Sacrilegious for a genre-film enthusiast like me to admit as it may be, but books had it all over movies in 2021 for me. Reading gives me a sense of peace that even movies can’t always provide. Going to bookstores provides at least a passing feeling of serenity, although I went to less bookstores in person over the past year. And I needed peace and serenity desperately throughout 2021, one of the hardest years of my life.
What follows is a list of books that excited my mind and soul in a year where I, like many, badly needed some simple joys. I should admit that I haven’t yet read everything here, but also I should note that I didn’t receive any of these for free through Daily Grindhouse, so be assured that spending my own money on them means I am truly excited about all of them and feel very confident in recommending them sight-unseen. Of course, I can’t recommend that you buy every last one of them. And obviously, this is kind of a problem. I’m gonna need to build a wing just for my books. But I look over this list, and I feel happy all over again.
Thanks to all the authors herein for giving me better things to think about in a painful year.
by Megan Abbott
Megan Abbott is a genre trailblazer, and one of my very favorite authors, a writer who is able to make dark noir out of settings where noir has never before ventured. This latest book is about intrigue at a ballet studio, and I don’t even know where you’d find a point of comparison, since “Dance Moms meets BLACK SWAN” couldn’t possibly cover it. This is neither of those things. This is 100% pure Megan Abbott, and thank goodness.
by Ace Atkins
Ace Atkins’ Quinn Colson series is eleven books deep already, and I have been loving following the story of this Army Ranger turned small-town sheriff. I am a sucker for stories with a unique feel for places I haven’t been and with characters I’d either love or hate to know, and these books have those qualities in abundance. You can start the series with the first novel, The Ranger, but if you start elsewhere (I originally started with The Redeemers and caught up), you won’t be lost — these stories are reader-friendly and you’ll be swept up right away.
Fun City Cinema: New York City and the Movies That Made It
by Jason Bailey
Make space on your bookshelf for this one, because it’s essential as far as I’m concerned. This is a survey of one hundred years of movies set in New York, looking at how the city has influenced the cinema. New York is in my bones and so are movies, and I keep saying this book feels like it was made specifically for me, but of course there are a ton of people who have got to feel the same way. So go get a copy for yourself! I ain’t parting with mine.
Confessions of a Puppetmaster: A Hollywood Memoir of Ghouls, Guts, and Gonzo Filmmaking
by Charles Band & Adam Felber
As filmmaker autobiographies go, this is a particularly colorful one, full of memorable stories — it’s one of those cases where my critique is more of a compliment. I wanted lots more on the making of the various Charles Band productions mentioned herein. Then again, I have It Came From The Video Aisle!, which covers a lot of the same territory, and that’s twice the size and it still wasn’t enough for me. I love reading about midnight movies and the people who made them, and if you do too, here you go!
William Boyle writes about people I know. Not real people, but they could be. His characters feel like people I could have met, and not only because his stories often intersect with places I have been or lived. I would feel the same way if I grew up in Hong Kong. He is a writer who gets the details right — literally, as in the locations he describes, and emotionally, as in the way people from certain places can often act, or not act. He is one of my absolute favorite writers.
by V. Castro
I absolutely loved Hairspray & Switchblades from 2020, about were-jaguars, and I can’t wait to dig into Queen Of The Cicadas and everything else V. Castro writes. The way she is able to weld ideas of cultural tradition to unique horror concepts and compelling characters is just right up my alley.
This came out in 2020, but I didn’t make a list like this then, so here it is. It’s one of my favorite reading experiences from last year: The KKK are monsters, but what if they were literally demons? Meet the young Black women who have the skills needed to slay them. Set in the 1920s, this novella zips by, and while it may have all the visceral, immediate pleasures of a B-movie, it has the sophistication and thematic resonance of any more quote-unquote serious-minded piece of literature. After a year, I still haven’t shook it.
