Book Review | Terror is Our Business: Dana Roberts' Casebook of Horrors by Joe R. Lansdale and Kasey Lansdale

Terror is Our Business is a collection of "supernormal" investigation short stories by Joe Lansdale and Kasey Lansdale.

Award-winning author and “Champion Mojo Storyteller” Joe R. Lansdale (Hap & Leonard, Bubba Ho Tep) and his daughter, author / country singer Kasey Lansdale, have joined forces to bring you a short story collection showcasing the new dynamic duo of supernatural sleuthing, Dana Roberts and her sidekick Jana!

Terror is Our Business gathers together all of Dana’s and Jana’s previous cases in a single volume, and features an all-new adventure, “The Case of the Ragman’s Anguish,” written exclusively for this collection.

Join Dana and Jana as they investigate—and battle—angry jinns, malevolent shadows, ancient travelers, and soul-sucking shapeshifters. With two tough, resourceful women on the case, the specters from “the other side” won’t know what hit them!

Terror is Our Business was such a fun read for me. The stories in this collection were influenced by Algernon Blackwood, William Hope Hodgson, and Seabury Quinn. If you've known me for a while, you know how much I love Algernon Blackwood. I will be bumping my Seabury Quinn collection up the TBR immediately.

I could see the Algernon Blackwood influence immediately in the first story The Case of the Lighthouse Shambler. A solid mix of Blackwood and Lansdale was a slice of heaven for me.

I mentioned earlier this month that I was craving creatures that dwell in the dark. The setting in The Case of the Angry Traveler absolutely satisfied that craving for me. It was perfect timing!

The only complaints I had were actually addressed in Joe Lansdale's introduction to the collection. The beginning stories were framed with an old school storytelling device that put a bit of a wall between the reader and the story. There were also a lot of similarities between the original Dana Roberts tales. These minor complaints dropped off midway, though, as the character Jana entered the book and offered a fresh perspective on the remaining stories.

Overall, I had a blast with Terror is Our Business. It hit on so many supernatural elements that I love. If you are a Lansdale fan or you love weird fiction reminiscent of Algernon Blackwood, H.P. Lovecraft, or H.G. Wells, you will want to read this collection. I'm sad that I don't have any more Dana Roberts stories. I will be anxiously awaiting the opportunity to read more.

7/10: Recommended Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | Fender Lizards by Joe R. Lansdale

Fender Lizards is a coming of age novel from Joe R. Lansdale.

The unmistakable accent of the Piney Woods of East Texas rolls from the pages of Fender Lizards, Joe R. Lansdale’s tale of the life and love and work of one Dot Sherman, who delivers on her promise that her story is “the real thing from beginning to end.”

Dot waitresses on roller skates at the Dairy Bob, doesn’t care for smoking at least partly on account of her dad having never returned from a cigarette run, and carries on the family tradition of philosophizing. Life hasn’t done her any favors in her seventeen years so far. But if there was ever a heroine built for turning things upside down and seeing what shakes out, it’s Dot. Determined to find out who she is and why she’s the way she is, an opportunity presents itself when her heretofore-unknown uncle suddenly moves his camper into the front yard.

As in his classic novels The Bottoms and The Magic Wagon, multiple-award-winning Lansdale instills place with character and character with place. Here is an overlooked world and a cast of real folks that prove unforgettable, all rendered in one of American fiction’s most authentic voices.

Fender Lizards is the story of how Dot came to be in the roller derby.

Reading about roller derby is like reading about quidditch in Harry Potter or stopping in the middle of Twilight for a long game of baseball. It's not an exciting time. (Is it taboo to make references to Twilight? Sorry.) Some of you will know what I mean.

I'm from Southeast Texas so Lansdale automatically puts me at home. I can hear and feel East Texas in his writing. This is a big plus for me.

I loved the characters in Fender Lizards. Dot was definitely the heart of the story. Fender Lizards was much more about Dot and her family than it was about her joining the roller derby, but that aspect bored me so I'm harping on it.

Overall, Fender Lizards was a decent read. I didn't love it. I felt like I wanted more to be happening. It was easy to put down, and it took longer than it should have for me to finish it. I didn't dislike it, either, though. It reinforced the fact that I need to be reading a lot more Lansdale outside of my Hap and Leonard binges.

5/10: Decent Read

January 25 | Currently Reading

The preliminary ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards was announced last week. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check it out.

This past weekend was my 5 year blogiversary. It's kind of hard to believe! This blog (and the book blogging community) has been through a lot of changes in the last 5 years.

Books Read Last Week

Savage Season (Hap and Leonard #1) by Joe R. Lansdale

OK, this was just plum fun. I'm not up to speed on my Lansdale so I'm just now venturing into Hap and Leonard. I, of course, have heard plenty about them and with the TV show coming up, I decided this might be a great diversion from the horrible reading slump I've been in.

Sometimes I make excellent choices.

8/10: Great Read

The Box Jumper by Lisa Mannetti

I just finished reading The Box Jumper. If I don't post my thoughts later this week, I will add them to my update next week.

Books Currently Reading

Medusa's Web by Tim Powers

This is my first Tim Powers. So far it is trippy in a good way.

What about you? What are you reading this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?