By Bizarre Hands: Stories

Joe Lansdale is truly a rare and gifted talent. I consider myself to be quite hip with quality horror/dark fantasy fiction, yet I only heard of Lansdale relatively recently following the hooplah surrounding the adaptation of his short story 'Bubba Hotep' (not in this book) into a low-budget film by the director of the 'Phantasm' series. My curiosity led me to his novella 'On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks'(included in this book), which is jaw-droppingly brilliant - inventive, surreal, grotesque, savagely violent and outrageously funny. Actually that's probably a good a description as any of Lansdale's signature style. Don't be turned off by the more extreme nature of many of his stories, though. While his material does tend to skew towards the grotesque, Lansdale is a writer very much to be taken seriously. He is capable of great subtlety and tone when he chooses to be. His prose manages to be economical, but extremely evocative. Some of the short tales in this collection are VERY short, yet they are all striking, highly enjoyable, and more than a few of them are truly unforgettable. As best of an excellent bunch, subjective as that is, I'd nominate 'On the Far Side', 'Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back', 'The Pit' and the truly confronting 'Night they Missed The Horror Show'. The last one will make you squirm, I kid you not! This collection is worth owning because there are tales not featured here in some of his other compilations. The more recent 'High Cotton' has about 7 of the 16 featured herein. Yes, it IS annoying. Maybe in the not-too-distant future there'll be a truly comprehensive collection. That will be a momentous day indeed, my friends. Don't um or ah about any Lansdale collection. Snap it up! You will NOT be disappointed.

I LOVE Joe Landsdale. I came across this book by accident about 10 years ago. Now that I know that it has been out of print for some time, I feel almost like one of the chosen ones. I feel lucky. I certainly recommend it to the fan of macabre short stories, if you can get it (ha, ha, na, na). Good luck.