Review: Driving to Geronimo's Grave: and Other Stories

Driving to Geronimo's Grave: and Other Stories by Joe R. Lansdale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review copy eARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley

Joe R. Lansdale has been on my radar for many years, and always seemed to be an author I’d enjoy. But the shame of it is that until now, I’ve only read one or two short stories of his. This collection was fantastic, and if it’s any indication of a consistent writing style from Lansdale, I’ll certainly be reading more of his work in short order.

“Driving to Geronimo’s Grave” – I had no idea where this story was going as it got started, but wasn’t disappointed. Terri was the best part of this. I really got a feel for the Great Depression setting here.

“In the Mad Mountains” – You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually read an HP Lovecraft story. But even so, I recognize when something is “Lovecraftian”, and this is certainly it (confirmed by the author’s notes after the story). Besides that, it reminded me of what might have happened if Dan Simmons wrote about the Titanic in the spirit of The Terror, and maybe had some contributions from Stephen King in the vein of “The Langoliers”. And then so much more than all of that. Loved it.

“Wrestling Jesus” – What a fantastic story! I couldn’t see where it was going*, and I was glued to the page from beginning to end. This is a unique take on the “young guy meets old mentor” story and is very well written. *What’s even more amazing is that in the notes, I discovered that I’d actually read this story before, in the Dangerous Women anthology. Looking back at my review, I had flagged it as a favorite.

“Robo Rapid” – and he does science fiction too. This was a great tale of a disturbing post-apocalyptic future.

“The Projectionist” – This was based on an Ed Hopper painting, so I had to look it up online after reading. I would have done so before, but didn’t know that fact until the author notes after the story. Anyway, this fits with “Wrestling Jesus” as a mentor-student bond type tale, though quite different in its execution. (Pun intended)

“Everything Sparkles in Hell” – Great title for the final story! Oh, and it’s a Western. Great way to close out an excellent collection. I really liked this one, with the suspense of the hunting grizzly bear. I was also pleased to see that there are other stories out there about Nat Love, so this is just the beginning.

All in all a great collection which left me wanting more. Lansdale is a great short story writer; most authors have a good one here and there but their collections are pretty uneven. This one is rock solid, with every single story being of equal high intensity and quality. I’m looking forward to reading more of his work. I’ll be grabbing more of the short stories, and I look forward to trying a novel as well.


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