Customer Reviews

Zeppelins West

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are many Joe Lansdale's.

There is the award-winning mystery author Lansdale. There is the award-winning horror author Lansdale. There is the western author Lansdale (award-winning?). And there is the simply wacky author Lansdale. 'Zeppelins West' is written by the latter Lansdale.

'Zeppelins West' is difficult to categorize. So much happens throughout the course of the novel. At its core it's an adventure story. But it also contains parts of each different incarnation of Lansdale. There are horrific elements, such as when Dr. Momo's half-human half-animal creations decide to feast on each other. There are humorous moments such as when Frankenstein's monster (who has chosen the name 'Bert') falls in love with the Tin Man of Oz fame.

No matter how you classify this book, it's a fascinating read. Lansdale has thrown together dozens of historical and fictional personages, from Annie Oakley & Wild Bill Hickok, to thinly guised versions of Captain Nemo & Dr. Moreau. My favorite character is Ned the Seal, Captain Bemo's intelligent companion with a passion for Ned Buntline's pulp novels.

Yet, at the end of the novel I felt unfulfilled. The plot was solid. The characters were fascinating. Mark Nelson's illustrations were great. For whatever reason this novel didn't 'do it' for me.

There's only one Lansdale. He's the wackiest, most bizarre writer in America. Each new Lansdale novel is a treat. Don't miss this one. Even though it doesn't make my Best-of-Lansdale list, it very well could top yours.

Joe R. Lansdales newest novel, ZEPPELINS WEST, published in a signed, limited edition by Subterranean Press, gives the reader a glimpse into the outrageous and humorous side of this fantastic authors personality. Be warned that this is a novel that will probably appeal to only Lansdales diehard fans; but, then again, maybe not. Written in the classic tradition of H.G. Wells, Julies Verne, and Frank Baum (add a lot of sex, dark humor and violence), Mr. Lansdale has created an adventure story that combines actual historical characters with fictional characters from the novels of the above writers. You might say ZEPPELINS WEST takes place in a parallel universe, or that it could even be an alternate history of things that might have happened in our own world. However you choose to view it, the one aspect that stands out for me is that the story had me laughing from beginning to end. It starts out with Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West Show heading to Japan on board a flying zeppelin. Accompanied by Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, Wild Bill Hickok, Ned Buntline, and the shows other employees, Buffalo Bill is definitely not his usual self. It seems as though his wife caught him cheating on her and shot a rather big hole in him. To save the famous entertainers life, Dr. Samuel Morse and Professor Maxxon, who happened to be visiting with the Codys at the time, removed Bills head and stuck it in a mason jar filled with pig urine and whisky. A motorized crank was then attached to the jar so that electrical charges could be sent to Bills head in order to keep his mind activated. Now, the true purpose behind the Wild West Shows visit to the Land of the Rising Sun isnt to entertain the Japanese, but rather to steal the body of the Frankenstein monster that is being held prisoner by Sokaku Takeda, Shogun of Japan. Morse and Maxxon think that if they can get hold of the monsters body, itll help them to figure out how to successfully re-attach Buffalo Bills head to the rest of his torso. Takeda, however, is using parts of the monsters body as an aphrodisiac so that he can satisfy his many concubines. He therefore has no intention of letting anyone take the monster away from him. One event leads to another and before you know it, Buffalo Bill and his crew have rescued the monster and are trying to escape in the slow zeppelin. Japanese biplanes eventually shoot the dirigible down over the Pacific, and thats when the real adventure begins. Before the story is over with, the whole gang will encounter a submarine thats operated by Captain Bemo and Ned, the reading seal, which then leads to the island of Doctor Momo and the strange creatures that inhabit it. What really hooked me with ZEPPELINS WEST was the authors sense of off-the-wall humor. He had the Frankenstein monster develop a gay relationship with the Tin Man, who was still experiencing feelings of guilt over what the Cowardly Lion and Straw Man did to young, innocent Dot and her dog, BoBo, in the Emerald City. Annie Oakley and Hickok cant keep their hands off of each other. Theyre constantly doing the two-bear mambo every time theyre left alone for longer than two minutes. Ned the Seal is the smartest of the bunch, but has an obsession with dime-store novels and his hero, Buffalo Bill. All of this, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. There are guest appearances by Vlad Tepes (Dracula), William Rickenbacher, Manfred Von Richthoften, Charles Darwin, and Victor Frankenstein. ZEPPELINS WEST certainly isnt meant to be a serious piece of literature. Its an audacious experiment of fiction that allows the author to let loose with his zany imagination and to see where it takes him. This is certainly one of the funniest novels Ive ever had the pleasure of reading, and it clearly displays the versatile range of Joe R. Lansdales talent as a writer. Still, this isnt for everyone. Illustrated by Mark A. Nelson, ZEPPELINS WEST is a novel meant for those who have a wicked sense of humor and who love to laugh out loud, not caring who hears them.

Ever since his decapitation at the hands of his jealous wife, what remains of Buffalo Bill Cody has resided in a mason jar, preserved in a mixture of pig urine, 100 proof whiskey, and an amber chemical called Number 415. Although deprived of his fleshly body, Cody can still think and speak, and can even move about by using the "Steam Man," a mechanical body designed to house his noggin. Thus, despite his handicap, Cody is still fit enough to lead the Wild West Show as it tours the world.

