H. P. Lovecraft is best known for his short stories and elaborate mythos of eldritch gods and unspeakable horrors. But we sometimes forget that writers don’t create in a vacuum. Before being a world-famous writer of horror fiction, Lovecraft was first a fan of the genre, reading everything from his predecessors and contemporaries that he … Continue reading Lovecraft’s “Supernatural Horror in Literature”—A Survey of the Genre
“At times like this one feels, well, perhaps extinct animals should be left extinct….” I just read Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park for the first time, the 1990 novel that inspired the iconic Steven Spielberg film series. The film franchise, with its groundbreaking CGI dinosaurs and star-studded cast, has become so pervasive in the popular imagination … Continue reading Jurassic Park and Sci-Fi Horror
Summer camp is one of the last places you want to find yourself if you’re living inside a horror novel. But the scariest thing about Camp Damascus? Rose can’t even remember attending it. Internet-famous erotica author Chuck Tingle deftly pivots to serious horror in his first traditionally published novel Camp Damascus, out tomorrow, July 18.
“There’s not an inch of soil that’s still alive.” Nothing grows on the land where the town hanging tree once stood in Andrew Michael Hurley’s folk horror novel Starve Acre. Originally published in the UK in 2019, Starve Acre is being newly released in the U.S. tomorrow, July 4.
Something ancient has been awakened in the woods…. This premise encapsulates the essence of many folk horror stories. I have briefly touched on folk horror before in my review of the YA folk horror anthology The Gathering Dark, but as this deeply rooted subgenre of horror experiences another wave of popularity, I figured it was … Continue reading Folk Horror in Literature
At times during the COVID-19 pandemic, it felt like the world was ending. But what would a virus that could end civilization as we know it really look like? Lucy A. Snyder explores pandemic horror on a cosmic scale in Sister, Maiden, Monster, which came out from Tor Nightfire last month.
I love discovering new-to-me authors from centuries gone by, whose works could sit comfortably alongside those of Poe and Lovecraft but haven’t received quite the same attention. And no one provides better opportunities for such discoveries than Melissa Edmundson and the folks at Handheld Press. Over the last few years, this team brought us two … Continue reading Review of The Outcast and The Rite—Interwar Supernatural Stories
Horror has really been having a moment lately! This was part of the thought process of editor John F. D. Taff when he decided to compile the short story anthology that became Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror. This collection, which came out last month, was created in the spirit of the seminal 1980s … Continue reading Review of Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror
Gothic literature-loving foodies, you’re in luck! A talented team is putting together A Gothic Cookbook, which explores the role that food plays in classic and contemporary Gothic texts and allows you to bring the spirit of your favorite Gothic settings to life in your own kitchen. This gorgeously illustrated cookbook will feature over sixty recipes … Continue reading A Gothic Cookbook Guest Post: Supper and the Supernatural
What happens when the hunters become the hunted? The Only Good Indians by renowned indigenous author Stephen Graham Jones was one of the most-talked about horror novels this year and came out back in July. I finally decided to check out for myself whether it lives up to the hype.
