High Cotton

The collection of short fiction by Joe R. Lansdale which is the most readily available, initially published in 2000. In his introduction, he cites it as the "Best of Lansdale". This collection, along with its companion piece "Bumper Crop", is the best place to start, as most of the other compilations are out of print or difficult to find.

He explains that the title refers to high cotton.

It contains:

*Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland {originally published in "Midnight Graffiti", Fall 1989}
*Booty and the Beast {originally published in "Archon Gaming" (1995)}
*By Bizarre Hands {originally published in "Hardboiled" #9 (1988)}
*By the Hair of the Head {originally published in "Shadows" #6, ed. Charles L. Grant (1983)}
*Drive-In Date {originally published in "Night Visions 8" (1991)}
*Dog, Cat, and Baby {originally published in "Masques" #2, ed. J. N. Williamson (1987)}
*The Fat Man and the Elephant {originally published in "By Bizarre Hands" (1989)}
*Godzilla's Twelve Step Program {originally published in "Writer of the Purple Rage" (1994)}
*Incident On and Off a Mountain Road {originally published in "Night Visions 8" (1991)}
*The Job {originally published in "Razored Saddles", ed. Joe R. Lansdale & Pat LoBrutto (1989)}
*Letter From the South, Two Moons West of Nacogdoches {originally published in "Last Wave" #5 (1986)}
*Mister Weed-Eater {previously published by Cahill Press, 1993}
*My Dead Dog Bobby {originally published in "The Horror Show", Summer 1987)}
*Night They Missed the Horror Show (winner of Bram Stoker Award) {originally published in "Silver Scream", ed. David J. Schow (1988)}
*Not from Detroit (based on scene from "The Nightrunners") {originally published in "Midnight Graffiti", Fall 1988}
*The Phone Woman {originally published in "Night Visions 8" (1991)}
*The Pit {originally published in "The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction", ed. Ed Gorman (1987)}
*The Steel Valentine {originally published in "By Bizarre Hands" (1989)}
*Steppin' Out, Summer, '68 {originally published in "Night Visions 8" (1991)}
*Tight Little Stitches In A Dead Man's Back {originally published in "Nukes", ed. John Maclay (1986)}
*Trains Not Taken {originally published in "RE:AL" Spring (1987)}