Things Get Ugly

June 12, 2023
This mixed-bag collection of 19 stories from Edgar winner Lansdale (A Fine Dark Line) features violent tales set mostly in East Texas. The highlight is “The Shadows, Kith and Kin,” an atmospheric and inspired attempt to get into the head of Charles Whitman, who, in 1966, climbed to the top of a tower at the University of Texas and gunned down random passersby. Lansdale uses the present tense to create a sense of immediacy as Whitman prepares for his murderous rampage, fueled by visions of faceless, shadowy figures. “Incident on and off a Mountain Rod,” about a woman’s desperate efforts to escape a psychopath, is also memorable, despite a familiar plotline. Elsewhere, innovative premises are poorly executed; “Mr. Bear,” which features a drunken, anthropomorphized version of Smokey the bear, is a muddle that doesn’t work as satire or horror. Lansdale fans may find enough to enjoy here, but first-timers would be better served to start with the novels. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International.

July 15, 2023
Nineteen stories, first published between 1983 and 2016, from the prolific creator of Hap and Leonard. "Of all my writing, the short story is my favorite form of expression," says Lansdale, and his joy shows in the exuberant invention of these noirish tales. A few of them, like "The Steel Valentine" and "Six-Finger Jack," are unpredictable but routine, and a few others, like the spooky "The Shadows, Kith and Kin" and the supernatural 1958 private eye story "Dead Sister," play more to Lansdale's wide-ranging interests than to his storytelling strengths. But even entries that don't entirely come off, from "Mr. Bear" (a man develops a surprising friendship with the psycho bear who sits next to him on a plane) to "Boys Will Be Boys" (a pair of kids who "feed off each other" descend into a pit of sex, drugs, and depravity), are fueled by some wildly deranged premises, and the best of them, like the supershort "The Job" (an Elvis impersonator is hired as a hit man) and "The Ears" (a third date is spun into a nightmare by a casual discovery), strike a note of giddy brutality other authors would find hard to match. If there's a general weakness here apart from some sex scenes even kinky readers may find disturbing, it's Lansdale's fondness for killing off virtually the entire cast of so many entries. Even so, the hits keep on coming. Though the final twist in "Santa at the Caf�" is the most predictable of all, the climactic twist in "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road," probably the single strongest story here, will stay with you for a long time. Though Lansdale scoffs at trigger warnings, these tales are rated NC-17 for offensive language and serious sexual violence.

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