Joe R Lansdale
	Captains Outrageous

First published in the USA by Warner Books Inc, 2001 September 1. First published in UK by Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2002 February 14. UK Phoenix paperback published 2003 April 3.

Joe R Lansdale is a successful and established writer, with several dozen books and almost two hundred short stories to his credit. That I had not heard of him before encountering this book is probably because most of his work is aimed at red-bloodied males, with brawling, beatings and violent deaths a major theme, and this is not a genre I normally go for.

Despite the title's pun on Kipling's Captains Courageous, only a small proportion of the action in Captains Outrageous takes place at sea. Hap Collins and his best mate Leonard Pine encounter, assault (or are assaulted by) and pursue various specimens of the ungodly around the Southern US and Mexico. This pair have been together through five previous novels, surviving thanks to a mixture of rough-house skills, good luck, astonishingly robust bodies and a collection of accomplished and loyal friends. The pair are unmatched in some respects: Hap being white and heterosexual, while Leonard is black and gay. This provides scope for interesting and amusing banter, as well as allowing some unusual sub-plots and themes to be developed. Despite this, and a nicely flowing style, I found the regular violence and brutality - however realistic - a turn off, and I won't be looking out for other Hap/Leonard stories.

As for the naturism, there isn't much of it. I suppose I ought to be commending Lansdale for producing some characters who enjoy clothes-free leisure, but all of these nudists are baddies, and only one gets an opportunity to discuss his nudism. Because the scenes and dialogue involving non-sexual nudity are brief, the extracts are a lot shorter than usual for Yarns Without Threads. Even so, I hope they are sufficient to help you judge whether you would like to try this book. To avoid spoiling the enjoyment of potential readers, I've edited the text to eliminate anything related to significant plot development. What is not a secret is that the main nudist is also the lead bad guy.

If you have a taste for fiction featuring lots of human nature red in tooth and claw, then you probably already know about Hap Leonard and Joe R Lansdale. More sensitive souls might be better advised to try the gentler bopping of the ungodly featured in the works of Leslie Charteris, Erle Stanley Gardner, Gillian Linscott and Richard S Prather.

An edited version of this review appeared in the 2004 November issue of H&E Naturist magazine.

Ratings:

Nudity	Naturist nudity	A good read?

Last updated 2004 August 13.
 
Images Copyright © various authors, photographers, graphic artists, illustrators and publishers
Other content Copyright © author Tim Forcer

Authors A:Z		Titles A:Z		Publication date
	Up to Yarns Without Threads front page