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East Texas writer's mystery series a treat

Nacogdoches novelist and martial arts teacher Joe R. Lansdale has a strong cult following for his genre novels, including mysteries, suspense, horror, science fiction and westerns, and numerous short stories and other works.

Many readers may not be familiar with his writing. I confess I wasn't until last week when I sat down and read straight through two of his Hap and Leonard mysteries set in East Texas. Now, I'm a big fan.

Vintage Books, a division of Random House, is reissuing the six previously published Hap and Leonard novels this year, and another division is publishing a new hardcover book featuring the two characters, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. Plus, the University of Texas Press is bringing out a Lansdale anthology in March.

Lansdale is writer in residence at Stephen F. Austin University and has his own martial arts studio as well. He is an extremely prolific writer with more than 30 novels and 200 shorter works.

In the Hap and Leonard series, Collins and Pine are smart-mouthed characters in East Texas. Hap is white and very heterosexual. Leonard is black, homosexual and a Vietnam vet. They are best friends and have a penchant for getting themselves in the middle of trouble.

The novels are told in the voice of Hap Collins and have a lot of sex, violence and profanity, so consider that a warning. If you are offended by strong language, I would suggest you read someone else.

That aside, the stories are fast-paced and often humorous. The first two reissued novels are Savage Season (first published in 1990) and Mucho Macho (1994), both $13.95 in trade paperback. For some reason, the type in Savage Season (178 pages) is much smaller than in Mucho Macho, which stretches out to more than 300 pages. I found Mucho Macho an easier read for that reason.

But I read Savage Season first and was hooked. Vintage Books isn't taking long to get the rest of the series back in print with two more in line for May release. Then comes the new hardcover novel, Vanilla Ride, due in June, then two more reissues in November. And I understand that another new Hap and Leonard novel is scheduled for 2010.

Meanwhile, the anthology from UT Press, Sanctified and Chicken-Fried ($29.95 hardcover) comes out next month with a dozen or so Lansdale stories and book excerpts and a foreword by another prolific Texas mystery writer, Bill Crider of Alvin. I look forward to seeing this anthology.

If you would like to know more about Joe R. Lansdale, you might check out his Web site, joerlansdale.com, or read the extensive bio of him online at Wikipedia.

Glenn Dromgoole writes about Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.