{"id":13908,"date":"2020-01-08T07:00:59","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=13908"},"modified":"2020-01-08T14:05:38","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T19:05:38","slug":"review-the-sky-done-ripped-joe-lansdale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-sky-done-ripped-joe-lansdale\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Sky Done Ripped by Joe R. Lansdale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"13924\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-sky-done-ripped-joe-lansdale\/ripped\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ripped.jpg?fit=330%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"330,499\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"ripped\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ripped.jpg?fit=330%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-13924\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ripped-231x350.jpg?resize=231%2C350\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ripped.jpg?resize=231%2C350&amp;ssl=1 231w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ripped.jpg?w=330&amp;ssl=1 330w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 85vw, 231px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/subterraneanpress.com\/sky-done-ripped\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong><em>The Sky Done Ripped<\/em> by Joe R. Lansdale<\/strong><\/a><em><br \/>\n<\/em><strong>Subterranean Press (December 2019)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>296 pages; $95 signed limited edition hardcover; $40 trade edition hardcover; $6.99 e-book<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Reviewed by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/BluGilliand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blu Gilliand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think that, sometimes, in the midst of all the discussion about craft and theme and structure, we&#8212;meaning writers and readers and reviewers&#8212;forget that this stuff is supposed to be fun. It&#8217;s so refreshing, then, when an author like Joe R. Lansdale comes along, manuscript in hand and shit-eating grin on his face, to remind us of that very fact.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Lansdale&#8217;s latest reminder comes in the form of\u00a0<em>The Sky Done Ripped,\u00a0<\/em>the third volume chronicling the adventures of Ned the Seal (as seen previously in\u00a0<em>Zeppelins West<\/em> and\u00a0<em>Flaming London<\/em>). For those who&#8217;ve yet to make his acquaintance, Ned the Seal is not a guy with a funny nickname; he is, in fact, an actual seal, albeit one with with advanced intellectual capabilities&#8212;and a cool floating sled, to boot.<\/p>\n<p>Ned is accompanied on his adventures by an author named H.G. Wells&#8212;yep,\u00a0<em>that<\/em> H.G. Wells. The two have been traveling through time, endeavoring to repair some damage they caused in their previous time-traveling exploits. That&#8217;s really all I want to say about the plot, because a summary just won&#8217;t do this book justice. Plus, the fun is in the discovery, and I don&#8217;t want to give too much away.<\/p>\n<p>I will tell you that if you&#8217;re looking for sentient apes and gigantic alien\/ape hybrids and medieval torture wagons and lost jungle cities, you&#8217;re in luck. However, if you&#8217;re looking for Lansdale&#8217;s usual nuanced characterization, you might want to go back to his Hap and Leonard series. That&#8217;s not a knock on\u00a0<em>Ripped<\/em>, which features more depth of character than most of the pulp novels it emulates&#8212;just a warning that Lansdale is not offering subtlety here. Don&#8217;t let that turn you away, though; just adjust your expectations and enjoy one wild party.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that\u00a0<em>Ripped\u00a0<\/em>retains in comparison to most of Lansdale&#8217;s work is his natural storytelling voice, coupled with his finely-tuned storytelling tools. It takes an immense amount of talent and, yes, craft, to make a book like this work. This isn&#8217;t about throwing a bunch of outlandish characters and details into a pot to dazzle readers into thinking the stew is good. Lansdale&#8217;s technique is in fine form here, making it easy to invest into a story as off-the-rails as this one without hesitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sky Done Ripped by Joe R. Lansdale Subterranean Press (December 2019) 296 pages; $95 signed limited edition hardcover; $40 trade edition hardcover; $6.99 e-book Reviewed by\u00a0Blu Gilliand I think that, sometimes, in the midst of all the discussion about craft and theme and structure, we&#8212;meaning writers and readers and reviewers&#8212;forget that this stuff is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-sky-done-ripped-joe-lansdale\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: The Sky Done Ripped by Joe R. Lansdale&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[301,610,79,310,1941],"class_list":["post-13908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-blu-gilliand","tag-joe-r-lansdale","tag-reviews","tag-subterranean-press","tag-the-sky-done-ripped"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: The Sky Done Ripped by Joe R. 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