The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction

Was hoping for a lovely coffee table book with large images of book covers.
Instead it is a poorly written book about books. As an artist, I was looking to this book for inspiration, however the best images are shrunken down to 1 or 2 inches tall, and the few large images are of perhaps the worst covers they had access to. wanna read a book about books? Maybe this will do. Hoping to enjoy the actual artwork of the books this book is about? Keep searching elsewhere, this is not your final stop then.

Though nicely designed and containing some textual nuggets, "Paperbacks from Hell" is not really a comprehensive history of its subject. For starters, there are a scattering of factual (or maybe typographical) errors, e.g. Ira Levin's "The Stepford Wives" was published in 1972, not 1982; Tom Tryon's "Harvest Home" is from '73, not '83; and the Charles Manson Family murders took place in 1969, not 1968. More problematic is Hendrix's approach to the genre. Like rock writer Chuck Klosterman, he makes little distinction between the most original and most derivative examples of his topic - imagine a history of heavy metal where Trixter and Warrant get as much space as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, and that's what "Paperbacks From Hell" does with horror novels.
Organized by narrative theme ("Creepy Kids," "When Animals Attack," etc.), there's not a lot of socio-historical context to explain what was happening in the larger culture to provoke all this horror, and, although Hendrix has uncovered some interesting back stories about various authors and cover artists, he ignores most of the non-fiction occult publishing which also boomed in this era. I would like to have seen more attention given to the big blockbusters like "The Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby," to the earliest works of Stephen King, and even to the reissued H.P. Lovecraft anthologies of the early 70s, and less to the obscure and plainly exploitative dreck which tried to capitalize on others' success. But I guess those are for someone else's book.

PAPERBACKS FOR HELL:THE TWISTED HISTORY OF THE 70'S AND 80'S HORROR FICTION BY GRADY HENDRIX, for me is a walk through my childhood! My brother got me hooked on horror and I have read quite alot of the earlier horror books mentioned in this book. They were a part of my brothers book collection and a big part of my life! I loved to be scared to death when I was younger and back in the sixties and seventies these paperback were a great way to read myself into a sleepless night hiding under the covers for protection! Mr Hendrix not only dives into the horror genre but the gothic novels as well. He takes the books and the decades they were published and give the reader the reason they were so popular at the time.
One thing Mr Hendrix did as well is to bring the attention of the ARTIST, the person who designed and created the creepy, gross covers. The author got the laurels back when the books were published but some of the credit is due to the artists who made those pages come alive in the covers.
PAPERBACKS FROM HELL is a MUST for anyone who goes for the horror genre & who wants to get an education on the books, the authors and the artists that created them.

I received this e book free from goodreads in exchange for an honest review!

Probably my most-anticipated book of the year.

I usually rate books on a scale of 1-10, and the only book that I gave a perfect 10 to last year was MY BEST FRIEND'S EXORCISM, by Grady Hendrix. I am clearly not alone in counting the days until his next book, PAPERBACKS FROM HELL: THE TWISTED HISTORY OF '70S AND '80S HORROR FICTION, hits the stands, if the Paperbacks From Hell Countdown Clock website is any indication.

I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of this gorgeous trade paperback from publisher Quirk, and I can say, without a doubt, that this book was worth both the wait and the hype.

I'm a pretty fast reader, but I made this book last, and stretched out the pleasure of reading it over a period of weeks. This was the fabled "I couldn't put it down!" book that we've all heard about. I savored every page, and I hated for it to end.

This is a beautiful production, with page after page of stunning paperback covers from the glory days of the Horror book of the 1970's and 1980's. I have quite a few of these books in my collection already, but be warned: You're going to spend a lot of time and money acquiring more; I had a small list that I kept as I read, and it rapidly grew longer and longer. Buy fast, before sellers wise up and jack the prices up.

I was expecting a coffee-table book, with occasional comments from Hendrix, but this is an honest-to-goodness history of the genre during the boom years, covering artists, authors, and publishers, taking you from boom to bust. Best of all, Hendrix writes about his subject with love, for both the books and those that made them. You can tell that this was a labor of love of his part, and his affection for these books shows through, no matter how bad a novel or author may be.

The book is divided into eight sections (Hail, Satan, Creepy Kids, When Animals Attack, Read Estate Nightmares, Weird Science, Gothic and Romantic, Inhumanoids, and Splatterpunks, Serial Killers, and Super Creeps) , and I was hard-pressed to think of any paperback from my childhood that Hendrix had overlooked. He even included two of my childhood favorites, SURROGATE, by Nick Sharman, and LUPE, by Gene Thompson.

Whether you were around for these classics and clunkers originally, or if they're all new to you, if you're a Horror fan, this is a book that you will treasure. Grady Hendrix has done it again, and I can't recommend this book highly enough.

PAPERBACKS FROM HELL: THE TWISTED HISTORY OF '70S AND '80S HORROR FICTION earns Hendrix another perfect score.

