The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is a 2020 horror novel by American author Grady Hendrix. It was first published on April 7, 2020 through Quirk Books and centers upon a women's book club that faces a vampiric threat.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
AuthorGrady Hendrix
Audio read byBahni Turpin
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreHorror
PublisherQuirk Books
Publication date
2020
Media typePrint, ebook, audiobook
Pages408 pages
ISBN9781683691433 First edition hardback
Preceded byWe Sold Our Souls 

Synopsis

Bored and neglected, 90's Southern suburban housewife Patricia Cambell has little in her life that truly brings her joy. Her days are filled with caring for a senile mother-in-law, a husband who spends much of his time working and children who are nearly grown. Her sole escape is her book club, which has recently splintered into a new group that focuses on true crime. Patricia's life is forever changed when she's attacked by an elderly neighbor and meets James Harris, who is both handsome and sophisticated. She finds herself drawn to him and his charming ways, however when black children start disappearing in a neighboring town Patricia begins to suspect that James is the culprit. The police refuse to take the disappearances seriously, causing Patricia and the book club to start investigating themselves. As a result they discover not only supernatural evil but also the systematic racism and "misogyny, rage, anger, and the indignities that women had to endure in order to survive, to be respectable, to be considered proper women."[1]

Development

When developing the book Hendrix chose to set it in his childhood home town of Charleston and drew upon some of his personal experiences. His own grandmother had dementia, which frightened Hendrix as a child, as he remembered her "as a monster, and that's not her fault, it was a disease none of us understood."[2] He thus created the character of Mrs. Mary, Patricia's mother-in-law, to "give her the hero moment she deserved, the one Alzheimer's robbed her of at the end of her life."[2] Hendrix also chose to explore the relationships between white and black women in the South during the 1990s, as the lives of the two groups were interconnected. He had the vampire prey upon black children and adults as he "assumes that the children of working class African American parents aren't valued. He doesn't look deeper and realize that in a lot of ways, at our best, moms care about kids no matter whose they are."[2]

Publication history

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires was first published in hardback and ebook format on April 7, 2020 through Quirk Books.[3] It was accompanied by an audiobook adaptation narrated by Bahni Turpin and published by Blackstone Publishing.[4]

Reception

Tor.com reviewed The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, stating that "It’s a brutal book, and the happy ending comes at a high cost. Book Club lures you in with the bucolic setting, charming women, and Southern affect, but when it turns, it does a hairpin one-eighty, goes and spins sedys in the police parking lot while screaming obscenities, then turns around and delivers the vigilante-style vindication that we—and Patricia—so desperately deserve."[1] The AV Club's AUX also reviewed the work, writing that " The gimcrack pleasures of Slaying Vampires are like its undead antagonist: flashy and engaging in the action, but strangely hollow at its heart."[5]

Television series

Television rights to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires were optioned prior to the book's publication by Patrick Moran's PMK Productions.[6] Hendrix and Brett Cohen will serve as executive producers.[7]

References
  1. Codega, Linda H. (2020-04-07). "The Monsters They Married Are Men: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix". Tor.com. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  2. Hendrix, Grady. "Getting Some Blood On The Page: Questions For Grady Hendrix". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  3. "The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires". Quirk Books : Publishers & Seekers of All Things Awesome. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  4. The southern book club's guide to slaying vampires, 2020, ISBN 978-1-0941-3695-0, OCLC 1147251774, retrieved 2020-07-11
  5. "Vampires get a twist in Grady Hendrix's fun but uneven horror story". AUX. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  6. Andreeva, Nellie (2020-02-03). "'The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires' Adaptation Among First Projects On Producer Patrick Moran's Amazon Development Slate". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  7. D'Alessandro, Anthony (2020-06-15). "New Republic Pictures Acquires Grady Hendrix's Novel 'Horrorstör'". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
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