Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2019047 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 170 pages

Customer Reviews

A WONDERFUL FARCE THAT MAKES YOU LAUGH OUT LOUD!!!
Joe R. Lansdale's newest novel, ZEPPELINS WEST, published in a signed, limited edition by Subterranean Press, gives the reader a glimpse into the outrageous and humorous side of this fantastic author's personality. Be warned that this is a novel that will probably appeal to only Lansdale's diehard fans; but, then again, maybe not. Written in the classic tradition of H.G. Wells, Julies Verne, and Frank Baum (add a lot of sex, dark humor and violence), Mr. Lansdale has created an adventure story that combines actual historical characters with fictional characters from the novels of the above writers. You might say ZEPPELINS WEST takes place in a parallel universe, or that it could even be an alternate history of things that might have happened in our own world. However you choose to view it, the one aspect that stands out for me is that the story had me laughing from beginning to end. It starts out with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show heading to Japan on board a flying zeppelin. Accompanied by Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, Wild Bill Hickok, Ned Buntline, and the show's other employees, Buffalo Bill is definitely not his usual self. It seems as though his wife caught him cheating on her and shot a rather big hole in him. To save the famous entertainer's life, Dr. Samuel Morse and Professor Maxxon, who happened to be visiting with the Codys at the time, removed Bill's head and stuck it in a mason jar filled with pig urine and whisky... What really hooked me with ZEPPELINS WEST was the author's sense of off-the-wall humor. He had the Frankenstein monster develop a gay relationship with the Tin Man, who was still experiencing feelings of guilt over what the Cowardly Lion and Straw Man did to young, innocent Dot and her dog, BoBo, in the Emerald City. Annie Oakley and Hickok can't keep their hands off of each other. They're constantly doing the two-bear mambo every time they're left alone for longer than two minutes. Ned the Seal is the smartest of the bunch, but has an obsession with dime-store novels and his hero, Buffalo Bill. All of this, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. There are guest appearances by Vlad Tepes (Dracula), William Rickenbacher, Manfred Von Richthoften, Charles Darwin, and Victor Frankenstein. ZEPPELINS WEST certainly isn't meant to be a serious piece of literature. It's an audacious experiment of fiction that allows the author to let loose with his zany imagination and to see where it takes him. This is certainly one of the funniest novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading, and it clearly displays the versatile range of Joe R. Lansdale's talent as a writer. Still, this isn't for everyone. Illustrated by Mark A. Nelson, ZEPPELINS WEST is a novel meant for those who have a wicked sense of humor and who love to laugh out loud, not caring who hears them.