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.
In this second and final installment, Joe discusses story collections, young adult fiction, and other things Lansdale.
How does the recent Chicken Fried and Sanctified: The Portable Lansdale differ from the forthcoming Best of Joe R. Lansdale?
Instead of calling it The Best, I think they’re gonna call it Selected Stories. They will differ dramatically. Probably, two or three stories will overlap, but it will have a lot of stories.
What other collections are forthcoming?
The next independent collection will contain stories that will never be reprinted again because I got the rights to reprint a Hellboy and couple of other things I don’t own.
People say, “I kinda resent you having these short story collections that have the same stories.” My answer to that is “Go fuck yourself.” The reason for that is very simple: Just because you bought it doesn’t make you have to buy the next one. Also. every two or three years there is a whole new group of readers and those books are no longer available. I’m not just trying to appeal to the people who already enjoy the work. I’m trying to appeal to the people who have not had the opportunity. A lot of new readers are just starting to be interested in my work. They’ll go to buy a collection and you won’t find Writer of the Purple Rage or By Bizarre Hands. A lot of these things were small printings to begin with and some of them are way out of print or nearly out of print. So every few years, [the stories] are valid to be re-released.
What’s next for you?
I just sold a young adult novel to Delacorte. It’s set in the 1930s and called All the Earth Thrown To the Sky. Same [time] period as The Boar and The Bottoms. The novels takes place in Oklahoma for a large part and moves toward East Texas.
Also, Keith [Lansdale, Joe’s son] and I edited the Son of Retro Pulp Tales. It’s suppose to be out at the end of July.
Do you find it difficult to write for young adults in terms of violence?
No. I always see them as different. It’s not that I can’t write without violence, but I don’t want. Depends on the book. When I wrote The Bottoms, there is violence in it but there’s almost a young adult feel to that novel. And The Boar is an example of what I can do. A lot more of the modern young adult books isn’t like See Spot Run or the Hardy Boys. I’m getting an opportunity to do something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time. If this goes well, I’m planning on doing more.
More in Part I.