Contents:

Foreword
The Pit
Not From Detroit
Booty and the Beast
Steppin' Out, Summer '68
Incident On and Off a Mountain Road
My Dead Dog, Bobby
Trains Not Taken
Tight Little Stitches In a Dead Man's Back
Dog, Cat, and Baby
Mister Weed-Eater
By Bizarre Hands
The Fat Man and The Elephant
The Phone Woman
Letter From the South, Two Moons West of Nacodoches
By The Hair of the Head
The Job
Godzilla's Twelve Step Program
Drive-In Date
Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland
The Steel Valentine
Night They Missed The Horror Show

Before each short story is a short introduction.

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This was definitely the most disturbing and horrifying collection of stories I have ever read! If you are easily offended, you may want to keep clear of this one. That said, the stories were such that you just have to keep on reading to see what kind of bizarreness Lansdale comes up with next. I've read a few other books by Lansdale including some of his Hap and Leonard stories and his wonderful THE BOTTOMS. Most of the stories in High Cotton come from the same East Texas southern redneck bigoted arena as his novels, but then takes them to an extreme next level. Some of the ones to look out for include The Pit, Booty and the Beast, Steppin' Out Summer '68, Incident on a Mountain Road, and especially, Drive-In Date and Night They Missed the Horror Show. The last two mentioned really take it to the next level so be warned! Also included are some gentler stories in the science fiction/alternative history vein but for the most part these are really gut-wrenching. Lansdale also pulls no punches in describing the bigotry of the people in his stories. The "N" word was used more in this collection than in Huckleberry Finn. Overall, I would recommend this for the not so squeamish.

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