Bloody books: "Paperbacks from Hell: The twisted history of '70s and '80s horror fiction."

Submitted by i-the-muso-1968 t3_11aclf0 in books

If there was a history written about the horror fiction of the 1970s to 1980s then "Paperbacks from Hell" would be that very history. Ranging from its beginnings in the 60s to it's peak in the 80s it is a pretty wild ride!

The book is separated into eight chapters (also including the prologue). Each of these chapters detail certain subject matter that many of the writers of these two decades utilized. The Supernatural (demonic possession and haunted houses), monsters, weird science ect. From the well written to the campy. Includes some mentions of big names like Stephen King, Peter Straub, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Anne Rice, William Peter Blatty, Ray Russell and George R. R. Martin.

Aside from those big names there are also some lesser known names as well. And it even has pages dedicated to artists who provided artwork to these paperbacks.

The writing of Grady Hendrix is funny, irreverent as he details the history and timeline of the 70s and 80s horror boom. Plus the book is generously illustrated with the cover artwork from novels and collections from that time period. This is just a really fun book to read!

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ADHD-HDTV t1_j9rjzgz wrote

Dude get out of my head! I just finished HorrorStor — among Best Friend’s Exoricism and Final Girls — and I just love how much fun his horror is. He clearly knows the tropes and cliches and is just having a great ride with it.

I was doing research on him and found he wrote Paperbacks From Hell about horror books in the era and and I was like I have to pick it up! This was my sign haha

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VVitchHaunter t1_j9rkcef wrote

Anyone even a little bit interested in this book should check out the Valancourt Paperbacks from Hell series, they've been doing great work with them.

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Cnsrbstrmp t1_j9rautf wrote

Besides the newspaper, ghost stories were all I was interested in when I was five, which was the 70's. I don't remember much of them, but had a hellacious nightmare or two

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wappenheimer t1_j9rd2z2 wrote

I read "Demon Seed" by Dean Koontz, and man was that a trip!

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ErinPaperbackstash t1_j9rptfh wrote

Yes, it's great!

I love Valancourt re-editions and the intros to them also inspired by this book

Another fun retro one is Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction --- not as good as paperbacks from hell but interesting

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CitizenWolfie t1_j9sxm44 wrote

I'm kind of on the fence about Grady Hendrix after reading two of his books so far. I really enjoyed We Sold Our Souls even though it had some flaws, but I thought Final Girl Support Group started off well and quickly fizzled out into a dull, disjointed mess. At the moment I don't know whether to give him another shot, but maybe a non-fiction history of horror would be different.

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PurpleDreamer28 t1_j9ru8bw wrote

Funny to see this when I'm currently on a Grady Hendrix binge! Been reading Final Girl Support Group, now I'll have to check out this one sometime!

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JJdante t1_j9uh8vp wrote

I love the pulpy art from that era. It was incredibly expressive and you knew exactly what kind of book you were signing up to read.

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Not_the_last_Bruce t1_j9r8lx2 wrote

I recently acquired Greely's Cove by John Gideon, it was mentioned in this awesome tome !

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Snoo52682 t1_j9tewf2 wrote

This is SUCH a good book. I'm always trying to get people to read it.

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MrPanchole t1_j9tsf7x wrote

I was really into horror in my early teens (early 80s) and would trade books with my best friend's mom. We were big fans of James Herbert and Graham Masterton.

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