Subterranean Press has posted the table of contents the upcoming Joe R. Lansdale collection Bleeding Shadows (which features a dust jacket by Vincent Chong):
Here’s the book description:
Bleeding Shadows is Joe R. Lansdale’s largest, most varied collection to date. Weighing in at 480 pages and 150,000 words, these stories, poems, and novellas—supplemented by the author’s introduction and by an invaluable set of story notes—move effortlessly from horror, adventure, and suspense to literary pastiche. It is, by any measure, a major addition to an already impressive body of work.
The volume opens with “Torn Away,” in which a small town sheriff encounters a man on the run from his own predatory shadow. The stories that follow come from all points of the narrative compass. In “Morning, Noon, and Night,” a young boy stumbles across a monstrous, multi-faceted killer from which there is no escape. “The Bleeding Shadow” is a tale of music, monsters, and deals-with-the devil set in post-WWII Texas. In “Star Light, Eyes Bright,” an ordinary husband makes a startling discovery, one that leads to an unimaginable act of personal transformation. Elsewhere, the author offers us twisted Christmas stories (“Santa at the Café”), tales of a zombie apocalypse (“A Visit with Friends”), and one story—“Christmas with the Dead”—that encompasses both of these elements. Other highlights include a pair of informed, affectionate acts of literary homage. “Metal Men of Mars” pays tribute to the Martian novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, while in “Dread Island,” the masterful novella that concludes this collection, the world of Huckleberry Finn merges seamlessly with the worlds of H. P. Lovecraft and Joel Chandler Harris.
Sometimes funny, often horrifying, and always compulsively readable, this generous gathering of stories—few of which have previously appeared in book form—constitutes a significant publishing event. Bleeding Shadows is an indispensable, vastly entertaining volume, one that no admirer of Joe R. Lansdale’s distinctive brand of fiction can afford to miss.
Here’s the table of contents…
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Subteranean Press has posted the table of contents for the upcoming Joe R. Lansdale collection Trapped in the Saturday Matinee:
Here’s the book description, from Joe’s introduction:
This collection gathers together some early work, which I like, and it also contains stories that I think, for one reason or another, missed their audience. There is also newer material that I treasure, some that has never before been gathered under one roof, and there are others written specifically for this volume.
I love this collection. It’s a mixture of nostalgia and maturity, the reworking of others’ work and the discovery of my own voice.
I like to write introductions as a way of inviting you into my house of stories. But now I’ll leave you to it. Just wander from room to room, and take your time. While you’re here, make yourself at home. But please …try not to break the furniture on your way out.
—Joe R. Lansdale
And here’s the table of contents…
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REVIEW SUMMARY: Utilizing the East Texas setting he knows so well, Lansdale repeats the master storytelling displayed in one of my all-time faves, The Bottoms, with this genre-bending tale of escape and hope. Lansdale integrates pieces of Homer, Mark Twain and other influences, but it is his ability to make the characters, the setting and extraordinary circumstances come to life that makes this a great read.
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Almost an adult, Sue Ellen is trapped in East Texas with an abusive stepfather and a mother who lives in a drunken haze. A friend’s murder and the discovery of her hidden stash of cash set Sue Ellen and her friends, Terry and Jinx, on an escape down-river, trying to leave their past and running from people and legendary killers who would take their new found cash, their freedom and their lives.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Lots of people know how to write a book, Lansdale knows how to tell a story. The characters, the setting, the prejudices of the time period and the legendary “do they really exist” killers all flow together into a can’t-put-it-down tale.
CONS: Strikingly similar to The Bottoms — not necessarily a con, but some scenes seemed familiar.
BOTTOM LINE: Lansdale often gets classified as a “Horror Author” and that kept me away from his stories for a long time. But his writing flows so well, it’s like we’re sitting drinking tequila swapping tales…with him always winning the storytelling contest. Edge of Dark Water is difficult book to confine into a single genre (the best kind!) but it’s an enjoyable read, ranking close to The Bottoms as Lansdale’s best.
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Subterranean Press has posted the table of Contents for Joe R. Lansdale’s upcoming collection Dead Man’s Road which contains his stories about Jedidiah Mercer, an Old West Reverend who deals with zombies, ghouls, werewolves, Lovecraftian monsters and kobolds.
- Dead in the West
- “Deadman’s Road”
- “The Gentleman’s Hotel”
- “The Crawling Sky”
- “The Dark Down There”
