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About the Book
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires comes an affectionate, nostalgic, and unflinchingly funny celebration of the horror fiction boom of the 1970s and ’80s.
Take a tour through the horror paperback novels of two iconic decades . . . if you dare. Page through dozens and dozens of amazing book covers featuring well-dressed skeletons, evil dolls, and knife-wielding killer crabs! Read shocking plot summaries that invoke devil worship, satanic children, and haunted real estate! Horror author and vintage paperback book collector Grady Hendrix offers killer commentary and witty insight on these trashy thrillers that tried so hard to be the next Exorcist or Rosemary’s Baby. Complete with story summaries and artist and author profiles, this unforgettable volume dishes on familiar authors like V. C. Andrews and R. L. Stine, plus many more who’ve faded into obscurity. Also included are recommendations for which of these forgotten treasures are well worth your reading time and which should stay buried.
Praise
One of SFFWorld’s Best of the Decade
“Pure, demented delight.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Paperbacks from Hell is as funny as it is engaging.”—The Washington Post
“The book is a true appreciation of the genre.”—Los Angeles Times
“Just thumbing through these pages will bring back your youth—and terrify you all over again.”—Newsday
“A loving examination of lurid pulp book covers from the 1970s and ’80s.”—Atlas Obscura
“Paperbacks from Hell is as wild as its source material.”—The A.V. Club
“[Paperbacks from Hell] will delight anyone with an interest in horror, design illustration, or the macabre.”—Print Magazine
“A nostalgic treat.”—Playboy Online
“You may find yourself trying to stock up on old titles so you can get your fill of gloriously trashy scares.”—Bustle
“[Hendrix’s] love of the genre shines through as he pokes gentle fun at some of the era’s more entertaining reads, and speaks with genuine appreciation of other titles whose horrors stand the test of time.”—BookRiot
About the Author
Grady Hendrix
Grady Hendrix is an award-winning novelist and screenwriter living in New York City. He is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including How to Sell a Haunted House, The Final Girl Support Group, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and many more. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages and sold over two million copies. He also writes non-fiction and his history of the horror paperback boom of the seventies and eighties, Paperbacks from Hell, won the Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction.
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