In his afterword to Blood and Lemonade, Joe Lansdale calls his latest book about Hap and Leonard a "mosaic novel." You can read his definition for yourself. My idea is that it's a book of short pieces connected by an introduction to each piece that ties the whole thing together. In this case the short pieces (some reprints, many original to this volume) are mostly the backstory of Hap Collins, telling about his growing-up years in East Texas.
You might notice that I said "short pieces" instead of short stories. Some of the pieces are stories, and all of them have a story to tell, but not all of them are stories. One of them is even called "The Parable of the Stick," so you know what that one is. And while they're mostly about Hap (and occasionally Leonard) all of them have something to impart beyond the simple history of a character. They're about a time and a place and people and attitudes and growing up in an era different from the one we live in now. I suspect that some of them are drawn from Lansdale's own life, but that's just, like, my opinion, man.
Everything here is written in Lansdale's inimitable style of down-home East Texas storytelling, and everything is eminently readable and enjoyable. There's humor, there's sadness, there's blood, and there's lemonade. And some cussing, too. Great stuff, irresistible reading.
Forgotten Hits: January 28th: The Saturday Evening Post publishes an in-depth expose on The Monkees.
Edward Ronns (Edward S. Aarons), Murder Money, Phantom Books (Australia), 1955
Hollywood Reporter: John Hurt, the esteemed British actor known for his burry voice and weathered visage — one that was kept hidden for his most acclaimed role, that of the deformed John Merrick in David Lynch’s The Elephant Man — has died, according to reports from several British newspapers. He was 77.
The Washington Post: Barbara Hale, a wavy-haired model and Hollywood leading lady of the 1940s and 1950s who warbled with Frank Sinatra in his first big film role and had a long television career as the devoted secretary Della Street to Raymond Burr’s tireless defense lawyer Perry Mason, died Jan. 26 at her home in Sherman Oaks, Calif. She was 94.
Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.
Lionel White was one of the great Gold Medal writers that many people don't remember today in spite of his great importance in the field. Stark House is helping to remedy that situation by reprinting two of his fine novels, The Snatchers and Clean Break. The introduction to the volume is by Rick Ollerman, and it's great, almost like a master's thesis on White's work. Years ago I wrote the article on White for 20th Century Crime and Mystery Writers. I thought I did a pretty good job, but it's not a patch on what Ollerman does here. Plus you get two excellent examples of White's work in the same volume. Highly recommended!
Another classic Bill Murray movie is getting an all-female reboot: Returning as a TV show rather than a movie, NBC has commissioned a pilot for What About Barb?, a series based on the 1991 Frank Oz movie What About Bob?, Deadline reports.
Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera, Dell, 1943
Daily Mail Online: You won't believe it - we get less grumpy with age!
In his afterword to Blood and Lemonade, Joe Lansdale calls his latest book about Hap and Leonard a "mosaic novel." You can read his definition for yourself. My idea is that it's a book of short pieces connected by an introduction to each piece that ties the whole thing together. In this case the short pieces (some reprints, many original to this volume) are mostly the backstory of Hap Collins, telling about his growing-up years in East Texas.
