Dust jacket and interior illustrations by Mark A. Nelson.
The endlessly inventive mind of Joe R. Lansdale whips up yet another batch of stories to amaze, surprise, and entertain you.
His new offering covers a lot of territory, producing what may be his best short story collection yet.
One tale concerns an East
Texas mule race in the early 1900s that proves to be an unexpected
turning point and learning experience for the main character, a
lifelong loser. It also chronicles the unusual circumstances of the
race, which include a friendship between a rare white mule that can run
like the wind, and his friend, a loyal, spotted pig.
Another tale drops us into the disturbed mind of a mass murderer and his friendship with the shadows.
Two others stories
reintroduce us to the supernatural adventures of Reverend Rains, the
flawed hero from Lansdale's cult favorite novel, Dead in the West. Here ghouls prowl and werewolves howl.
There's a poetic
collaboration with Melissa Mia Hall about the nature of loneliness and
loss that echoes back to science fiction stories of an earlier time, as
well as a famous, award winning novella reprinted here for the first
time in several years about a clutch of unusual crime solvers.
Read about a world where the
dead almost rule, and venture into an alternate universe that is the
background for perhaps the strangest tale of all, an adventure
concerning an earnest and horny steam shovel named Bill, and his
challenge to do the right thing at all costs.
It's the usual wild and
crowd pleasing display of what has become a subgenre of modern
literature as only Joe R. Lansdale can present it: Tales Lansdalien.
Welcome to his world.
Contents:
- A Quick Author's Note
- The Shadows, Kith and Kin
- Deadman's Road
- The Long Dead Day
- White Mule, Spotted Pig
- Bill, the Little Steam Shovel (illustrated by Mark A. Nelson)
- Alone (with Melissa Mia Hall)
- The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance
- The Gentleman's Hotel