Books are a strange thing. When you dig into the details of the publishing world, for every huge best seller, there are countless other titles that barely sell a couple of hundred copies in their lifetime. And with each one of those, the author spent a lot of time on them, years for some, to have them waste away into obscurity.

Happy Saturday!

Fortunately, for people like me and more of a few out there reading this, we still continue to add more and more of these volumes to our library, even though we know the realistic notion of getting to read each and every one of them gets smaller and smaller with each one we purchase. And yet, we still do it. I know for a fact that I do. For me, being that usually get non-fiction books dealing with the horror genre, I never know when I might need to pull particular title out for a little research. I mean, I do it all the time, depending on what I’m working on.

But damn, if there aren’t so many more I want to add to my library! And they just keep coming out!

Case in point, I’ve noticed a few more titles that have been announced or recently released that are now on my Amazon wish list! But as I always say, could be worse things to spend money on, right? Here’s a few of those that I’ve recently came across that I think might be of some interests.

The Soul of Wes Craven by Joseph Maddrey. This new volume goes for about $25 for softcover and $35 for the hardcovers. Published by Harker Press (who has always put out very impressive titles), this one shows a “revealing look at the life, career, and soul of filmmaking auteur Wes Craven”, with over 80 new interviews, never before seen photos from Craven’s life and career. It also has chapters on his poetry, short stories, details on projects that were lost, cancelled or abandoned, his struggles with the studios, and much more.

Hell-Bent for Hollywood: A Director’s Journey by Fred Olen Ray. Even if you might not be a fan of Ray’s movies, for someone that has consistently worked in the industry for almost five decades, you know he’s got stories. Not to mention he’s extremely nice the few times I’ve met him on the convention circuit. He’s worked with a lot of talent over the years, both old and upcoming, not to mention got movies made with little and/or no money. So, for that alone, I’ve always had to give him credit. When I heard of this new book, I immediately added it to my wish list and know I’ll be adding it to the library very soon.

Fans of British writer Nigel Kneale may or may not be aware of the TV series that he created back in 1976 for the BBC simply called Beasts. Now, author Andrew Screen has given us The Book of Beasts: Folklore, Popular Culture and Nigel Kneale’s ATV Series. With only 6 episodes in the series, Kneale created some very unique and some very terrifying stories. This book not only covers them all but has interviews with some of the original cast and crews, going over some episodes that were never made, and so much more. For fans of Kneale’s work, this is a must have volume, not to mention the series themselves. It’s available in softcover for only $24.47.

If you’re looking for some titles dealing with women filmmakers, then these next to will be of interests. Bloody Women: Women Directors of Horror, edited by Victoria McCollum and Aislinn Clarke, is now out in both a softcover edition for $39.99 and hardcover for $116. This volume “traces changing gender dynamics in the horror film industry to explore how women have played a crucial role in defining the genre of horror understood as a scholarly discipline, cultural institution, and site of pleasure.” While I haven’t gotten this title yet, I can say that this sounds not only interesting, but I’m thrilled that it will be yet another volume that showcases some of the achievements that women have made in the horror genre throughout the ages. Having Millicent Patrick on the cover is a perfect example of someone who created something but never got the credit until recently. This should be a very interesting read.

Then we have a new book by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas called The Cinema Coven: Witches, Witchcraft and Women’s Filmmaking, which is being released by McFarland, with the softcover priced at $49.95. In the description, it states that this book “examines the relationship between women, witchcraft, and filmmaking, exploring types of storytelling and the central themes in these movies.” While it may seem there are a lot of titles coming out that are doing the same thing, maybe it’s because of all the work accomplished over the last 100 years of cinema that were by women, that are still having to fight that uphill battle. I’ve read a few books from this author and have always walked away with a lot of things that I hadn’t known or realized before. So, I can’t wait to do the same with this one.

Then if you’re a fan of the “golden age of Hollywood horror”, then these next two titles from McFarland will be right up your alley. Chris Fellner has written 2 volumes covering the horror films made from 1931 to 1946. Each of these books are priced at $49.95, the first volume covering 74 titles, while the second volume covers 113 films. Each one has facts, trivia, historical data, and much, much more. For a fan of the classic age of horror cinema, I’m sure that I’ll find a lot of facts that I didn’t know, as well as hopefully bringing up titles that I haven’t seen yet but will soon be put on my Need-to-See List!

Lastly, we have a title that could be a pretty interesting read. The Vatican Versus Horror Movies, by Matt Rogerson, from McFarland, priced at $39.95. According to the description on the website, ” Since public audiences were first introduced to the medium of film in 1895, the Catholic Church has sought to impose its will on the distribution and exhibition of movies. These activities include the fortnightly publication of the Segnalazioni Cinematografiche, which passed Catholic moral judgment on every film released. In this pamphlet and in other settings, no set of filmmakers has invited the ire of the Vatican as much as those working in the genres of horror and exploitation. At times, filmmakers have responded in kind, attacking the Catholic church directly and indirectly, presenting clergy as outright antagonists and shining a light on the Vatican’s crimes past and present, including its collusion with fascism. Translating the judgments of the Segnalazioni Cinematografiche into English for the first time and juxtaposing them with film content and social and historical context, this book presents in full the cultural conflict between the Vatican and horror movies.”

Now THIS, sounds like it could be a lot of fun to dig into. Not being a huge fan of the Catholic Church, I really look forward to damning my soul even more!