Review of The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library coverWhen Ivy Radcliffe suddenly inherits a country estate with a grand and ancient library from an unknown relative, it seems like a dream come true. But that dream slowly turns into a nightmare as the library’s dark secrets come to light. This is the premise of Hester Fox’s Gothic fantasy novel The Last Heir to Blackwood Library, which came out back in April.  Continue reading Review of The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

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

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 The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina coverI know and love Zoraida Córdova for her contributions to the YA urban fantasy genre, including the books in her Brooklyn Brujas series and her more recent anthology of YA vampire tales. But this year, Zoraida is back with something quite different! The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina, which came out just last week, is an adult fantasy novel that takes a very Gothic approach to exploring family and identity. Continue reading Review of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

Review of The Haunting of Craigmorag Castle

Book cover featuring woman in flowing white dress facing away, toward a spooky gray mansion, with a brilliant full moon overheadEven Gothic romance authors deserve a Gothic romance of their own. Lisa Greer gets meta about the genre in her self-published romance novel, The Haunting of Craigmorag Castle, which came out earlier this year. If you’re looking for something fun to read this summer that blends the sweet and silly with the spooky and atmospheric, give this one a shot! Continue reading Review of The Haunting of Craigmorag Castle

Gothic Tropes: Animate Portraits and Tapestries

The eyes of the portraits are watching you, seeming to follow you no matter where you go.… It’s such a classic scene in horror that we see this moment parodied in nearly every sitcom or children’s cartoon that has a haunted house episode. But where did this trope come from? To an extent, it’s inspired by an actual artistic phenomenon—an optical illusion called “ubiquitous gaze,” in which the artist’s use of perspective makes the subject appear to be looking at the viewer, no matter what angle the viewer approaches it from. In Gothic literature, however, a supernatural explanation is more likely. In fact, in several classic works, the portraits do quite a bit more than merely follow you with their eyes. Below are a few of my favorite examples of portraits and tapestries that come to life:

Continue reading Gothic Tropes: Animate Portraits and Tapestries

A Dangerous Observer Review–Escape into Gothic Suspense

A Dangerous Observer cover showing young woman running away from a gloomy castleCan I offer you a beautiful woman fleeing a castle in these trying times? From the cover of A Dangerous Observer alone, I knew this book was going to have everything I needed for a purely pleasurable escapist read. A Dangerous Observer is the latest Gothic Romance from one of my favorite authors, Amanda DeWees. (You may remember my reviews of her Gothic spin on Hamlet, Sea of Secrets, and her Daphne du Maurier Award–winning novel, With This Curse.) A Dangerous Observer came out just last month, so now is the perfect time to grab this fresh new read. Continue reading A Dangerous Observer Review–Escape into Gothic Suspense

Plagues and Pandemics in Horror

The spread of COVID-19 is taking over our lives right now. And while I know for some of you, death and disease are the last things you want to read about right now, for many others literature is a place where we can process and confront our anxieties. This has been true throughout history. The Gothic, in particular, has always had a fascination with contagious illness. You can’t build an entire genre around nostalgia for the Middle Ages without grappling with the Black Death—a devastating plague that swept through Europe in the 1300s, killing millions. As Gothic literature developed, many authors—particularly in the Victorian era—had their own lives touched by such infectious diseases as tuberculosis, cholera, scarlet fever, and typhoid. The pandemics of the past and the present force us to confront our mortality and fears around infection and contagion. Some authors explore this through the invention of fictional plagues, while others use myth and monsters as metaphor for transmitting disease. Below are a few major works from Gothic and horror literature’s rich tradition of plagues and pandemics: Continue reading Plagues and Pandemics in Horror

Let’s Have Another Gothic Revival in Architecture!

I’ve mentioned in passing how the rise of the neo-Gothic architectural movement was deeply intertwined with the advent of Gothic literature. But the Gothic Revival was more than just a fun aesthetic phase—it was a political, philosophical, and artistic statement. Both Gothic literature and the revival of Gothic architecture emerged as a reaction against neoclassicism and the Enlightenment. Continue reading Let’s Have Another Gothic Revival in Architecture!

Harry Potter and the Gothic: Plot Tropes

Around this time last year, in honor of Harry’s birthday, I wrote a blog post on “Gothic Elements in Harry Potter.” Earlier this month, I expanded on that post to do a full panel about “Gothic Influences on Harry Potter” for a convention called MISTI-Con. I’ve found working on this topic to be so much fun that I wanted to share with you a bit more of what I’ve learned. This post may even become part of a series as I continue to explore the connections between my favorite genre and the books that kicked off my early love for literature.

Last time, I touched on some of the Gothic settings, themes, and motifs in J.K. Rowling’s books. Now I want to examine in more depth a few specific plot tropes that Harry Potter borrows from the Gothic. Continue reading Harry Potter and the Gothic: Plot Tropes