A Vogue’s Tale

My grandmother, Ola, who actually saw Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, came to Texas in a covered wagon. She was one of the last of the Western pioneers. She brought self-reliance and grit with her, and passed it on to my mother, O’Reta, who lived through the Great Depression at the bottom of the economic scale, and considering the situation of those times, that was a deep ditch to be in. My mother was for the most part self-educated, though when she was in her thirties, she actually went to high school to better herself. She lived a life of true adversity, not champagne problems, and she lived it with courage, determination, and without complaint. Nearly seventeen years after my brother John was born, it was my turn to show up, a child of the fifties. She gave my brother and I a love of learning, and in my case, reading, and teased my heart and mind with the idea of living a creative life. My wife, Karen, worked in the rose fields with me, the potato fields, hauled hay, milked goats, and butchered meat. She believed in me as a writer, and encouraged me, and never doubted for a second that I would make it. Others may have, but not her. She was the first female fire department dispatcher in Nacogdoches, Texas, and was the true founder of the Horror Writers Association, a worldwide organization. Where I’m flighty, she’s solid. Where I’m winging it, she’s planning. She’s always been my balance, and is one hell of a good role model. I still look to her for strength and inspiration. Our daughter, Kasey, even in her teen years, struck out on her own, went off to Nashville, and finally Los Angeles, to pursue her musical career, only to add to it writing, modeling, acting, publishing, and voice work for audio books and even Stan Lee Cartoons. She is equally inspiring, and unstoppable. Powerful women have always been a valuable and appreciated part of my life, and still are. Those women who have influenced me were about more than being subservient to appearance, fashion or career. That was part of who they were, but not all. It is their belief in self that makes them unique and resolute. And self-recognition is stronger than flesh and stronger than money. That kind of power is like an expanding flame, reaching out to others, male or female, giving them the strength to be better than they are. It’s a flame that in the future will burn brighter and hotter than ever before. *He lives in Texas with his wife, Karen, also a writer. He has published more than 20 novels and hundreds of comic books, short stories and serials like Hap & Leonard, whose 10th adventure, “Rusty Puppy” (Mulholland Books), came out in 2017. The Hap & Leonard cycle was made into a television series by Sundance TV, the third season of which starts in March. Lansdale has also written for the cinema, collaborating with Ridley Scott, among others. original text page 76