By KEVIN HOOVER
“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…”
Although New York City’s infamous 42nd Street no longer holds court for exploitation cinema purveyors, its spirit perseveres through the work of award-winning author Preston Fassel. His upcoming BEASTS OF 42ND STREET is prepping for a March ’23 release and continues the lineage of a literary exposition into the infamous grindhouse era, beginning with 2018’s Our Lady of the Inferno and the Rondo-nominated biographical Landis: The Story of a Real Man on 42nd Street.
Preston Fassel
“After the success of Our Lady I was given carte blanche to write whatever kind of book I wanted,” says Fassel. “And what I wanted was a return to the provocative, subversive, 1980’s-style horror I came of age reading. Something that has a message but which is confrontational in conveying that message, something very Jack Ketchum, Clive Barker, early Joe Lansdale.” While initially penciled in for a 2020 release, BEASTS’ fate was thrown into a tailspin when the original publisher folded. Undeterred, Fassel refused to allow his work to languish in obscurity and sought out a new outlet. “I submitted to dozens of presses, dozens of agents. I had some very eye-opening conversations about the current state of publishing and what’s considered marketable and desirable. And the across-the-board response was basically, ‘This is amazing and I won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole.’ It was the tone people found upsetting. So… I guess I did my job too well.”
His efforts were rewarded when cast a lifeline by specialty press Cemetery Dance Publications. In discussing why the imprint was willing to accept Fassel’s latest into their catalog when so many others wouldn’t dare, Trade Paperback and E-book editor Kevin Lucia shares, “Why did I take a chance on BEASTS OF 42ND STREET? The answer’s quite simple. In many ways, my vision for Cemetery Dance’s new paperback and e-book line isn’t necessarily startling or avant-garde. I simply want to offer the horror community varied and diverse works of horror, for readers of all tastes. Like the old Leisure Fiction horror line, which offered Brian Smith’s extreme horror, right alongside Gary A. Braunbeck’s mythic and existential horror, along with Jeff Strand’s horror comedy, Mary Sangiovanni’s cosmic horror, and Mort Castle’s literary, elevated horror. I’m not necessarily looking for subgenres in particular, nor am I averse to particular sub-genres. What I’m looking for are compelling characters with compelling stories. And Andy Lew is compelling.”
BEASTS OF 42ND STREET will release in March 2023 and is currently available for pre-order.