Growing up, I tended to get my reading fix courtesy of a used book warehouse in town. Overflowing with books of all genres that you could get for cheap, and encouraged by a father who exposed me to a lot of classic pulp, I would dig through the stacks and pick up books for any number of reasons - author, sure, and of course an interesting plot. But one of the best reasons to look through the stacks was for the covers. From pulp sci-fi landscapes to gloriously lurid horror covers, used books were a crash course in the glory days of cover art.

So it's really no surprise that I loved Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell, a survey of the 70's and 80's horror boom (a boom that he defines as opening with the trifecta of The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and The Other, and then came to an end with The Silence of the Lambs). Even before you get into the text, the pictures - a gloriously in-depth exploration of covers absurd and gory, restrained and insane - are enough to make this a must-have for your shelf. Hendrix has a love of the unrestrained and insane, and the way he organizes so much of the book by theme (maybe my favorite: the history of skeleton doctors on book cover) makes just flipping through Paperbacks a ton of fun. From knife-wielding crabs to ominous dolls to whatever is going on in the insane cover of Shaun Hutson's Spawn, Hendrix covers them all with glee.

But it's really that glee and passion that makes Paperbacks from Hell such a wonderful read. It would be all too easy for Hendrix to simply pile on the snark and condescension, and even easier still to just discuss the cover art and the trends in marketing. Instead, Hendrix's deep dive into pulp horror shows through on every page, with his descriptions and synopses walking that fine line between delight and mockery. Hendrix is under no illusions that these novels are fine art, but that never stops him from appreciating them for what they are, and celebrating their weirdness. And while he's so often willing to embrace the insanity of it all, he never truly turns negative (with one notable exception: his deep dislike of The Amityville Horror, for reasons he makes clear and which are hard to argue with). Sure, he'll own the problematic (to put it mildly) aspects of the books, or explore in glorious details the dated attitudes on display or the horrific shock value they're going for. But there's always a note of love in his tone for these weird books. In other words, this is never cheap hipsterism or ironic embrace; it's a true love for pulp horror.

Even better, Hendrix uses the book as a chance to recommend some truly great books along the way - ones that deserve better than to be consigned to pulp recycling plants for life. It'll be hard for any serious horror fan to read Paperbacks and not come away with a big reading list, but Hendrix goes a step further, extolling the virtues of the cover artists, giving them their own spotlights, and doing everything he can to give the credit for these wonderful works to the nameless artists that have so often been forgotten. Paperbacks from Hell is very funny, and very enjoyable, and very aware of the absurdity of what it's covering. But it's also done with love, affection, and appreciation for the craft that went into two decades of great horror - and it's that love that makes it such a great read.

Paperbacks from Hell: A History of Horror Fiction from the '70s and '80s by Grady Hendrix is the history of the paperback horror novel. Hendrix is the author of the novels Horrorstör, the only book you'll ever need about a haunted Scandinavian furniture superstore, and My Best Friend's Exorcism.

In the mid-1970s I would go to the corner store, a Lawson, and raided the book rack. There was always a carousel of books near the front counter. Horror books took up most of the shelf space with everything from the Omen to countless barely remembered horror stories of all types. I remember a class mate, Pam, giving me her copy of Gary Brandner's The Howling. That book was a game changer for me. The Scholastic Books, an in school book sale, even had Stephen King's Carrie for sale. This caused a temporary ban of Scholastic Books in my school as some parents got very upset about the books available to 7th graders. There was something special about buying books that were not meant for school children.

Paperbacks from Hell is a return to that time with a detailed discussion and listing of books from that period. Hendrix provides a great refresher for those who loved the horror boom of the period. What subject defined horror changed over time. Satan and Satanists made an easy subject and a lasting one through books and even music in 1980s metal. David Seltzer's novelization of the movie The Omen started a string of books and the popularization of an obscure Bible passage. Knowing that 666 was the number of the beast suddenly became a Bible trivia everyone knew regardless of religious belief.

Damian also triggered the growth as a child being evil or a killer. Evil children were a shocking subject going back to the 1954 book Bad Seed. Books like The Crib and Spawn had a supernatural touch while Let's Play Games at the Adams' and The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane told of normal kids gone bad or take control of their own situation. There is also the far fetched fear mongering book Rona Joffee Mazes and Monsters which turned the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons into something that will damage and warp a teenager's brain.

Animals also were big sellers from Peter Benchley's Jaws to killer dogs, cats, rats, and even rabbits. Animals were killing people in untold numbers. Pick a seeming defenseless animal and there is probably a story of it being a mad killer (yes, butterflies too). If one thought animal killers wasn't quite over the top there were also killer plants. Jaws lead the escalation of wildlife killers.

If it wasn't an animal or child, it was probably a haunted property. Amityville Horror was the foundation for the haunted house. Amityville spawned six books in the series, each marketed as nonfiction. The premise of haunted houses being built over vortexes, graveyards, or other mystical places expanded into haunted train lines and hospitals. Anything could be haunted or possessed. Just ask Arnie Cunningham.

