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How many titles do you suppose were published from the 50's-70's? - lostintwilight - 07-17-2010
Hi, I'm new to the forum. Of recently I got hooked on gothic romance from the 50's-70's. I was wondering if anyone had a ballpark estimate on how many titles there actually were in that time period that could be called "gothic romance".
RE: How many titles do you suppose were published from the 50's-70's? - Penfeather - 07-18-2010
There were probably thousands of titles published during this period, but I'd wager a good third of them were mystery/horror/thrillers repackaged as "Gothics". There was such a craze during the 1970s that publishers couldn't keep up with demand, so they slapped Gothic-style covers on everything under the sun and hoped readers wouldn't notice. I have a hunch this was partly responsible for the decline of the genre; the quality slipped and the emphasis on sub-genres like "Satanic Gothics" drained the blood out of the field and into the rising tributary of modern horror fiction.
P.S. -- Not that some of these horror Gothics weren't good -- just that the genre broke up along faultlines and continental drift finished it off.
P.P.S. -- Excuse my bad metaphors . . . I've been reading Raymond Chandler lately.
RE: How many titles do you suppose were published from the 50's-70's? - gothicromancereader - 07-23-2010
A lot!
If you google: "Mystery File Gothic Romantic Suspense paperbacks", a website for a list of various gothic romantic-suspense comes up. The list is not complete by any means, but I think good representation of gothics are listed. Also, Gothic Journal.com has a catalog of the gothics that they offer in their lending library. Lots of books listed there!