While you’re unwrapping your gifts this holiday season, how about unwrapping a few ancient mummies, as well? (Except, not literally. The Victorians used to do that, and it was a pretty sketchy practice…) Spirits Unwrapped, edited by Daniel Braum, is an anthology of fourteen unconventional mummy tales. It was released by the small indie publisher Lethe Press back in October and has finally made its way up to the top of my post-Halloween book pile. Continue reading Review of Spirits Unwrapped—An Unconventional Mummy Anthology
Category: Short story
Intro to Southern Gothic
Since the Gothic first arose as a handful of tales about virginal young women being chased through European castles by usurping noblemen, the genre has splintered off into many different forms, some of which bear very little resemblance to the earliest Gothic stories. One of the best-known off-shoots of this mode of writing is the Southern Gothic. I touched on this topic briefly in my post on the American Gothic Tradition, but now I want to cover it in more depth. Southern Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic literature that is defined both geographically and thematically. Generally set within the southern United States, works of Southern Gothic employ the macabre and the grotesque to expose the myth of the idyllic antebellum South. Common themes include the decay and corruption that exist behind beautiful facades (both physically and metaphorically), the decline of a dispossessed aristocracy, and the scars left by slavery and a long history of racial tensions. If you’ve ever taken an American literature class, it’s likely that you’ve already encountered some Southern Gothic. Below are a few authors best known for writing in this genre: Continue reading Intro to Southern Gothic
Review of Women’s Weird–Bringing Female Authors Back into the Spotlight
As Halloween approaches, it’s time to get weird! Last month, I read Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction, which brought my attention to the many gaps in our understanding of the history of these genres, caused by the tendency of past (and some present) critics to value male authors over their equally inventive and influential female contemporaries. Well, a small press in the UK is looking to fill one of those gaps with the collection Women’s Weird: Strange Stories by Women, 1890–1940, edited by Melissa Edmundson. Appropriately, the book is being released on Halloween day. Continue reading Review of Women’s Weird–Bringing Female Authors Back into the Spotlight
Denizens of Distant Realms Review
Once upon a time doesn’t necessarily have to be long, long ago. I’ve mentioned my great love of fairy tales—whether they be classics, retellings, or brand-new fairy tales that emulate the classics in form and style. Denizens of Distant Realms, a new collection of short stories by Dawn Vogel, falls into the latter category. The book came out back in August, and while I was previously unfamiliar with the author and her other works, my great love of fairy tales drew me to take a chance on the new collection. Continue reading Denizens of Distant Realms Review
His Hideous Heart Review—Poe Retellings with a YA Twist!
Edgar Allan Poe stories with a diverse, YA twist? Yes, please! So many of us first discover Poe during our teenage years that it seems perfectly fitting to reinterpret his stories in a young adult context. Editor Dahlia Adler does exactly this in her upcoming anthology His Hideous Heart, which gathers together thirteen celebrated YA authors to write modern tales inspired by some of Poe’s. I’ve been invited to participate in the official blog tour for His Hideous Heart, which comes out on September 10. See my thoughts on the book below, and be sure to check out the preorder link at the end of the post! Continue reading His Hideous Heart Review—Poe Retellings with a YA Twist!
Review of Death by Suggestion–A Hypnotic Anthology
You are getting very, very sleepy … and also a bit murderous. Mesmerism, also called animal magnetism and later hypnosis, spread in popularity throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries as doctors, hobbyists, and stage performers demonstrated their ability to control the actions of others through mere suggestion. The Victorians and Edwardians were fascinated by this new discipline, but also, understandably, quite anxious. Without knowing what the limitations were of this power, they imagined scenarios in which one could be mesmerized to commit crimes, betray loved ones, and even kill. Death by Suggestion: An Anthology of 19th and Early 20th-Century Tales of Hypnotically Induced Murder, Suicide, and Accidental Death edited by Donald K. Hartman brings together twenty-two tales by authors both well-known and obscure that explore the darker side of suggestion. Continue reading Review of Death by Suggestion–A Hypnotic Anthology
Women and the Golden Age of Ghost Stories
I’ve had ghost stories on the mind lately, and in honor of Women’s History Month, I want to highlight some of the contributions that women have made to this particular genre. Ghost stories in one form or another have been a part of the literary tradition—both oral and written—going back centuries. But the period between the beginning of the Victorian era in the 1830s and the onset of World War I is considered the Golden Age of the ghost story as we know it today. Short fictional accounts of encounters with ghosts abounded in literary magazines and in the form of collected anthologies. Big name novelists and more obscure authors alike turned to writing ghost stories as a fun and reliable source of income in these years, and more than a few of those authors were women. Below are four of my favorites: Continue reading Women and the Golden Age of Ghost Stories
Christmas Ghost Stories
It’s the spookiest time of the year. No, not Halloween … Christmas! In centuries past, one of the most popular traditions of this holiday season was the telling of ghost stories. If you think about it, it makes sense—what better way to spend the longest, coldest nights of the year than to get your blood pumping with some tales of terror? It’s unclear how long this custom has been around, but it saw a significant resurgence during the Victorian era, due in large part to Charles Dickens and his famous ghost story, A Christmas Carol (1843). In this British classic, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, which scare him into changing his selfish ways. In the wake of Dickens, may other authors picked up their pens to write tales of seasonal ghosts. Below are a few of my favorites:
Dead Girls Don’t Love Review
There’s nothing I love more than a haunting little horror anthology—especially when it introduces me to an author with whom I was previously unfamiliar! Dead Girls Don’t Love by Sarah Hans surprised and delighted me from the first story onward. The collection brings together a dozen different tales that show an impressive range of style, genre, and source material. If you’re already looking for some reading material to get you into the Halloween spirit, Dead Girls Don’t Love would be a great place to start! Continue reading Dead Girls Don’t Love Review
Review of The Merry Spinster: Sinister and Surreal Fairy Tales
Sometimes the oldest and most familiar tales just need a new twist. Daniel Mallory Ortberg does that to the extreme, turning the familiar quite strange in The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror. In this collection of creepy short fiction, each story is based on a classic fairy tale, sometimes blended together with other fairy tales, pieces of Biblical text, or other familiar literary sources. But don’t get too comfortable. These aren’t your average fairy tale retellings. Continue reading Review of The Merry Spinster: Sinister and Surreal Fairy Tales