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Weekly-ish Reading: Spooky Edition
First off, I read Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix, which is an absolutely hilarious/delightful, and very pretty (for a definition of "pretty" that includes all the bizarre 80s pulp horror covers you could ever ask for) overview of the insanity that was 80s horror paperbacks. Just thanks to my own interests, I was especially into the "Creepy Kids," "Real Estate Nightmares," and "Gothic and Romantic" chapters, but the entire book was a treat. Being an overview, it's more interested in getting you interested in the genre (which, mission accomplished) than going super in-depth, though it also paints a great broad-strokes picture of both the publishing history of horror paperbacks and the cultural context that would make writing a book about Nazi leprechauns seem like a good idea. Oh, and there are also lots of great one-liners, though my favorite has to be this one describing Robert Marasco, who wrote the incredibly creepy-sounding haunted house novel, Burnt Offerings: "Marasco was a high school English teacher, which meant any illusions he’d ever had about human nature had long since been stomped to death."
I also decided to reread Long Lankin, which scared the crap out of me in high school: it's a YA ghost story based on the Child ballad (which is scary enough on its own) and set in 1950s England. For some reason, YA horror is pretty hit-or-miss for me--either I really click with it or I absolutely don't. Long Lankin was one of the ones I remember really clicking with; I loved it to pieces even though I literally had trouble sleeping after I first read it, and rereading it I wasn't quite as scared (either because I already knew what was coming or because I've read and watched a lot more horror since high school), but I still loved it to pieces. The atmosphere is so creepingly oppressive, even from the get-go, and as things unspool it only gets worse and worse, until by the end you're praying that the characters will all make it out okay while being so, so scared that they won't. It's also got an unsentimental but very sweet depiction of a big family, three fantastic narrators, and creepy ballads being sung by an invisible someone just behind you.
I also decided to reread Long Lankin, which scared the crap out of me in high school: it's a YA ghost story based on the Child ballad (which is scary enough on its own) and set in 1950s England. For some reason, YA horror is pretty hit-or-miss for me--either I really click with it or I absolutely don't. Long Lankin was one of the ones I remember really clicking with; I loved it to pieces even though I literally had trouble sleeping after I first read it, and rereading it I wasn't quite as scared (either because I already knew what was coming or because I've read and watched a lot more horror since high school), but I still loved it to pieces. The atmosphere is so creepingly oppressive, even from the get-go, and as things unspool it only gets worse and worse, until by the end you're praying that the characters will all make it out okay while being so, so scared that they won't. It's also got an unsentimental but very sweet depiction of a big family, three fantastic narrators, and creepy ballads being sung by an invisible someone just behind you.
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speaking of, did you read his other books? "My Best Friend's Exorcism," I'm not sure if that counts as YA horror or not. It's a pastiche of the genre that also takes it seriously. It's not really camp--his books in general are, well, one, heavy on the gross-out, but also kind of...heavy in general. Abject, I almost want to say. There's also a -lot- about classism, and the horror of just trying to tread water amid messages that you should be doing better (and in general). Big box stores, Newage platitudes, etc.
On YA horror, I liked The Hazel Wood.
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I did try to read My Best Friend's Exorcism a year or two ago and didn't end up finishing it because I was pretty busy with schoolwork, but I do want to finish it at some point because what I read I liked--and his newest book, We Sold Our Souls, looks really interesting, too.
Good to know! I'll have to add it to my list.