Today's Nonfiction post is on Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s And '80s Horror Fiction by Grady Hendrix. It is 254 pages long including notes and is published by Quirk Books. The cover has the title in blood red at the top with different covers of the horror novels running as a bottom boarder. The intended reader is someone who is interested in publishing history and some incredible forgotten horror novels. There is foul language, sex, and so much violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the dust jacket- If Books Could Kill...
The 1970s and '80s were a glorious time for paperback horror novels... if you enjoy tales of satanic sex cults, homicidal ghost clowns, man-eating slugs, and Nazi leprechauns. Don't be afraid! Just hold the hand of horror author Grady Hendrix as he guides you through this forgotten horror fiction boom. With hilarious story recaps, poignant creator biographies, and hundreds of the most awesomely insane books covers ever published.
Review- I love this book so much. It is well written, with great love and humor, it is about a very interesting subject, and the covers are amazing. Hendrix takes us from when he discovered The Little People in a flea market and that led him, and us, down a gory rabbit trail into the high time of horror novels. Hendrix gives us not only summaries of the novels but spotlights different forgotten authors and the artists who made those incredible covers. We travel from when horror was not seen as a respectable genre to the overbloated genre that it was in the 1990s. Hendrix loving traces the roots of horror and its children all the way until the bust. I had so much fun with this book and even if horror is not your genre give this book a look just for the awesomely mind blowing covers.
I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
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