Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction

by Grady Hendrix

In Our Lady of Darkness (1977), Fritz Leiber offers his theory of Megapolisomancy, a “new science of cities” formulated by his fictitious magician Thibaut de Castries. The streets and subway tunnels, water mains and gas pipes, steam tunnels and power cables formed lines of power that imbued cities with dark magic. Or, as a character in Thomas Monteleone’s Night Train (1984) says, “In effect, the city may be coming to life, and if so, it’s proving to be something quite malign.” In Night Train, other dimensions are melting into ours, the main incursion point lying beneath the Lower East Side (also home to Cellars’ Head Underneath). Albino dwarves, flesh-eating jellyfish, and a subterranean pterodactyl make appearances before the NYPD blasts them to hell with shotguns and concussion grenades. The monsters are defeated, but the city sleeps uneasily. As the book ends, one of the officers keeps an eye on crime stats. As long as they keep going down, people are safe. But if they start going up again, it means the city is stirring back to life. Only gentrification can keep the forces of darkness at bay.