Hendrix starts his book with an introduction featuring The Little People who live in a basement of a bed and breakfast, Gestapochauns (Nazi leprechauns) and ends with a genre called Splatter Punk. Not much new has been developed since the late 80s death of paperback horror. Stephen King and others still write but the present generation would rather have movies and video games rather than a cheap paperback. I revisited the era re-reading Brandner's Howling series a while ago, but I did it on a Kindle. It just didn't seem the same. While today people look for special effects in movies today, we had cover art back then. Hendrix captures a multitude of the covers that got many people reading. Cover art at the time was important in making one book stand out from the rest. Foil covers, embossed covers, step back art, and die-cut covers became the norm and helped reveal some of the book's mystery or added a layer of shock. This was a time when horror brought entertainment to many readers. For those of us who had a library that was too far to walk to (or too dangerous to go to alone), the corner store became the early Netflix for many. Well written. Well illustrated. Well referenced. A welcomed walk down memory lane.

Paperbacks from Hell goes through the twisted history of 70's, 80's, and a little bit of 90's horror fiction and their trends. Grady Hendrix imbues his writing with humor, wit, and a bit of reverence for these novels, many of which are completely forgotten today. He goes through history, focusing on the trends of the time, with full color pictures of the bizarre covers and summaries of almost every book mentioned. In each era, he also takes the time to feature influential illustrators and their work.

Hendrix goes through each decade and describes what was most popular, which came in huge waves. Whatever's popular is glommed onto by all other authors. For instance, the first horror paperbacks to really take off were Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, and The Others by Thomas Tryon. All had to do with the devil, so sordid covers with half naked women, pentagrams, rituals, and the devil were required for success. My favorite of the trends was the serial killer trend following Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs because I remember so many of those covers in used bookstores. There's even a small section on YA books that were a blast from the past.

Many of these books sound completely awful with over the top plots and flat characters. Hendrix describes the stories of many of these books so we don't have to read it. He also breaks down each character archetype from the strong and chiseled but emotional leading man to the very sensitive leading lady. Advice for various horror situations is given based on these books such as if you are dating Satan or parenting a homicidal child. The horrors contained within them compete with each other for most nonsensical, extreme, and disturbing. For instance, the book that inspired this whole endeavor, The Little People by John Christopher, has psychic, BDSM sex slaves made from the stunted fetuses from concentration camps called gestapochauns. Not only is it incredibly offensive, but it's a smorgasbord of the most bizarre things.

If you have the opportunity to see Grady Hendrix perform Paperbacks from Hell live, it's an amazing experience. I had the privilege of seeing him at Book Soup last year and I had no idea what I was in for. He goes through each era and their trends with different voices, breakneck speed, and even a few songs about various killer animals and the different types of skeletons on book covers. This book (and the performance) had me grinning ear to ear and laughing out loud. Hendrix's love for the genre leaps off the page even with the most scathing, hilarious descriptions of these over the top books. I highly recommend this horror retrospective of many books that have been forgotten.

When I requested an advance reader's copy of this from the publisher, my expectations were low. It might have been a boring catalog of authors and publishers. Or it might have centered around mocking old horror paperback cover art, while being light on historical detail. I'm pleased to say it's neither. Firstly, it is an exceptionally informative and well-organized reference work: arranged partly in chronological order but also by theme, in a way that lends itself well both to cover-to-cover reading but also to quick reference if you should want to, for example, read about the important influence of the gothic romance, or find the best books featuring evil clowns. Secondly, the author seems to have *actually read* the books he talks about. From time to time he will wax rhapsodic about a book or series in a way that shows his genuine passion for the genre. I appreciate that. I don't read horror, but Hendrix made me want to read some of these books. And lastly, but importantly: *Paperbacks from Hell* is *incredibly entertaining*. I laughed at so many things I shouldn't have. (I won't tell you what, because your opinion of me is probably low enough already.) I immediately purchased a copy for my store's reference library and one for a Christmas present. If you're even remotely interested in the topic, don't pass this book by.

