For someone who has been collecting horror reference books for over 30 years, John McCarty was a pretty prolific author of those types of books in my early days of collecting. The first one I can remember getting was Splatter Movies, which was first published in 1981, but re-released in an expanded hardcover edition in 1984. While I didn’t agree with McCarty a lot of the times, I admire the fact that he cranked out several volumes on the horror genre over his long career. From the two volumes in his Official Splatter Movie Guides, The Sleaze Merchants: Adventures in Exploitation Filmmaking, The Fearmakers, and more, he was out there talking about these films. And of course, I added each one to my library.

But the news of his passing spread through social media yesterday and it made realize that it’s a damn shame that a lot of these authors that help fans learn more about the films we love, aren’t worthy enough to be guests at conventions these days. But our thoughts go out to McCarty’s friends and family during this difficult time.