Why You Should Be Reading Grady Hendrix if You Love Horror

As a horror fan and an avid reader, there are a few household horror writer names that almost every fan of the genre knows. Of course, Stephen King still holds the crown in modern horror writer royalty, but not far behind are big-named, prolific writers like Dean Koontz, Anne Rice, R.L. Stine, and Clive Barker.

As most of the authors above are nearing their showdowns with Father Time, and getting closer to the end of their careers (and unfortunately, their lives, in Rice’s case), it’s become difficult for some horror fans to transition away from their favorite horror writer’s books, and find new, consistent authors that are able to capture horrific stories and worlds, while still maintaining to create engaging characters that we feel for and care about.

There are many that have been around for a while, that are just now starting to get the recognition they deserve. Josh Malerman was the writer behind one of the most successful streaming films of all time, with Bird Box; Paul Tremblay’s novel The Cabin at the End of the World has been adapted into M. Night Shyamalan’s new film, Knock at the Cabin, and Zoe Stage has released four novels in four years. However, there’s one name that should be on your horror radar if it already isn’t, and that’s Grady Hendrix.

If you’re a deep-dive horror fan, or an avid Shudder watcher, it’s very possible you’re familiar with the South Carolinian author’s work and may not even know it. Not only did Hendrix co-write the Native American action-horror film Mohawk with Ted Geoghegan (We Are Still Here), but he also wrote the screenplay to Chelsea Stardust’s popular directorial debut, Satanic Panic. Both films have picked up quite the following on the horror-exclusive streaming service.

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Regarding his novels, Hendrix started out with Occupy Space and Satan Loves You, which are both out of print, for now. The first big hit of attention came with his novel Horrorstör, a hauntingly fun ghost story that takes place after hours in the Hendrix-world equivalent to an IKEA. The book breaks the mold by kicking off each chapter with a catalog-style design page of an item that is both available at the store and an important piece of the forthcoming chapter. This will be the next Henrdix novel adaptation to hit the screen.

The book that followed was probably Hendrix’s most well-known novel, and his first to receive a full feature film adaptation, My Best Friend’s Exorcism. Though the movie was a little lackluster, and didn’t really do his book justice, the nostalgic ‘90s tale of a possessed teenage girl’s high school journey is a fun one.

One of the more unique things about Hendrix’s writing is his ability to do a great job with women protagonists and main characters. Now, as a 36-year-old man, it’s super easy for me to speculate on that, but many women who have read his books have said the same in their reviews. Even as a man, there have been many times when even the best authors struggle with writing characters, and especially point-of-view segments, from the perspective of the opposite sex. Rather than moving away and only writing male main characters, Hendrix has embraced the challenge and improved his opposite sex character development with each release.

In The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, a vampire-next-door, Fright Night-esque neighborhood novel, the main character is Patricia, a middle-aged suburban housewife in the ‘90s. She’s a character you would be hard-pressed to find throughout the horror world, and a well-written one at that.

In Hendrix’s newest book,  The Final Girls Support Group, the entire cast of characters are women, and each one is developed incredibly well, focusing on individual traumas that each went through with their own slasher movie-inspired stories.

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In 2018, Grady Hendrix won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction with Paperbacks from Hell, an illustrated guide that takes its readers down memory lane through the history of ‘70s and ‘80s paperback horror fiction novels. In the book, Hendrix outlines both the absurdity and fun parts of pulpy paperbacks, as well as points out the issues with them, including poor quality control and deeply misogynistic content. The book also dives into the impact that authors such as V.C. Andrews, Thomas Harris, and R.L. Stine had one genre.

Paperbacks from Hell even inspired the re-publishing of several of the old ’70s and ’80s horror paperbacks mentioned within it, even after they had been out of print for decades.

Most recently, he jumped back into non-fiction with These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Change the World, a martial arts movie guide he co-wrote with Chris Poggiali, which has a foreword from RZA of Wu-Tang Clan. He’s also dabbling in science fiction a bit, with a new novella titled Badasstronauts. His next horror novel comes out in January 2023, titled How to Sell a Haunted House.

My biggest takeaway from Grady Hendrix’s work is that he’s plain and simply a fun horror writer. Don’t get me wrong, all of his books have a level of sincerity to them, dark messaging, and plenty of grime and gore, but there’s a levity that’s reminiscent of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, but on a more adult level. It’s an anthological feeling of nostalgia, where the stories have a perfect blend of telling a scary campfire story, while involving the reader by making the characters regular Joe Schmoes.

Ghost and ghoul stories are always fun, but it’s hard for a reader to relate to someone who just inherited a three million dollar mansion, or a 70-year-old business magnate dealing with a comeuppance. We can relate to a 22-year-old department store worker, or a 40-year-old woman with two kids and a husband. Hendrix writes for both himself and his readers, which has been so refreshing for the horror book world. If you’re a horror fan, and you’re unfamiliar or only semi-familiar with his work, do yourself a favor and dive in, because big things are still to come for Grady Hendrix.