Preston Fassel

Spring, 1983. Sally Ride is about to go into space. Flashdance is a cultural phenomenon. And in Times Square, two very deadly women are on a collision course with destiny-- and each other. At twenty-one, Ginny Kurva is already legendary on 42nd Street. To the pimp for whom she works, she's the perfect weapon-- a martial artist capable of taking down men twice her size. To the girls in her stable, she's mother, teacher, and protector. To the little sister she cares for, she's a hero. Yet Ginny's bravado and icy confidence hide a mind at the breaking point, her sanity slowly slipping away as both her addictions and the sins of her past catch up with her... At thirty-seven, Nicolette Aster is the most respected woman at the Staten Island Landfill. Quiet and competent, she's admired by the secretaries and trusted by her supervisors. Yet those around her have no idea how Nicolette spends her nights-- when the hateful madness she keeps repressed by day finally emerges, and she turns the dump into a hunting ground to engage in a nightmarish bloodsport...

Our Lady of the Inferno

Chris Grosso

Based on very real and practical commentary, life experience, and occasionally, tongue-in-cheek-misfortunes of horror legends, Necessary Death explores how the horror genre, its motifs and characters, offer individuals a unique opportunity for insight and understanding of their own lives. Necessary Death looks back on several iconic horror films and finds that maybe the genre wasn’t ever really just about men in hockey masks chasing good looking coeds through old dark houses. Even a cursory examination of the horror convention will reveal a plethora of stories from recovering addicts, survivors of trauma and sexual abuse, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and minorities. So what, then, can this genre so concerned with death teach us about being alive—and how can we apply those lessons in our day-to-day existence? Using some of the most quintessential movies in the genre, Chris Grosso and Preston Fassel invite readers to an in-depth examination of the human condition—its fears, anxieties, hopes, joys, sorrows, and everything in-between—and how it’s all grist for our personal and collective evolutionary mill. A hallmark of the genre is how horror films force their characters to find some semblance of inner strength and wherewithal in order to stand up to the monster, ghost, or villain that is trying to take their lives. Through fascinating discussion of this and other elements, Fassel and Grosso relate these films’ dark subject matter and characters to real world issues people face every day, showing that there’s something deep within us that, if even just metaphorically, can relate to the pain in these stories. This sharp analysis is complimented by exercises that prompt readers to consider gratitude, forgiveness, determination, and bravery in the face of adversity. An unusual mix of film study and self-help, Necessary Death might surprise or even shock readers, but it will also enlighten, educate, and most importantly hearten those looking for an unexpected source of inspiration.

What Horror Movies Teach Us About Navigating the Human Experience

Necessary Death

Based on very real and practical commentary, life experience, and occasionally, tongue-in-cheek-misfortunes of horror legends, Necessary Death explores how the horror genre, its motifs, and its characters offer individuals a unique opportunity for insight and understanding of their own lives. Necessary Death looks back on several iconic horror films and finds that maybe the genre wasn’t ever really just about men in hockey masks chasing good looking coeds through old dark houses. Even a cursory examination of the horror convention will reveal a plethora of stories from recovering addicts, survivors of trauma and sexual abuse, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and minorities. So what, then, can this genre so concerned with death teach us about being alive—and how can we apply those lessons in our day-to-day existence? Using some of the most quintessential movies in the genre, Chris Grosso and Preston Fassel invite readers to an in-depth examination of the human condition—its fears, anxieties, hopes, joys, sorrows, and everything in-between—and how it’s all grist for our personal and collective evolutionary mill. A hallmark of the genre is how horror films force their characters to find some semblance of inner strength and wherewithal in order to stand up to the monster, ghost, or villain that is trying to take their lives. Through fascinating discussion of this and other elements, Fassel and Grosso relate these films’ dark subject matter and characters to real world issues people face every day, showing that there’s something deep within us that, if even just metaphorically, can relate to the pain in these stories. This sharp analysis is complimented by exercises that prompt readers to consider gratitude, forgiveness, determination, and bravery in the face of adversity. An unusual mix of film study and self-help, Necessary Death might surprise or even shock readers, but it will also enlighten, educate, and most importantly hearten those looking for an unexpected source of inspiration.

