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
This does sound like a good collection and I know you like Lansdale. It's neat that he wrote a book with his daughter.
ReplyDeleteKasey has an introduction in the middle of the collection that explains how they teamed up. That was neat to read, too.
DeleteThis might be a good one for me to read to introduce me to some horror authors since I'm not familiar with many of them.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great introduction to both horror and the Lansdales.
DeleteOoh this sounds fun. The Case of the Lighthouse Shambler- that sounds so eerie, just that title makes me want to read that story! Glad this was good!
ReplyDeleteRight? :) It's a great story.
DeleteI think I do have a book by Lansdale which I hate to admit I've not picked up - I'm going to go and find it. This sounds very entertaining, I've just read another positive review by Tammy too. It's probably not for me as short stories don't tend to work for me but I will definitely check out that other book I have.
ReplyDeleteLynn :D
I hope you find your Lansdale! I'm curious to hear which book you have.
DeleteI saw this on another blog too. Looks really interesting!
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun read.
DeleteI enjoyed this too, although may be not quite as much as you. I didn't really like Jana that much, she just rubbed me the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean, Tammy. I really liked that Jana let us see another side of Dana, but she was also pretty shallow at times.
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