Horror wasn't a big thing in publishing in 1974, but there were things starting to happen. The Exorcist had, of course, been an enormous bestseller. Rosemary's Baby had done well not so long before, and so had Thomas Tryon's The Other and Harvest Home.
Horror movies have always been popular, and ABC was showing original films every week, and many of them were in the horror genre. One of them, The Night Stalker, made TV ratings history. Dr. Phibes was the epitome of cool. Willard ordered his rats to "tear 'em up!"
And there was plenty of horror in real life. America had recently gotten out of a hugely unpopular war, and that war was the first in which the people got a front row seat of the horrors from their television sets. Assassinations were happening and the Manson Family Murders were still fresh in everyone's minds.
I was thirteen years old in 1974, and I devoured just about anything that was horror oriented. I was mostly a science fiction reader, but if I saw a cool-looking horror book on the racks, chances were good that I'd buy it
You know what else was cool about that time? Nearly every store had racks of books for sale. Convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores. And not just a few selections of the biggest bestsellers, either. A lot of way-out things were sitting on those wonderfully squeaky turning book racks. I always had to stop and look at them, much to the dismay of my mostly non-reading friends.
Anyway, I was there in one of the stores one day back in 1974. I can't remember which one it was now. Maybe the 7-11, or possibly the Book-n-Card that was nearby. God, did I love that Book-n-Card. I saw a book in one of the stores that day called The Satan Sleuth #1, Fallen Angel. I snatched that sucker up and plunked my coins across the counter for it. I simply had to have it.
I wasted no time in starting it, and I knocked out Fallen Angel pretty quickly, as I recall. I remember that it scared me pretty badly, and that it was pretty potent stuff. It had lots of sex in it, and it was full of garish violence.
Obviously inspired by the Manson Murders, Fallen Angel dealt with a young actress that was home alone while her Playboy adventurer husband was abroad. Some Satan worshipers invade her home and rape and murder her. Not just murder, they slaughtered the woman. When the husband is notified he returns home and is transformed into...The Satan Sleuth! He tracks down the culprits and has revenge upon them.
The Satan Sleuth #1, Fallen Angel, was the first of a series of three books. I blew my allowance on all three of them and I liked them all. The second one was called The Werewolf Walks Among Us, while the third was entitled Devil Devil.
Of yeah, the books were written by Michael Avallone. I read a lot of stuff by Avallone in my youth. He did a whole bunch of TV and movie novelizations and tie-ins. Kung Fu, Planet of the Apes, even for God's sake, The Partridge Family. And yes, I read a couple of The Partridge Family horror novels when I was a kid. Go ahead and laugh. At least this was well before 1974.
Details of the book eluded me recently, but one thing stood out firmly in my mind. I was carrying one of the Satan Sleuth books with me in school. I think maybe it was Devil Devil. A teacher saw me with it and asked what it was. I grudgingly showed him, because I had a pretty good idea what his reaction would be. He was far from the coolest teacher in the school. He looked at the book and growled with scornful contempt, "You call that literature?" I thought then, as I think now, that it was such a shitty way to react to a kid who was actually reading for pleasure. He was a real prick. Thankfully I had one teacher who used to stop and ask me about the books I was carrying around. He showed an interest and was supportive of the act of reading.
Years and years passed. I lost all of my childhood books over time, which is heartbreaking. Every now and then I'd think of The Satan Sleuth. A few weeks ago I did more than think about it. I looked up the title at Abebooks, and I ordered a copy.
I worked in a reading of The Satan Sleuth #1, Fallen Angel last week. So how did it hold up?
Well, I did read the whole thing. The prose in the book is competently written. Avallone was a solid pro, if nothing else. But it's heavy-handed and more than a little preachy. It reminded me in a way of the Doc Savage books that were enormously popular at the time. It also had a sort of schizophrenic tone. Partly cool, Men's Adventure/Playboy hip mixed with the dying remnants of the hippie era and the slang of the previous decade. But that was the 70's for you.
But Holy Toledo, the homophobia! My God. At one point a Detective tells The Sleuth that one or more of the perpetrators was obviously a homosexual. Had to be by the sheer viciousness of the slaughter of the actress. Of course we all know that homosexuals loathe the female competition. Yeah, right. And sure enough, one was gay, and during a flashback scene of the murder his face is enraptured in orgiastic passion as the Satanic leader butchered their victim. Unbelievable. I suppose it was the times.
Re-reading The Satan Sleuth #1, Fallen Angel was a surreal experience for me. It made me think hard of what the times were like and what I was like then as opposed to what I am like now, decades later. I often talk of how much better things were in the past. There were many wonderful things from the 60's and 70's that are lost or are being lost. It makes me sad. But, happily, some other things are being lost as well. Such as prejudice and hatred. I'm well aware that things are not perfect and that they probably never will be perfect, but I do know that it is a fairer world for a lot of people than it was back in the good old days.
So will I order copies of The Satan Sleuth numbers 2 and 3, The Werewolf Walks Among Us, and Devil Devil? Nah. My curiosity is sated. We lose some things as we grow up and we gain some other things. My tastes are too good to read stuff like The Satan Sleuth. My Lord, that teacher was right after all.
Horror movies have always been popular, and ABC was showing original films every week, and many of them were in the horror genre. One of them, The Night Stalker, made TV ratings history. Dr. Phibes was the epitome of cool. Willard ordered his rats to "tear 'em up!"
And there was plenty of horror in real life. America had recently gotten out of a hugely unpopular war, and that war was the first in which the people got a front row seat of the horrors from their television sets. Assassinations were happening and the Manson Family Murders were still fresh in everyone's minds.
I was thirteen years old in 1974, and I devoured just about anything that was horror oriented. I was mostly a science fiction reader, but if I saw a cool-looking horror book on the racks, chances were good that I'd buy it
You know what else was cool about that time? Nearly every store had racks of books for sale. Convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores. And not just a few selections of the biggest bestsellers, either. A lot of way-out things were sitting on those wonderfully squeaky turning book racks. I always had to stop and look at them, much to the dismay of my mostly non-reading friends.
Anyway, I was there in one of the stores one day back in 1974. I can't remember which one it was now. Maybe the 7-11, or possibly the Book-n-Card that was nearby. God, did I love that Book-n-Card. I saw a book in one of the stores that day called The Satan Sleuth #1, Fallen Angel. I snatched that sucker up and plunked my coins across the counter for it. I simply had to have it.I wasted no time in starting it, and I knocked out Fallen Angel pretty quickly, as I recall. I remember that it scared me pretty badly, and that it was pretty potent stuff. It had lots of sex in it, and it was full of garish violence.
Obviously inspired by the Manson Murders, Fallen Angel dealt with a young actress that was home alone while her Playboy adventurer husband was abroad. Some Satan worshipers invade her home and rape and murder her. Not just murder, they slaughtered the woman. When the husband is notified he returns home and is transformed into...The Satan Sleuth! He tracks down the culprits and has revenge upon them.
The Satan Sleuth #1, Fallen Angel, was the first of a series of three books. I blew my allowance on all three of them and I liked them all. The second one was called The Werewolf Walks Among Us, while the third was entitled Devil Devil.
Of yeah, the books were written by Michael Avallone. I read a lot of stuff by Avallone in my youth. He did a whole bunch of TV and movie novelizations and tie-ins. Kung Fu, Planet of the Apes, even for God's sake, The Partridge Family. And yes, I read a couple of The Partridge Family horror novels when I was a kid. Go ahead and laugh. At least this was well before 1974.
Details of the book eluded me recently, but one thing stood out firmly in my mind. I was carrying one of the Satan Sleuth books with me in school. I think maybe it was Devil Devil. A teacher saw me with it and asked what it was. I grudgingly showed him, because I had a pretty good idea what his reaction would be. He was far from the coolest teacher in the school. He looked at the book and growled with scornful contempt, "You call that literature?" I thought then, as I think now, that it was such a shitty way to react to a kid who was actually reading for pleasure. He was a real prick. Thankfully I had one teacher who used to stop and ask me about the books I was carrying around. He showed an interest and was supportive of the act of reading.
Years and years passed. I lost all of my childhood books over time, which is heartbreaking. Every now and then I'd think of The Satan Sleuth. A few weeks ago I did more than think about it. I looked up the title at Abebooks, and I ordered a copy.
I worked in a reading of The Satan Sleuth #1, Fallen Angel last week. So how did it hold up?
Well, I did read the whole thing. The prose in the book is competently written. Avallone was a solid pro, if nothing else. But it's heavy-handed and more than a little preachy. It reminded me in a way of the Doc Savage books that were enormously popular at the time. It also had a sort of schizophrenic tone. Partly cool, Men's Adventure/Playboy hip mixed with the dying remnants of the hippie era and the slang of the previous decade. But that was the 70's for you.
But Holy Toledo, the homophobia! My God. At one point a Detective tells The Sleuth that one or more of the perpetrators was obviously a homosexual. Had to be by the sheer viciousness of the slaughter of the actress. Of course we all know that homosexuals loathe the female competition. Yeah, right. And sure enough, one was gay, and during a flashback scene of the murder his face is enraptured in orgiastic passion as the Satanic leader butchered their victim. Unbelievable. I suppose it was the times.
Re-reading The Satan Sleuth #1, Fallen Angel was a surreal experience for me. It made me think hard of what the times were like and what I was like then as opposed to what I am like now, decades later. I often talk of how much better things were in the past. There were many wonderful things from the 60's and 70's that are lost or are being lost. It makes me sad. But, happily, some other things are being lost as well. Such as prejudice and hatred. I'm well aware that things are not perfect and that they probably never will be perfect, but I do know that it is a fairer world for a lot of people than it was back in the good old days.
So will I order copies of The Satan Sleuth numbers 2 and 3, The Werewolf Walks Among Us, and Devil Devil? Nah. My curiosity is sated. We lose some things as we grow up and we gain some other things. My tastes are too good to read stuff like The Satan Sleuth. My Lord, that teacher was right after all.
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