From the award-winning author of Our Lady of the Inferno comes another tale of New York in the Bad Old Days: A saga of murder, bloodshed, and betrayal set against the backdrop of Times Square at the height of its decadence and depravity. In the kingdom of the damned that is 42nd Street, there's no lowlier subject than Andy Lew. An unrepentant junkie, voyeur, and degenerate, he's only tolerated by the more dangerous men around him because he keeps the projectors at the Colossus theater running on time, entertaining them with the most extreme horror cinema money can buy. There's something unique about Andy, though. He owns a movie. It's the only one of its kind. No one knows who made it. Only he knows where it came from. The woman it stars is beautiful beyond imagination-and the images it depicts are more nightmarish than the darkest depths of Hell. The beasts of 42nd Street will do anything to possess it, but there's something they don't understand. Andy loves the woman in the movie-and he'll go to any lengths to protect her... A savage love letter to 70s exploitation cinema and a biting satire of toxic fan culture, Beasts of 42nd Street makes horror dangerous again as it ventures into the mind of a psychopath like no other- one that will have readers recoiling even as they keep coming back for more. "Preston Fassel has proven himself as one of our most powerful upcoming voices in horror literature with Beasts of 42nd Street. Fassel simultaneously winks at past horror sub-genres while delving into new and innovative territory, creating both a love letter to 70s exploitation cinema while weaving a tight, contemporary, psychological horror tale." -Rebekah McKendry, PhD "Like the bastard lovechild of Paul Schrader and Abel Ferrera, Preston Fassel's Beasts of 42nd Street is a sleazy, audacious, razor-sharp slice of bloody exploitation...You may be able to wipe away the grime after reading this book, but the smile will stay for days." -Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Kin and Sour Candy "You could sit around and moan about how they don't write 'em like they used to, or you could get acquainted with Preston Fassel. Beasts of 42nd Street is more reflective than you might expect from a book whose main character is a junkie projectionist...but it's as vividly drawn and engrossingly readable as any dog-eared paperback from the heyday of pulp fiction." -Katie Rife; The aV Club, Rolling Stone "...one of the best detective novels to come down the pike in a long while. A rogues' gallery of great characters and a killer story mixed with New York City in all its 1970s sleazy glory. What's not to love?" -Harry Hunsicker, author of The Devil's Country; former executive vice president of the Mystery Writers of America "Fassel impressively grafts a grimy, thrilling horror story onto the richly rendered true grindhouse setting of 42nd Street, using actual events and places to flesh out this exploitation nightmare. Demonstrating expansive research and knowledge of the era, Fassel's latest impresses on every level." -Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting "You don't just read this book, you live it. A desperate love story of obsession and madness that could've only happened on 42nd street." -Matt Serafini, author of Rites of Extinction and under The Blade "...a work of gritty, haunting storytelling. You won't be able to forget Andy Lew's descent into forbidden cinema." -John Palisano; President, HWA

Beasts of 42nd Street

Winner of the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Award for Horror Spring, 1983. Sally Ride is about to go into space. Flashdance is a cultural phenomenon. And in Times Square, two deadly women are on a collision course with destiny-- and each other. At twenty-one, Ginny Kurva is already legendary on 42nd Street. To her pimp, she's the perfect weapon-- a martial artist capable of taking down men twice her size. To the girls in her stable, she's mother, teacher, and protector. To the little sister she cares for, she's a hero. Yet Ginny's bravado and icy confidence hide a mind at the breaking point, her sanity slowly slipping away as both her addictions and the sins of her past catch up with her... At thirty-seven, Nicolette Aster is the most respected woman at the Staten Island Landfill. Quiet and competent, she's admired by the secretaries and trusted by her supervisors. Yet those around her have no idea how Nicolette spends her nights-- when the hateful madness she keeps repressed by day finally emerges, and she turns the dump into a hunting ground to engage in a nightmarish blood sport... In the Spring of 1983, neither Ginny nor Nicolette knows the other exists. By the time Summer rolls around, one of them will be dead.

At the dawn of the 1980s, there was one serious name in horror and exploitation film criticism: Bill Landis. While other magazines were concerned with behind-the-scenes information, tributes, and SFX tutorials, Landis' Sleazoid Express was one part film journal and one part anthropological study, seriously critiquing the grindhouse movies that played the theaters of 42nd Street while also documenting the dying subculture that had grown up around them. Profiled in Film Comment and Rolling Stone for his pioneering work, Landis' over-the-top "Mr. Sleazoid" persona and double-life as an adult film star masked the pain behind the excess: a child genius whose intellect alienated him from his peers; a sexual abuse survivor who numbed his trauma with drugs; a consummate outcast who only felt at home among other outcasts. After settling into life as a husband, father, and author in the 90s, it seemed that Landis had turned a corner-but the ghosts of Times Square were never far behind him. Dead at the age of 49 on the eve of what should have been a successful comeback, his legacy has nominally been forgotten, most of his work lost, and his memory relegated to a footnote in journalism history. Now, award-winning author and journalist Preston Fassel (Our Lady of the Inferno; Fangoria magazine; The Daily Grindhouse) pieces together the full story of his life for the first time, from his turbulent childhood, to his meteoric rise in the New York vice scene, to his tragic demise on the streets of Chicago. Featuring exclusive interviews with Kurt Loder (MTV; Rolling Stone), Michael J. Weldon (Psychotronic Video), Art Ettinger (Ultra Violent Magazine), Carl Abrahamsson, Mike McPadden (Heavy Metal Movies; Teen Movie Hell), and others, plus excerpts from Landis' unpublished autobiographical novella Last Exit in Manattan and a reprint of Landis' seminal Fangoria interview with Andy Milligan, Landis at last pulls back the curtain on one of genre writing's most influential-yet unknown-figures. In that lost, damned, golden age called the 80s, there was a movie star named Bobby Spector and a writer named Mr. Sleazoid. Most importantly, there was a man named Bill Landis. This is his story.

Landis: The Story of a Real Man on 42nd Street

His name was Quentin Sergenov - the unexpected hero of the 90s wrestling scene. A middle-aged bruiser called up to the big leagues on the eve of what should've been his retirement, his story of late-in-life success and can-do attitude won the hearts of fans all over the world- and the heart of Wave, his in-ring rival. The two shared a forbidden love that was doomed from the start; but the end of their affair would prove to be the beginning of something terrible for Quentin... His name is Quentin Sergenov - recluse, artist, romantic. Something happened to Quentin after he was cast out of the wrestling world: something that left him less-and more-than human. Now that he's been given a second chance, Quentin is about to go on a quest-one that will find him crossing paths with Nazi scientists, internet celebrities, sci-fi groupies, and bodybuilding CEOs. It's a quest to reunite with Wave and finally take back what was stolen from them; and the results will be as gruesome as they are hilarious...

Preston Fassel

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