My Cousin Rachel Review—More Daphne du Maurier

My Cousin Rachel coverI’ve loved Daphne du Maurier ever since I read and reviewed her most famous novel, Rebecca, during the first year of this blog. Since then, I’ve read a few of her other works, including Jamaica Inn and the short story “The Birds.” But none of her other works have had as powerful an impact as I felt while reading Rebecca. Nothing, that is, until I saw the 2017 film adaptation of My Cousin Rachel starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin. Ever since seeing it in theaters, I’ve been meaning to go back and read du Maurier’s novel of the same name. I finally had the opportunity, thanks to starting a new book club focused on books that have been famously adapted. And now having read it, I can say that My Cousin Rachel is joining Rebecca as one of my favorite Gothic novels of the twentieth century.  Continue reading My Cousin Rachel Review—More Daphne du Maurier

Review of Never Whistle at Night—Indiginous Horror

Never Whistle at Night coverFrom “wendigos” to “Indian burial grounds,” the folklore and tragic history of North America’s indigenous populations has frequently been mined for inspiration and twisted to suit the purposes of horror authors writing outside of their own cultures. In recent years, however, we’ve seen a real rise in the number of indigenous voices within the horror scene telling their own stories. A new collection of short horror stories celebrates this surge of Native American writers: Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. This anthology, which contains twenty-six stories plus a foreword by Stephen Graham Jones, came out just last week, in plenty of time for spooky season. Continue reading Review of Never Whistle at Night—Indiginous Horror

The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses Review

The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses coverAn orphaned governess takes up a new position in a remote manor and begins to develop inadvisable feelings for her employer. You’ve heard this story before—or have you? L. V. Russell puts a new twist on this classic Gothic premise in The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses, which came out earlier this month from small indie press Quill & Crow Publishing House. Continue reading The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses Review

Re: Dracula Podcast Review

Happy birthday to me! I just turned thirty last week and I can’t think of a better present than the fact that my birthday month is the start of Dracula season. Bram Stoker’s classic vampire novel begins with an entry from Jonathan Harker’s journal dated May 3. Last year, I wrote about following along with the email newsletter Dracula Daily, which kicked off a fervor for experiencing the story of Dracula in real time through the letters and diary entries that comprise this epistolary tale being sent to you one by one on the corresponding date. If you missed it last time, the Dracula Daily newsletter has just started up again for its third yearly cycle. But this year, there’s yet another way to follow along with the daily adventures of Jonathan Harker and his friends, and this one’s in my favorite format: audio. Re: Dracula is a brand new podcast that turns the letters and diary entries of Stoker’s novel into short audio episodes. As with Dracula Daily, each episode is released on the date that corresponds with the events of the novel. 

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Review of the Greenhollow Duology: Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country

Greenhollow Duology audiobook coverLooking for something short and sweet that will scratch that itch of wanting to run away into the woods with a forest spirit? Then may I recommend the Greenhollow Duology by Emily Tesh. These two novellas, Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country, came out in 2019 and 2020 respectively. But I just read them both together in the lovely audiobook narrated by Matthew Lloyd Davies. Continue reading Review of the Greenhollow Duology: Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country

Review of Yellow Jessamine—Poisons and Possessions

Yellow Jessamine coverWhen you’re a woman alone in a patriarchal world, you claw your way to power by any means necessary. This is the philosophy of Lady Evelyn Perdanu in Caitlin Starling’s 2020 fantasy novella Yellow Jessamine Continue reading Review of Yellow Jessamine—Poisons and Possessions

Review of Lacrimore—A Monstrous Mansion

Lacrimore cover“It feeds on the horrors we commit….” A malevolent, sentient house serves as the lively setting of Lacrimore, a debut Gothic novella by S. J. Costello. The book came out in 2020 and was a winner of the Independent Publishers Book Awards. Continue reading Review of Lacrimore—A Monstrous Mansion

Review of A Snake Falls to Earth

A Snake Falls to Earth book coverCan a snake save the world? Oli the cottonmouth snake spirit is determined to save at least his little patch of it in Darcie Little Badger’s YA fantasy novel A Snake Falls to Earth, which came out last fall. Inspired by traditional Lipan Apache storytelling, this book brings together the human world and the spirit world in a tale of monsters, magic, and family.  Continue reading Review of A Snake Falls to Earth

Review of In the Vanishers’ Palace—Loving a Monster

In a corrupted and poisoned world, the worst diseases can only be cured with the aid of a powerful dragon. But a dragon’s help always comes with a price. Aliette de Bodard beautifully blends the post-apocalyptic genre with Vietnamese-inspired fantasy (and some spicy sapphic romance) in her 2018 novella In the Vanishers’ Palace Continue reading Review of In the Vanishers’ Palace—Loving a Monster

Review of Beatrix Greene—A Spooky Fiction Podcast

When a fraudulent Spiritualist hosts a séance in a genuinely haunted house, she proves to be the key to unlocking the manor’s dark secrets. This is the premise of the fiction podcast Beatrix Greene. A short, nine-episode series produced by Realm and released last spring, Beatrix Greene is written by Rachel Hawkins, Vicky Alvear Shecter, and Ash Parsons, and features the skillful voicework of Shiromi Arserio and Alister Austin. If you love haunted houses, Victorian Spiritualism, and atmospheric horror, I highly recommend that you check it out!

Cover image for Beatrix Greene, featuring an ornate mirror frame with a shadowy figure reflected behind the text "Beatrix Greene" with the "Realm" logo at the top of the image Continue reading Review of Beatrix Greene—A Spooky Fiction Podcast