Horror World Conversation with Joe R. Lansdale
By Steven E. Wedel

There’s a weird, almost sibling rivalry kind of relationship between Oklahoma and Texas. We love to pick on each other, especially during college football season, but folks on both sides of the Red River are quick to stick together if there’s a challenge. And almost as quick to hold up their stars and be proud of them. Joe R. Lansdale isn’t from Oklahoma, but we don’t hold that against him. I think it’s pretty safe to say that readers and writers around these parts are proud to say he’s from our part of the country. He’s not East Coast hip or West Coast sexy. He’s heartland real.

And that’s something that certainly comes across in his fiction. Lansdale is an author who knows his people and his land. He knows the history and the psychology, and he knows how to make readers laugh and cringe at the same time. It’s no wonder he has more trophies than Hank Hill and more fans than the Jonas Brothers. (Please God, let that last part be true!)

In my final interview for Horror World, it’s a real honor to pick the brain of such a talented and respected author.

Horror World: Joe, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Horror World. Texas, of course, is known for cowboys, and you are the creator and king of zombie western stories. I hear Subterranean Press will be releasing a new collection of zombie westerns from you. What can we expect to see in DEADMAN’S ROAD?

Joe Lansdale: I wish I had a quarter of the fans that the Jonas Brother's have, but in five years the Jonas Brothers won't have a quarter of the fans they have, so I stand pat. Technically, DEADMAN'S ROAD is not a zombie collection, but a Reverend Mercer collection, stories about the character who first appeared in DEAD IN THE WEST. The story "Deadman's Road" is a zombie/ghoul story, but Gentleman's Hotel is werewolf, Crawling Sky, is Lovecraftian, and "The Dark Down There" deals with something from European mythology, but connected to a lot of mythologies around the world. So, DEAD IN THE WEST and "Dead Man's Road" or zombie, but not the rest. I really like this collection of stories. The Reverend was fun to write about. DEAD IN THE WEST was written in 1980, but didn't find a publisher until 85, when it was serialized. I rewrote and improved the serial, and the novel version came out in 1986. It's the version I prefer by a long shot. I used elements of both in the screenplay, which I optioned several times, but it was never used. The film rights were finally bought for some nice money, and now it's dead with a French film maker who doesn't even answer queries. People have tried to buy it, co-produce it, all manner of things, but nothing. I would love to see my script filmed, which I own, but they have the film rights, if not the book rights. It was also made into a comic from Dark Horse years ago. My friend Neal Barrett, Jr. adapted it, and Jack Jackson did the art. It was really cool.

HW: Besides DEADMAN’S ROAD, you’re part of a team that’s releasing a comic-book adaptation of Robert Bloch’s YOURS TRULY, JACK THE RIPPER this summer from IDW. Can you tell us how the collaboration with John and Kevin worked?

JL: My brother and I adapted the story. The story was very short, and it's one that has had a lot of impact on horror fiction, but the problem with the adapting is it's a well known story, so the surprise isn't a surprise for a lot of readers anymore, and it's been borrowed for a lot of other stories, even by Robert Bloch himself, using the idea, I mean. He had such impact with this, as he did with PSYCHO, people forget the kind of impact they had originally. Now, there's been so many shower scenes and such, that the surprise that the main character wasn't the main character, isn't there anymore. I saw a piece where someone was talking about how overrated the film was, but they were young, and they don't have a sense of history. It may be damaged by those that have copied it, but it's great, and it's so much more like the book than the screenwriter admitted. Some changes, but a good and powerful piece of fiction.

YOURS TRULY, JACK THE RIPPER, is mostly an idea, and a twist. My brother and I felt we had to take the basic story and get inside of it, and see how it would translate to three issues. We read and reread the story and went at it hammer and tongues, getting together for a few days to write each issue. I love Bloch so much, that at first I wanted to do it exactly like the story.  But that's been done, and again, the story is well known, so we worked inside of it. Robert Bloch was one of the more visceral horror writers of  his time, and he is the father of modern suspense and horror, and we wanted to keep that tone. I think we did. The artist was chosen by IDW, and we didn't work with him directly, but I love the way the comic looks. It kind of defies what you expect. John and I are proud of it.

HW: Why did you choose Bloch’s story? Why not an original piece?

JL: IDW and I had been in communication, and they had adapted a story of mine, "Dog", and I spoke with the editor and he mentioned the Robert Bloch material, that he had the rights to a large number of stories. I was intrigued, and we talked, and I told him I'd like to do it with my brother, and we discussed which stories, and this is the one we chose. We hope to do others. 4. Howard was an influence, and an important writer in the sense that he created a genre that still exists, and has mutated in such a way, even some writers working in it, are not aware of his influence. But, so many writers. Edgar Rice Burroughs is the writer that sealed my fate as a writer, though I had been writing since I was nine. Kipling, especially THE JUNGLE BOOK. Then I started reading lots of Science Fiction, and comics and films influenced me. Mark Twain, Flannery O'Conner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald and to some minor extent, Faulkner, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Robert Bloch, of course, and the list goes on and on. I read comics from the time I was four or five, and seriously as I got older, and after about 1970, more sporadically. But I've always read them, and go on binges. I like to read the old stuff, or some new series that catches my eye. Comics have always been important to me.