by S.A. Cosby
I completely zoomed through Blacktop Wasteland, the first novel I read from S.A. Cosby, and the minute I finished it, I was immediately craving the next one. Here it is, and almost unbelievably, since the previous book was so compelling, it’s a mighty level-up. This one is about two “old-fashioned” men, one Black, one white, brought together because their sons were married to each other, and both have been murdered. The pair team up to get revenge. That’s a perfect plot, in my eyes — first of all it feels unique, in that I have read a ton of crime novels and I don’t feel I’ve ever encountered that story before, and more importantly, it sets the stage for an exploration of some of the most essential conflicts in America today, conflicts some of us can’t believe we’re still encountering, but fights that still need to be fought, until one day we can all stop fighting and live in peace. It’s no surprise to me that S.A. Cosby is a fellow Joe R. Lansdale fan, and it’s a true joy to read his stories, supercharged with just about everything important ideologically while never less than exciting, entertaining, and mega-quotable. I’m already craving the next one.
by Warren Ellis
I love Nina Simone. I’m not sure I would have thought to keep a used piece of chewing gum she had once left behind, although if I had thought of it, I’m sure I would have done just what Warren Ellis did. He took it with him! (Nina Simone had performed at a festival held by Ellis’ musical collaborator Nick Cave.) This book, full of pictures, is the story of that piece of gum. Haven’t read it yet — it was a (perfect) gift from my aunt — but I can’t wait.
Landis: The Story of a Real Man on 42nd Street
Daily Grindhouse’s Managing Editor, Preston Fassel, wrote this biography of Bill Landis, who is best known — if at all — for the essential grindhouse document Sleazoid Express. The story is much longer than that, sadder and more exciting and entirely unique. This is the first release from Daily Grindhouse’s official imprint! So I suppose one could say I’m biased when I recommend it, but all I can tell you is that this is absolutely a book I would read whether or not I knew Preston to be a wonderful human. It’s a good story, about a person who deserves to be known more widely for his contributions to genre-film culture. And his story has been lovingly researched and written by a writer who continues to make his own mark.
And how about that new logo, huh?
I guess there are dozens of books with similar titles out there, and it could be easy to overlook this one, but don’t. This one is uncommonly clever and laugh-out-loud funny. Just paging through it, I would say it won me over with the chapter on mutated giants (think ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT WOMAN) that is printed in oversized text. I really got such a kick out of this book, and if you’re in the Humor section, look for it!
Haven’t read this one yet, but really looking forward to it. I am a longtime Johnny Cash fan, mainly for his art but also as an artist, and have mostly been able to resolve my reservations about some of the more extreme separate-the-art-from-the-artist aspects of his life, such as his friendship with Billy Graham and the whole forest fire incident. This book purports to show how Johnny Cash had uncommon empathy that led to his activism and also explains how he was able to appeal to both evangelicals and to heathen Northerners like yours truly.
Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World
by Wil Haygood
Another one I haven’t read yet, but obviously a must-read for me since Pam Grier is on the cover. This is a subject I continue to return to. The story of Black people in American film is the story of Black people in America, and that’s something everyone should study up on. Hoping this new book builds on the work of historian Donald Bogle, whose books I have learned so much from. (My sister just gave me his Dorothy Dandridge biography!)
Explaining this is going to get me yelled at by horror fiends, but for the layperson, a final girl is genre-speak for the last character, almost always a woman, to survive a slasher film, i.e. Jamie Lee Curtis in HALLOWEEN. The irresistible conceit of this story is that there exists a support group open to all the final girls from the various slasher “incidents” over time. Nobody’s having more fun with high concepts than Grady Hendrix. This one’s a blast.
Amazingly, we got two high-profile novels about the slasher genre in 2021. They are very different and you absolutely can and should check both out. Stephen Graham Jones’ approach is unique and indelible. I’ve been a fan of his since Mongrels. He has a way of imbuing genre elements with intense and believable character work. His books feel lived. Just last year, he blew me away with The Only Good Indians. (I dug that so much I picked it up in hardcover and then again in paperback, just to read it twice.) And My Heart Is A Chainsaw is success upon success.
Amazingly, there are two authors named Stephen Jones I’m happily following from book to book. This one is Stephen Mack Jones, who works in the crime genre. I haven’t gotten to Dead Of Winter yet, since I’m still working through his August Snow series and this one is the third in the series. But I already love the main character and his supporting cast and the way Detroit is yes, a member of said cast in the series, so I’ve got Dead Of Winter waiting for me.