SAMPLE PARAGRAPH
Many women make their way through this minefield of potential hazards with the guidance of their doctor. But the horror novels of this era warn women that their doctors were less likely to write a prescription than to hire a hitman to run them over because they threatened to blow the lid off their baby mill operation. The horror-novel OB/GYN is remote and cold. His name is Dr. Borg or Dr. Kabel, and he works at the Karyll Clinic, which sounds like a location in a David Cronenberg movie. He spends Christmas Day alone, and he’s probably having an incestuous affair with his sister. If you are visiting a fertility clinic that has a conveyor belt running directly from the delivery room to what everyone refers to as “the Off-Limits Building,” find another doctor.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Quirk Books for providing me an ARC copy of this book that I freely chose to review.
I love horror novels (and movies) although I don’t read the genre often enough (I’m not sure why, but as I review books that are submitted to some review blogs and to my own, perhaps horror authors don’t submit to these kinds of blogs and look for specialised reviewers). I have read several enthusiastic reviews of this book by some book reviewers who regularly read and review horror and I could not resist. It came very highly recommended, and it deserves all the praise.
I have not read any of the other books written by the author (and he writes fiction in the genre) but now I must admit I’m very curious. And, his collaborator, Will Errickson, has a wonderful blog that also talks about the genre (and includes plenty of cover art), that you must check: http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot.co.uk/
This book is a labour of love. Of love for the genre and for a particularly fertile period of the genre (and the book follows the chronological rise and fall of those paperbacks, including brief histories of the most prolific writers, publishing companies, and subgenres) and for the cover art that is an intrinsic part of it. Although I got an ARC e-copy of the book, the many covers included in the book are gorgeous (yes, and many disgusting, disgustingly gorgeous or gorgeously disgusting) although you might recoil at some of them (but yes, many are glorious, daring, and incredibly imaginative). There is plenty of research behind the book, as the detailed credits at the back show, and the end note and acknowledgments explain, at least in part, what the process of creation of the book involved.
The book contains large doses of humour (it is difficult to talk about the plots and characters we find in some of the books without it) but it also cares deeply for the subject and there is a great underlying respect for the books, even for some whose descriptions makes one’s head spin. There is nothing too outrageous or bizarre to be included. From the better-known tomes (whose success gave rise to copycats and innumerable books trying to cash on the popular topics) like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby to books I had never heard about, like George R. R. Martin’s Fevre Dreams or Dennis Wheatley’s The Devil Rides Out. (I know I must read them, mea culpa).
I have been inspired by the book and I definitely must check some of these novels (I realised Richard Matheson had written I am Legend, The Legend of Hell House, and The Shrinking Man, and this last one’s film version is one of my all-time favourite sci-fi films).
Although the version I had is only an ARC copy and there might be some slight changes, I could not resist but share a few quotes:
Bears hate us, bats hate us, dogs and cats clearly hate us. Let’s face it, humans are delicious. In the eyes of the animals, we are walking pizzas, and the best thing is that we deliver ourselves.
In Brain Watch (1985), superpsychic powers are the result of splitting a doctor’s noggin into a quadruple brain, unlocking his ability to project illusion, become superstrong, and control the pigment of his skin to ensure a really great tan.
Rice gave vampires a voice. And then they wouldn’t shut up.
This is a book that I recommend to any lovers of the genre and to those who are curious about cover art and its recent evolution. Even if you don’t like horror and are not interested in reading the actual novels, this book is full of information about the paperback publishing business and how it evolved during those years (and we know that those who don’t remember the past…).
The final words go to Will Errickson:
We can’t be certain that anyone is reading these books anymore. But we can hope. Because after all the monsters have flown away, hope is what’s left at the bottom of the box.

Horror novelist Grady Hendrix’s book is a lavishly illustrated celebration of the garish horror paperbacks which were all the rage in the 1970s and 1980s, following in the wake of the massive popularity of Ira Levin’s Rosemary's Baby (1967), Thomas Tryon’s The Other (1971) and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist (1971). This was an era which saw the rise of Stephen King, but what interests Hendrix is the largely forgotten lesser lights of the horror boom, the imitators and the eccentrics. For every best-seller like Peter Benchley’s Jaws there was a flood of shockers about rats, cats, dogs, pigs, crabs, cockroaches, slugs and caterpillars feasting on an endless buffet of human characters.

As Hendrix makes clear, these books show us that it isn’t safe to : have children, visit the doctor, move to the country, move to the city, buy a house, listen to heavy metal music, play dungeons and dragons… Much safer just to stay where we are and read more cheap horror paperbacks. Some of these books could instil fears you never thought about before - that your town might be invaded by killer clowns (Alan Ryan’s Dead White (1983)) or that your genitals might be eaten by moths (Mark Sonders’s Blight (1981)).

This book would be worth it for the wild cover illustrations alone. Hendrix also includes some never-before-published preliminary sketches and unused cover art and provides biographical information about key artists. But Hendrix is a very entertaining writer who gives a fascinating and coherent account of the rising and falling trends of this cultural phenomena, spiced up with outrageous plot descriptions and mordantly witty asides, e.g. “Hating clowns is a waste of time because you’ll never loathe a clown as much as he loathes himself.”

Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix is a 2017 Quirk Books publication.

While most teenage girls my age were reading Harlequin romances or sneaking peeks inside their mother’s bodice rippers, I was glued to Gothic Romance/Horror/Mystery novels, which morphed into a full -fledged obsession with horror novels, which continued until my late teens, slowly fizzling out, as the horror genre went into a different direction, I didn't feel compelled to follow.

I wish I had had the presence of mind to keep those books, put them a plastic protector and store them in a dark, cool place. But, I didn’t. However, I do love searching out these old paperbacks and do have a nice collection of Gothic novels as well as a handful of vintage horror novels, too. This book really has sparked a renewed interest in these vintage horror paperbacks, so I just might start digging around and try to add a few of these to my collection.

But, I digress-

Like myself, the author’s interest in these vintage paperbacks also stems from the ‘collectable’ angle they inspire, and just as I do, he still reads them.

In my mind, horror novels, and horror movies for that matter, of the 1970’s were best. They may seem cheesy now, and of course they followed trends, just like we do now, but…

These books scared me. It wasn’t the same slasher story, told over and over and over. These books had imagination, took risks, were shocking, and terrifying, or… okay- laughable- Nazi Leprachans?

Looking back on these novels now, many of which were adapted for the big screen, I’m reminded once again of the game changing books than shaped the genre and had me sleeping with the lights on.

