No, I haven't actually read this story. Joe read it at a session during the World Fantasy Convention, and he says that it will appear in the next issue of Weird Tales, which is supposed to be a special Joe R. Lansdale issue.
What's the story about? It's a weird western about a preacher named Jubal, who without joy serves a vengeful Old Testament God. Jubal, weary from his travels and the recent unpleasantness in Mud Creek, comes upon a broken-down cabin one evening and asks for hospitality. Also sheltering there for the night are a deputy sheriff and his prisoner who are headed for the jail Nacogdoches, where the prisoner has a date with the hangman. The owner of the cabin, Oldtimer, tells them that the shortest way to the town is by Dead Man's Road. It's not the safest way, though, because it's patrolled by an undead former bee-keeper who really doesn't like the living.
Jubal agrees to accompany the deputy and the prisoner because it's his job, although he resents it, to fight evil. And that undead bee-keeper is nothing if not evil. He was evil when he was alive, and death didn't improve him.
The story is weird, wild, vulgar, and hilarious. In other words, a typical Joe R. Lansdale story. Better be on the look-out for the next issue of Weird Tales, since you wouldn't want to miss this one.
2 comments:
I let my Weird Tales subscription lapse a couple of years ago, An all-Lansdale issue ought to be worth the price of renewal.
Lansdale kicks all possible ass. What else is there to say?
Victor Gischler
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