Joe R Lansdale. I'm presently reading
Edge of Dark Water, Lansdale's latest book. It is very much in the mold of his excellent,
The Bottoms. The prose is simply mouthwatering. The man writes as if he's telling a yarn on the back porch. To you personally. He writes great dialogue and drops you right into the landscape. And he can do a sense of foreboding very well. I've been looking at his writing and it's deceptively simple. There's few fancy words, the sentences are short and tight and it's all show and no tell. I should be able to write like this. Yet somehow there's more going on. I think what it is, is that he writes in a very verbal way. He has a very strong, engaging voice. I'm sure the audio version would be excellent. If you haven't given him a go, you should. Start with
The Bottoms. Definitely one of my top five favourite authors.
3 comments:
And he's just like that in person too. If you ever get a chance to hear him read or just listen to him talk, do it. I had the misfortune of being scheduled at a panel next door to his once, which meant not only did I miss that panel but the howls of laughter drowned us out. He gave a reading that night that not only doubled us up with laughter but also managed a sniffle or two too. Magic.
Loved it too.
I'd love to hear him talk. Maybe one day. More than happy to make do with reading his books otherwise, but would be good to see him in action.
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