Paperbacks from Hell [N.F. - Literature, Art]

When he sees the carnage (worse than “the Tate-Manson killing orgy of ’68”), St. George develops two white streaks in his hair. “The bastards!” rages his lawyer. “They should fall into Hell with no clothes on.” St. George knows who the culprits are: “Hippies, drop outs, draft dodgers, left-wing radicals, right-wing militants, Jesus Freaks, Devil worshippers, generation gappers, motorcycle weirdos—the whole shebang.” He balances the scales with these cultists (one of whom is “as gay as a green goose when the asses were down”) using LSD and hand grenades.

Avellone planned two more Satan Sleuth novels—Vampires Wild and Zombie Depot—but Warner Books never bought them, so he never wrote them. But Philip St. George III lives forever in our hearts, and in ourremainder bins.

The Satan Sleuth used karate to take on werewolves and dynamite to take out chic but satanic fashion designers obsessed with short women. Credit 13

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Hip chicks with LSD are gateways to Hell in Exorcism, while demons with deadly wieners feature in The Stigma and Incubus. The Succubus is based on the Manacled Mormon, a kidnapping case that rocked London in 1977. Son of Endless Night is a satanic legal thriller and, despite the cover, Dark Advent is a postapocalyptic novel with no Satan at all. Credit 15

Putting the Cult in Occult

The 1968 Manson murders and the 1970 trial of the Manson family so shocked America that we couldn’t wait to get our hands on Helter Skelter, the 1974 book by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. The biggest best-selling true-crime book in history, its tale of life with Charlie was also a gift for horror novelists, providing a new and timely antagonist: the satanic cult. Until then, satanic covens met in basements or wooded glades, slapping at mosquitos who flew up their black robes. They marched around in circles, hailing Satan the way New Yorkers hail a cab, muttering curses and spells in barely remembered high school Latin.

But thanks to Helter Skelter, ritual murder became the highlight of the satanic social season. Consider Joy Fielding’s The Transformation (which she has since disowned), published only five years after Charles Manson was sentenced to death. In it, young actresses on the make fall under the influence of their great god Tony, who says things like, “To love your family, you must kill them.”He encourages his glamorous disciples to break into homes and poop on the carpets. At the book’s climax, he sends them to murder every other major character in a genuinely shocking Tate/LaBianca–style home invasion.

In Barney Parrish’s The Closed Circle thinly veiled versions of Robert Redford, Elizabeth Taylor, Ann-Margret, and Jackie Gleason pick up hitchhikers and murder them to praise Satan and stay famous. And they would have gotten away with it, too, if not for a darn psychic pursuing a “university-level” course in weaving who can tune into their telepathic wavelength. Cannibal cultists in upstate New York kidnap young women in The Sharing, and in The Sacrifice, fabulously wealthy elbow-patch types obtain extended lives via human sacrifice and are defeated only when a fanatically loyal Yale professor becomes enraged that they stole a book from the university library.

One thing all these books had in common, besides a fanatical devotion to the forces of darkness and a phobic fear of private clubs, was that their characters were as white as the driven snow. Why was Satan only bothering white people? Turns out he wasn’t.

Cults are inclusive. The Inner Circle worships the Aztec jaguar god, Tezcatlipoca. Credit 16

RON SAUBER

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He didn’t belong to a cult of kill-crazed Hollywood stars, but he certainly painted the covers of books about them. The Transformation and The Closed Circle both sport cover art by Ron Sauber, whose gauzy, fluid artwork was a favorite of art directors. Sauber was born and educated in California and then moved to New York City in 1979. Arriving on Halloween, he almost immediately began working for clients ranging from Twilight Zone magazine to children’s book publishers. He later expanded into painting collectible plates—probably not bearing scenes of cult activity—for which he won great recognition.

Satan Gets Woke