale like I haven't seen him in a long time. And that's a d**n great, fine thing. If you're new to Joe and slightly intrigued, go ahead and buy it; if nothing else, there were only 750 copies of this made, and you'll definitely get your money back if you decide you don't like it and want to sell it. Because this one's a seller and, for me, a definite keeper. Thanks for briging the old you back around, Joe.