By Bizarre Hands is the first collection of short stories by American writerJoe R. Lansdale, published in 1989. The collection was nominated for aBram Stoker Award^[1] for best fiction collection, and contains two stories which won Stokers. It has an introduction byLewis Shiner. This book was re-issued as By Bizarre Hands Rides Again in 2010. The re-issue contains a new introduction by Joe R. Lansdale and new artwork byAlex McVey. This book is limited to 300 copies and is signed by both writer and artist. It also contains two stories not in the original issue.

• "Boys Will Be Boys" (1985, originally published inHardboiled #3) (excerpt of novelThe Nightrunners)
• "By Bizarre Hands" (1988, originally published inHardboiled #9)
• "Down By the Sea Near the Great Big Rock" (1984, originally published inMasques #1)
• "Duck Hunt" (1986, originally published inAfter Midnight)
• "The Fat Man and the Elephant" (previously unpublished)
• "Fish Night" (1982, originally published inSpecter!)
• "Hell Through A Windshield" (1985, extended from shorter version published inTwilight Zone Magazine - non-fiction)
• "I Tell You It's Love" (1983, originally published inModern Stories, 1983)
• "Letter From the South, Two Moons West of Nacogdoches" (1986, originally published inLast Wave #5 (1986))
• "Night They Missed the Horror Show" (1988, originally published inSilver Scream -Bram Stoker Award winner)
• "On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks" (1989, originally published inBook of the Dead -Bram Stoker Award winner)
• "The Pit" (1987, originally published inTheBlack Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction, ed.Ed Gorman (1987)}
• "The Steel Valentine" (previously unpublished)
• "Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back" (1986, originally published inNukes)
• "Trains Not Taken" (1987, originally published inRE:AL)
• "The Windstorm Passes" (1986, originally published inPulpsmith, excerpt of novelThe Magic Wagon)

This collection contains nothing truly exclusive; although no other collection has included "Boys Will Be Boys" or "The Windstorm Passes", both are actually excerpts from novels which were sold as short stories when no company would buy the novels. The novels have been published, though they are both currently out of print.

By Bizarre Hands was also the name of two different comic booklimited series, a 3-issue published byDark Horse Comics and a 6-issue published byAvatar Press in 2004, where other authors and artists adapted some of Lansdale's stories to comic book form.

The Dark Horse series was collected as part ofAtomic Chili: The Illustrated Joe R. Lansdale.

The stories in theDark Horse series are, by issue:

1. "Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back" (adapted byNeal Barrett Jr. - art byPhil Hester)
2. "By Bizarre Hands" (adapted byJerry Prosser - art by Dean Rohrer)
3. "Night They Missed the Picture Show" (adapted byJerry Prosser - art by Dean Rohrer)

The stories in theAvatar series are, by issue:

1. "By Bizarre Hands" (adapted by Dheeraj Verma)
2. "Not From Detroit" (adapted by Armando Rossi)
3. "The Pit" (adapted by Andres Guinaldo)
4. "Tight Little Stitches In A Dead Man's Back" (adapted by Dheeraj Verma)
5. "Night They Missed the Picture Show" (adapted by Andres Guinaldo)
6. "God of the Razor" and "My Dead Dog Bobby" (adapted by Dheeraj Verma)

• Short story collections by Joe R. Lansdale
• English-language books
• 1989 short story collections
• 2004 comics debuts
• Horror short story collections

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2025