The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Other, all spent incredible amounts of time on the NYT bestseller list. They spawned countless spin-offs, all with a strong satanic element, which was a huge theme in the first few years of the 1970’s.

From that point on, the horror genre created the most menacing babies and kids you could possibly image, with books like- ‘The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane’ by Laird Koenig, which I happen to be reading right now. But, the sheer volume of books written with this theme, in one form or another, was mind boggling.

Some titles I found intriguing were: ‘Kate’s House’ by Harriet Waugh and ‘Let’s Go Play at the Adams’ by Mendal W. Johnson- (Tonight the kids are taking care of the babysitter!)

Let’s not forget killer animals though- remember Jaws? Of course, you do. How about ‘The Rats’ by James Herbert? There were also a slew of killer dogs, cats, whales, all manner of other creepy crawlies.

Not your thing? How about a good haunted house story, instead? Lots of those! But, not just Amityville!

Every possible angle was covered in the 70’s and 80’s that you could possible imagine. Medical nightmares, horoscopes, psychic teens, UFO’s, Vampires, dolls, Southern Gothic, humanoids, you name it, and this book covers them all.

But, the author doesn’t stop there.

The fantastic cover art is included in the book. The book covers alone make this book worth looking into. Amazing!! It is also interesting to note that some of the cover artists are unknown.

The primary publishers of horror novels are listed too, and frankly, I was surprised by a few- namely ‘Zebra’ which I’ve always associated with those fab historical romance novels of the same period. Who knew?

The 80’s had its ups and downs with some really wonderful contributions to the genre, but also strange additions,such as, heavy metal horror! I’d pretty much moved away from the horror genre by this time, and have no recollections of this, but apparently ‘Splatterpunk’ was a pretty big movement in the mid-eighties.

But, that movement seemed to fade as quickly as hair metal with the onset of the nineties, as did the horror genre as we knew it.

These old horror novels look cheesy, and many are obviously dated, but if you read some of the blurbs, you will see many of them are classics now, and spawned all manner of trends, and influenced many others along the way. They are lurid, gross, often politically incorrect, and misogynist on more than one occasion, but were also groundbreaking. They, also, were a reflection of the era in which they were written, tapping in on real fears, worries, or in some cases, setting off periods of real panic.

But, in the end, the slasher genre won out over killer sharks, haunted houses, creepy kids, and Satan. The name of the game is buckets of blood and revolting gore, without much originality to the plot, which is when I stepped off the horror novel train.

These days, horror is a hard sell for me. On a rare occasion, I’ll try a ghost story or a haunted house novel, or a good vampire novel, as long as the vampire doesn't sparkle, although those seem far and few between these days, or I might settle in for a Stephen King thriller, once in a while.

But, I do have old favorites I read at Halloween, always returning to the tried and true. But, after picking up this book, maybe I can find a few hidden gems from the past to satisfy any lingering craving for a good old -fashioned chiller.

Overall, the author did a terrific job with the organization of this book, deftly adding in well- timed, laugh out loud humor, and his enthusiasm was obvious, and a little catchy.

This is a fun, informative, entertaining, and well researched book, that will appeal to fans of the horror genre, paperback book collectors, or maybe even to those who enjoy nostalgia or pop culture.

5 stars

There is an often told showbiz adage how Stanley Kubrick selected the novel of THE SHINING to direct. Following in the wake of the box office smash hits,THE EXORCIST and THE OMEN, and desperate for a commercial success, Kubrick had his secretary buy a bunch of horror paperbacks hoping to find a story he could option. After relegating many to the wastepaper basket he eventually came across King's masterpiece. I would like to think that Grady Hendrix's PAPERBACKS FROM HELL is a love letter to the scores of literary horrors that didn't make Kubrick's cut as well as an overview of the horror cycle of the 70s and 80s.
Trying to cash in on the continuing monster boom started in the late 50s, every major publishing house had a robust Horror line hoping to strike gold with their equivalent of ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE EXORCIST, SALEM'S LOT, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR or JAWS. From this glut of product many now-famous authors got their start but what makes this book a pure joy to read are the many sleazy and exploitative failed knock-offs attempts. Hendrix's wisely chosen to dedicate each of the eight chapters to a specific genre: Satanism, Creepy Kids, Berserk Animals, Haunted Places, Weird Science, Gothic and Romance, In-humanoids, and Serial Killers. This book was fun, informative, and generously illustrated with the paperback covers but most importantly, it transported me back to a time before smartphones when these novels were so prevalent in the popular culture of the day.

What an infectious joy Hendrix brings to his debut nonfiction title.

The 70s and 80s were the height of the horror paperback. From now-extinct chain bookstores that were once in every shopping mall across America to the spinner racks at rural supermarkets, there was a horror novel for every demographic and Hendrix attempts to outline them all. Are you a hippie-hating conservative? Try some Satanic cult titles. New parents? There’s a whole genre of demon children novels. There is also a whole subcategory of books claiming to the next The Exorcist, The Others, and/or Rosemary’s Baby.

