McFarland Book Sale!!!

In our never-ending pursuit of learning more about the horror genre, we have many volumes from McFarland in our library. They have such a wide variety of subjects, from critical essays and academic studies overviews of different sub-genres, and plenty of amazing biographies.

Going on right now, McFarland is not waiting until Black Friday to start their online sales but have started offering 40% off ANY title!!! Just head over to their website (by clicking HERE) and start choosing titles. When you get to the check out, add in HOLIDAY22 for the code and it will take off the 40%. That’s damn near half price folks! I know McFarland can be a bit pricy so now is your chance to save some series dough! The sale goes from now until Monday, November 28th, so don’t wait too long!

Holiday Shopping Ideas

With Axe-mas right around the corner, I’m sure everyone is starting to compile their own wish list or thinking about what to get others. I’m going to give a few suggestions to help not only find a great gift, but to also help increase the knowledge for the person receiving it, as well as maybe showing support for those out there that are putting their blood, sweat, tears, and talent into their work. We need to show our support for them, to let them know what they are doing is worth it.

For those out there that are looking for the special gift for the horror obsessed fan in their life, or to add it to your own personal list, let me start with a shameless plug and humbly suggest picking up a copy of my book, Discover the Horror? While it is available on Amazon, if you order it directly from me, you’ll get it personally signed to you, or whoever you request. How cool would it be to surprise your special someone with a personalized autograph copy? You can read what some people have thought about it on Amazon or some of the reviews I’ve posted on the link to the right.

But…this isn’t just about my book, but the countless titles out there that would make wonderful gifts to any horror fan. Here are some examples.

2018 Year End Review – Part 3: Best Readings!

I once again went beyond my goal of reading at least book a month this year, devouring a total of 15 titles. I seem to be on a trend because I’ve done that for the last 2 years. Granted, even at this rate, I still won’t get through every title I have, and that’s even if I stopped adding more titles to the library. And we all know that isn’t going to happen! But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try! Out of those 15 titles, here are the top 5 that I would recommend the most, listed alphabetically, even though I have a little adder at the bottom. If you want to read more detail about these titles, as well as the other ones I read, click on the link for Horror Reference Book Reviews on the menu to the right.

Book Review: Laird Cregar – A Hollywood Tragedy

Laird Cregar: A Hollywood Tragedy
Published by McFarland, 2018. 329 pages
By Gregory William Mank

The reading goal that I have set for myself is to get through at least one book per month, and for the last couple of years, I’ve happily gone a little past that goal. But thanks to the wonderfully talented Mr. Mank, my average for this year just went up. It usually takes me 3-4 weeks to get through a book, mainly because I have to steal away time to read. But once I started this latest volume, on the actor Laird Cregar, I went through the first half of it in the first two days, finishing it off within a week. I just couldn’t put it down.

I have been a fan of Cregar’s since the very first time I watched The Lodger (1944). I was just amazed at not only how effective and well made the picture was, but also the amazing talent of Cregar. I immediately started to seek out other of his films, especially Hangover Square (1945), again being mesmerized by his performance. I started to read up on this seemingly unknown (to me at least) actor and his life in various books and online, only be to be depressed on how this brilliant performer was treated in his life, by others as well as how he treated himself. A couple of years ago, while talking to Mank at a Monster Bash conference, he mentioned Cregar was going to be the subject of an upcoming book, which I knew I would get the minute it came out. Which I did.

Horror History: Laird Cregar

Laird Cregar
Born July 28th, 1913 – Died Dec. 9th, 1944

Cregar was an actor of amazing stature, but in physical size and talent. Being 6′ 3″ and 300 lbs., he was a figure to be reckoned with. But even more powerful than his size, was his acting talent. With such deep and soulful eyes and soft voice, he gave the audience an incredible performance. It was his performance in his self-produced one-man play ‘Oscar Wilde” where Cregar really caught the attention of Hollywood. He would make his feature debut in the 1941 film Hudson’s Bay along side Paul Muni. Because of his size, he was getting roles of the villains and heavies but desperately wanted to be a leading man. His portrayals of two different madmen, in The Lodger (1944) and Hangover Square (1945) where the characters he is playing are hiding a deep dark secret. Maybe one of the reasons for his stellar performance was because Cregar was hiding his own secret that he was scared to death of it getting out. Cregar was a homosexual and thought if that news got out in Hollywood in the ’40s that it would ruin his chance of being a romantic leading man. Watching him in these two films is both fascinating and tragic since he was battling his own inner demons the whole time.

Between the two films, he decided that he would lose weight which he hoped would put him in the leagues of the leading man roles, dropping 100 lbs. He went into the hospital for an abdominal surgery for his weight loss, but suffered two heart attacks, with the second one killing him. It was such a loss, especially because  he was only 28 years old. But the real tragedy was that he was afraid to be who he was, and felt that he had to hide it from the public. Granted, back then one might have to do that, but it is still a damn shame.