I’ve discussed before on this blog how the Gothic literary genre takes its name from the Gothic style of architecture. Appropriately, the medieval structures that typify this architectural style are often used as the backdrop to Gothic stories. The obvious example, and the very first structure I discussed in this series on Gothic settings, is the castle. But another place we see Gothic architecture from the Middle Ages is in religious buildings, such as monasteries and abbeys.
Catheryn Valente is known for drawing on fairy tales and retelling classic stories, such as in her Russian folklore-inspired novel Deathless. But her latest book takes quite a different approach, obscuring exactly which story it is retelling until the very end. Comfort Me with Apples, which came out just last week, is a bite-size horror novella that packs quite a punch for its small size. Continue reading Review of Comfort Me with Apples
Well, it’s been over two years since I last participated in a convention or large-scale event of any kind. Attending conventions was, of course, only one of the many activities that had to be put on pause at the height of the pandemic. But now I am excited to cautiously venture out again into the world of conventions, starting with a brand new event this year: The Unconvention.
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is one of literature’s best-known Gothic novels and certainly one of the most commonly read—and for good reason! Jane Eyre was at the forefront of a wave of a new variation on the genre that really gave the Gothic Romance a sense of the romantic. The interplay between Jane’s fierce independence and her blossoming passion for the brooding and Byronic Mr. Rochester is a love story as relatable today as it was in 1846. And I do mean today: 2021 seems to be the year for revisiting Jane Eyre. Of course, there have been reimaginings of Brontë’s story in years past—most famously Jean Rhys’s feminist and postcolonialist vindication of the “madwoman in the attic” with Wide Sargasso Sea in 1966. But something in the air seems to have everybody returning to this Gothic classic all at once right now. Below are a few Jane Eyre retellings that all came out within the last year: Continue reading 2021 Jane Eyre Retellings
What if the world’s most notorious serial killer never meant to hurt anyone at all? Jack the Ripper is probably the serial killer to most often appear in fiction, as the unsolved mystery has led writers to conjecture about his motives and identity for well over a century. Interestingly, some of the earliest of these conjectural works present the Ripper himself as a victim rather than a ruthless killer. The Hypno-Ripper, edited by Donald K. Hartman, collects fictional accounts contemporaneous to the killings that posit the murders were committed (at least in part) by someone under a hypnotic trance. The Hypno-Ripper is part of Hartman’s series on the portrayal of hypnotism in Victorian and Edwardian literature, serving as a sort of sequel to his earlier collection, Death by Suggestion, which I reviewed back in 2019. The Hypno-Ripper came out in May of this year and is perfect for those fascinated either by the Whitechapel murders or by the turn-of-the-century phenomenon of hypnotic suggestion. Continue reading Review of The Hypno-Ripper—Victorian Crime Fiction
It’s time for another installment of Gothic Settings, a series of posts in which I explore recurring landscapes and structures that serve as the backdrop to innumerable Gothic stories. So far, we’ve explored such iconic settings as the classic castle and the romantic moors. This week’s setting is one of my very favorites: the ancestral home.
“It gets lonely down in the dirt….” Five young adults make the mistake of partying in a haunted, Heian-era manor in Cassandra Khaw’s hotly anticipated horror novella Nothing But Blackened Teeth. I had the pleasure of interviewing Khaw last month to get their thoughts on haunted houses and the horror genre. And then I devoured this bite-size novella in just a few sittings. If you’re looking for a horror story to eat like candy on Halloween, grab Nothing But Blackened Teeth when it comes out next Tuesday, October 19. Continue reading Review of Nothing But Blackened Teeth
“The body cannot sustain two souls….” A young Jewish immigrant is possessed by the dybbuk of his murdered friend in Aden Polydoros’s debut YA novel The City Beautiful. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book since Aden first announced his book deal several years ago! As a Jewish teen growing up, I rarely got to see my culture reflected in anything other than “issue books” about the Holocaust, so I’ve been delighted by the recent uptick of Jewish-inspired YA fantasy with books like Spinning Silver and The Sisters of the Winter Wood. But The City Beautiful is the first book I’ve encountered that really reaches into the deep well of Jewish folklore and draws up its horror elements. The City Beautiful comes out tomorrow, October 5. Continue reading Review of The City Beautiful—Jewish Historical Fantasy/Thriller
What would you trade for the power to protect those you love? Violeta bargains with gods and monsters in Lyndall Clipstone’s debut YA novel, Lakesedge. Described as a “lush gothic fantasy,” Lakesedge comes out tomorrow, September 28. Continue reading Review of Lakesedge—Monsters and Magic in YA Gothic
Cassandra Khaw is a rising star to keep an eye on in the speculative fiction scene. They’ve had short fiction published in places like The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and Tor.com, and their first original novella, Hammers on Bone, was a British Fantasy Award and Locus Award finalist. Earlier this month, Khaw published their debut science-fiction novel The All-Consuming World, which I just started reading. But perhaps their most anticipated release is the upcoming horror novella, Nothing But Blackened Teeth, which comes out from Tor’s new horror imprint Nightfire on October 19. Described as “a gorgeously creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore,” Nothing But Blackened Teeth is sure to rock the horror world this fall. Ahead of reading the novella for myself, I got the chance to ask Cassandra all about their take on the haunted house genre, their thoughts on the purpose of horror, and more! Check out our interview below:
