Things I've Tried to Absorb... #3
A short journey through some fun horror-themed books I've recently read.
Hi there…
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written one of these. Not because I’ve not been absorbing things, but rather because I’ve been absorbing too many other things: mostly audiobooks. So I’ve not really been listening to podcasts. At the same time I have taken it a bit easy in the heavy reading department; therefore I’ve not been reading too much stuff in the news (not that I read much of that anyway). I’ve basically been giving my brain a bit of a reprieve in the information overload department and it has been rather refreshing.
As a result, I thought I would share two of the really fun books I’ve read by Grady Hendrix (author of My Best Friends Exorcism) which might be of interest to some of you.
The first is The Final Girl Support Group, which I thought was a really fun nostalgic read. If you’re a lover of 80s and 90s slasher films that is. The premise is basically that a group of final girls (i.e., the last survivors of serial killer rampages which are very reminiscent of killers in the slasher franchises Scream, Friday the 13th, Silent Night, Deadly Night, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) meet at a monthly therapy support group which has been going for a good decade. There they talk through their trauma of having survived the attacks and the loss of those who were less fortunate. They also (in theory) support each other; however, there is a lot of resentment and discontent amongst the group right from the very start. Then, one by one someone starts killing them off, and it’s up to the story’s protagonist to figure out who is killing her friends and making sure she doesn’t end up as the ultimate final girl. I won’t say much more than that (see my dislike of blurbs below), but it’s a fun book with lots of throw backs to the slasher films mentioned. Interestingly - and very much in touch with the current social climate - the book also touches on some feminist commentary and analysis of violence against women, particularly in horror films.
The second book, as stated earlier is also by Grady Hendrix, called Paperbacks from Hell (which I listened to on audiobook). I will admit to having not heard of Grady Hendrix until seeing The Final Girl Support Group in my local library and being drawn in by the front cover (I am not going to lie, this is usually how I choose most of my books to read these days - I find that reading the blurb gives too much of the beginning of the book away). Anyway, when looking at other books that Hendrix had written, I saw he had penned a non-fiction exploration of the mass paperback boom of horror novels in the 70s and 80s. And so being an 80s baby and having grown up on some of the books written in those two decades, I thought this would be a fun journey back in time. And it does not disappoint. I guess it’s only really fun if you like horror novels; and especially if you have read some of the more seriously schlocky horror stuff (as in I was most pleased to see Michael R. Linaker’s Scorpion - a book I read when a teenager and thought was so awful and ridiculously gruesome that I then bought it again as an adult, along with its sequel - amongst the books listed in the chapter that featured creature horror novels).
Paperbacks from Hell has provided me with a variety of new authors and books to go out and look for and try track down. I have already tried to look up Feast by Graham Masterton, but I can seem only find that for £142.72 on Amazon (yikes!!!), so it seems like not all of them will be available on Kindle any time soon. If ever.
So, there you go. Those are the two things I have absorbed in the recent weeks that I thought I would share with you. They are unlikely to change your life (unless you love paperback horror), but hopefully it has given some of you some #readinginspo.
Thanks for reading. And as always, do come say hi if you want to discuss anything. Also, share this with your family and friends if you think they might like it.
Also, you can listen to my latest podcast episode here:
Chat soon.
Nice-ish.