Hilarious and informative, Hendrix shines a light on the frankly bonkers stories that once sold millions of volumes yet now would be impossible to ever sell to an agent. While he delivers his copious knowledge with humor, there’s an obvious love and respect and sometimes unexpected poignancy upon closer examination of the authors of these books — some actually very good, but now forgotten. See: the almost-star of Ken Greenhall. Thanks, Silence of the Lambs. I enjoyed the final chapter looking at my own personal gateway to horror, Dell’s incredible, defunct punk rock horror line Abyss, publisher of Melanie Tem, Poppy Z. Brite, and Kathe Koja.

Quirk’s books are known for their beautiful production and Paperbacks from Hell is in vivid color (mostly red) throughout, showcasing the amazing collection of artists — many female in a male-dominated industry. It’s a gorgeous, lurid deep-dive into horror’s heyday and a must-read for any self-respecting horror fan.

After the release of mega-hits like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Exorcist”, it was inevitable that a twenty year glut of horror novels would follow. This is the subject of Hendricks’ lavishly-illustrated book.

And the author clearly loves his subject, even when he has little reverence for it. Hendricks knows that much of this material is trash and he makes that clear in his descriptions. He takes us on a romp through the plots of several dozen books, but also includes recurring themes, mini-biographies of authors and cover artists, and the stories of the publishing houses. Towards the end, the book becomes particularly insightful, showing us how this horror glut petered out.

Despite my love of horror, I’ve only read a few of the books listed here. After reading this entertaining and informative book, I don’t think I’ve missed much. I usually say that I would rather read the books under review than to read books about books. That’s not true with “Paperbacks From Hell”.

Grady Hendrix is Tor.com’s resident expert on horror. He is responsible for the Great Stephen King Reread and a more recent series, Freaky Fridays. It is the latter hilarious exploration of 1970s/1980s paperback horror novels that led to this book. Paperbacks from Hell isn’t just a fix-up of blog posts, though. There is a wealth of additional information, including dozens of book covers. (Hendrix has also written two horror novels of his own, Horrorstör and My Best Friend’s Exorcism.)

Paperbacks from Hell is a laugh out loud funny, joyful romp through the 1970s and 1980s boom in paperback horror. As such, it isn’t just entertaining, it is informative as a work of popular cultural anthropology. I may not be a horror buff, but I’m drawn to this book for some of the same reasons I’m drawn to Jeffro Johnson’s Appendix N book—I like books and I like history.

Horror had been around forever, but it only came into its own with a boom that started with Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Other (before those three books, the last horror novel to appear on Publishers Weekly’s annual best-seller list was in 1938). Those were “grim, sober novels.” The 1980s, on the other hand, produced horror fiction “warped by the gaudy delights of Stephen King and V.C. Andrews.” Horror survived the D&D satanic panic of the 1980s and the heavy metal satanic panic of the 1980s. We were super into panicking over Satan in the 1980s. Horror helped keep short stories alive. Which makes sense, because most of those horror paperbacks should have been short stories in the first place. As the boom continued (and the Thor Power Tools case killed the backlist), the market transitioned from being nurtured by flourishing small horror imprints to being flooded by the big publishers that had gobbled them up. Bestsellers like Stephen King got all of the attention, and they were among the very few to survive the crash. When the crash finally happened it happened fast, but without much more than a whimper as seemingly every idea (and reader was exhausted) and writers quietly rebranded their serial killer books as thrillers.

Horror paperbacks were successors to the old pulp magazines, as well as to the cheap paperback fantasy and science fiction novels of the 1960s. These are books that are unpretentious and written to entertain. “Thrown into a rough-and-tumble marketplace, the writers learned they had to earn every reader’s attention” and follow one rule: “always be interesting.” They were also the last gasp of mass marketed books for the working class (the prototypical leading man is tanned and blue-collar; the prototypical leading woman is white-collar and works outside the home).

Paperbacks from Hell really has four component parts, which leads to a somewhat disjointed reading experience. There are long, funny riffs on works or series or particular trope. These are largely adapted from Hendrix’s Tor.com blog posts, and if all you really want is more of these, you won’t find it here. There are also rapid-fire examples of various tropes. These, I think, will be interesting to collectors and people interesting in finding books featuring something in particular (Hendrix manages to mention an enormous number of books), but they overall do a mediocre job of serving their apparent intended purpose of stitching the rest of the book together. Much more interesting are the bits of publishing history interwoven into the book. There are also dozens and dozens of covers, including many blurbs on prominent cover artists. For once my advance reading copy included artwork, for which I am very thankful. Even better would have been to have it in paperback.

The narrative is disjointed, sure. The stitches still show, and there really isn’t a way the book could have been organized that would make complete sense. But it is a heck of a book, nonetheless. Hendrix is very, very funny: “But when plants mind-control us so that they can feed on our blood, it’s hard not to be offended. After all, most of us don’t eat plants if we can help it, and then it’s mostly vegetarians who do the eating. If the plants want to murder them, something could probably be arranged.”

