Category Archives: Book News

Discover the Horror Book 5-Year Anniversary

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Thanks to Facebook, I was reminded that yesterday was when we had the official book launch for my book, Discover the Horror. It’s hard to believe that it has been that long, especially when it took me about 5 years to get it completed! But I’m still proud of it and what I’ve accomplished with it.

When I set out in the beginning, trying to figure out just what kind of book it was going to be, I realized that the only thing that I knew more about than anybody else was my own experiences with the horror genre. But yet, I did share a lot of experiences with other fans, no matter what year they were born, or when they started down the path of being a horror fan. I’ve said before that being a fan is not a race, but a journey. Sometimes that path takes you off the main road at times, but you can still find some pretty interesting films when you do go wandering off, but always coming back to the main road.

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Books, Books and More Books!

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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.

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New Books from the U.K.

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As a book collector, it is so tough to get books from across the pond because of the postage. But I still do it for a few of reasons. The titles I’m buying are more than worth it for the content. It also helps support the smaller publishers in continuing to put out such fantastic books. Oh yeah, and I’m a sucker when it comes to these kinds of titles!

The first one is the latest from the We Belong Dead people, Unsung Horrors Has Risen from the Grave. I have started contributing to some of their books, not in this latest volume though, but it’s not stopping me from adding it to the library. I mean, I already have the previous two titles in their Unsung Horrors series, so I obviously need this one as well! As usual, the authors have selected titles they feel need a little more love, which I’m always in agreement of. With so many movies coming out every year, there are plenty that seem to be left in the shadows that are more than worth your time. This volume covers titles like Curse of the Vampires, Evil of Dracula, The Redeemer, Lake Mungo, Curse of the Black Widow, Rogue, The Phantom Carriage, Splinter, and so much more.

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Satan on Screen!

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Any horror fan knows that good old Lucifer has been showing up in movies since pretty much the beginning of cinema, with Georges Méliès 1896 short film, The House of the Devil. While mainly horror films, there are plenty of other sub-genres, from comedies to even romance, he’s always poking into other’s business. But when it comes to the horror genre, we know Satan is one villain you don’t want to come up against!

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More Hammer Books from Peveril

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I know there are a lot of books on Hammer Films out there. Trust me, I know. With 2 shelves of just book on the famous studio, I probably have most of them! So why do we need more? Well, for a collector, not sure I can give a real answer other than . . . just because. But the thing about the Hammer titles from Peveril, and this isn’t a knock on any of the other wonderful books out there, but Peveril’s titles are like the archival material you’d go to a library to find. You know, those huge, old books you have to wear gloves to page through and aren’t allowed to check out, but go to special room to view them? The kind that scholars that are investigating some sort of mystery, go to these places to look for some undiscovered clue. Okay . . . maybe that’s taking a bit far.

In all seriousness, these books are archival in that they are filled with so much information, both in text and photos, that these will be the ones that future scholars will want to go back to, time and time again. I know I do each and every time I work on a piece about Hammer, or those involved. With their latest series, The House that Hammer Built, going through the decades and detailing what the studio was doing, is just amazing and filled with so much information. Vol. 2, going through from 1950 to 1954 is off to the printers so should be available soon.

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Chain Saw Confidential 2nd Printing

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Back in February of 2015, I posted my review of Gunnar Hansen’s book Chain Saw Confidential: How We Made the World’s Most Notorious Horror Movie, which you can read my review HERE. As much as I already knew about the film and the making of it, from the countless commentaries and documentaries I’d see up until that point, I really didn’t think I was going to learn anything new. Boy was I wrong.

No matter how much you know, or think you know, hearing the stories from the people that were there, giving firsthand accounts will definitely make you think, feel, and see the movie differently. To say this book is a must read is about as understating as I could get.

The first edition hardcover quickly sold out and now goes for big bucks on the secondary market. Now you can get the newly published 2nd edition from Dark Ink Publishers, only $23.99 for the hardcover edition and $17.99 for the softcover edition. Order your copy NOW by clicking HERE.

In Search of Darkness: The Authors!

