Biography

Joe R Lansdale is a prolific genre fiction writer, who has published hundreds of novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, chapbooks, comic books, graphic novels, and collections.

Joe is arguably most famous for his Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella, 'BubbaHo-Tep', which was later adapted to film. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) is directed by Don Coscarelli and stars Bruce Campbell as an aged "Elvis Presley", not dead but living in an East Texas rest home. 'Ossie Davis' (Qv) plays JFK. Together, the two do battle against an ancient Egyptian Mummy, who likes to leave crude messages on the toilet walls and suck the souls of old folk.

Another of his short stories was adapted for television in 2006, again by Don Coscarelli as part of the Masters of Horror (2005) TV series, episode _Incident on and Off a Mountain Road (#1.1)_, which stars Angus Scrimm, the 'Tall Man' from Phantasm (1979), another Don Coscarelli movie.

In literature, Joe is probably most famous for the 'Hap and Leonard' crime series. Often dark, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, these novels see the white working class Hap and gay black Leonard fighting racism, abuse, and violence. They are a tough, wise-cracking duo from East Texas. Investigators with a difference. The books are original, fresh, and convey a subtle noir-ish quality. The series begins with 'Savage Season' (1990), and includes 'Mucho Mojo' (1994) originally published by Cemetery Dance Publications as a limited hardcover, 'Two Bear Mambo' (1995), , 'Bad Chili' (1997), 'Rumble Tumble' (1998), 'Captains Outrageous' (2001) and 'Devil Road' (2011).

Joe is further known for his 'Drive-In' series: 'The Drive-In: A B Movie with Blood and Popcorn' (1988), 'The Drive-In 2: Not Just One of Them Sequels' (1989), and 'The Drive-In: The Bus Tour' (2005). And then there is the wacky 'Ned the Seal' Trilogy: 'Zeppelins West' (2001), 'Flaming London' (2006), 'Flaming Zeppelins' (2010), and 'The Sky Done Ripped' (unreleased).

'Act of Love' (1980) was Joe's debut novel, and has since been linked with the splatterpunk movement of the 1980s that also includes Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, Edward Lee, John Shirley, and David J. Schow. It is a violent crime novel set in the Big City. Real serial killer and slasher stuff. He has written about twenty stand-alone novels since, including the zombie-horror-western 'Dead in the West' (1986), the fantasy-western 'The Magic Wagon' (1986), the gritty crime thriller 'Cold in July' (1989), 'The Boar' (1998) which has been likened to Mark Twain, the children's book 'Something Lumber This Way Comes' (1999) with a nod to the writer Ray Bradbury here, 'The Big Blow', 'Blood Dance' and 'The Bottoms' (2000), and the noir thriller 'Sunset and Sawdust' (2004).

In addition to his novels, Joe has written hundreds of short stories that are collected in over 20 books: 'By Bizarre Hands' (1989), 'Stories by Mama Lansdale's Youngest Boy' (1991), 'Writer of the Purple Rage' for Cemetery Dance (1994), 'High Cotton' (2000) and its sister book 'Bumper Crop' (2004), 'Mad Dog Summer and Other Stories' (2004), 'The King and Other Stories' (2005), 'Sanctified and Chicken-Fried' (2009). Other collections include 'Fistfull of Stories' (1996) for Cemetery Dance, 'For A Few Stories More' (2002), and 'The Good, The Bad, and the Indifferent' (1997).

Much of his body of work has been adapted for the Comic Book format, and Joe has also contributed to comic books, novelizations, and cartoons including _The New Batman Adventures_ (TV Series 1997-1999)_, _Superman (TV Series 1996-2000)_, 'Conan the Barbarian', 'The Fantastic Four', 'Jonah Hex', _DC Showase: Jonah Hex (Video 2010)_, 'The Spirit', 'Tales from the Crypt', and an adaptation of the classic Robert E. Howard short story 'Pigeons from Hell'. His 'Dead in the West' and the Bram Stoker Winner 'By Bizarre Hands' have been adapted into comic book format by Dark Horse, the 'Drive-In' series by Avatar.

Apart from writing, Joe has edited over one dozen anthologies including: 'Razored Saddles' (1989), 'Dark At Heart' (1991), 'The Horror Hall of Fame: the Stoker Winners' for Richard Chizmar at Cemetery Dance Publications (2004), and 'Lords of the Razor' and 'Retro-Pulp Tales' (2006). He is the recipient of numerous awards including but not limited to: '7' Bram Stoker Awards (so far), to include the touching and traumatic and brilliant 'Mad Dog Summer' (1999), '9' further Bram Stoker Nominations, a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, an Edgar Award for Best Novel by the 'Mystery Writers of America' association, an American Mystery Award, a Horror Critics Award, and nominated for a Dashiell Hammett award for 'The Bottoms' in 2000.

2011 sees another movie with Don Coscarelli, the sequel Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires, this time with Ron Perlman as "Elvis Presley".

Joe is also a martial-arts expert and instructor.