Pinnacle Books (founded 1969)
Started by Dallas-based Michigan General Corporation (a mobile home and concrete pipe manufacturer), constantly cash-strapped Pinnacle specialized in romance and men’s adventure. Their first big hit was Don Pendleton’s The Executioner series (now on its 434rd installment). Throughout the ’70s, they were hobbled by disputes over ownership of the character, an FTC-vetoed merger with Harlequin Books, and an ill-fated four-year move to Los Angeles; in 1985, the company declared bankruptcy. Its backlist was bought by Windsor Publishing in 1988, and that same year Zebra revived Pinnacle as a horror imprint. It published a monthly horror title until Zebra discontinued that program around 1994. Pinnacle is now an imprint of Kensington, specializing in westerns and true crime.
Pocket Books (founded 1938)
Pioneer of the paperback revolution in America, Pocket made mass-market paperbacks cheap by dropping their size to the 4-by-7-inch format used today and substituting sewn binding with glue. These were the first paperbacks sold in drugstores and newsstands, and they were roundly mocked by the industry until their stellar sales figures came in. Simon & Schuster acquired Pocket in 1966 and made it the paperback imprint.
Popular Library (founded 1942)
Established as a mystery-only paperback house by pulp publisher Ned Pines, Popular Library was known for racy covers throughout the ’40s and ’50s. The first paperback house bought by CBS in 1971, it was sold to Warner Books in 1982.
Ptacek, Kathryn (born 1952)
Although born in Nebraska, Ptacek attended university in New Mexico, and many of her nineteen novels deal with the Southwest, Native Americans, and giant gila monsters, among them Gila! (1981, written as Les Simons), Shadoweyes (1984), and Kachina (1986). She was married to Charles L. Grant until his death and, like him, also works as an editor.
Russell, Ray (1924–1999)
Before The Exorcist, there was Russell’s inferior but eerily similar The Case against Satan (1963). His 1961 short story “Sardonicus” became the famous William Castle film Mr. Sardonicus, and his novel Incubus, about a demon killing women with his enormous penis, was made into the 1980 film Incubus, starring John Cassavetes.
Ryan, Alan (1943–2011)
Originally a book reviewer for the New York Times, Ryan entered the horror world when his short story “Sheets,” based on his Christmas temp job at Macy’s as a sheet salesman, was reprinted in the 1980 Year’s Best Horror anthology. Encouraged by Charles L. Grant, as well as his friends Thomas Monteleone and Jill Bauman, Ryan wound up selling his first paperback original, Panther! (1981), on proposal for $6,000. That was followed by The Kill (1982), Dead White (1983), Cast a Cold Eye (1984), and numerous short stories. He went silent in 1990 until 2011, when his novel Amazonas came out immediately before his death.
Saul, John (born 1942)
A paperback originals writer, Saul was a struggling playwright and staff member at a Wisconsin drug treatment facility in 1976 when Dell rejected one of his novels but asked if he’d write a psychological thriller instead. They bought his outline and he wrote Suffer the Children in twenty-eight days. Published in paperback, supported by a huge television ad campaign, it sold 1.2 million copies. Since then, Saul has published a best-selling book each year, usually about either children in peril or children killing people. His books typically sell about a million copies each.
Schoell, William (born 1951)
Between 1984 and 1989, Schoell wrote six paperback originals for Leisure (Bride of Satan, Saurian, The Dragon, Shivers, Late at Night, and Spawn of Hell), which remain C-grade delights, although he regretted the generic titles Leisure slapped on them. Schoell moved to St. Martin’s for The Pact (1988) and Fatal Beauty (1990), two titles that were left out in the cold when St. Martin’s closed its horror line almost overnight. Now Schoell writes nonfiction, including The Rat Pack (1998) and I Can Do Anything: The Sammy Davis Jr. Story (2004).
Sharman, Nick (born 1952)
Norwegian-born Scott Grønmark was head of publicity for NEL before writing eight books for them under his Nick Sharman pen name, starting with The Cats in 1977. Plotted more like murder mysteries than traditional horror, his last horror novel was Next! (1986), after which he began working for BBC Radio.
Straub, Peter (born 1943)
Similar in prominence to Stephen King in the ’70s and ’80s, Straub wrote big, fat books that became big, fat paperback best sellers, and he blurbed plenty of other horror writers. He began his career writing literary fiction but started writing horror with his third book, the ghost story Julia (1975); and his fifth book, Ghost Story (1979), was a huge hit. The massive sales are unusual for an elegant, understated writer whose prose is some of the most polished in horror fiction.
Teason, William (1922–2003)
One of the best-loved and most prolific cover artists in the business, Teason got his first big break when Dell hired him to paint a cover for one of its Agatha Christie titles. Dell was contractually forbidden from depicting the book’s characters on the cover, but Teason’s clue-based still life won approval and he wound up painting about 150 Christie covers for Dell. A master craftsman, sometimes called one of the best American illustrators nobody knows, he painted everything from fine art that hung in galleries to skeletons for Zebra Books.
Tem, Melanie (1949–2015)
After Melanie Kubachko and writer Steve Rasnic were married, both she and her husband adopted the surname Tem. Her early novels were all published by the Abyss line: Prodigal (1991), Blood Moon (1992), Wildling (1992), and Revenant (1994). Her work focuses on the horror found within families. She has fifteen novels to her name.
Tor Books (founded 1980)
When Tom Doherty left science-fiction publisher Ace Books, he immediately founded Tor, a paperback originals house with a focus on sci-fi. Tor was publishing 137 books a year by 1986, when it was sold to St. Martin’s Press due to cash-flow problems after its paperback distributor, Pinnacle Books, declared bankruptcy. Doherty stayed on at Tor, and the company remains a science-fiction imprint under Macmillan.
Tuttle, Lisa (born 1952)
Like a lot of writers of her generation, Tuttle started in science fiction as a respected short story writer, coauthoring Windhaven in 1981 with George R. R. Martin, and then moved to horror after one of her stories was included in Kirby McCauley’s groundbreaking Dark Forces anthology. Since then she’s bounced back and forth, with well-written novels like Familiar Spirit (1983) and Gabriel (1987) and her short story collection, Nest of Nightmares (1986). She remains the only person ever to refuse a Nebula Award.
Wallace, Patricia (born 1949)