{"id":2159,"date":"2017-10-19T18:35:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T22:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=2159"},"modified":"2017-10-30T01:24:51","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T05:24:51","slug":"dot-podcast-ep43-grady-hendrix-on-paperbacks-from-hell-plus-new-music-from-hound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2017\/10\/19\/dot-podcast-ep43-grady-hendrix-on-paperbacks-from-hell-plus-new-music-from-hound\/","title":{"rendered":"DoT Podcast EP43 Grady Hendrix on Paperbacks from Hell, plus New Music from Hound"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first scheduled this interview with author Grady Hendrix, I was expecting him to be much more tongue-in-cheek about the subject of horror in print. He had named his book Paperbacks from Hell<\/em>, and started his history of horror novels with The Little People<\/em> and its unique creation, Gestopochauns \u2013 Nazi leprechauns. Plus, he has so much fun describing the outlandish plots of some of these books. Take, for example, this gem, in which he describes Jeffrey Konvitz\u2019s The Sentinel<\/em>: <\/p>\n

Young Alison ran away but her father chased her down and tried to strangle her with a crucifix necklace, sending her into a fainting, barfing frenzy that ended only when she kicked him in the nards and renounced the church.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The book can seem like Mystery Science Theater<\/em> for print at times. And just as Joel Hodgson and company adore the movies they riff on, and the idea of movies in general, Hendrix loves his books, no matter how over-the-top or offensive they may be. Hendrix appreciates not only the classics like Ira Levin\u2019s Rosemary\u2019s Baby<\/em> and Joan Samson\u2019s The Auctioneer<\/em> but also the unbound imagination it took to conjure up demon puppets or write five books about killer crabs. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I take really, really seriously with this book is a lot of these authors are really legitimately good authors, and some are batshit crazy who wrote batshit crazy books, but they\u2019ve been forgotten,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is what they left behind. They\u2019ve retired, some have died. This is their legacy, and I feel like in a way, my job is to introduce readers to these sort of forgotten authors and sort of take care of this flame and keep it burning.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hendrix writes his own novels, as well. He released My Best Friend\u2019s Exorcism<\/em> in July, and frequently publishes short fiction and nonfiction pieces. There is a definite sense of humor in everything Hendrix writes, but he\u2019s dedicated to making sure what he puts on the page feels real to the reader. Which is why he braved his fear of the dark by sitting in the basement of his apartment building to know what his characters would feel like in Horrorstor<\/em>, his novel about a haunted IKEA. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s time to pull out the scares in horror, I always feel like the ways people fail the most is they don\u2019t dig deep enough,\u201d he says. \u201cYou make something scary not by taking it super seriously, you make it scary by really knowing it and conveying that experience.\u201d <\/p>\n

You can find all of his writing at GradyHendrix.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n

After the conversation, stay tuned for \u201cWelcome to the Land of Bad Magic,\u201d a great sludgy, riffy track from Hound\u2019s new album, Born Under 76<\/em>. If you like your guitars loud, low, and fuzzy, Hound is the band for you. Find out more about them on their BandCamp site<\/a> or the Let\u2019s Pretend Records Web site<\/a>. <\/p>\n

You can listen to and download the podcast from the player below, or subscribe\/review on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Enjoy!<\/p>\n