Books are vividly described: “Campbell’s stories feel like week-old newspapers, swollen with water, black with mold, forgotten on the steps of the abandoned tenement.” Hendrix is having a whole heck of a lot of fun. He freely mocks the excesses of the boom, but always good-naturedly and without looking down his nose at things. Nor is he ashamed to tout the best books of the lot. I had a lot of fun reading despite not having read any of the books discussed, or having much interest in reading most of them.

There is a set of creator and publisher biographies after the main text. I passed on it during my initial read but paged through it before writing this review. Read it and find out which romance and men’s adventure publisher was started by a mobile home and concrete pipe manufacturer! There is also an afterword with recommended reading by Will Errickson.

Disclosure: The publisher provided me with a review copy of Paperbacks from Hell.

In this new nonfiction book Grady guides you through the boom and bust of the horror paperback scene in the 70’s and 80’s. My horror book club is diving into this for October as the volume of that era’s fiction firehose is intimidating. This book could be considered “Grady reads bad books so you don’t have to.”

But it’s so much more. It unearths forgotten gems and highlights the work of a number of cover artists that did the heavy lifting of sales. If you do nothing but buy this book to appreciate all the glossy reproductions of those horror covers, you’ve gotten your money’s worth. You also have to appreciate Quirk Book’s continued dedication to making the physical book worth holding. Horrorstor looks and feels like an IKEA catalog. My Best Friend’s Exorcism feels like either a yearbook or looks like it blongs on the shelf at a Blockbuster Video. With Paperbacks from Hell, they resurrected the raised and embossed lettering that was so famous during the boom. I rate this book absolutely worth your time.

Paperbacks From Hell is the complete guide to everything you ever wanted to know (and in some cases, really didn’t want to know about the genre that exploded in the 70s and 80’s of horror paperbacks and all the cool cover art they generated. Meticulously researched, told in historical context, this book starts with the beginnings of the genre and shows the campy crazy outlandish paths that these novels tread from vampires to Satan worshippers to Rosemary’s Baby to killer leprechauns and enchanted devil-infested space alien puppets. It doesn’t always take itself seriously and describes some of these outlandish novels in quite colorful terms. This is without question the definitive guide to this genre.

A wonderful book that every horror lover should own. Paperbacks from Hell looks at the publishing of the horror paperback mainly concerned with the period mid 70's to mid 80's What is noticeable and striking about this book genre is the colourful covers and beautiful art work produced by famous illustrators at that time. Early examples of many of these horror books are now so scarce that they demand a very high price for the privilege of owning. This is a book that is made for rereading, an essential catalogue to be read once carefully, and then kept close at hand for use as a handy reference tool. Highly Recommended.

I read this book in an entire sitting. And, wow... It brought back a lot of memories. I owned many horror paperbacks of the70s and 80s. I no longer have them, as I donate many books I read (I rarely read a book more than once), but many good reading-related memories surfaced! I've always been a fan of the horror genre, so Paperbacks from Hell was a walk down memory lane.

I also amassed quite a list of books I hadn't read (and ordered on the store) as well as movies I need to watch!

This book is printed on high quality paper and has dust-jacked flaps inside the front and back. The images are great, and the text -- sometimes rather funny -- is detailed.

I enjoyed Paperbacks from Hell very much. The illustrations, background information, and historical insight were all interesting. I enjoy Grady Hendrix's narration, as he shared his opinion and wit freely. This book introduced me to writers I had never heard of, and, while for the most part I can't get their books in paperback without searching thrift stores, I did find some of them available on Kindle. They've been added to my to be read list.
I resolved to read more non-fiction this year, and Paperbacks from Hell has gotten me off to a good start.

A seriously fun and nerdish deep-dive into the rise and fall and legacy of the horror paperback! Truly one of the most unique books you'll ever come across (that is, if you haven't already read Grady Hendrix's novels), "Paperbacks from Hell" is a love letter not only to the genre itself but also to the particular era (70s and 80s) when horror novels were at their peak in popularity. There's so much to love about this book--including that it is exceptionally well-made and designed--that every book lover will find something to love in it. Do yourself a favor and order "Paperbacks from Hell!" I loved it!

I grew up in the (80s) reading these paperbacks.
I love the author's passion on the subject and over all domain on the subject.
He takes you by the hand, or claw, on a scary joyride by these obscure and sadly forgotten gems.
The way how he started collecting, will bring tears of joy, we all collectors are incurable addicts.
The interviews.
The easy to read organization.
The fun prose style,
The little known facts.
The writing alone is amazing.
Now to the materials:
Excellent quality paper and great color cover reproductions.
A treasure.

A terrific oversized volume on not just the cover art of 70s & 80s horror paperbacks, but an entire history of the the horror field during that era. There are a few errors (like Richard Harris being credited for Richard Adams's WATERSHIP DOWN), but the tracing of historical and sociological influences on pop horror fiction is a pleasure to read, and the hundreds of color photos throughout are an absolute gory treat. It's fully indexed as well, and artists are credited on the art throughout. Anyone who lived and read horror in this time period is going to have a heyday with this book. Highly recommended!

This is a great, fun book, looking at the progression of themes in horror, and the gaudy covers that so often accompanied them through the 70s and 80s. It can be read front to back, which I did initially, or jump around (it IS technically a coffee table book of sorts). The narrative is fun and light, but you know the author's treating the subject matter with due seriousness as well. And he knows his stuff, offering a lot of inside glimpses I hadn't known before. highly recommend this one.

