{"id":675,"date":"2012-04-26T17:10:58","date_gmt":"2012-04-26T17:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travisheermann.com\/blog\/?p=675"},"modified":"2012-08-07T17:09:20","modified_gmt":"2012-08-07T17:09:20","slug":"author-interview-joe-r-lansdale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travisheermann.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/26\/author-interview-joe-r-lansdale\/","title":{"rendered":"Author Interview – Joe R. Lansdale"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>About four years ago, I launched this blog into an author interview project that included interviews with over sixty working authors at various stages of their careers. One of the things I learned from this project is just how many authors out there are darn fine, gracious people. I also learned a lot about how they do what they do, and if you’re a writer, go back through the archives, and you will too.<\/p>\n

The first author interview of this series was with Joe R. Lansdale. <\/a> Before then, and up to now, he’s been one of my favorite writers. His stuff is insightful, gritty, poignant, witty, and utterly unflinching–and at times, downright twisted. He’s written novels, short stories, screenplays, stage plays, comics, and who knows what else.<\/p>\n

It’s not every day that a person gets to meet one of his idols. I went to my first World Horror Convention this year, in large part because Joe was Guest of Honor. I was fortunate to meet him and discover that he is as gracious and friendly as an East Texas accent, and that his talent for storytelling goes far beyond the page.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

TH: It\u2019s been just over four years since your first interview here (March, 2008). What have been some major developments or changes in your career since then?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: Wow. Four years is a long time. I don\u2019t know if I can recall all the things I\u2019ve done or have been doing, or have been trying to do. But to recap it best I can, the most important thing is\u00a0I’ve\u00a0changed publishers. I moved from Knopf and Vintage to Mulholland Books, a branch of Little Brown, and I\u2019m really happy with them at this point. My new book EDGE OF DARK WATER is out from them, and they seem behind it.<\/p>\n

I have also been doing Young Adult books for Delacorte. I\u2019ve done one, ALL THE EARTH THROWN TO THE SKY that I\u2019m proud of, and have two more on the contract at this point.<\/p>\n

I’ve\u00a0started trying to produce and co-produce films, and we\u2019ll see how that works out. The only one I\u2019ve done so far that\u2019s come to fruition is CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD. It\u2019s based on a short story of mine, screenplay by my son, Keith, directed by Terrill Lee Lankford, and Damian Maffei stars. My daughter and son-in-law, as well as Brad Maule, formerly of GENERAL HOSPITAL, have parts in the film. It\u2019s kind of a zombie film, but not the usual sort of chomp fest. That\u2019s part of it, but it\u2019s mostly about this guy trying to live a normal life in a word infested with zombies. It\u2019s actually quite a bit sentimental.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking I might even try directing a film in the future. We\u2019ll see if that happens. It might not.<\/p>\n

As for other things, I received another Bram Stoker for a story, got another for LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT, and my wife received the RICHARD LAYMAN AWARD for her contributions to the HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION, of which she was the main founder.<\/p>\n

TH: Your most recent novel, released just a few weeks ago, is The Edge of Dark Water.<\/em> You\u2019ve said that this is your best book so far. Why do you think so?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: It is hard to explain why I feel that way. I feel that all the things I do well are here. The kind of story I like to tell is here. Some of the same background of other novels is here, but not the story and characters. I really love it. Ask me in six months if it\u2019s still my favorite. Then ask me in a year. That might change. Until I wrote THE BOTTOMS my favorites of my work were THE MAGIC WAGON and THE DRIVE IN. I still love those, but then I wrote A FINE DARK LINE, SUNSET AND SAWDUST, and ALL THE EARTH THROWN TO THE SKY, and liked those even better, and now this one. I have enjoyed all my books, and I love writing about Hap and Leonard, but that series is in a way one big novel. But this new one, well, I have a strong feeling about it.<\/p>\n

TH: What was the genesis of The Edge of Dark Water?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: The genesis for the novel were stories told to me about the Great Depression, as well as mythology of some of the classics like HUCKLEBERRY FINN, by Mark Twain, NIGHT OF THE HUNTER by Davis Grubb, THE ODYSSEY, that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

TH: Who are your idols or mentors? What about other major influences?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: So many. I like good storytellers, and interesting stylist the most. I mentioned some above, but you can toss in Flannery O\u2019Conner, Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, Robert Bloch, Harper Lee, Richard Matheson, Raymond Chandler, James Cain, Ernest Hemingway, and as a kid I loved Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard. Poe is there. Jack London certainly. It\u2019s a long list, and that\u2019s just part of it.<\/p>\n

