false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171484489m/102131.jpg 102131 2 Like Stephen King, Joe R. Lansdale is a powerful and versatile author. He writes frequently funny, often disturbing suspense, horror, dark fantasy, science fiction, and Western fiction. And like King, he has a strong sense of place: he successfully invokes the spirit of the West and demonstrates a wonderful and distinctly Texan gift for a phrase. But don't be fooled--the resemblances are superficial. Joe R. Lansdale writes like nobody but his own self. And, unjustly, he's not yet a bestselling author.<p> The genre-jumping collection <I>High Cotton</I> is subtitled <I>Selected Stories of Joe R. Lansdale</I>, but could more rightly be called <I>The Best of Joe R. Lansdale</I>. If you haven't read Lansdale, this is the place to start. If you like Lansdale, you already know you want this collection, even if you already own <I>By Bizarre Hands</I>, which contains 7 of these 21 stories. If, however, you are of a delicate constitution or a sensitive nature, you might want to steer clear. Lansdale can be blunt, or gross, or grim, sometimes all at once.<p> Most of the stories in <I>High Cotton</I> are excellent, and some are already classics. "Night They Missed the Horror Show," a tale of bored young hell-raisers who discover dreadful new depths of trouble, is one of the great horror stories of the 20th century. The alternate-history Western "Letter from the South, Two Moons West of Nacogdoches" packs a lot of big (and shocking) changes into four pages. In the crime story "The Steel Valentine," a fading athlete finds himself the captive of his lover's merciless, criminal husband. In "The Phone Woman," a man discovers his horrifying true nature in a violent act. And in the screwball "Mister Weed-Eater," a man's life is turned upside-down and inside-out by his innocent attempt to help a blind groundskeeper.<p> Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over 20 books, including the Hap Collins and Leonard Pine mystery series. He has won the American Mystery Award, the <I>Booklist</I> Editor's Award, five Bram Stoker Awards, the British Fantasy Award, and the International Crime Writers Award. <I>--Cynthia Ward</I> 98471 2000 High Cotton: Selected Stories of Joe R. Lansdale total:124|5:36|4:55|3:30|2:3|1:0| 124 496 166 14 5 3 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jan 12 19:04:53 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 19:07:19 -0800 2008 5 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Jan 12 18:55:28 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 19:24:16 -0800 2008
High Cotton is filled with more disturbing imagery than my worst nightmare. It's a sick si...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 14 06:55:15 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 06:56:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Apr 24 12:49:56 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 13:07:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 04 14:05:14 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 14:09:19 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 08:16:08 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 08:17:11 -0700 2009 ]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Fri Feb 06 17:13:16 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 07 16:19:33 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Mar 19 12:30:06 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 17 07:32:38 -0800 2008 ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Dec 14 10:45:34 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 04 23:54:41 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Aug 27 09:25:54 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 27 09:25:54 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Sun Apr 13 10:44:11 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 13 10:44:11 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Tue Apr 01 10:08:19 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 01 10:10:59 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Tue Jul 15 12:15:21 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 18 13:43:34 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Mon Mar 14 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Feb 14 16:09:03 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 14 16:13:24 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Sun Nov 22 14:37:38 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 14:37:38 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 22 08:37:00 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 08:37:00 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Wed Nov 18 07:23:57 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 07:23:57 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Nov 15 20:13:54 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 20:13:54 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Oct 25 09:34:45 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 09:34:45 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 14 07:08:35 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 07:08:35 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=102131