A very fun and informative trip through the days of horror paperbacks.

Hendrix doesn't look very old, so he must have done a ton of research for this project. Kudos to him for braving the massive pile of mostly horrible books so that we could experience it without regret.
I did note all of the books I haven't read that sounded great.

Now I have an even crazier To Be Read pile.
Thanks, Mr. Hendrix.

I give PAPERBACK FROM HELL 5 stars.

Do yourself and pick up the paperback copy of this one. It is awesome!

This is such a beautiful and well put together book. I loved everything about it. Grady definitely did his research along with Will Errickson from Too Much Horror Fiction and their collective love of the genre and time period shines through.

Thanks, Grady.
You just cost me a bunch of dough.
I want these books.
All of them.
Thanks a lot.

Hendrix loves his horror fiction with a genuine, unironic enthusiasm that is very refreshing, and he makes for a delightful guide through a much-maligned genre. The treasure trove of oftentimes gorgeous cover art of the period is worth the price of admission all by itself, as are the occasional asides into the careers of the artists, although I found myself hankering for a little bit more detailed info on the novels themselves.

This is a wildly entertaining yet somewhat dangerous book. Often hilarious, PAPERBACKS FROM HELL is a discussion of all those cheesy and decidedly weird horror novels that glutted the market in the 70s and 80s. Each chapter focuses on a generalized horror theme, such as Satanists or creepy kids. The author truly knows his stuff and you'll have a blast reading the different synopses and seeing the hundreds of full color book covers.

However, the book is also dangerous in that you'll find yourself making lists of books to track down, many of which are likely only to be seen on dusty shelves in the back of a used bookstore. But, the hunt can be fun, right?

Eight of the covers featured were designed by me. One when I was at Dell and the rest
for Jim Plumeri, the late, great Art Director at New American Library. As a book cover designer this beautiful book warmed my heart and brought back some wonderful memories. Meeting brilliant artists like Tom Hallman and Don Brautigam. Helping the editors come up with clever titles.
I was a little disappointed to not see Stephen King covers and no mention of the talented hand-lettering artists whose contributions at times were just as important as the illustrations to the covers. As my hero and mentor Jim Plumeri said about book cover design "our job is to get people to pick the book off the shelf." I'm sure glad I picked Paperbacks From Hell. Hellishly good.

I love this book! The author has an amazing sense of humor & as a result the book is a pleasurable learning experience. I wasn't born yet for some of the books, but for many others, the author gave me a bit of history that explains the insanity of my childhood. Too many times to count my jaw would drop while reading through this entertaining book as I realized that this (& this, & this, & yes this too!) is why my family did the things that they did. Speaking in tongues, obsession with Satan & being possessed, hidden messages in music, it just goes on & on. I had no clue when I selected this book to feed my nostalgia for all those fantastic horror novel books I took home from the library when I was a kid, that I would also gain valuable insight to what made my family do what they did.

It's incredible to me that people can be lead along to believe these silly ideas. My Garbage Pail Kids collection didn't pass muster either & one day I found my carefully collected cards ripped from their pages to never see again. Why? Because they promote abortion. Sigh.

Anyway, be warned this book will make you want to hunt down nearly all the books within to either read for the first time or read again for a trip down memory lane. It is stuffed full of images from paperbacks. He discusses the art & artists behind some of the works as well as the content of the books themselves & as mentions societies various obsessions over the years.

Make sure you leave this lovely gem out on the coffee table. It's sure to inspire some lively conversation.

Awesome book for book collectors. I love it so much that I have started a new book collection of 70s & 80s horror books. This in addition to two other collections of books. LOL. Lots of photos of the covers and back info. into the books. This book is all about paperback editions.

Love everything about this project. Just saw the author give a 90 minute performance of the book. A MUST SEE ! I drove from Boston to Philadelphia to see Paperbacks from Hell Live. Totally worth it. I will go to his Stephen King themed performance in Schenectady Dec 8 th. Events listed at gradyhendrix.com. love his article archive!

Grady Hendrix and Will Errickson have compiled a wonderfully engrossing history of the pulp horror novel boom in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I might be the perfect audience for this book because of my own interest (obsession) with older general novels, especially pulp ones, but if the subject doesn't draw you in of its own accord, the writing, the humor, and the insanity of the plots will. Not to mention the very basis for Hendrix's own obsession with these books: the covers.

This book is an absolute gem. For horror fan there is lot of useful information about obscure and underrated writers that deserve more credit. I also liked the author's style. Witty and relaxed writing combined to sharp insight. Special mention goes to the pictures. Beautiful cover art of old paperbacks get the space they truly deserve. The book is also printed on quality paper. I finished the book in one night. Now I have to re-read it and make a list of books to read.

Obsessed with sex. Great authors from the 80's totally ignored. Many great books from the 80's not even mentioned while several stinkers you couldn't PAY me to read were. I don't get why there are so many 5 star ratings. I could have gotten two excellent books for the price of this dud.