138 Quotes by Joe R. Lansdale

In some ways, I don't consider a single Hap and Leonard novel the best, but I consider them my best characters.

When I wrote 'Savage Season,' it was three years later before I wrote the second Hap and Leonard novel. Whenever I wrote one, I never intended to write the next one.

I have been on a horrible sea cruise. When my wife and I went to Mexico, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands, I was seasick for a lot of the time. I didn't like being trapped on a ship with a bunch of shuffleboarders.

I do better just letting the stories develop. I don't outline very well, and I can't follow it if I do. Once I've outlined it, why write the damn book?

I work in the mornings almost exclusively.

Edgar Rice Burroughs taught me pace and gave me a sense of action and adventure.

Ray Bradbury taught me the importance of metaphor and simile and poetic style.

Robert Bloch taught me about mixing horror and humor.

I was well under the spell of the old Gold Medal Crime novels when I wrote 'Savage Season,' and I wanted to write a modern version of that. I had tried the same thing with 'Cold in July,' and I wanted to give it another go.