Wild Texas Tales

Joe R. Lansdale is a wonder. He’s written successfully in damn near any genre you could name — horror, crime, Western, road novels, humor, Depression-era coming-of-age… He writes short stories, novels, novellas and Conan comics. And he’s a badass martial artist, to boot.

He’s from Texas. Of course he is. Where else in America would you expect to find that kind of bigger-than-life half-horse-half-alligator storyteller?

Coming up here right quick is a TV adaptation on the Sundance Channel of his “Hap and Leonard” stories. Set in East Texas in the 1980s, they feature an odd-couple matchup of a black homosexual Vietnam veteran with a short fuse (Leonard Pine) and a loverlorn white fella name of Hap Collins. They have a knack for falling into serious — and seriously funny — mayhem.

The series has a fantastic cast: James Purefoy is Hap Collins. Purefoy made his bones as Marc Antony in HBO’s late, lamented “Rome.” Michael Kenneth Williams plays Leonard Pine. Williams was absolutely my favorite thing about HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” heisting every scene as Chalky White. Never watched “Mad Men,” but Christina Hendricks looks to be magnificent as ex-wife Trudy. I mean, wouldn’t you be a little messed up if you’d blown it with that lovely lady? Hmm?

I don’t get Sundance Channel, but I’ll snap this up when it goes to Netflix.

Meanwhile, Ol’ Joe is pumping out books I need to read. I picked up “The Thicket” last summer when we went to Austin, because I wanted a “Texas” read. Got that, alright. Now I’ve got to pick up “Paradise Sky” and “Black Hat Jack,” both tales of Nat (pronounced Nate) Love aka Deadwood Dick.

“Here, Nat Love, the one and only Deadwood Dick, writes down his version of certain events, straightening out numerous misconceptions raised in the popular and sanitized Dime Novels. Though his version varies considerably from the numerous volumes of adventures attributed to him, his true story, with perhaps a bit of exaggeration, is no less fascinating or exciting.

“Nat was one of those Old West characters who seemed to be everywhere and met everyone that was anyone at some point in his life. Black Hat Jack details Nat’s version of the events of the now famous Second Battle of Adobe Walls, where he and a handful of buffalo hunters, primarily his good friend, Black Hat Jack, were pitted against hundreds of Comanche, Cheyenne, and Kiowa warriors.

“Heroics abound. Curse words fly. Humor flows as free as blood, and there’s even a spot of romance. And with all that real life bravado, there might even be a few lies.”

Lansdale is one of those rare writers who combines pure storytelling ability with genuine literary flare. He flat delivers. Obviously he’s got talent, but it’s equally obvious that he’s just plain having fun — crossing genres, mashing up genres, telling stories and a few lies.

“I love all the different fields intensely,” he told The Austin Chronicle. “I’m not just doing them for a buck. I love ‘em. They have been so conglomerated inside my head that when I write, I don’t consciously say I’m mixing genres, it just happens. The Westerns have probably affected me more than any one thing, Western-related material. I love Westerns.

Artist Ken Laager illustrated a Subterranean Press limited edition of Black Hat Jack — and I love ’em intensely.