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A review by dark_reader
Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction by Grady Hendrix
5.0
UPDATE: Dude has a one-man show about this book and the making-thereof! He came to my town this week and I met him, terrific guy, I can't wait for his future books.
This is not just a book. It is clearly a labor of love. The author is sharing his electric geek-out passion with the world. Fortunately for him it is one that turns out to be eminently marketable; as presented here, the topic has broad appeal, and not just to cool and nerdy types. The reason these horror paperbacks appeared in such numbers in the decades featured was that they were readily consumed by the general populace.
There isn't much one can say in proper review of this project, other than to praise or lament what was included or omitted, respectively. The author provides some cultural context for the horror boom and specific sub-genres that he highlights. The specific book descriptions are often jokey (my favorite sub-chapter heading: "Skeleton doctors are the worst doctors"). There are multiple sidebars about the cover artists, who are the real stars of this book, as any flip-through will reveal.
I totally get the author's experience in getting turned on to this genre. In my late 20's or early 30's, I was feeling out of sorts and restless, pretty much depressed, and I felt a need to find a book that was richly disturbing. I browsed the horror section at a Toronto used-book store, and what I came across was [b: Psychamok|636754|Psychamok|Brian Lumley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312043804s/636754.jpg|1769238] by Brian Lumley. From the absurd title, the kind-of-silly suspenseful back cover description ("... the Gibbering!") and the bizarre cover art featuring eyeball-like spheres penetrated by ropy cable-tentacles, I was hooked. It was not a particularly good book, not 'disturbing' in any genuine sense, and was the last part of a trilogy although it did not suffer from not having read the first two parts. It did, however, turn me on to pulpy horror adventure, and to Brian Lumley in particular. It led me to his [b: Necroscope|66655|Necroscope (Necroscope #1)|Brian Lumley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1170652860s/66655.jpg|1888272] series, and slightly later to his Lovecraft-inspired ouevre. (None of which is included in Paperback from Hell, coming too late in history and/or too unpopular or not fitting the genre). All of this ultimately helped me to embrace my genuine tastes and led to greater life happiness. So there.
This is not just a book. It is clearly a labor of love. The author is sharing his electric geek-out passion with the world. Fortunately for him it is one that turns out to be eminently marketable; as presented here, the topic has broad appeal, and not just to cool and nerdy types. The reason these horror paperbacks appeared in such numbers in the decades featured was that they were readily consumed by the general populace.
There isn't much one can say in proper review of this project, other than to praise or lament what was included or omitted, respectively. The author provides some cultural context for the horror boom and specific sub-genres that he highlights. The specific book descriptions are often jokey (my favorite sub-chapter heading: "Skeleton doctors are the worst doctors"). There are multiple sidebars about the cover artists, who are the real stars of this book, as any flip-through will reveal.
I totally get the author's experience in getting turned on to this genre. In my late 20's or early 30's, I was feeling out of sorts and restless, pretty much depressed, and I felt a need to find a book that was richly disturbing. I browsed the horror section at a Toronto used-book store, and what I came across was [b: Psychamok|636754|Psychamok|Brian Lumley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312043804s/636754.jpg|1769238] by Brian Lumley. From the absurd title, the kind-of-silly suspenseful back cover description ("... the Gibbering!") and the bizarre cover art featuring eyeball-like spheres penetrated by ropy cable-tentacles, I was hooked. It was not a particularly good book, not 'disturbing' in any genuine sense, and was the last part of a trilogy although it did not suffer from not having read the first two parts. It did, however, turn me on to pulpy horror adventure, and to Brian Lumley in particular. It led me to his [b: Necroscope|66655|Necroscope (Necroscope #1)|Brian Lumley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1170652860s/66655.jpg|1888272] series, and slightly later to his Lovecraft-inspired ouevre. (None of which is included in Paperback from Hell, coming too late in history and/or too unpopular or not fitting the genre). All of this ultimately helped me to embrace my genuine tastes and led to greater life happiness. So there.