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Joe R. Lansdale

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Dead in the West Hardcover – January 1, 1990

by Joe R. Lansdale (Author)

4.5 22 ratings

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Dead in the West is the story of Mud Creek, Texas, a town overshadowed by a terrible evil. An Indian medicine man, unjustly lynched by the people of Mud Creek, has put a curse on the town. As the sun sets, he will have his revenge. For when darkness falls, the dead will walk in Mud Creek and they will be hungry for human flesh. The only one that can save the town is Reverend Jebediah Mercer, a gun toting preacher man who came to Mud Creek to escape his past. He has lost his faith in the Lord and his only solace is the whisky bottle. Will he renew his faith in himself and God to defeat this evil or will the town be destroyed?

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B095MHL74H
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kinnell Publications Ltd; First Edition (January 1, 1990)

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4.5 22 ratings

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Joe R. Lansdale

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Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over thirty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in eighteen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies.

Lansdale has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others.

A major motion picture based on Lansdale's crime thriller Cold in July was released in May 2014, starring Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Sam Shepard (Black Hawk Down), and Don Johnson (Miami Vice). His novella Bubba Hotep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted to film for Showtime's "Masters of Horror." He is currently co-producing a TV series, "Hap and Leonard" for the Sundance Channel and films including The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero.

Lansdale is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.

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Mike Kazmierczak

Find thrills with the living dead

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2002

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One of the big differences between older Lansdale novels and ones written now is their length. At 119 pages, Dead In The West barely gets out of the short story realm. Regardless of the length the story still packs a hell of a punch. Reverend Jebidiah Mercer is unlike most other preachers during the wild west; he drinks, carries a gun and actively wander the country enforcing God's will. This time he finds himself in the town of Mud Creek and just in time to help face down the living dead thanks to a curse from a local Indian.
While the overall story might lack some of the character depth and introspective social commentaries mixed in with the dialogue that are found in most of Lansdale's later works, the story still puts enough emotion into the events that unfold to make you care about what happens. The caring is more about how everyone gets killed since it is pretty obvious that most of the characters are fodder for the zombies. But then this is acknowledged within the dedication and helps contribute to the charm of the book. If you like movies like "Evil Dead", "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and other Grade B films, then you owe it to yourself to pick this up and read it.

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Anthony Hogg

Zombie in the Old West

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2006

Lansdale seemlessly blends motifs of the horror and western genre in this very short, fast-paced book.

However, I felt that Lansdale is trying to shock a little too hard in some of his passages (wait till you find out what kind of emotional baggage the preacher is carrying around), but also makes it seem a rather casual aspect of the plot.

The "zombies" have an interesting fusion of mythology attached to them and certain parts of the story seem to prefigure "From Dusk Till Dawn".

A great book and an excellent example of how the horror western can succeed when written like this.

One person found this helpful

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Jem A Jones

Fast paced zombie wester adventure

Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2013

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There are not enough fiction/horror/fantasy authors that write with an 'economy of style' that helps propel the story forward at a pace that cannot be stopped or put down. Joe Lansdale is one of those authors. This story was highly engaging and the characters felt very real to me. Love me some Lansdale. I hope he continues to write stories in this genre. Hap and Leonard are great. The Bottoms was awesome. But when Joe Lansdale delves into the fantasy/sci-fi/western genres, he scribes my favorite works.

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high_cotton

Can't Beat It With a Stick

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2001

Zombies in the Old West. An Indian curse and a town with a dark secret. A beautiful woman and a stranger with a troubled past, who may be the town's only hope. Plenty of graphic, gross-out horror told with wit and respect for the B-movies and horror comics that are clearly the inspiration for this story. (Think a young Clint Eastwood in the movie version, directed by George Romero.) This is not Lansdale at his absolute best, but he's not striving for great literature here. I bet he had as much fun writing it as I had reading it.

2 people found this helpful

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Douglas Hahner

The Great, The Fun, And the Ugly(those zombies)

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 1998

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Lansdale has done it once again. He has written a book that is disgusting, disturbing, and extremely funny. Lansdale has prooven time and time again that he is a master at writing real people who talk like real people talk. If you don't believe me read any of the Hap and Leonard books (Savage Season, Mucho Mojo, Two Bear Mombo (my personal favorite), and Bad Chilli). Dead in the West did not let me down, like some of his earlier books where he wasn't yet comfortable with his dialogue. Dead in the West has everything that you would expect from a great Lansdale book: offensive behavior (incest), violence (zombies eating people), characters that are easy to relate to (the doctor and his feelings towards the indian are very real), and above all humor (Lansdale's dialogue is once again unmatched).

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Gary Jonas

How 'bout them dead folks. Gotta love 'em!

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2000

Joe Lansdale is a terrific writer. This book is one of his early efforts. While it's not as good as MUCHO MOJO or COLD IN JULY, it's still a lot of fun to read. I figure we all read for entertainment first and foremost and on that level, DEAD IN THE WEST delivers. It's sick and twisted and funny and it's all Lansdale!

One person found this helpful

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