Beasts of 42nd Street, by Preston Fassel

About the Book:
From the award-winning author of Our Lady of the Inferno comes another tale of New York in the Bad Old Days: A saga of murder, bloodshed, and betrayal set against the backdrop of Times Square at the height of its decadence and depravity.

In the kingdom of the damned that is 42nd Street, there’s no lowlier subject than Andy Lew. An unrepentant junkie, voyeur, and degenerate, he’s only tolerated by the more dangerous men around him because he keeps the projectors at the Colossus theater running on time, entertaining them with the most extreme horror cinema money can buy.

There’s something unique about Andy, though. He owns a movie. It’s the only one of its kind. No one knows who made it. Only he knows where it came from. The woman it stars is beautiful beyond imagination—and the images it depicts are more nightmarish than the darkest depths of Hell. The beasts of 42nd Street will do anything to possess it, but there’s something they don’t understand. Andy loves the woman in the movie—and he’ll go to any lengths to protect her…

A savage love letter to 70s exploitation cinema and a biting satire of toxic fan culture, Beasts of 42nd Street makes horror dangerous again as it ventures into the mind of a psychopath like no other— one that will have readers recoiling even as they keep coming back for more.

Published as a trade paperback:
• Printed on 60# acid-free paper
• Featuring full color cover artwork
• Retail price $17.99

PRESTON FASSEL is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Screem, and on The Daily Grindhouse, Dread Central, and Cinedump.com. He is the author of the first published biography of British horror actress Vanessa Howard, Remembering Vanessa, which appeared in the Spring 2014 issue of Screem. His debut novel, Our Lady of the Inferno, won the 2019 Independent Publisher’s Gold Medal for Horror and was named one of the ten best books of the year by Bloody Disgusting. He currently serves as the Managing Editor for The Daily Grindhouse.

"This is a story about the darkest impulses of humanity, the quiet shameful desire to witness violence and death, a primal voyeuristic compulsion. I found myself glued to the page." - Kendell Reviews

"This tale of unrelenting misery and hopelessness will appeal to a niche audience: fans of grindhouse horror." - Publishers Weekly

"An homage to seedy ‘70s New York as well as a paean to physical media, Preston Fassel’s book immerses you among people you don’t want to meet in places you don’t want to visit; yet it’s thoroughly compelling." - Spectrum Culture

"Everything about the book is grimy, gruesome, and nauseating, and not since Clive Barker’s “Son of Celluloid” has the messy viscera between films and the people and places that show them been so viscously exposed." - Houston Press

“Preston Fassel has proven himself as one of our most powerful upcoming voices in horror literature with Beasts of 42nd Street. Fassel simultaneously winks at past horror sub-genres while delving into new and innovative territory, creating both a love letter to 70s exploitation cinema while weaving a tight, contemporary, psychological horror tale.” —Rebekah McKendry, PhD

“Like the bastard lovechild of Paul Schrader and Abel Ferrera, Preston Fassel’s Beasts of 42nd Street is a sleazy, audacious, razor-sharp slice of bloody exploitation…You may be able to wipe away the grime after reading this book, but the smile will stay for days.” —Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Kin and Sour Candy

“You could sit around and moan about how they don’t write ’em like they used to, or you could get acquainted with Preston Fassel. Beasts of 42nd Street is more reflective than you might expect from a book whose main character is a junkie projectionist…but it’s as vividly drawn and engrossingly readable as any dog-eared paperback from the heyday of pulp fiction.” —Katie Rife; The AV Club, Rolling Stone

“…one of the best detective novels to come down the pike in a long while. A rogues’ gallery of great characters and a killer story mixed with New York City in all its 1970s sleazy glory. What’s not to love?” —Harry Hunsicker, author of The Devil's Country; former executive vice president of the Mystery Writers of America

“Fassel impressively grafts a grimy, thrilling horror story onto the richly rendered true grindhouse setting of 42nd Street, using actual events and places to flesh out this exploitation nightmare. Demonstrating expansive research and knowledge of the era, Fassel’s latest impresses on every level.” —Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting

“You don’t just read this book, you live it. A desperate love story of obsession and madness that could’ve only happened on 42nd street.” —Matt Serafini, author of Rites of Extinction and Under The Blade

“…a work of gritty, haunting storytelling. You won’t be able to forget Andy Lew’s descent into forbidden cinema.” —John Palisano; President, HWA

“…a faithful yet imaginative transcription of one of the darkest times and places in our country’s history…hedonistic, pharmaceutically inflamed, devastated by disease…Fassel captures it in all its inglorious glory: sick, violent, and propulsive as hell!” —Mick Garris

"“Preston Fassel has proven again with Beasts of 42nd Street that it doesn’t matter if it’s fiction, non-fiction…whatever. Fassel’s work is the definition of 'must read.'” - Donnie Goodman, author of The Razorblades in my Head

"Andy Lew is the most compelling protagonist in years- a walking contradiction of self-hatred and emptiness contrasted against a burning passion... so compelling a certain kind of reader may find a perverse kind of kinship with him, if they're not careful..." -Valkyrie T. Loughcrewe, author of Crom Cruach

"Beasts of 42nd Street is a grimy investigation into a Manhattan and film-exploitation of the past. Fassel uses his textbook prowess of film history and wicked-dark facts to draw something equally throwback yet utterly original. Thoroughly impressive, exhilarating, and, like all good horror, a memorable scare to carry along in your nightmares for years to come." —Michael J. Seidlinger, author of Anybody Home?

 

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