Author Joe R. Lansdale
Joe R. Lansdale has worked in a varied array of genres, writing horror, science fiction, westerns, mystery, and suspense to delight readers around the world. He has also written for comics and Batman: The Animated Series. He has won several Bram Stoker awards. His book Bubba Ho-Tep was made into a movie by the Phantasm series director Don Coscarelli. Joe is a martial arts expert as well. He is a member of the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and a teacher at his own Shen Chaun school.
Q: What where you like growing up? What was your first favorite book? What did you first want to be when you grew up?
A: I guess I was an unusual kid, as I often prefered to be alone. I was physical, and liked to play outside, but I loved to read. I started with comics, and then when I could get books, read those. My father couldn’t read or write and my mother had an eleventh grade education, not all that bad for back then, and she loved books and encouraged me. Both my mother and father were older when I was born. My dad in his forties and my mom in her late thirties. My brother and I were seventeen years apart, so I was raised like an only child, and was given a lot of attention. I could read early and I could write early, and as soon as I learned about writing I wanted to do it. My early favorite books were comics, DC comics, Batman in particular, closely followed by Superboy, The Flash, Green Lantern, and a lot of the then lesser known heroes, like Hawkman. I also remember loving other comics from other companies, like The Fly, and so on. My favorite book early on was THE ILLIAD, no joke, and this was replaced by THE JUNGLE BOOK, and when I was just pre-teen I discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs, and I went nuts for him and anything similar. So Edgar Rice Burroughs became my favorite author, and is still my sentimental favorite. A lot of writers changed my life, but he imparticular at just the right time. I recently wrote a short novel for PLANET STORIES titled, UNDER THE WARRIOR STAR, and it’s my tribute to Burroughs. I didn’t have time to do it, and there was no way I could do it, but I did it anyway. It was fun.
Q: How do you think your earliest influences led to you doing what you do today?
A: All of the books and stories I read, and comics, and there were many, blended with early television shows, a lot of them Western, Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock, Thriller–where I saw a great adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s, Pigeons From Hell–along with stories my parents told me about the thirties and the Great Depression, the stories my dad knew about the Old West, and then they blended with what I saw around me and came out in the fiction I wrote. This was especially true by the 1980s, which is when I began to find my own style. I also faintly remember radio shows. They were on their last legs then, but they were out there. And I also loved the movies, and went when I could afford it. We were not a well to do family, so books were what I came across, and later when it was available, books I read from book mobiles and libraries.
Q: Where you always a fan of the Horror and Sci Fi genres?
A: I was and am a fan of those genres, and many others. Science fiction, horror and fantasy have been the most important in my life, however. They fueld my imagination more than any other kind of fiction. I love it all, though, but I give the nod to those genres as having been the strongest influences.One reviewer reviewing a novel of mine commented that it wasn’t S.F., but it had a S.F. writer’s heart. He hit it on the head.
Q: You have written in a several genres, do you prefer any one of those over the others?
A: No, not really. Whichever I’m writing at the moment. I may lean more towards the fantastic in short stories, but a sort of contemporary fantastic. I’m not much on elves and unicorns, and the like. I flirted with sword and sorcery in the seventies, and some of those stories were published, I think in the early eighties, but it was a passing attraction, like the hula hoop, and then I moved on. Inside me, however, there lurks someone who would like to write one good sword and sorcery story of the old school.
Q: What was it like to write for the Batman and Superman series? Was it fun it introduce Bizarro to Superman fans?
A: I wrote a script they didn’t use for Superman, but they borrowed from it, and used it as a plot line. I remember the Batman stuff much more. I love Superman, but I think I’m at heart more of a Batman writer.
Q: What does it feel like to have written cartoons that have delighted children of all ages?
A: It feels wonderful. I am so proud of those. And the recent one I wrote for Jonah Hex, which appeared as part of the Blue Ray package, UNDER THE RED HOOD, which was a Batman adventure. I meet young people now who actually become ecstatic when they realize I wrote for that show, and they tend to remember at least one or two of the four I wrote, the last one actually being part of a revamp of the series that wasn’t quite as good a Batman series. But, I’ve liked all of the animated series since BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES. That said, the one in the 90s was the best, and it was enjoyed by young viewers and well as older. It was a ritual in our house, and then I wrote for it, and my currency as a father rose dramatically.
Q: Where you excited to see Bubba Ho-Tep made into a film by Don Coscarelli? Where a fan of his work on the Phantasm series of films?
A: Yep. I am a fan of the PHANTASM movies. Don and I had become friends before it was made, and once it was, I loved it. I’m very fond of it. Its become a cult classic.
Q: Do you ever get writer’s block?
A: Never get it. I might have a day when I’m not ready to work, but we all have those. They are rare, and there’s no block to it. I just feel less with the juice. Next day, I’m ready to go. I can’t afford writer’s block.
Q: What advice would you offer the writers of tomorrow?
A: Read a lot. And write, regularly. Put your ass in a chair and create, and don’t wait on the muse. You are the muse, so no waiting is necessary.
Q: Do feel some of romanticism of books is being lost in today’s world of ereaders?
A: Yes, I’m afraid so. But what to do about it…I don’t have an answer.
Q: What little known fact about you would even those closest you be surprised to learn?
A: Some might be surprised to know that I’m a very serious martial artist and have been doing it for forty eight years.
Q: What subject have you yet to cover are you looking forward to bringing your readers?
A: So many I can’t name them, and new ones present themselves everyday.
Q: Are there any amusing stories from the course of your career that you are at liberty to share with our readers?
A: There are plenty, but, alas, I don’t have any nudging me at the moment.
Q: Your daughter Kasey Lansdale is a country singer. What is it like to see her on stage doing what she loves?
A: It’s amazing, and she’s amazing. She’s also a song writer, and she’s done well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her hit the bigger time soon, but like books, the industry has changed so much, and it changed right when she was getting started. She’s been doing it since she was 17, and now she’s 24. She’s an incredible country and blues singer.
Q: When did you first become interested in Martial Arts? Did you ever imagine you’d be a member of the Martial Arts Hall of Fame?
A: It’s actually the INTERNATIONAL MARTIAL ARTS HALL OF FAME. No, never thought so. I started when I was 11. My dad was a boxer and a wrestler, so I actually started with that, and then moved to more formal martial arts when I was thirteen or so. I took to it like a duck to water. My dad and I were similar in that way. I did it constantly. I quit a few times, but couldn’t stay quit. I’d tell people I was quit so I could concentrate on writing, or raising kids, but I couldn’t stay quit very long. A month maybe, and I was back. And those were probably just needed breaks.
I hurt my hip a few years ago, and it slowed me down, but it didn’t put me back, and now it seems to have healed (a nerve in my leg and hip and back), and I’m starting to pick up my pace again. The same for writing. I always write, but in the last two to three years I’ve been on a high.
Q: What exactly is Shen Chaun?
A: It’s the art I created. It’s Chinese for Spirt Fist. The art I teach is not Chinese, but Chinese is an influence, and so are a number of other arts. It’s my interpretation of a number of arts.
Q: What works can your readers look forward to seeing next?
A: I have a Young Adult novel, ALL THE EARTH THROWN TO THE SKY coming out next year from Delacorte, and I’m excited about it, and will follow with two more for them. I also have another novel coming out from Knopf in March, one of my Hap and Leonard novels from Knopf.
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