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Back in June of last year, I posted about this upcoming title from AM Ink Publishing, the book version, so-to-speak of the popular series, In Search of Darkness: A Journey Into Iconic ’80s Horror. This is based on the 3-part documentary of the same name that was written, directed, and produced by David A. Weiner that had part one come out in 2019, part 2 in 2020, and the final part 3 in 2022. These are epic is scope, giving fans a ton of insight from those that worked in the films themselves, from names like Robert England, Doug Bradley, John Carpenter, Mick Garris, Jeffrey Combs, Joe Dante, and so many more.

Now this huge coffee-table size book that is the literary overview of those documentaries, packed from cover to cover with information and trivia about these films we love is due out very soon. To help give a little insight to not only the book, but also to the two authors that took on this massive undertaking to create a book version of this popular 3-title series, we reached out to Heather Wixson and Patrick Bromley to pose a few questions for them.

Kitley’s Krypt: What was it about the horror genre that made you have the desire to “spread the gospel”?

Heather Wixson: I think it’s because I grew up with everyone thinking I was the “weird one” because I loved horror so much, so I wanted to find a way to celebrate everything I love about it in any way that I could. That led to me embarking on a writing career that was centered around the horror genre (after spending a few years writing about local news and being bored out of my mind). I just wanted to use my writing abilities in any way that I could to highlight why horror is so awesome, and also put the spotlight on those who helped shape the landscape of the genre over the years and made me fall in love with it in the first place.

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Euro Horror from We Belong Dead

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The fine folks from We Belong Dead magazine have their latest massive book coming out, this time covering Euro Horror! In the ad on the page for the book, it has NASCHY! FRANCO! ARGENTO! BAVA! ROLLIN! Now if that isn’t a good way to make me order the damn thing, I don’t know what would! I have several of these massive books that We Belong Dead have been putting out over the last few years and they are all a work of art. Brimming with exceptional essays on the movies we all love, it is just so much fun to wander through them and read someone else’s thoughts on a variety of films. This one looks to be no different.

Edited by Eric McNaughton & Darrell Buxton, with foreword by Lone Fleming, with “350 pages in glorious full color, large format”, and illustrated with hundreds of stills, lobby cards, and poster art. For the softcover edition, the price is £35 ($44.45), and for the hardcover edition, the price is £45 ($57.15), which is limited. And of course, the postage to ship from the UK isn’t cheap either, with £15 ($19.05) and £20 ($25.40) for the hardcover. So, you’re looking at about $70 for a hardcover edition with shipping. Yes, a bit pricy. But, as I mentioned above, going by their previous books, I do think it is a great investment. And since a lot of them go out-of-print, the value will go up.

And if you need a little more pushing, my Discover the Horror co-host, Aaron AuBuchon has 4 different essays within the covers, from The Devil’s Nightmare, to Fulci’s The Beyond, to Argento’s Inferno. In fact, if memory serves, I even have an essay in there!

If you are interested, they are taking pre-orders now. Just click HERE to get to the page to place your order. I think you’ll thank me.

McFarland 40% Off Sale!!!

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That’s right you book lovers and bibliophiles, McFarland is having another one of their 40% off sales, from now through Cyber Monday on November 27th! This includes ALL of their titles. Just use the code HOLIDAY23 at checkout to get that savings. While McFarland puts out some great stuff, we know that sometimes their prices are a bit high, but now you can fix that by taking that 40% off.

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The Karloff Compendium

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I guess I should have figured that since I posted a little while ago about a new book on Lugosi, that there would have to be a new one on Karloff to balance the scales, right? Thanks to Stephen Jacobs, author of the amazing and highly recommended biography Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster (click HERE for our review of it), we now have another volume to add to our library: The Karloff Compendium: The Films, TV, Radio, Theatrical Work and More of Boris Karloff!

According to the book’s description, it is the most comprehensive volume on Karloff’s film roles, including several recently discovered movies (editor’s note: I have to admit, that alone has me curious), as well as selected highlights from his appearances on TV, radio, and his work on the stage. This is a “pictorial journey” through the life of one of the greatest icons in film history.

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