By Kara Killough

Joe Richard Harold Lansdale is possibly one of the greatest writers from Texas as he recently won the 2007 Grand Master Award at the World Horror Convention for his contributions to the field of horror fiction.

Lansdale, born October 28, 1951, was a Gladewater, Texas native, but now resides in Nacogdoches. He comes from a not-so-wealthy farm family. His mother received only an 11th grade education and his father never learned to read or write. He has only one brother, John, whom is 17 years his elder.

Lansdale showed up dressed casually in an un-tucked black button down shirt and jeans to discuss the exciting life of a mojo author and martial arts expert. His grey hair was tussled and he seemed to be a relaxed individual as he remained seated the entirety of his interview, with one leg hidden behind a desk, as if some sort of mystery injury ailed him. During the interview Lansdale frequently spoke out of the right side of his mouth.

“I wanted to start writing when I discovered a pencil,” Lansdale said. Heavily influenced by comic books, Lansdale said, “Writing began to boil around inside me” and he started writing at the age of nine.

Lansdale’s love for writing grew as he learned to type in high school. He also took a journalism class and adored English.

It was during this time that he met someone he would never forget. Lansdale had an English teacher who was nothing like the rest. While every other teacher wore long skirts and drab attire, “She’d prance into class in a mini skirt to teach.” Lansdale said that she taught him The Beatle’s poetry and took the class to see Romeo and Juliet. For this she was fired and Lansdale said it was a darn shame because “she was a real teacher, not just someone who sat in front of you and took up your time.”

Even though Lansdale’s family didn’t have a lot of money, he was determined to go to college. He attended both Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas for a year and moved on to attend Stephen F. Austin State University later in his life.

Lansdale was married at age 21 and wrote his first nonfiction article about gardening under his mother’s name. It won an award.

Lansdale started a truck plowing business with his wife. They sold organic food to local markets to survive. He thought this would be an ideal job so he would have time to write. Lansdale said he realized he wasn’t getting any writing done because he was getting up before the crack of dawn and going to bed well after dark.

From here he held many odd jobs such as a bouncer and a carpenter’s helper.
He laughed at the irony of holding the position as a carpenter’s helper. “I could kill you with a hammer just by accident,” Lansdale said.

Eventually he began to work for Stephen F. Austin State University as a janitor. He found plenty of time to write during this time and actually started selling his work. Then Lansdale laughingly said, “Once I started selling, I quit my job, and then the sales stopped.”

With nowhere else to turn, his wife encouraged him to start focusing on just his writing. Soon his son, Keith, was born and Lansdale wrote his first screenplay as his son sat on his lap beating him with a plastic hammer.

Most of Lansdale’s writing is deeply ironic, strange, and unconventional. He addresses issues that many authors do not dare write about. He writes about racism, ignorance, urban and rural deprivation, corruption, pedophilia, and gay violence.

Lansdale is well known and highly regarded for his speculative western fiction and rip-roaring horror adventures. His first publication was ‘Act of Love’ in 1980 and from there he continued writing short story collections, anthologies, articles, screenplays, and novels. Some of Lansdale’s famous works include ‘The Drive-In,’ ‘Cold in July,’ the Hap Collins and Leonard Pine series, ‘Tarzan: The Lost Adventure,’ ‘Bubba Ho-Tep,’ and work on the Batman animated series.

Many of his works have been published in various languages and been adapted to film.

The author of over 20 novels, in addition to short story collections, anthologies, and novellas, has received many awards. He has now won seven Bram Stoker Awards and the Grinzane Prize for Literature in Italy in 2006. Also Lansdale has won a British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, the Horror Critics Award, the "Shot in the Dark" International Crime Writers award, the Booklist Editor's Award, the Critic's Choice Award and a New York Times Notable Book award. Additionally, he's just been voted a Grand Master Award by the members of the 2007 World Horror Convention.

Among his writing talents, Lansdale discovered a love for martial arts. At the tender age of 11, boys at school were picking on him. At the time Lansdale’s father was a carnival wrestler and taught him how to protect himself. Then Lansdale learned that the local YMCA offered a judo class. From there he continued studies in hapkido, tae kwon do, and later kenpo.

After studying many different types of martial arts and sciences, Lansdale said he wanted to find a connection between the systems. He said he felt like he just had a “fruit salad” of training.

He later established a martial art known as Shen Chuan and was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame for a fourth time.

Now, after 45 years of martial art experience and a 10th degree black belt, Lansdale said, “It’s tough stuff, but anyone from age 10 to 70 can do it.” He claims these studies have offered him great discipline in his writing. When asked to demonstrate some of his moves, Lansdale said seriously, “We do not perform forms. Ours are done with people, not air.”

Lansdale still enjoys writing and martial arts in his Nacogdoches home with his wife Karen and two children, Keith and Kasey. He plans to continue writing and go on to win many more awards.