As Zeppelins West begins, Cody, accompanied by Wild Bill Hickock, Annie Oakley, and the stoic but surprisingly funny Sitting Bull, is heading to Japan via zeppelin on a diplomatic mission to the court of Master Takeda, Emperor of Japan. An ally of America (Japanese Samurai battled alongside Custer at Little Big Horn), Japan occupies half of what modern readers know as the United States. Besides entertainment, Cody has another objective--free Victor Frankenstein's creature from Japanese custody before he can be consumed piecemeal by the Emperor, who believes the monster's flesh is actually an aphrodisiac.

As you might have guessed, Zeppelin's West is an alternate history, albeit one of the strangest in recent memory. Not content merely explore the subtleties of an alternate history where some key event has been altered, as would Howard Waldrop, or even to weave numerous literary and cultural references into his tale a la Kim Newman, Lansdale opts to do both, filtering them through his own fractured sensibilities. Thus, in addition to the Creature and the members of the Wild West show, readers are treated to appearances by Captain Bemo, Dr. Momo, Vlad Tepes, and Tin, who hails from an alternate reality where a certain wonderful wizard used to hold sway. Never one to let bad taste interfere with a story (that's meant in a good way), they're also treated to the Tepes' strange death at the hands (paws?) of Momo's beast men, and an affair between the Creature and Tin.

Similar to Pat Murphy's recent Max Merriwell/Mary Maxwell trilogy, Zeppelins West is a loving tribute to the type of literature Lansdale cut his own literary teeth on, including the works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and John Wyndham, borrowing many of its characters, locales and situations directly from their works. In spirit, however, the parody owes much to the works of Philip Jose Farmer. Although Lansdale himself nods towards The Case of the Peerless Peer, the book seems to be more in the vein of such Farmer classics as A Feast Unknown, Lord of the Trees, and The Mad Goblin, which took great liberties with classic pulp characters. In the final analysis, Zeppelins West has something for everyone--plenty of blood and guts, outrageous action and adventure, homespun philosophy, humor (black and otherwise), and plenty of sex. In other words, everything we've come to expect from Joe Lansdale over the past two decades or so.

Annie Oakley, Wild Bill Hickock, Sitting Bull, Frankenstein's Monster, the Tin Man, and Buffalo Bill Cody's head in a jar. Add in a midget-powered automaton, the island of Dr. Momo, and the age-old debate of whether men should eat meat. Oh, and don't forget the biplane-flying samurai. It's hysterical stuff, to say the least.

Though the book had me laughing out loud over and over, there's no sacrifice of story -- just like his more serious "The Bottoms," "Zeppelins West" is driven by character passions, conflicts, and needs. It's much more than a series of slapstick scenes; "Zeppelins" is a truly fine piece of storytelling which just happens to be one of the funniest books you'll ever read.

Joe R. Lansdale, Zeppelins West (Subterranean Press, 2001)

The word very quickly became aware of, and enamored with, Joe R. Lansdale's particular subgenre of "take famous personages and put them into very strange situations" almost overnight thanks to Don Coscarelli's film version of Lansdale's story "Bubba Ho-Tep" a couple of years ago. Well, folks, let me tell you, "Bubba Ho-Tep" was only the tip of the iceberg. Zeppelins West plumbs the depths, and what marvelous depths they be.

Okay, imagine the following. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is going to Japan (via zeppelin, naturally) to perform. Among the cast are Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, and Bill biographer Ned Buntline. All well and good, except that Bill is a head in a jar of pig urine. His body is being kept alive by scientists, and it is Bill's greatest dream to one day be reunited with his body. During their adventures, thanks to a series of odd missteps, they meet up with Captain Nemo, Frankenstein's Monster, the Tin Man (from the Wizard of Oz), and Dracula, and it all takes place on the Island of Dr. Moreau. Weird enough for you yet? If not, or even if it is, you owe it to yourself to pick this up. (The book's most interesting feature: the notable lack of the standard "all persons are fictional" disclaimer. I'm waiting for the lawsuits.)

The book, like most of Lansdale's recent work, slips back and forth between the hysterically funny and the oddly touching, but unlike most of his recent work, there's no real mystery to be found here, aside from the surface question of how everyone's going to get off the island when Moreau (known here as Dr. Momo) doesn't want them to leave. The mystery's not the thing, though. Lansdale is too busy delighting in the complete and utter demystification (and remystification) of various legendary and mythological personages of our acquaintance, and gleefully drawing us along for the ride. The result is less disjointed than one might expect; this is probably because there are no chapter breaks or the like. The whole thing is told in one sweeping motion (rather like Doris' Lessing's Canopus in Argos books, but this isn't nearly as deep or meaningful).

Fantastic beach reading. Highly recommended. ****

Joe R. Lansdale is never afraid to go where others won't, and here he stomps all over a dozen genre boundaries to create the damnedest mash-up ever. Kim Newman and Alan Moore and Philip Jose Farmer and Mark Hodder have been here before, but Lansdale's take on a battle royale between Victorian literature's greatest heroes and villains (mostly villains) is an amusingly absurd sockdolager.

