Customer Reviews

Writer of the Purple Rage

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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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

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.

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.

There's no other way to say it: Joe R. Lansdale is Hemingway with balls.