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    Mad Dog Summer & Other Stories
    Unavailable
    Mad Dog Summer & Other Stories
    Unavailable
    Mad Dog Summer & Other Stories
    Ebook390 pages6 hours

    Mad Dog Summer & Other Stories

    By Joe R. Lansdale

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Joe Lansdale returns with his characteristic dark take on the horrors that lurk beneath the surface of mundane life in this collection of short stories and novellas. Originally available only in limited-edition hardcover, these tales run the gamut from devilish fantasy to twisted courtroom drama to vampire-robot western. Each story has an introduction in which the author relates the background of and inspiration for the story, whether it was drawn from history, literature, or pure imagination. The title story, about a serial killer in Texas in the 1930s, won the 1999 Bram Stoker Horror Award for long fiction.

    Stories included in this collection:
    Mad Dog Summer
    The Mule Rustlers
    O’Reta: Snapshot Memories
    Rainy Weather
    Screwup
    The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down
    Veil's Visit
    Way Down There

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossroad Press
    Release dateFeb 25, 2015
    ISBN9781311389923
    Unavailable
    Mad Dog Summer & Other Stories
    Author

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Joe R. Lansdale is the winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and six Bram Stoker Awards. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas.

    Read more from Joe R. Lansdale

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    Reviews for Mad Dog Summer & Other Stories

    4.5/5

    11 ratings3 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      What a great collection of stories! MAD DOG SUMMER, by Joe R. Lansdale, will keep you entertained with its wildly diverse tales. From mule rustlers to serial killers, there’s a lot to be told.
      Lansdale is a natural-born storyteller. His extraordinary stories are intelligent, engaging, thoughtful, horrific (in a good way!) and most importantly, I’ve never read a story by him that was “dumbed down”. What I mean by that is his stories are written as an intelligent adult would communicate a story. Lately I’ve read some writings by other authors where its clear that they just don’t have the aptitude to write an adult (perhaps “literary” is a better word?) book. Lansdale’s work is smartly written.

      My favorite character, Harry, is in the title story MAD DOG SUMMER. Maybe it’s the place and time that Harry is in that makes me love him. It’s in the early 1930’s in a tiny town set in a wooded area, where a child’s entertainment was made up in his adventures outdoors instead of on a screen. The themes of murder and racism are told from the point of view of the child Harry; the novel that this story was later turned into, THE BOTTOMS, (one of my favorite books) is often compared to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and rightly so. This story is sure to give you chills and you’ll want to race ahead just to find out what happens.

      There isn’t a single story that was predictable. All of the characters are believable, individualistic, and mostly empathetic. I wasn’t expecting a memoir of his mother, but even that was ok. I thought that all of the stories were going to be horror stories, so my expectations were different from what I got. Still, the ones that weren’t dedicated horror were good. I’ve briefly summarized and rated the individual stories below.

      Lansdale is one of the premier storytellers, like Michael Chabon in THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY or Barbara Kingsolver in THE POISONWOOD BIBLE.

      I wholeheartedly recommend this book to other readers with the one caveat that there are a few explicit scenes. Also, please read THE BOTTOMS, Lansdale’s masterpiece!

      THE MULE RUSTLERS Two mule thieves start a deal that goes terribly wrong. 6
      STEAM MAN OF THE PRAIRIE AND THE DARK RIDER GET DOWN: A DIME NOVEL A steam-powered giant and an undead vampiric monster battle beneath a sky full of rips. Really gruesome. 7
      SCREWUP Sometimes a man can't do anything right. Even murder. 9
      THE BIG BLOW Set during the Great Hurricane of 1900 in Galveston, Texas, a fighter is hired from Chicago to come beat the local champ. Good writing but a weird ending. *explicit content* 8
      VEIL'S VISIT I love courtroom dramas! 8
      WAY DOWN THERE When superheroes venture down into Hell to save the world, they find a hell of a lot to snicker about and so will you. *explicit content* 9
      O'RETA, SNAPSHOT MEMORIES Absolutely the farthest thing from a horror story, this is a memoir of the author's mother. 6
      MAD DOG SUMMER The novella that went on to become the novel, THE BOTTOMS, this is an excellent story about a serial murderer in the woods of Texas. 10
    • 4/5
      Well, 4 out of 8 ain't bad!“Screwup” is an awesome tale! A man who can’t even kill his wife properly! LOL! "The Big Blow" is an excellent tale about the late, great boxer, Jack Johnson, set against a horrific hurricane in Galveston, TX. It starts great too - "On an afternoon hotter than two rats fucking in a wool sock, …" That's damn hot, eh?"Veil's Visit" is a little Hap and Leonard vignette, but no action at all. It's about Leonard standing trial, which is kinda funny to me, 'cause I have often wondered how H&L stay outta jail, considering all the bodies that accumulate 'round them. I like the character Veil quite a bit, as I also liked him in "Captains Outrageous". Nice to see those 3 fellas, even if it was kinda short.And "Mad Dog Summer" was a treat, as I flat out loved the book it turned in to, "The Bottoms". But I'm sure glad that I read the book first, as this short story does give away the ending. The other 4 entries in this collection didn't really float my boat. But that's okay. The 4 that did were well worth the read! Hell, "Screwup" alone was worth the read! Thanks Mr. Lansdale!
    • 4/5
      This is the third in what is considered the definitive collection of Joe Landale's short fiction. The first, High Cotton, is a very good representation of why Lansdale has achieved cult status. The second, Bumper Crop, gives a glimpse into a period where Lansdale was simply churning out short stories for publication in various magazines. This third book rounds out the collection and shows his ability to cross many genres from science fiction to mystery/crime fiction. You also get a couple of his stories where bad things happen to bad people in a progressively worse and absurdly comic fashion. Included is his short novella that inspired his Edgar Award winning novel, The Bottoms.