Duck-Footed

This one needs an explanation. In 1996, when Joe was assembling his first collection of early stories, The Good, the Bad and the Indifferent<, and again last year, when ferreting out the tales that would make up For a Few Stories More, he kept talking about a long-ish tale he remembered very fondly, but could never find.

 

Joe made trips into his basement. Came out covered in dust, unfulfilled. Rooted around in his office. Not there, either. I wrote the university library that houses many of his papers. Nope. That story, “Duck-Footed” couldn’t be found and included in either collection. Every once in a while he’d mention it to me, but I gave up hope of ever seeing a copy.

 

“Duck-Footed” finally surfaced, and though it’s early, never-before-published Lansdale, there’s a freewheeling craziness that shows up later in novels like The Drive-In and Zeppelins West.

 

Join hisownself for another tale set in Mud Creek, one fraught with aliens, bad television, and televangelists.