Sometimes the cover is a draw, and sometimes it’s the title, and sometimes it’s both. This is a short book but it being a brief visit is part of what makes it such a strong, eerie ghost story.
Children Of The Fang And Other Genealogies
by John Langan
John Langan is the author of the essential novel The Fisherman and this is a collection of some of his short stories. I love to hit up a short story or two in between reading novels; that’s usually the way I do it. So this one is still in my future, happily.
One of my very favorite authors, Richard Lange is usually working in the crime genre. This is his first horror story. His strength, to me, is in creating characters and writing lines that can break your heart, a skill that is surely as much fitting in good horror as in crime. There’s such emotional clarity and precision to his writing. I hope more and more people discover him.
What else can I say about Joe Lansdale? He is to me what Stephen King is to most people in genre fandom. I’ll read anything he writes, at least twice. His latest is a mystery about a man trying to unearth a family tragedy from his childhood. I bought two copies, one to gift. Gotta spread the Lansdale gospel!
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
by Eric LaRocca
If you’re a diehard horror fan, you may have already heard of this one. Like Dracula, it is an epistolary novel, meaning it’s told in the form of correspondences between characters, but unlike Dracula, it’s presented as instant messages, a fun spin on the format. I love stories that find a new angle on a genre, and this is a gripping, speedy read I bet you’ll dig.
I was drawn to this title because I have family ties to Antioch in Ohio, which as far as I can tell is not where this story is set, but I’m glad I stuck around, because this is a real good, creepy, absorbing novel about a young woman on the trail of a local killer. Give it a try!
The Thousand Crimes Of Ming Tsu
by Tom Lin
I love Westerns. I love new spins on old formulas. This story of a Chinese-American gunfighter on a revenge quest is exactly the kind of thing I’m always looking for.
Barbaric, Book One: Murderable Offenses
by Michael Moreci & Nathan Gooden, etc.
Insanely, considering my out-of-control bibliophilia, I read comic books too. This series, about a barbarian named Owen who has a carnivorous talking axe, is one of the most purely fun things I read — or even did — all year long.
by Gus Moreno
I wrote about this one for the DG newsletter, where I said that “okay, it’s about an evil smart speaker, but it also abounds with some of the most specific and universal encapsulations of how grief really feels.” I still feel that way.
This is a crazy-cool, super-stylish historical noir and I just need to say that this is my favorite book cover of the year. Just perfect. Kids, don’t smoke.
We Had a Little Real Estate Problem The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff
Loved Kliph Nesteroff’s The Comedians and love his website, and as valuable and informative as those are, this is something I would call truly urgent and essential. I have been getting into new Native American literature, from authors like David Heska Wanbli Widen and Tommy Orange, but I had no idea about the Native comedy scene. If you, like me, have seen and enjoyed the new show Reservation Dogs, that’s a start. This book goes back in history and brings us back up to the present day in a way that’s casual and readable but effective and memorable. One of the best books I read this year, and obviously I read a lot.
by Chris Offutt
I found this at the local independent bookstore and I’m looking forward to getting myself into it — I read the author’s relatively recent autobiographical work My Father, the Pornographer and have been hoping to read more of his fiction ever since.
This isn’t a new book, just a new printing of it, since a movie is forthcoming. I love this book and I read it every year, come October. It’s short and quick, and I recommend it as highly as humanly possible.
That’s kind of a funny title, if you think about it. There’s nothing cruel about Elvira. Elvira is pure joy. I know it’s tongue-in-cheek and part of the whole horror-host deal, but it just got me to thinking about what an absolute gift Elvira (and Cassandra Peterson) have been to midnight movies and to my love of them. Elvira for President!
by Hailey Piper
This is a novella involving a carnivorous monster underneath New York City in the 1990s, and that’s all you need to tell me to get me to crack the cover. I scooped this up in a rare and tremendously productive trip to a remote bookstore with a phenomenal horror section, and while I haven’t gotten to that pile yet, I’m feeling eager. Stay tuned!
by Thomas Pluck
This is the second novel in the series that began with Bad Boy Boogie a few years ago, and I’m pretty psyched to get back into that world. Thomas Pluck is an author who can write punches you can feel when you read them. He writes crime stories that feel authentic enough to be believable, but with a literary flourish that real life too seldom provides. There’s true art in his shitkickery, and that’s a rare and wonderful thing.
