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Book Nook: Paradise Sky, by Joe Lansdale

If you look up the word "prolific" in the dictionary it should be illustrated by a photo of Joe Lansdale. I'm kidding of course and merely trying to point out the fact that Lansdale writes a lot of really fabulous books and he ranges from horror to westerns to who knows what might be coming out next. Hollywood loves his stuff, too. He is a very busy writer.

This book "Paradise Sky" is a tribute to the dime novel. It is the story of how a youth named Willie fled from his racist pursuers in Texas and created various new lives and occupations for himself. Eventually he became known as "Deadwood Dick." You can look it up. Lansdale manages to take a light and comical touch with some material that might have seemed rather gruesome in the hands of a less capable writer. 

This is a wild and savage tale of the Old West as told by a guy who knows his way around the material. And I finally got an interview with him after all these years. I can finally check him off my list of dream interview subjects.

Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994. Over the years he has produced more than 1500 interviews with writers, musicians, poets, politicians, and celebrities. Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them. Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News Sun.