Grady Hendrix is a name that many familiar with horror
should know. He not only writes horror, but he’s also one of horror’s most
visible ambassadors. He could have just sat back and enjoyed the royalties
coming in from three great novels that he’s published, but he’s also working to
increase horror’s visibility, particularly among librarians. He’s created a
nonfiction book Paperbacks From Hell, which details the horror paperback boom
of the 70’s and 80’s, and has published some of the books he mentions in
Paperbacks as part of his new imprint. Along with making numerous visits to
horror podcasts, he has even worked with Becky Spratford and her Summer Scares
program to bring horror to libraries. The man is busy, but we should never
forget that the man knows horror and knows how to write.
The cover of his debut novel Horrorstör was enough to get me interested. Having gone to IKEA
many times, usually because my wife promised Swedish meatballs at the end of
any shopping trip, I was familiar with the IKEA catalog, which the cover tried
to emulate. What made me want to read are the haunted house tropes within the
image (for example, a disembodied face or a crack in the wall). As I read, I
saw many things that kept me reading. Sure there were the furniture diagrams
that progressed into diagrams of torture devices. But underneath all that was a
solid ghost story serious enough to be actually terrifying in spots. He even
had a sympathetic protagonist, a young woman who is dealing with her own
non-supernatural crisis: How does she find her way into adulthood when she’s
trapped in a workforce that doesn’t seem particularly welcoming?
So Grady Hendrix knows about conflict and character, which
he continues to demonstrate in his next novel, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which, like Horrorstör, hooked me with its quirky premise. Best friends Abby and Gretchen face high school and the 80's together, but the ultimate test of their friendship is when Gretchen is possessed by a demon. Like Joe Lansdale, a personal favorite of mine,
Hendrix goes beyond merely presenting a crazy situation and the chaos that
ensues. Exorcism is one of my
favorite novels because it is so grounded in the relationship between these two
young women, showing why indeed one would risk everything to save the other’s
eternal soul. Like Elvis in "Bubba Hotep"
discovering life’s meaning when he had to fight for it, Abby learns just how
powerful the bonds of friendship can be, pushing this title beyond an excuse to
have cover art like an 80’s VHS tape but giving a surprisingly tender story as
to how friendships make us our better selves.
This exploration of friendships continues in his latest We Sold Our Souls, as Kris Pulaski, former
guitarist for the heavy metal band Dürt Würk discovers that her band’s former lead singer
Terry made a Faustian deal with not only his soul but all of theirs. This novel has
an epic quest feel to it as Kris tries to regain what she didn’t even know she
lost, but she also represents one of Hendrix’s most tough-as-nails protagonist
in the face of adversity. The passing of her band has meant that life had
passed Kris by, leaving her 46 and a hotel clerk, not where she saw her life
going at all. She is constantly disrespected and underestimated, and there are
times even she doesn’t feel like she’s up to the challenges set before her. Her
one weapon is the literal power of rock and roll in the form of a song that
represents her anger and grit. What keeps me, and will probably continue to
keep me, coming back to Hendrix’s work is his ultimate message of hope within his
books, particularly his more recent novels. That message is whatever horrors life throws
our way, the human spirit is able to rise above them.
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