Center, TX – Highly-regarded and award winning champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale will be the guest speaker at the Attoyac Writers’ Guild on Tues., Oct. 20 beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Attoyac River Gallery, located on Shelbyville Street, downtown Center square. Lansdale has written hundreds of horror, western, mystery and suspense stories that have appeared in a variety of mediums including books, film, television and comics.
Where does Mojo storytelling come from? How does a fella learn to spin over-the-top yarns of any sort: horror, suspense, humor, science fiction, Western, what have you? First you got to see the world, like champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, who has lived everywhere from Gladewater, Texas to Mount Enterprise, Texas to Nacogdoches, Texas!
"Texas is so wrapped up in myth and legend, it’s hard to know what the state and its people are really about," says Lansdale. "Real Texans, raised on these myths and legends, sometimes become legends themselves. The bottom line is, Texas and its people are pretty much what most people mean when they use the broader term ‘America.’ No state better represents the independent spirit, the can-do attitude of America, better than Texas."
The second ingredient to good Mojo storytelling is learning how to take a punch. Or a kick. Or a poke in the eye. And then learning how to avoid them. Lansdale is a student of the martial arts for more than thirty years. He’s a two-time inductee into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame, one such honor bestowed upon him for his founding of Shen Chuan, Martial Science. He holds belts in Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu, Combat Hapkido, American Combat Kempo, and Aikido, amongst others; in fact, his standard day is six hours at the typewriter, three hours at Lansdale’s Self Defense Systems, the martial-arts studio which he owns and at which he teaches.
With more than twenty books to his credit, Lansdale is the champion Mojo storyteller. He’s been called "an immense talent" by Booklist; "a born storyteller" by Robert Bloch; and The New York Times Book Review declares he has "a folklorist’s eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur’s sense of pace." He’s won umpty-ump awards, including five Bram Stoker horror awards, a British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, the Horror Critics Award, the "Shot in the Dark" International Crime Writer’s award, the Booklist Editor’s Award, the Critic’s Choice Award, and a New York Times Notable Book award. He’s got the most decorated mantle in all of Nacogdoches!
Lansdale lives in Nacogdoches, Texas, with his wife, Karen, writer and editor.
Discover more about Lansdale and his bibliography at www.joerlansdale.com/bio.
The overall mission of the Attoyac Writers' Guild is to provide a forum of support and information to both aspiring and experienced writers and poets, to create a circle of assistance to those interested with marketing their literary works for publication, and to establish a peer network for writing improvements, discussions and critiques.
The Attoyac Writers’ Guild meets every third Tuesday evening September through May. Details for joining or participating in the writers’ guild can be obtained by contacting Program Coordinators, Suzanne Walker, 936.591.1655 or Andi Foster, 936.590.0298, or by visiting the guild’s blog at http://attoyacwritersguild.blogspot.com/.
The Lakes Area Arts League is a non-profit organization established to promote interest and knowledge of all areas of the visual and performing fine arts through education and appreciation while enhancing the culture and tourism of the community and surrounding areas.
