Writer of the Purple Rage [Paperback]

Joe R. Lansdale (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 1996

Containing stories from the dark side, the light side, and all shades in between, this is a masterful collection by one of America's rising storytellers. Storylines include that of a woman who discovers grisly horror on a mountain road, a plastic love doll who becomes liberated, and a baby's diaper that is possessed by aliens.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The recent acclaim garnered by cult hero Lansdale's suspense novels Mucho Mojo and Savage Season (1990) may have readers searching for his award-winning horror stories. This latest collection both horrifies and amuses, sometimes within the same piece. Take, for example, "Steppin' Out, Summer '68," in which three teenage boys set out in search of sex and end up . . . as two boys. In "Love Doll," a man buys one of those inflatable sex dolls, nurtures her, educates her, and is finally left behind. Another highlight is "Godzilla's Twelve Step Program," in which that well-known reptile valiantly takes it one day at a time in his struggle to overcome an addiction to burnin' and stompin'. There's also a nonfiction article chronicling Lansdale's affinity for low-budget horror movies and a very scary play based on an early Lansdale short story. For those who want to risk never sleeping soundly again, there's "Drive-in Date," in which the horror gradually dawns on the appalled reader. On the basis of this collection, Lansdale's newly acquired cult status stands only to be strengthened. Wes Lukowsky --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (November 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078670389X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786703890
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #924,656 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

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sex, violence, and the American dream., January 20, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Writer of the Purple Rage (Paperback)

Dark psychology and over-the-top stories characterize most of the stories in Writer of the Purple Rage. Lansdale is a combination of James Ellroy, Clive Barker, and K.W. Jeter. Everyman is confronted with death, decay, and a sociopathological society in stories that range from a blow-up sex doll which becomes a victimizer to two psychopaths with a taste for necrophilia to Godzilla on a twelve-step program. Lansdale twists and screws plots to make the supermarket horror writer look like a children's book writer

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark marriage of horror and humor, September 4, 2002

By 

ZombiKitty "zombikitty" (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Writer of the Purple Rage (Paperback)

One of the things that I have always liked about Joe Lansdale is that he dares to be different. His tales tend to have plotlines that you will not find in other writers' stories, and he has a dark sense of humor that will make you feel almost guilty for finding some of the bits funny. Not all of these stories are actually horror stories, but those that are will probably still disturb you even after you have put down the book. Almost all of the stories in this collection stood out to me for one reason or another, but the stories that made the deepest impression on me were "Love Doll: A Fable," "Bubba Ho-Tep," "Drive-in Date," and "In the Cold Dark Time." These four stories stand out to me as being the most exemplary of Lansdale's unique voice. However, "Godzilla's Twelve Step Program" is the story that is the most "fun" in the book.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trailer trash, East Texas style., May 10, 2002

By 

Matthew King (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writer of the Purple Rage (Paperback)

Is Texas life really like Joe Lansdale portrays it? If so, I'll stay away. The characters in his stories make the guests of Jerry Springer seem classy in comparison. Nonetheless, his stories make for very enjoyable reads.

"Writer of the purple rage" is a collection of 15 short stories, most of them likely to be weirder than anything you've ever read. Here's what some of the stories focus on:

-A plastic love-doll comes to life
-Godzilla grows a conscience and enters a rehab program

-A baby's diaper gets possesed by aliens
-An old man in a rest home who thinks he's Elvis hops in his
wheelchair and battles a swamp monster.

I know some of this sounds a little cheesy, but don't worry, Lansdale somehow manages to pull it off. The only reason this does not get 5 stars is that like just about every short story collection, there are a couple of duds, like "the diaper", which plays like Robert McCammon's "Pin" on speed. But 2 bad stories out of a collection of 15 is nothing to crow about.

Oh, and for those of you who enjoy low-budget horror and b-movies, you'll get a real kick out of "Hard-on for horror", a non-fiction short where Lansdale explains his fascination with the b-movie.

Now that I've read this, I can't wait to get my hands on "High Cotton", another short story collection by this great author.