Yours Cruelly, Elvira


Book Description

The woman behind the icon known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story filled with intimate bombshells—told by the bombshell herself. On Good Friday in 1953, at only 18 months old, 25 miles from the nearest hospital in Manhattan, Kansas, Cassandra Peterson reached for a pot on the stove and doused herself in boiling water. Third-degree burns covered 35% of her body, and the prognosis wasn't good. But she survived. Burned and scarred, the impact stayed with her and became an obstacle she was determined to overcome. Feeling like a misfit led to her love of horror. While her sisters played with Barbie dolls, Cassandra built model kits of Frankenstein and Dracula, and idolized Vincent Price. Due to a complicated relationship with her mother, Cassandra left home at 14, and by age 17 she was performing at the famed Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Run-ins with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tom Jones helped her grow up fast. Then a chance encounter with her idol Elvis Presley, changed the course of her life forever, and led her to Europe where she worked in film and traveled Italy as lead singer of an Italian pop band. She eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she joined the famed comedy improv group, The Groundlings, and worked alongside Phil Hartman and Paul "Pee-wee" Reubens, honing her comedic skills. Nearing age 30, a struggling actress considered past her prime, she auditioned at local LA channel KHJ as hostess for the late night vintage horror movies. Cassandra improvised, made the role her own, and got the job on the spot. Yours Cruelly, Elvira is an unforgettably wild memoir. Cassandra doesn't shy away from revealing exactly who she is and how she overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. Always original and sometimes outrageous, her story is loaded with twists, travails, revelry, and downright shocking experiences. It is the candid, often funny, and sometimes heart-breaking tale of a Midwest farm girl's long strange trip to become the world's sexiest, sassiest Halloween icon. Instant New York Times Bestseller, Los Angeles Times Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, Publishers Weekly Bestseller A New York Times Best Books to Give This Season selection




On the Road with The Oak Ridge Boys


Book Description

For more than 40 years, the legendary Oak Ridge Boys (40 million records sold) have been on the road entertaining sold-out audiences with their classic hit songs like "Elvira," "Bobbie Sue," "Thank God for Kids," and many others. As their fans will testify, an Oak Ridge Boys concert is an unforgettable experience. These "on the road" stories, written by tenor Joseph S. Bonsall and spanning the four decades since the present group came together, will bring laughter, insight, and heartfelt appreciation to their fans young and old. You'll read about... The faith shared by all four "Oaks" the backstage goings-on of The Oak Ridge Boys what "the Boys" do on the tour bus stories about special fans they've met down through the years their surprise mega-hit, "Elvira" and how it came about "Join me as I take you on the road with The Oak Ridge Boys. We'll revisit some of our favorite concerts, reminisce about some old friends, and I'll let you in on what happens behind the scenes. Come on along!" Oak Ridge Boy Joseph S. Bonsall




Love Me Tender


Book Description

Elvira’s family has never been the warm, fuzzy type. Most of the time, Elvira can’t stand the sight of her little sister, Kerrie. Elvira and her mother, Mel, fight more often than not. Mel hasn’t spoken to her own family in years. And when Mel announces she’s pregnant again, Elvira’s daddy storms off to Las Vegas to enter an Elvis impersonator competition. But when an urgent phone call sends Elivra, Mel, and Kerrie on an unexpected trip to visit Mel’s family, Elvira discovers that love doesn’t always look like it does in television commercials–it can be as simple as a bucket of blueberries, an attic full of memories, or a song. But it’s there all right. You just have to know how to look for it.




From Elvis to Elvira


Book Description




Let's Spend the Night Together


Book Description

Presents biographies of twenty-four rock groupies in their own words, including Tura Satana, Miss Mercy, Cynthia Plaster Caster, and Miss B.




Elvira Meets Vincent Price #1


Book Description

The two titans of horror and comedy untie in comics for the very first time! Dynamite Entertainment Proudly Presents… Elvira Meets Vincent Price! Elvira is back, with her most historic AND greatest costar ever! The ghost of Vincent Price is a spirit with a mission, and only the Mistress of the Dark can help! The Apocalypse is coming, and it’s going to be live-streamed for binge-watching, but a long-lost movie can save the world… if only the movie star specter and the horror hostess with the mostest can find it in time! Thrills, chills, and all sorts of terrible puns! Issue #1 features an all-star cast of cover artists, including fan favorites Dave Acosta, John Royle, series artist Juan Samu and a stunning photo of the gorgeous lady herself – Elvira: Mistress of the Dark! Things You Didn't Know About Elvira -Screenrant.com • Her mother owned a costume shop. • Elvis gave her career advice. • She worked with Federico Fellini. • She's An Award-Winning Actress • She's A Well-Established Author Fascinating Facts About Vincent Price -MentalFloss.com • Vincent Price initially studied for a master’s degree in fine arts. • A museum in East Los Angeles is named after Vincent Price. • Vincent Price was a major foodie. • Tim Burton’s Vincent Price documentary remains incomplete and unreleased to this day. • Vincent Price’s voice is featured on a Disneyland attraction. David Avallone is Dynamite’s ghastly and fantastic Elvira scribe, having recently and successfully completed several arcs of the horror hostess with the mostest’s adventures and joined for the first time by artist Juan Samu, fresh from drawing the great adventures of Hasbro’s comics universe at IDW.




