The Shadows, Kith and Kin [Hardcover]

Another five stars collection of (partly) unreleased tales by Hisownself.
Do not miss the return of Reverend Jebidiah Rains from "Dead in the West" his smoking guns fight again against Evil!
Another interesting issue is the reprinting of the novellette "The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance": pure Lansdale, yummm...
But all the contents are outstanding so be sure you'll have a good read.

In The Shadows, Kith and Kin, Joe R. Lansdale attempts to show you that you've got something in common with either the strange, bizarre, sick, or horrific. Each story seems to take on characters that do unholy things or characters who are so far outside of the realm of normalcy that it doesn't seem possible that there is any point of writing about them: they're too d**n waked out for anyone to believe in them. But then MoJoe Hisownself not only makes you believe in them, he makes you pull for them, cheer for them, pray for them, and even cry for them. You'll get pulled into their world in spite of the distance between you and them and you both come out better for it. The only story reprinted in this collection is the 1992 Bram Stoker winner, "The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance," which considering it's so good isn't a bad thing for someone coming to Lansdale for the first time. Even if you've read it before, it's so good it begs for rereading. My favorite story is Joe's take on both The Little Engine That Could and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel which he calls "Bill, the Little Steam Shovel." Bill here has to learn to believe in himself, see? He's got to believe that he can work, that he has a Dave who will care for him, that he's got a place in society, and, above all, that he can get some bumper from Miss Maudie. Along the way he's befriended by the wise and tuckered-but-tough steam shovel, Gabe, an unforgettable and kind and wonderful character. This book was heavily advertised as the return of Reverend Jebidiah Rains, whom we haven't seen sense the genre-generating novel, Dead in the West. Here we get him in two tales: "Deadman's Road" (a morality tale about hateful and recalcitrant sinners who have no human compassion and the sacrifice that some times has to be made for God's moral order) and "The Gentleman's Hotel" (a Lansdale type of action-packed, true love story mixed with werewolves that would make Lon Chaney, Jr. jealous -- they're probably just as foolishly arrogant as Chaney was, too). You also get two post-Apocalypse tales, "The Long Dead Day" and "Alone." Both are sadly and woefully nihilistic and rival Harlan Ellison's A Boy and His Dog, even coming in under word-weight. It's like watching a bantam-weight battling a heavyweight and taking him the full count. Then, of course, you've got a white-trash, down-home, Southern-fried tale that regales its reader with brilliantly cooked up mishaps: "White Mule, Spotted Pig." The opening tale, from which the collection takes its name, is a truly scary story about a young man that decides to become a sniper in a college's bell tower; realistically scary and woefully timely. Joe Lansdale has never been better in creating well-crafted prose than he is in this collection. The book itself, stitched together by the Subterranean Press, is simply pretty: the boards are covered in nice, dark green cloth and the end papers are textured, (nice)rust orange, and there is even a signature page with Joe's sig. The full-color cover by Mark A. Nelson is a classic, depicting scenes from four of the stories. This is a great addition to Joe's oeuvre, and it proves that he is still hitting homeruns every time he steps up to bat.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars