The Mammoth Book of Oddities by Frank O'Neil (Robinson/Carroll & Graf), is a browser's delight, jam-packed with bizarre facts and feats divided into 10 categories, including sexual oddities, animal oddities, odd people, medical oddities, and more. The UK edition is a lot cuter with its small, plump paperback format and effective cover design. I can't vouch for the accuracy of these "facts" but I do know that at least one, about the history of Chinese footbinding, is suspect. In any case, if you don't take the material too seriously you can read and laugh, be amazed, or scoff at the man given a concrete enema by his lover, the etymology of certain sexual parts, the woman who trains insects, and more.
Sacred Monsters: Behind the Mask of the Horror Actor by Doug Bradley (Titan Books-UK), is an intelligent and accessible history of the use of masks and make-up by the actor best known for his performance as Pinhead, in Clive Barker's Hellraiser movies. Beginning with the use of masks by ancient shamans and continuing with their use in theater throughout the world, Bradley takes the reader up to the great masters of disguise in the movies: Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Frederic March, Charles Laughton, Lon Chaney, Jr., and, in the present day, the actors who have played Freddie Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers. Personable and informative with good photographs.
Necronomicon Book One: The Journal of Horror and Erotic Cinema, edited by Andy Black (Creation Books), changes from magazine to book format with this issue. First time I've seen it and it looks good, covering everything from Lovecraft in the movies to Abel Ferrara's oeuvre and Lesbian Vampire art films. Excellent reproduction of b&w still photographs.
A Dark Night's Dreaming: Contemporary American Horror Fiction, edited by Tony Magistrale and Michael A. Morrison (University of South Carolina Press), is an excellent introduction to the field with eight essays on horror. The first, by Magistrale, gives a wide-ranging overview of the topic and the seven others by academics and critics (including Doulas E. Winter) discuss the work of Peter Straub, Anne Rice, Thomas Harris, Stephen King, William Blatty, and Whitley Strieber. Although not every essay is brilliant, they are all serviceable and a few show exceptional insight into their subject. Highly recommended for anyone interested in putting horror since the 1970s into context. At only 135 pages including bibliography, the book could easily have been twice that length.
The Illustrated Werewolf Movie Guide by Stephen Jones (Titan Books) is a short history of werewolf films and other films of transformation from the silents up to last year's sixth version of The Island of Dr.Moreau. A useful reference book , with ratings.
The A-Z of Serial Killers by Harold Schecter and David Everett (Pocket Books) is a useful compendium that covers all aspects of the phenomenon: historical, biographical, criminological, psychological, and cultural. Readable and entertaining, considering the subject matter.
Fragments of Fear: An Illustrated History of British Horror Films (Creation) is lovingly compiled by Andy Boot, who means to redress the lack of books covering the whole range of British horror movies. Detailed and entertaining.
Death Scenes: A Homicide Detective's Scrapbook, text by Katherine Dunn (Feral House), edited by Sean Tejaratchi, was acquired from the estate of Jack Huddleston, a detective from southern California between the years c1925-1945. Dunn traces the history of the man behind the book. Huddleston collected photographs of people with leprosy, elephantiasis, and hydrophobia, as well as of crime and suicide scenes. Graphic, even more so than Luc Sante's Evidence of a few years ago, and not for the squeamish.
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