The Shadows, Kith and Kin

By: Joe R. Lansdale

Narrated by: Eric Vincent

The endlessly inventive mind of Joe R. Lansdale whips up yet another batch of stories to amaze, surprise, and entertain you.

His new offering covers a lot of territory, producing what may be his best short story collection yet.

One tale concerns an East Texas mule race in the early 1900s that proves to be an unexpected turning point and learning experience for the main character, a lifelong loser. It also chronicles the unusual circumstances of the race, which include a friendship between a rare white mule that can run like the wind, and his friend, a loyal, spotted pig.

Another tale drops us into the disturbed mind of a mass murderer and his friendship with the shadows.

Two other stories reintroduce us to the supernatural adventures of Reverend Rains, the flawed hero from Lansdale's cult favorite novel, Dead in the West. Here ghouls prowl and werewolves howl.

There's a poetic collaboration with Melissa Mia Hall about the nature of loneliness and loss that echoes back to science fiction stories of an earlier time, as well as a famous, award-winning novella appearing here for the first time in several years about a clutch of unusual crime solvers.

Learn about a world where the dead almost rule, and venture into an alternate universe that is the background for perhaps the strangest tale of all, an adventure concerning an earnest and horny steam shovel named Bill, and his challenge to do the right thing at all costs.

It's the usual wild and crowd-pleasing display of what has become a subgenre of modern literature as only Joe R. Lansdale can present it.

©2007 Joe R. Lansdale (P)2013 David N. Wilson

Long short stories--stick to his novels

The narrator was all right, but what bothered me was he didn't even take a breath between the ending of one story and giving the title of the next one. It always took me a few seconds to realize he'd started another story.
As for the stories--well, the last one was a repeat from a different collection, so I pretty much skipped through an hour of it.
Generally, the stories were typical of Joe--but his "shorts" don't hold a candle to his regular novels. IMO, the short stories don't have enough meat in them to be as long as they are. In a sense, these actually reminded me of Stephen King's ability to say a lot without going anywhere.

A great run of short stories...

A great run of short stories by modern pulp master Joe Lansdale. Primarily horror by some speculative fiction too. I really like the steam shovel story. He doesn't shy away from language or vivid descriptions but it is fantastic. I hope you enjoy!

So versitile

Joe R Lansdale is one of the best storytellers. There isn’t anything that he can’t write and some of the stories in this collection prove just that.
There are two stories in this collection that have Reverend Jedidiah and that is reason alone to get this. Lansdale has been doing horror westerns since before it was the cool new fad and the way he is able to splash in humor into his horror seems effortless.