Joe R. Lansdale's Hap and Leonard will be published by Tachyon Publications in March 2016.
Information about Joe R. Lansdale:
Joe R. Lansdale is the internationally-bestselling author of over forty novels, including twelve books featuring the popular Hap and Leonard. Many of his cult classics have been adapted for television and film, most famously Bubba Ho-Tep, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. Lansdale has written numerous screenplays and teleplays, including for the iconic Batman the Animated Series. He has won an Edgar Award for The Bottoms, ten Stoker Awards, and has been designated a World Horror Grandmaster.
Lansdale, like many of his characters, lives in East Texas.
Information about Hap and Leonard:
The SundanceTV Hap and Leonard series premieres on March 2, 2016 at 10 p.m. starring Michael K. Williams (The Wire), James Purefoy (The Following), and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men).
Hap and Leonard have never fit the profile. Hap Collins looks like a good ’ol boy, but his liberal politics don't match. After a number of failed careers, Hap has found his calling: kicking ass.
Vietnam veteran Leonard Pine is even more complicated: black, conservative, gay... and an occasional arsonist. With Leonard on the job with his childhood friend Hap, both small-time crooks and the masterminds of the Dixie Mafia had best be extremely nervous.
Joe R. Lansdale's popular Texan crime-fighting duo is immortalized in this hard-nosed collection of short stories and tall tales. Additionally, you'll find one brand-new Hap and Leonard adventure and an original introduction by New York Times bestselling author Michael Koryta (So Cold the River).
A REVIEW OF JOE R. LANSDALE'S HAP AND LEONARD
Joe R. Lansdale's Hap and Leonard is a compilation of stories centering around two men, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. They're an intriguing pair of men, because they're almost like a furiously modern take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, but differ in many ways from these two classic characters.
Before I write more about Hap and Leonard, I want to emphasise that it is not speculative fiction, but it will be of interest to speculative fiction readers. The author offers his readers an uncompromising vision of a harsh and unforgiving world that will intrigue speculative fiction readers. His vision of the world is simultaneously brutal, funny, surprising and fascinatingly insightful. If you happen to wonder how this kind of fiction can possibly encompass all of this, you've probably never read anything by Joe R. Lansdale, because he's capable of delivering fantastic stories.
I think it's good to warn readers that the contents of this collection may not be to everyone's liking. It's a collection that will strike a chord among those who appreciate fascinating storytelling and want to experience something different. It's a wonderfully different kind of a story collection about two mismatched men who fight against crime and get into all kinds of trouble.
There's a wonderful sense of pulp fiction in this collection. In my opinion, this collection is crime/pulp fiction at its best and most captivating, because the author has an eye for compelling details. It's great that the author avoids trivial and meaningless things that have been the ruin of many crime stories.
This collection contains the following stories:
- Hyenas
- Veil's Visit (with Andrew Vachss)
- Death by Chili
- Dead Aim
- The Boy Who Became Invisible
- Not Our Kind
- Bent Twig
These stories wonderfully capture the essence of what Hap and Leonard stories are all about, because they've been selected well and introduce the protagonists to readers. They offer an excellent glimpse into the protagonists' lives and problems.
The characterisation is well executed, because Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are not your normal kind of characters. They're anything but normal, because they're intriguingly flawed and imperfect as human beings, but they grow on you and you want to find out what happens to them and how they face problems.
Here's a bit of information about the protagonists: Hap Collins is a former social activist who likes to kick ass. He's a redneck kind of a white man. Leonard Pine is a big black man who's gay, a Vietnam veteran and a Republican. Together, they fight against crime in their own extraordinary way.
The dialogues are interesting and offer wickedly clever entertainment to readers who enjoy sarcasm and irony. The author has add plenty of punch into the dialogues. He has also added a lot of amusing and witty humour to them.
It may come as a surprise for many readers that some of the dialogues contain hidden grains of wisdom and truth. Certain dialogues reflect the state of our modern society and our way of life in a surprisingly insightful and satirical way. It's amazing how much depth and diversity you can find in this collection.
The "Joe R. Lansdale Interviews Hap Collins and Leonard Pine" Q&A section at the end of this collection is wonderfully humorous and worth reading. It demonstrates the author's ability to write humorous text.
Joe R. Lansdale's Hap and Leonard is something different and intriguing for readers who appreciate well written stories that have plenty of punch and roughness. This collection will amuse and thrill you in equal measure and it will make you think about the happenings - what more could you possibly hope to find in this kind of fiction?
Excellent collection!