It Never Ends: A Memoir with Nice Memories!
Tom Scharpling is the longtime host of The Best Show, a thoroughly unique radio program and now podcast that I have been enjoying for a good while now. Not sure when or why I got into it, and I’m probably not the most diehard of fans (only because it’s hard to keep up with everything I’d like to), but I really dig the DIY aesthetic and the kindness underneath it all. Don’t know him personally but I get the sense that Tom is a mensch, and I’m always happy to check in with him, whether it be tuning into The Best Show or paging through this book, every so often.
by Maria Tatar
Like many writers, I’ve read my share of Joseph Campbell and The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Rightly, Maria Tatar provides a corrective here by bringing heroines into the mix. I’m one of those straight white males who have had decades of culture skewed towards us, so it can take some work to reprogram, but it’s necessary work. For me, I’m not just interested in inclusivity and gender balance for reasons of social justice — I also believe it opens us up on a galactic level to the number of new stories we can tell. Haven’t dug into this book yet, but really excited about it.
Trejo: My Life Of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood
by Danny Trejo with Donal Logue
Longtime fan of Danny Trejo here, and so happy to see him become so ubiquitous lately throughout American pop culture. I guess maybe it dulls the dramatic effect a little of seeing him as a virtuoso character actor in so many memorable films of the 1980s and 1990s, but in this case I can live with it. I’m just happy to see the guy, every single time. I’m also a fan of Donal Logue, who in addition to being a virtuoso character actor in his own right, has a touch of the poet in him. It’s just so rad to imagine these guys working on this book together.
Ashamed to say I wasn’t aware of Willy Vlautin’s work before this year, but listening to this conversation between him and William Boyle led me to read this book, which is a stunner. This is a story of a desperate woman in an impossible position — no aliens, no monsters, no ninjas, no werewolves — the villain here is America today, and there’s hardly a more unforgiving antagonist.
Escape from New York: The Official Story of the Film
by John Walsh
Christmas present! I love this movie like a family member, and of course I have read everything I ever could about it, but you can never have enough.
The Final Revival Of Opal & Nev
This book is just really cool. It’s fiction, told in the story of an oral history, about the rock duo of Opal, a young Black woman in the 1970s pioneering in a punk style, and Nev, who is the British songwriter she teams up with. I would absolutely love to hear this band, but I can only hear them in my imagination while reading this book.
by Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan & co.
I keep saying it everywhere I get to say it, but this is the greatest comic book series of all time.
by Rio Youers
So I really dug the comic series Basketful Of Heads, from Joe Hill, which now has a sequel, Refrigerator Full Of Heads. The writer of the new series is Rio Youers, and this is his new novel, which is full of crazy violence. It’s tons of fun.
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Tags: 2021, Ace Atkins, Best Of 2021, Bill Landis, Books, Cassandra Khaw, cassandra peterson, Charles Band, Chris Offutt, Comic Books, danny trejo, Dawnie Walton, Donal Logue, Douglas Wolk, elvira, Eric LaRocca, Gene Colan, Grady Hendrix, Gus Moreno, Hailey Piper, Jason Bailey, Jessica Leonard, Joe Lansdale, Joe R. Lansdale, john carpenter, John Langan, John Walsh, Johnny cash, Joseph Campbell, K.E. Flann, Kliph Nesteroff, Maria Tatar, Marv Wolfman, Marvel Comics, Megan Abbott, Michael Moreci, Michael Stewart Foley, Nathan Gooden, Nina Simone, Norman Partridge, Preston Fassel, Richard Lange, Richard Wright, Rio Youers, S.A. Cosby, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Stephen Graham Jones, Stephen Mack Jones, Thomas Pluck, Tom Lin, Tom Scharpling, V. Castro, Warren Ellis, Wil Haygood, William Boyle, Willy Vlautin
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