Baby Elvis


Book Description

Get out your blue suede shoes. It's time to rock n' roll! Smooth hair. Rough sideburns. Long jumpsuit. Short lei. Celebrate the King of Rock n' Roll with little ones in this vibrant, playful, and fun board book.




The Night Hunter


Book Description

A young woman determines to find out what happened to her missing sister in this tense and twisting psychological thriller Elvie McCulloch’s sister Sophie has been missing for 57 days. She went out for a run – and never came home. Several young woman in the area have disappeared in similar circumstances, and Elvie’s family fears the worst. As Elvie is driving to her new job late at night, the naked, emaciated body of a young woman crashes from high above onto an oncoming car. Elvie recognises her as Lorna Lennox, who has been missing for weeks. But why was she up there? Where had she been all this time? And why was she running for her life? Teaming up with retired detective Billy Hopkirk, who has been retained by the mother of one of the missing girls to find her daughter, Elvie determines to find out the truth. But as the pair alternately collaborate with and infuriate investigating police detectives Anderson and Costello, they find themselves up against a terrifying enemy. Someone who has killed before. Someone who will kill again, for pure enjoyment. Someone they call The Night Hunter.




William Lee Golden


Book Description

The wait is over! And it was worth the wait. William Lee Golden finally tells all! William's new autobiography "Behind the Beard" is an amusing, poignant and brutally honest memoir. "When you write your life story, and you decide to bare everything, it's kind of scary. It feels a lot like getting naked ... in front of the entire world. Now that I've committed to it, there is one thing going through my mind...if I was going to get naked in front of everyone, I probably shouldn't have waited until I was 82 years old!" - William Lee Golden. This deluxe, hard cover book includes over 200 rare, never-before-seen photos from William's personal collection! Told in William's own words, "Behind the Beard" includes: William's memories of his childhood and teenage years; and how he went from the cotton fields of Alabama to singing on stage with his favorite musical group. William's vision of turning a gospel group into one of the biggest acts in country music history. His first wife's one-of-kind reaction when she learned he had been unfaithful. William's stories of 50 years on the road with the Oak Ridge Boys. The real reason he was away from the group for 9 years. How he made his "Prodigal Son" return to the Oaks. What the future holds for William Lee and the Oak Ridge Boys.




Louise: Amended


Book Description

A young woman recently relocated to California with dreams of becoming a journalist is stricken with a brain trauma and must work to regain her independence in this "must read" memoir (Mary Karr, author of The Liar's Club) "Having just graduated from college, Krug and her dreamy French boyfriend, Claude (a man given to wearing his button–down shirts buttoned halfway up), leave the flatlands of Kansas for Santa Barbara, California—there, Krug finds a reporting job covering high society 'gardens, weddings, and pets,' and Claude gets a gig with a local paper. Young, in love, gainfully employed, and living close to the coast, post–collegiate life couldn't be better—day after day 'they drink Mexican beer and wear bathing suits indoors. They do drugs and wander through organic markets, spotting celebrities.' But just weeks after settling in, Krug suffers a 'severe' cavernous angioma in her brain. She gets dizzy, she can't walk, and it soon becomes clear that brain surgery is inevitable, and life will never be the same. In gracefully stark prose, Krug narrates in the third person the implosion of what should've been her gilded life, the sad and prolonged dissolution of her relationship with Claude, and her transformation from 'the kind of girl other girls only pretended to like' to a wife, mother, and PhD candidate back in Kansas. Interspersed throughout are fictional imaginings of the perspectives of her loved ones as she endures numerous surgeries and years of physically and emotionally excruciating rehab. Supplemented with facsimiles of the 'Illustrated Facial Exercises' she used to work damaged muscles, as well as other medical documents, Krug's story is an immediate, unsparing, and beautifully rendered account of loss and recovery. —Publishers Weekly, starred review