Fresh off last night’s terrific COLONY showcase, the Jean Cocteau Cinema is setting up to do it again next Tuesday, when Joe R. Lansdale His Own Self returns to Santa Fe to premiere the pilot episode of his new television series HAP & LEONARD, from Sundance.

Joe is an amazingly prolific author (I hates him, I hates him), turning out wonderful books in a whole range of genres: science fiction, horror, historical, and mystery, just for a start. If you haven’t read his stuff, you don’t know what you’re missing. The Sage of Nachodoches, Texas, he has a unique voice; nothing reads like a Lansdale story.

His Hap & Leonard novels are among my favorites, and it is great to see them coming to the small screen (in your homes) and the big (well, medium sized) one at the JCC. The cast is pretty amazing too: Marc Antony as Hap and Omar as Leonard, how do you beat that? (James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams, for those not up on their HBO series).

<lj-embed id=”681″/>

Joe will also be signing books, of course. (We have a good selection of autographed Lansdale titles available from the JCC online bookstore right now at http://www.jeancocteaubooks.com/ — but supplies are limited. But have no fear, we will be getting lots more in by Tuesday for Joe to scrawl in, including a bunch of Hap & Leonard novels).

As with all our TV premieres, admission is FREE. You still might want to call ahead to reserve tickets, though, since this one could easily sell out.

See you at the show!

The Authority took control at the Jean Cocteau Cinema last night, when Ryan Condal and his team from Legendary, IGN, and USA turned up for a special showcase of USA’s new sf series COLONY. We showed episodes six and seven on our big (well, medium sized) screen, and afterward Ryan and I talked and fielded questions about COLONY, GAME OF THRONES, working in television, development hell, SIXTH GUN, and all manner of other things.

If you missed it, you should be able to find it on line somewhere. I know people were filming us. So… Twitter, Facebook, IGN, Periscope, one of those places. (What do I know about this Interweb thingie? I still tie messages to the legs of ravens).

It was a fun event, and everyone left with a signed COLONY poster and a red cap.

Our drink special… the Redcap, natch… was also pretty righteous. I had one, and I think I am still feeling the effects this morning.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the episodes as well… even though only three people in the crowd had seen the five episodes that preceded the ones we screened. If you haven’t caught COLONY yet, give it a try. Ryan and his team are doing a nice job.