“A ghost was how a building held a grudge.” What if Cinderella was a ghost, murdered by her stepmother and only able to interact with the world outside the home she haunts for the three precious nights of the prince’s ball? Freya Markse (whose The Last Binding series I absolutely loved) puts a delightful, eerie spin on this classic fairy tale in her bite-size novella Cinder House, which came out earlier this fall. Continue reading Review of Cinder House—A Haunting Fairy Tale
Month: November 2025
#AScareADay 2025 Reading Challenge Reflections
What better way to spend October than reading thirty-one scary short stories and poems? Every year, Dr. Sam Hirst of Romancing the Gothic puts together a magnificent reading list for spooky season of short tales that span the breadth of Gothic literature. We read one story for each day of October and keep a running commentary going on BlueSky or the Site Formerly Known as Twitter using the #AScareADay hashtag—be sure to check it out to see some other folks’ perspectives on these stories! This is my fourth year in a row doing Romancing the Gothic’s #AScareADay reading challenge, and my third time reflecting on those readings in a blog post. Check out my past posts about the 2024 and 2023 reading challenges. Though occasionally a bit grueling on top of my other reading responsibilities, the #AScareADay reading challenge is one of my favorite times of year because it pushes me to discover new authors, to read critically and share my thoughts with others in a concise manner, and to stay connected to an international group of brilliant Gothic scholars and enthusiasts. This year’s challenge was no exception, and I had a great time! The selection of stories and poems was particularly well-balanced and almost entirely new to me. You can find the reading list here. Continue reading #AScareADay 2025 Reading Challenge Reflections