Also, remember Bubba Ho-Tep (2002), the film where Bruce Campbell played an aged and not dead Elvis Presley and fought a mummy that preyed on the elderly? Yeah, that insanity was based on a Joe Lansdale short story. Both series are a must read for any comic book or dark western fan. Lansdale also penned two Jonah Hex series for Vertigo ( Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo in 1993 and Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such in 1995).

Remember that kickass episode of Batmanwhen Jonah Hex met a youthful Ra’s Al Ghul in the Old West? Yeah, that was Joe Lansdale.

Lansdale at his absolute best.You might be familiar with Lansdale through his awesome work on the Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series. It's an expert blend of genres and a wild and original story. I know I've given my BADASS stamp of approval to another novel last week, but I'm giving it again for different reasons: COLD IN JULY might not be a transcendent emotional experience, but it's a masterful novel nonetheless. I know there is a specific month in the title, but it's not a novel that should be stored for eleven months. Plus, I've read this baby in July! If you're considering waiting until July 2015 to do so, please don't. COLD IN JULY is one of his most complex, unpredictable and ultimately satisfying novels, so yeah, I'm kind of gushing. I'd say his work, T om Piccirilli's and Dennis Lehane's had the most influence on me. COLD IN JULY is so incredibly layered, emotionally and narratively complex, that it has something to please everybody. Richard Dane is a protective dad and a frame builder, but he's also a knight, a cowboy, a sleuth and a tormented man who lives with the idea of death the way samurais do. Lansdale understands the essence of these genres so well that he can apply them to every possible setting and COLD IN JULY happens to be a perfect storm. That story could've been told in any possible setting and it would've still been a psychological thriller, psychological horror, a hardboiled novel, a Western and a samurai epic all rolled up in one.

Writing a crime novel in the Far West or a horror story in space is juxtaposing genres, but it's not blending them. Lansdale is one of the best authors at seamlessly blending genres.

Dead in the West by Joe R. Lansdale