Will you enjoy this? Well, the more you know about the writings of HG Wells and Bram Stoker and L. Frank Baum and Mary Shelley and Jules Verne, the more jokes and references you'll get and the more it will appeal. It is intentionally and ridiculously pulpy, and it revels in that ridiculousness. I loved it.

And this is Lansdale at his most outrageous. Imagine an America that was discovered from the west by the Japanese. Throw in a bunch of historical figures like Wild Bill, Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull. Add a healthy helping of slightly disguised fictional characters like Frankenstein's creature, Captain Nemo, Dracula, Dr. Moreau and a cast of others. This is a bizarro gumbo that can't fail. Not impressed? At one point, Sitting Bull and Dr. Moreau get in a d**k measuring contest. And the Creature has a very special relationship with the Tin Man (and things didn't turn out so well for Dorothy in Oz in Lansdale's version of things).

I don't know who did it first, but Zeppelins West is Joe R. Lansdale's take on Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentleman type of thing. Lansdale collects the best of monsters and Wild West heroes --and one Western heroine -- and, uh, a thinly-veiled group from The Wizard of Oz and throws them into an evil mastermind's wrong-minded, Darwinian plot to evolve the (or maybe all) species into his own personal slaves. And we're talking some of them being sex slaves here, too, folks. Hey, this is Lansdale. And it's absolutely that bizarre and weirded-out. Buffalo Bill Cody is nothing but a head in a jar now, Wild Bill Hickock is himself (or, at least, himself trying to get his so-called "johnson" into Annie Oakley at every possible moment) as Annie Oakley is herself (trying to pretend that she's not giving Hickock every darn chance use his "johnson" in her "sally" whenever they have a spare minute), and Sitting Bull is an Indian with a serious attitude. The Oz characters are all turned on their heads. The Lion and the Scarecrow both turn out to be moral strawmen, waiting to rape Dot and steal from The Yellow Brick Road. The Tin Man proves that he does, indeed, have a heart: for Frakenstein's Monster (now known as Bert)! Yep, you guessed it; it's Monster Mash, mano-a-mano, Lansdalian love style! Wow. Dracula finally gets killed by a bunch of half-mutated idiots, and Captain Nemo also despairingly exits the world as we know it so that he doesn't live forever at the behest of Lansdale's version of Dr. Moreau. There's also Ned the Seal, but he's such a lovable creature, you need to discover him on your own. There's craziness, good research (Lansdale did his homework on Ned Buntline), and general good crafting and excellent tall-tale prose. Once I finally read this and had so much fun with it, I wished I had never waited so long to buy it. Most editions are signed, and the cover is a very nicely-done painting by Mark A. Nelson. If you like your literary fun a little twisted, treat yourself to this.

Take Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, the concept of Buffalo Bill's Wild West and mix that together with a science fiction premise of airships (zeppelins, ya know, like the Hindenberg) with The Island of Dr. Moreau, Captain Nemo, Dracula, Frankenstein, and a little bit of the Wizard of Oz and you've got yourself one heck of a concept for a novella. Oh yeah, did we mention that Buffalo Bill is missing the rest of his body and his living head is saved in a jar of pig urine?

Joe R. Lansdale spins together an amazing tale that to simply call "Science Fiction" would not do it justice because it is such an imaginative work of creativity and storytelling that slapping a genre label on it is not enough. Zeppelins West is a work filled with sharp humor, a western feel despite the flying machines, crude language and violence, and a sense of lawlessness and adventure.

Zeppelins West has the feel of an old time pulp novel, complete with crazy adventure and genre goodness. But Zeppelins West is more. With the strong voice of Joe Lansdale we are reminded just how much fun a wild and crazy story can be.

- Joe Sherry

Wow! what a ride Lansdale takes us on in this little tome.It's a shame there's no image available,since the front and back covers of the dust jacket give a great flavor of what you will find in the book.Also,while the author gives excellent descripions of the characters,Mark Nelson's 18 supurb illustrations,most full-page,really bring them to life.
What a wild imagination Lansdale has, as he combines all these characters into a flight of fancy.If someone were to tell you to take a half dozen bigger than life people from The Old Wild West,another bunch from Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,mix in another bunch from The Wizard of Oz,add some Frankenstein,Dracula,Biplanes and a Zeppelin,Jack the Ripper,Darwin,a book-reading seal,throw in some cloneing,maybe a bit of stem cell research,werewolves and other grotesque creatures and compose a tale set on a reremote island off Japan;you begin to see what what you're in for.The only few characters that immediately come to mind that may have been excluded are, Mark Twain,Gulliver and the gang of Carroll's from
The Mad Hatter's Tea Party.There you go,add in The Three Stooges ,Little Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks,send them on a voyage on the Starship Enterprise to the Land of Nod,and maybe you can write a sequel.
If you ever enjoyed the episodes of The Twilight Zone;you'll see they are just warm-ups for the kind of book this is.
A great entertaining read about a bunch of characters we've been reading about for years.