By Jason Skaggs

Joe Lansdale, who teaches writing classes at SFA, is perhaps the most famous person from Nacogdoches. His rise to fame was not the most ordinary one, however.

When Lansdale was a young boy, he always knew that he wanted to be a writer. Yet the time he spent working on his family farm did not leave much time for his writing. He would wake up well before the sun rose and went to sleep well after dark, all the time working on the farm.

His father did not know how to read or write. Lansdale saw his dream fulfilled, however, when an article he and his mother wrote was published in Farm Journal when he was 21. He has since written over 30 novels and 16 short stories, and has won many awards for his writing. He is also a martial-arts expert and has been inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame four times.

Lansdale started writing when he was 9, after being inspired by reading issues of Classics Illustrated at an early age.

“I can’t remember not wanting to be a writer. I think when I discovered pencils that’s when I decided I wanted to (write),” Lansdale said.

Lansdale also learned self-defense at an early age. He said that when he was 11, he began to get picked on in school, so his father, who was a carnival wrestler, began to teach him to defend himself. At age 13 and 14, Lansdale began going to Tyler YMCA where he learned Judo.

Lansdale has since learned numerous other forms of martial arts, and owns a martial-arts school in Nacogdoches, where he teaches Shen Chuan.

Lansdale said that he learned everything he needs to know to be a writer in high school, where he took classes in keyboarding, journalism and English. He was most influenced by his high-school English teacher who had unique teaching methods for the time. Lansdale said that she played records of the Beatles and showed her students that it was poetry. The school district decided to fire her for her teaching methods, which Lansdale said was a “stupid decision.”

“She was a real teacher,” Lansdale said. “She wasn’t just there to take up your time.”

Lansdale continued his education at the University of Texas, but only spent about a year there, he said. He then began taking classes at SFA, and even worked as a janitor there at one point. When he began publishing books, however, he dropped out of school. a decision that he almost regretted when his writing career slowed down.

“I dropped out and immediately things stopped selling,” Lansdale said jokingly, but with an element of truth behind his statement.

Lansdale’s career soon picked up again, as more of his books began to get published. He said that he used his experiences from his childhood to help him write his stories.

“To me all of these experiences kind of boiled together in my writing,” he said. Many of the events that take place in Lansdale’s stories are based on actual events that happened to him in the past.

Lansdale said, “One thing I’ve noticed about a lot of writers is they have tremendous memories but don’t remember what they did recently.”

One of his books, The Bottoms, is a tribute to his parents, who grew up during the Great Depression. One of Lansdale’s most popular series, Hap and Leonard, deals with societal issues of East Texas during the 1960’s, where Lansdale grew up.

According to Wikipedia, the series focuses on the two main characters, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, friends who live in the town of Laborde, Texas who find themselves solving a variety of often unpleasant crimes. Hap is a white laborer in his mid forties, and Leonard is a gay black man. Both of them are accomplished fighters, and the stories (told from Hap's narrative point of view) feature a great deal of violence, profanity and sex. Some themes in the story include racism, ignorance, pedophilia and anti gay violence.

Lansdale has written in a variety of genres, including Western, science fiction, mystery, and suspense, but is most famous for his horror stories. Showtime did a show named Masters of Horror in which some of Lansdale’s stories were featured.

Although Lansdale said he writes less horror stories than other genres, he is aware that he is most known for his horror. “Once you get that label (as a horror writer), they forget everything else,” he said.

Lansdale has also written a variety of comics, most notably for Batman: The Animated Series. He said that he has also written storylines for the Superman animated series and has written for four comic books, including Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics.

Lansdale’s writing awards are numerous and according to Wikipedia, include the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and six Bram Stoker Awards. The World Horror Convention recently made him the recipient of the 2007 Grand Master Award for contributions to the field of Horror fiction.

Lansdale has one sibling, a brother, who is 17 years older than he is. Lansdale said he grew up “basically an only child.” The two have written some books and screenplays together.

His father was in his forties when Joe was born. Although he could not read or write, his father was still influential in his writing career, mostly by teaching him self-defense. It was through his father’s teachings of self-defense that Lansdale became interested in martial arts, which he accredits as the foundation to his writing career.“All of the principles that I use in writing I have borrowed from martial arts,” Lansdale said.

Through all of Lansdale’s fame, he has never moved away from East Texas, where he has lived his entire life. Though he has experienced some of the Hollywood lifestyle, Lansdale has not gotten away from his Texas roots, nor does he want to.

“I know things about a lot of famous people that you wouldn’t want to know,” he said.

Lansdale dressed casually during the interview, showing his laid-back Texas personality. He wore blue jeans and a black button-down shirt and preferred to sit during the entire interview.

Lansdale has been married to his wife, Karen, for 35 years.