HW: BUBBA HO-TEP became an instant cult classic when it was released a few years back. How do you feel about film adaptations of your work? Do you have a favorite?

JL: I like both film adaptations of my work, and both were done by Don Coscarelli. Steve Romano co-wrote the screenplay for INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD, that appeared on Showtime. Don gets he dark and weird stuff well. Both adaptations were faithful to the work as much as was possible for length and ability. Bubba had some things in it that a large special effects budget might have made more interesting, but the charm of the piece is it's "smallness". I love Don. He's a great film maker. Of the two (there are a few short films), BUBBA is my favorite.

HW: I think it’s safe to say you’re best known for your horror fiction, but you write in a lot of other areas, everything from mystery to porn. (Now I have to find a copy of MOLLY’S SEXUAL FOLLIES.) What drives you to write in so many genres?

JL: Survival. And, I like a lot of different things. Porn I could have done without, but I thought it might be fun to do one and make some quick money. It didn't sell, and I put it in a drawer, and Brad Foster rewrote it. A lot of cool things were lost, but he knew what they wanted, and they took it, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It's awful. Only the basic outline remains. I wrote it more like a Phil Farmer book. Brad did what he knew to do, and I don't blame him, but it wasn't good to begin with, and it was worse later, but what I wrote fell into a place no one wanted. Too novel to be porn, and too porn to be novel. The original manuscript he threw out as he adapted. I'm grateful for that, and grateful there aren't a lot of MOLLYS out there.

I love all the other genres. Horror I'm well know for, but am probably in the broader vein, better known for Crime fiction. I also have written Western, and just plain weird, S.F. and fantasy. I like a lot of stuff. I've written comics, sold screenplays, never produced, wrote for BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES, SUPERMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES, and have a Jonah Hex short coming out on a future DVD as a side feature. I've written stage plays, and saw one performed in New York a couple years back. I've written a lot of non-fiction, essays, reviews, etc. Even some poetry. Only thing missing are song lyrics.

HW: You’ve won enough awards to fill the mantles of your entire neighborhood, I would think. If you had to pick one piece of your fiction that you think kids in school would study 100 years from now, what would it be, and why?

JL: Perhaps THE BOTTOMS, or A FINE DARK LINE, but I think some of the short stories I've written have a chance of survival. They are a weird and fairly interesing bunch.

HW: What’s your goal as a writer now? Have you achieved what you consider success, or is there something you’re still after?

JL: I'm still after becoming better and trying different things and continuing to do the best I can to improve.

HW: Besides being a renowned writer, you’re also an extremely accomplished martial artist. What got you interested in that, and why so many different forms?

JL: I studied a lot of different arts because my instructors kept moving away or quitting. It turned out that it fit my nature, same that writes all manner of things. I borrowed from what i thought were the best, and truly blended, didn't just mix, these arts and developed Shen Chuan, which is starting to spread, the mainstream art, and what I call The Family System. Both versions.

HW: Are you as disciplined in your writing routine as you have to be when approaching martial arts?

JL: I am very disciplined. I have a day now and then when I'm not, but that helps me to rest enough I can be disciplined the rest of the time. I've had some delays, but never a block.

HW: Obviously, you’ve benefitted from the small press. As it gets harder to break in with a major publisher, what do you see for the future of the small presses? Can they even survive in this economy?

JL: I publish with both mainstream and small press. I think small presses that do it right will do well. Too many are just doing limiteds and small numbers, which is fine. I like that, and I profit from it. But when they can produce more books, trade paper backs, and get in more stores, they will do better. they need not print millions, only a few thousand and have enough distribution they can do well. SUBTERRANEAN is the role model. A lot of them think if they print a known writer in the field, that's enough. It isn't. You have to advertise. People have to know about the book, and not just through a few websites. That's not enough. But I think they have a great future, and many of them will be larger publishers in a few years. SUBTERRANEAN already is.

HW: What are you working on now? When will we get to read it?

JL: I'm finishing up some short stories, and then I'm doing a screenplay for SAVAGE SEASON for a producer. I hope it gets made. I'm excited about it

HW: What advice would you give to the young writer wanting to break into print these days?

JL: Research the market. And have something written to sell, and while it's selling, write something else. And read like crazy.

HW: Okay, what should I have asked that I didn’t? Anything you want to say?

JL: Nothing I can think of. And, you're welcome. Thank you for asking the questions.

HW: Joe, thank you again for your time. I look forward to finally getting to meet you in person at SoonerCon in Oklahoma City this summer.

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