“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches…” Is there a single element of horror fiction that Silvia Moreno-Garcia can’t write? She first hit it big when she blended traditional Gothic tropes with post-colonial mushroom horror in Mexican Gothic. She put a unique, multicultural noir spin on vampires in Certain Dark Things. And she mixed her love of old horror films with cults and curses in Silver Nitrate. And that’s not to mention the books of hers I haven’t gotten to yet, like The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, which reimagines the classic sci-fi horror tale by H. G. Wells. This prolific and multi-talented author tackles witches in her latest novel, The Bewitching, which came out last month. Continue reading Review of The Bewitching—Witches of Folklore
Review of The Eyes Are the Best Part
Satisfying. That’s the best way I can describe The Eyes Are the Best Part, a bizarrely lovely book about feminine rage and cannibalism. This debut horror novel from Monika Kim came out last summer and swept a whole bunch of awards and nominations, from the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel to being a Goodreads Choice Award nominee. It’s been on my TBR list for a while, and I finally got around to adding it to my plate. If you love stories about complicated and messy young women getting revenge, then The Eyes Are the Best Part is definitely worth savoring. Continue reading Review of The Eyes Are the Best Part
Review of The Library at Hellebore
When your school crest is composed of figs, wasps, and carnivorous deer, you know you’re in for an interesting school year… If anyone has the aesthetics of horror down, it’s Cassandra Khaw, who broke into the genre back in 2021 with Nothing But Blackened Teeth. I had the pleasure of interviewing Khaw before that book’s release to get their thoughts on hauntings and horror novellas. Now Khaw is trying their hand at dark academia with The Library at Hellebore, which came out just last week. If you’re craving more books about magically powerful young adults at deadly schools after finishing Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, then you’ll definitely want to check this one out! Continue reading Review of The Library at Hellebore
Review of Wearing the Lion—Mythical Monsters and Found Family
The full story of Hercules’s twelve labors is rarely included in modern adaptations—I suppose murdering your own children in a fit of madness and then slaying a bunch of monsters in penance was a bit too grim for Disney. But John Wiswell (whose debut Someone You Can Build a Nest In blew me away last year) masterfully tackles this complicated legend in his new novel Wearing the Lion, which came out last month. If you love Greek myth reimaginings like Madeline Miller’s Circe that take on new perspectives and turn classic stories on their heads, you don’t want to miss this one! Continue reading Review of Wearing the Lion—Mythical Monsters and Found Family
Review of Overgrowth—Vampire Plant People from Outer Space
I, for one, welcome our new alien plant people overlords. If you love alien invasion stories like The Day of the Triffids, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or The War of the Worlds, then you don’t want to miss Overgrowth, the first new novel in several years from Mira Grant, the horror/sci-fi alias of celebrated fantasy author Seanan McGuire. Mira Grant’s terrifying take on carnivorous mermaids, Into the Drowning Deep, is still one of my all-time favorite horror novels. So when Overgrowth came out last month, it went straight to the top of my TBR. Continue reading Review of Overgrowth—Vampire Plant People from Outer Space
Sinners—Vampires and the Jim Crow South
Okay, I think it’s been long enough that nearly everybody who wants to see Ryan Coogler’s new vampire film Sinners has, by now, and I can talk about it here. (Beware, minor spoilers ahead for the film’s overall themes and its depiction of vampires.) If you didn’t catch this spectacular film while it was in theaters, it is now available to stream. I highly recommend all vampire-lovers check it out, as well as any music-lovers—as long as you can handle a bit of gore. Sinners uses an action-packed tale of a fight against vampires in the Jim Crow South to explore questions of identity, agency, and racial equality. Continue reading Sinners—Vampires and the Jim Crow South
Ten Years of The Gothic Library!
Can you believe I’ve been blogging for a full decade? This Thursday, June 5, will mark the tenth anniversary of when I first launched The Gothic Library. For eight and a half years, I blogged every single week, with some extra posts at the beginning to juice the engine. In 2024, I switched to posting every other week. Over the last ten years, I have written 511 posts. That’s a total of 415k words, all about my love of books. Continue reading Ten Years of The Gothic Library!
Review of Staircase in the Woods—A House that Haunts
If you came across a mysterious set of stairs in the middle of a forest, would you climb them? Doing so might not be such a good idea, as a group of friends are quick to discover in Chuck Wendig’s latest horror novel, The Staircase in the Woods, which came out last month. This is some of the most chilling horror I’ve read so far this year, and it takes a truly unique approach to the concept of a haunted house. Continue reading Review of Staircase in the Woods—A House that Haunts
Review of The Artist of Blackberry Grange
It’s been an established trope from the very first Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto: portraits of the dead that can come to life and roam the halls. In Paulette Kennedy’s The Artist of Blackberry Grange, the home of an elderly painter living with dementia is haunted by her portraits of figures from her past. This historical Gothic, which came out last week, uses traditional tropes of the genre to explore themes of generational trauma, temptation, toxic relationships, regret, and overcoming all of these obstacles to find true love and contentment. Continue reading Review of The Artist of Blackberry Grange
Review of The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen
Well, we’re nearly halfway through 2025, but I’ve just finished reading Ellen Datlow’s 2024 collection of the best horror short stories published in 2023, or in other words: The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen. Ellen Datlow is one of the most celebrated editors and anthologists in the horror genre, and I have particularly enjoyed her themed horror anthologies like Haunted Nights and The Devil and the Deep. Short story anthologies are a wonderful way to discover new writers and plumb the diversity of a given subject or genre. But “best of the year” anthologies have the added benefit of highlighting particular trends or preoccupations that emerge in any particular year. The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen, is the perfect example of this. Continue reading Review of The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen