High Cotton
Encyclopedia
High Cotton is a collection of short fiction by Joe R. Lansdale
, initially published in 2000. In his introduction, Lansdale cites it as the "Best of Lansdale", and has called this work a companion piece to the 2004 collection Bumper Crop
.
He provides a brief introduction before each story, offering a description of his intent, and contextualizing each within the history of his career.
The Denver Post
wrote that it "serves as a good introduction to Lansdale's fiction... The tales are as weird and hard-edged as we've come to expect from Lansdale." The Rocky Mountain News
called it his best collection. Fantasy & Science Fiction reviewed it, noting it is a compilation of "the stories that built Lansdale's reputation as one of the most audacious writers to come out of the eighties... High Cotton is only for the strong at heart, the fearless reader who can face its powerful subject matter as unflinchingly as did the author."
The collection contains:
Joe R. Lansdale
Joe R. Lansdale is an American author and martial-arts expert. He has written novels and stories in many genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense...
, initially published in 2000. In his introduction, Lansdale cites it as the "Best of Lansdale", and has called this work a companion piece to the 2004 collection Bumper Crop
Bumper Crop
Bumper Crop is a collection of short stories by Joe R. Lansdale published in 2004. In his introduction, he cites it as the companion piece to High Cotton, because he had so many stories which didn't quite fit in with the "Best of" but were more like "personal favorites."In his introduction,...
.
He provides a brief introduction before each story, offering a description of his intent, and contextualizing each within the history of his career.
The Denver Post
The Denver Post
-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...
wrote that it "serves as a good introduction to Lansdale's fiction... The tales are as weird and hard-edged as we've come to expect from Lansdale." The Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
called it his best collection. Fantasy & Science Fiction reviewed it, noting it is a compilation of "the stories that built Lansdale's reputation as one of the most audacious writers to come out of the eighties... High Cotton is only for the strong at heart, the fearless reader who can face its powerful subject matter as unflinchingly as did the author."
The collection contains:
- "Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland" {originally published in Midnight Graffiti, Fall 1989}
- "Booty and the Beast" {originally published in Archon Gaming (1995)}
- "By Bizarre Hands" {originally published in Hardboiled #9 (1988)}
- "By the Hair of the Head" {originally published in Shadows #6, ed. Charles L. GrantCharles L. GrantCharles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection...
(1983)} - "Drive-In Date" {originally published in Night Visions 8 (1991)}
- "Dog, Cat, and Baby" {originally published in Masques #2, ed. J. N. WilliamsonJ. N. WilliamsonGerald Neal Williamson wrote and edited horror stories under the name J. N. Williamson.Born in Indianapolis, IN he graduated from Shortridge High School. He studied journalism at Butler University. He published his first novel in 1979 and went on to publish more than 40 novels and 150 short...
(1987)} - "The Fat Man and the Elephant" {originally published in By Bizarre HandsBy Bizarre HandsBy Bizarre Hands is the first collection of short stories by American writer Joe R. Lansdale, published in 1989. The collection was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for best fiction collection, and contains two stories which won Stokers...
(1989)} - "Godzilla's Twelve Step Program" {originally published in Writer of the Purple RageWriter of the Purple RageWriter of the Purple Rage is a collection of short works by Joe R. Lansdale, published in 1994, which is one of the few places to find his famous short story "Bubba Ho-Tep." It was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in the "Fiction Collection" category...
(1994)} - "Incident On and Off a Mountain RoadIncident On and Off a Mountain RoadIncident On and Off a Mountain Road is the premiere episode of the first season of Masters of Horror directed by Don Coscarelli. It originally aired in North America on October 28, 2005. The screenplay is based on an original short story by American author Joe R...
" {originally published in Night Visions 8 (1991)} - "The Job" {originally published in Razored Saddles, ed. Joe R. LansdaleJoe R. LansdaleJoe R. Lansdale is an American author and martial-arts expert. He has written novels and stories in many genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense...
& Pat LoBruttoPat LoBruttoPatrick LoBrutto is an editor, author, anthologist and a past recipient of the World Fantasy Award for editing in 1986. He has worked for Ace Books, Bantam Books, Doubleday, M. Evans, Stealth Press and Kensington among other publishing houses...
(1989)} - "Letter From the South, Two Moons West of Nacogdoches" {originally published in Last Wave #5 (1986)}
- "Mister Weed-EaterMister Weed-EaterMister Weed-Eater is a short story by American writer Joe R. Lansdale.-Editions:First published in Lansdale’s 1993 Electric Gumbo, subsequently republished in his 1994 compilation Writer of the Purple Rage, "Mister Weed-Eater" was republished again in the 2001 anthology High Cotton...
" {previously published by Cahill Press, 1993} - "My Dead Dog Bobby" {originally published in The Horror Show, Summer 1987}
- "Night They Missed the Horror Show" (winner of Bram Stoker AwardBram Stoker AwardThe Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing. The awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot of the Active members of the HWA...
) {originally published in Silver Scream, ed. David J. SchowDavid J. SchowDavid J. Schow is an American author of horror novels, short stories, and screenplays. His credits include films such as The Crow and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Most of Schow's work falls into the sub-genre splatterpunk, a term he is sometimes credited with coining...
(1988)} - "Not from Detroit" (based on scene from The Nightrunners) {originally published in Midnight Graffiti, Fall 1988}
- "The Phone Woman" {originally published in Night Visions 8 (1991)}
- "The Pit" {originally published in The Black LizardBlack LizardBlack Lizard was a publisher imprint during the 1980s. A division of the Creative Arts Book Company of Berkeley, California, Black Lizard specialized in presenting rediscovered forgotten classic crime fiction writers and novels from the decades between the 1930s and the 1960s. Creative Arts Book...
Anthology of Crime Fiction, ed. Ed GormanEdward GormanEd Gorman is an award-winning American author best known for his crime and mystery fiction. He wrote The Poker Club which is currently in post production for a film of the same name directed by Tim McCann....
(1987)} - "The Steel Valentine" {originally published in By Bizarre HandsBy Bizarre HandsBy Bizarre Hands is the first collection of short stories by American writer Joe R. Lansdale, published in 1989. The collection was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for best fiction collection, and contains two stories which won Stokers...
(1989)} - "Steppin' Out, Summer, '68" {originally published in Night Visions 8 (1991)}
- "Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back" {originally published in Nukes, ed. John Maclay (1986)}
- "Trains Not Taken" {originally published in RE:AL Spring (1987)}