A month or so back, I interviewed Joe R. Lansdale for the San Antonio Current ("Crazy sort of folk" July 1, 2009). As is common with interviews, a lot of it didn’t end up in the final publication. This won’t be a big surprise to anyone who has interviewed Joe, but I had enough left over for two blog posts.

This first entry focuses on the unpublished questions pertaining to Hap & Leonard.

Why did Vanilla Ride first appear in Italy?

There are two reasons. First of all, Italy has been very good to me, so my last three books have appeared there first. I purposely wanted that to happen. I’m a bestseller over there. This book is a bestseller over there. I made an effort to give them that little bit extra. The other reason is their publishing schedule works much quicker than ours. I will probably go back to America first then Italy second depending on publication. But the last three I purposely did that.

Is Black Lizard planning to reprint all of the Hap & Leonards?

They are. They’ve reprinted four of them and the other two are due this fall.

What about the shorter stories such as “Veil’s Visit”?

I’ve actually thought that particular section with Veil could possibly go into one of the novels. I think that’s a possibility. I also have another one “Blue to the Bone” that is often erroneously thought to be Vanilla Ride with a title change. It was one that I started that was farther into the series than I originally anticipated. I don’t know if I’ll do a novel or it’ll become a novella or what. I feel certain that’ll eventually come to pass.

Do you have Hap & Leonard’s lives mapped out?

No, not really. I have ideas and I borrow things from my own life, but I also borrow from people I know. I have a general idea of where they are going, but it’s a very general idea. I do some things on instinct. The stories come out of the characters— little revelations and little ideas. The little things will change the whole course of the novel. The characters themselves redirect my plans.

What’s the status of a Hap & Leonard film?

There’s been a lot of film interest in ’em. I’ve been offered two deals [recently], neither of which I’ve accepted. They just couldn’t meet the terms I wanted.

The violence in Vanilla Ride seemed extreme even for you.

I never can tell. To me, I don’t notice any difference between this one and the others. I really don’t. When I look at Bad Chili, I think “Whoa! That was pretty violent.” I always think of it and Two Bear Mambo has the most violent of the Hap & Leonard series. Nightrunners and Waltz of Shadows, those are VERY violent. I never think about that. I never think that I’m going to make this scene violent or what. It just sort of arrives. I’ll read these others books and this book is just a violent as my books. Why don’t they talk about these people? As other people have told me: “But they don’t write violence the same way. They don’t have that kind of poetic description.” I appreciate that.

More in Part II.