TH: What are the differences in the business worlds of fiction and film? If writers want to cross over from one to the other, what might they experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: Film people have a lot of different ropes tugging at them. The money people, the actors, especially those with power, the director and his or her vision, the screenwriter, who has their own vision, so many people behind the scenes doing different things. I feel it\u2019s much more a craft than an art, because no matter how artistic a screenplay might be, the only thing that really counts is what it comes to be on the screen. A good screenplay can become junk, a bad one can become art, but if it\u2019s art it\u2019s primarily by accident. It\u2019s a wonder any films get made. Just being Executive Producer on a small budget film like CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD, you start having to deal with the weather and ego, and things that go wrong that are no one\u2019s fault. It\u2019s the nature of the business. Not that ego is bad. You have to have one to get anything done, but when you have a bunch of them it can be a real problem. On big films where a lot of money is involved, it has the potential to be worse. It\u2019s like the music business. Seems most people are out to screw you, just because they can, or they hold the power in their hands and want you to know it. Publishing can sure screw you as well, but it\u2019s your book. You get to be the producer, director, actors, even the animals and the scenery. You may have to deal with an editor, but mostly editors seem to me to be a lot more reasonable.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0had a few that weren\u2019t, and I just took my toys and went home, or took them to another house. But that\u2019s rare. The writer is the star in publishing. In film, the writer is just there to serve everyone else. Or so it seems.<\/p>\n

TH: Any chance of a Bubba-Hotep sequel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JRL: Not that I know of.<\/p>\n

TH: How did you break into comics? What was your first work in comics?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: I got a call from D.C. comics to see if I wanted to work for them. But I had been writing novels and short stories by then, and it was known I loved comics. I also think the artist who I ended up working with, my brother Tim Truman [creator of Grimjack<\/em>], put in a word for me. Same with [artist\/illustrator] Mark Nelson. Mark was first to want to work with me, and Tim was the one that I wrote the Jonah Hex series with, and the first run of those came out before the ones with Mark. That\u2019s about the sum of it.<\/p>\n

TH: Are there any realms you would still like to break into?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: I\u2019ve done a couple of short Grand Guignol stage plays, and they\u2019ve both been performed. I think I\u2019d like to write more plays, at least one three act and see it performed some place. A musical might be fun. I\u2019d like to direct a stage play. I want to write a screenplay that\u2019s done the way I want, possibly directed by me. Other than that, I like what I do now, and plan to keep doing it as long as I am able.<\/p>\n

TH: You\u2019re also Writer in Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. What kind of classes do you teach?\u00a0 What do your students experience in your class?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: \u00a0I teach creative writing, screenplay writing, and once I taught comic book writing. My plan this fall is to teach a class on The Weird and The Fantastic. It\u2019s a writing class, as well as a class on the subject itself. My students usually write a lot, and they get a lot of practical advice.<\/p>\n

TH: You\u2019re also an accomplished martial artist and instructor. What are the roots and origin of Shen Chuan?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: The roots come from different systems I\u2019ve studied. When I was eleven my dad began teaching me boxing and wrestling and the self-defense he had picked up. He got me interested in pursuing Judo, Hapkido, Taekwondo, Kenpo, Thai Boxing, and so many different things. I was cross training when it\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0cool. I also had to change systems from time to time because my instructors moved, or just quit teaching.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0stuck at it for fifty years this Fall. I hope to keep doing it for some time to come. Shen Chaun is the system\u00a0I’ve\u00a0founded, and it\u2019s not just those aforementioned systems lumped together. They are properly blended until Shen Chuan has become its own thing.<\/p>\n

TH: What are you working on now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: I\u2019m writing a new novel, and part time I\u2019m writing a novella. That\u2019s as much as I\u2019ll talk about them at this stage.<\/p>\n

TH: What are you reading now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JRL: I\u2019m rereading LITTLE BIG MAN by Thomas Berger, and I\u2019m reading WITCH FINDER, a Mike Mignola comic.<\/p>\n

TH: If someone were going to read Joe R. Lansdale for the first time, what would you recommend?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JRL: I\u2019d either start with the new one, EDGE OF DARK WATER, or THE BOTTOMS or A FINE DARK LINE. If they like series, MUCHO MOJO in the Hap and Leonard series.<\/p>\n\n\n