Let’s get one thing clear: The Gothic Library stands with Black Lives Matter and with the protests against police brutality and against the injustices done to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and too many others. As we watch the horrors play out in the news and on our streets, it becomes clear why Black authors are some of the most poignant voices in horror fiction. To be Black in America is to live in a real-world horror story, an idea that Leila Taylor explored in depth in her book Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul. I have briefly touched before on the past contributions of African-American writers to the Gothic genre, but today I want to highlight a few living authors whom you can support: Continue reading Contemporary Black Horror Writers
Tag: african american
Review of Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul
“America’s haunted history is Black history.” This is the premise of a new book by Leila Taylor, Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul. A while back, I had the pleasure of attending her lecture on “The Afro-Gothic” at an event run by Morbid Anatomy. The presentation got me thinking about the Gothic in a whole new way, and I was eager for more information than what could fit in a one-hour talk. Luckily, Leila was in the process of writing this book, and now it’s finally out! Darkly, which came out just last week, examines the intersection of goth, the Gothic, and Blackness. Continue reading Review of Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul
Toni Morrison and the Gothic
Last week, we lost one of the strongest literary voices of our era. Toni Morrison passed away on August 5, following an impressive career that spanned half a century. She is celebrated for her unflinching portrayals of the African-American experience and for works that center the voices of black women. She was also one of the leading figures of the modern Gothic. Continue reading Toni Morrison and the Gothic
African-American Writers of Gothic Literature
February is Black History Month, which we observe in the U.S. by celebrating the lives and achievements of African-Americans throughout the country’s history. In this vein, I wanted to highlight some of the black writers—particularly female writers—who have made significant contributions to the Gothic genre. The Gothic is generally regarded as a Eurocentric genre, created by upper class Englishmen in their extravagant estates and adopted by those who wished to imitate them. But like any good genre, the Gothic is adaptive. Its elements have been co-opted by American writers of urban horror, such as Edgar Allan Poe, and transformed into the unique subgenre of Southern Gothic by the country’s more rural authors. It is no surprise, then, that the black literary community has embraced the Gothic as well, though usually in forms less immediately recognizable than your typical tales of women in nightgowns fleeing from monsters in a castle. Read on for a list of prominent black authors who have incorporated the Gothic into their works. Continue reading African-American Writers of Gothic Literature
Shadowshaper Review–Representation in Urban Fantasy
The murals are weeping. This is the first thing that tips Sierra off that something strange is going on in her Brooklyn neighborhood in Daniel José Older’s fantastic urban fantasy Shadowshaper. I’d been meaning to read this book since I first heard Older speak on a panel at Book Expo America last summer and its gorgeous cover kept staring at me from large, blown-up posters. I finally got a chance to listen to the audiobook, read by Anika Noni Rose, which I highly recommend! Continue reading Shadowshaper Review–Representation in Urban Fantasy