The Geek Curmudgeon
Sanctified and Chicken-Fried: The Portable Lansdale
Tue Nov 25, 2008 6:59 pm
[  Currently: Listening to All Things Considered ]
The prestigious University of Texas Press have announced one of the first "must have" 2009 publications Sanctified and Chicken-Fried: The Portable Lansdale.
| Quote: | | Sanctified and Chicken-Fried is the first "true best of Lansdale" anthology. It brings together a unique mix of well-known short stories and excerpts from his acclaimed novels, along with new and previously unpublished material. In this collection of gothic tales that explore the dark and sometimes darkly humorous side of life and death, you'll meet traveling preachers with sinister agendas, towns lost to time, teenagers out for a good time who get more than they bargain for, and gangsters and strange goings-on at the end of the world. Out of the blender of Lansdale's imagination spew tall tales about men and mules, hogs and races, that are, in his words, "the equivalent of Aesop meets Flannery O'Connor on a date with William Faulkner, the events recorded by James M. Cain." |
UT's rep goes all to hell in March, 2009.
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mckennal
Joined: 05 Dec 2008
Posts: 0
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 Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 10:36 am Post subject: |
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I don't see where the Geek Curmudgeon has actually reviewed this book, but anyone who knows anything about Joe R. Lansdale knows that his very best is included here. Years ago, when I didn't even know who Joe was, I came across the free story "Fat Man and the Elephant" on Joe's site (after having been referred to him by Andrew Vachss's site). I don't want to ruin the story for people who don't know the details of it, but suffice it to say: It's the very best of the kind of stories that mix elephant s**t, racial tension and overcoming racial divides, and downhome Southern entrepreneurism. Come to think of it, this brings up an issue that is very often true with Lansdale: this is the only story of its kind. There's nothing else out there like "Fat Man and the Elephant"; its cast of characters, its plot, and its overarching theme are so unique that it deserves to be called on of Joe's "best-of"s. I could talk about all these, but I'll merely mention a couple more. "Mister Weed Eater" is a wicked tale about evil existing in the guise of the helpless; and, though events are sickening and sad, you'll laugh at least once every page in spite of yourself and in spite of the woe that's the major element of this story. Joe's magnum opus is "Bubba Ho-Tep," a scatological masterpiece (I'm serious, here, folks) that is one of the most tightly written, word-for-word thought out story that I honestly think I've ever read. It is undoubtedly one of the few popular genre fiction (I'm assuming that since we've graduated to admitting a Zombie Genre, that there's a Mummy Genre now) pieces that have ever made me realize that it's writer is for real. Again, it's word-for-word mastery. "The Big Blow," "Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back," "Night They Missed the Horror Show," and "The Magic Wagon" are all Lansdale classics: the big ones. "The Pit" has been anthologized several times and selected by fine writers in the modern realistic, horror, and mystery fields. "A Fine Dark Line" and "The Big Blow" are pieces that, honestly, I have to say I would have traded for others. Joe has stories that, in my opinion, beat these at every turn. That's not to say that they're not worth reading. Fans who are new to Joe are likely to be impressed with these. "White Mule, Spotted Pig" is the truly Southern fried piece here. It is a hilarious rampage through crazy south of the Mason-Dixon line hilarity and inanity. Although I know I'm risking sounding like a blabbering fan boy, it is one of the best of his newest pieces. All in all, this book is a great look into Joe Lansdale's world. Granted it is an introduction to it, but I promise that, for those of you who are new, it would lead on to the rest of his works. This book is also introduced by the inestimable Bill Crider, rather famous for his own yarns. I don't see how new or old fans alike could go wrong with this collection. I think it'll be the best of Lansdale's best-of anthologies since Electric Gumbo: A Lansdale Reader, which, is undoubtedly the one that Sanctified and Chicken Fried has to beat. But it's title alone is already upping the ante for this University of Texas Press release. And, hey, it's supposedly portable. Great for taking to the bathroom, sneaking under the pillow when you're supposed to pleasing your better half, or sitting in a hot, closed tent breathing in elephant crap. In other words, based on the stories that's included alone, it's great stuff.
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Rick Klaw
Rebel
Joined: 30 Jul 2005
Posts: 27
Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:03 am Post subject: |
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I couldn't agree more...
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