Lovecraft’s “Supernatural Horror in Literature”—A Survey of the Genre

The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature coverH. 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 could get his hands on. Much like what I do here on The Gothic Library, Lovecraft put many hours into researching the history of the genre and developing his own philosophies about how to define, categorize, and evaluate it. The fruits of his labor became the essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” which was first published in 1927 in the one-issue magazine The Recluse and subsequently updated and republished several times throughout his life.

I was recently sent an annotated edition of this essay by Hippocampus Press, a small publisher that specializes in works related to Lovecraft and other classic horror and sci-fi writers. This annotated edition comes with an introduction by Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi, an extensive bibliography, and plenty of explanatory footnotes. Reading Lovecraft’s essay combined with this supplemental material was a truly informative experience. Continue reading Lovecraft’s “Supernatural Horror in Literature”—A Survey of the Genre

Review of Armistice–Aesthetes in Exile

Armistice coverMy favorite decadent spies are back! Though they’re a little worse for wear…. Around this time last year, I reviewed Lara Elena Donnelly’s debut novel Amberlough. Set in a fantasy world resembling pre-WWII Europe, the first book delved into the entangled lives of government agents and cabaret dancers as they sought to navigate the sudden rise of a fascist regime. Its sequel, Armistice, came out last month and deals with the aftermath of these events. Under the scorching sun of foreign lands, Aristide starts a new life for himself while Cordelia scrambles for safety. They both soon learn that you can flee the country, but you cannot escape your past. Continue reading Review of Armistice–Aesthetes in Exile

Daughter of Smoke & Bone Review—Not Your Average Angels and Demons

Karou lives in two worlds. In one, she’s a gifted art student studying in Prague; in the other, she collects teeth for a ram-horned chimaera. Balancing those two lives was hard enough, even before being attacked by an angel. I have to admit that I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. The book has been out for years, and I remember there being a lot of hype a while back. But honestly, I have a really hard time keeping track of all the different series with “_____ of _____ and _____” titles. After a friend reminded me of this one’s existence, I decided to just jump into it cold, without looking anything up about the series. Once I started reading, I was pleasantly surprised! Continue reading Daughter of Smoke & Bone Review—Not Your Average Angels and Demons

The Underestimated Importance of Minerva Press

How did one publishing house change the course of the Gothic novel and, in fact, of novels in general? And why haven’t you heard of it? This week, I’d like to give you a brief history lesson on one of England’s most influential—and yet least talked about—publishers, Minerva Press. Founded by William Lane in 1780, though it didn’t adopt the name “Minerva” until 1790, Minerva Press was the largest publisher of fiction for three decades around the turn of the 19th century. And its specialty? The Gothic novel. Minerva press churned out Gothics by the dozens, usually written by female authors. Yet few of these works ever make it into literary discourse, and the press itself is usually dismissed as a low-brow publisher of cheap nonsense. Only in recent years have scholars really started to examine the influence of this remarkable press and question whether that reputation might be undeserved.

Minerva Press title page Continue reading The Underestimated Importance of Minerva Press

Anonymity and Pseudonyms in Gothic Literature

Castle of Otranto title page
Title page of the first edition of The Castle of Otranto

Publishing works either anonymously or under a pseudonym has been a tradition in the Gothic literary genre since its very creation. Such deception might be done for a variety of reasons. Early works of Gothic literature often tried to pass themselves off as something older—long-buried ancient manuscripts newly discovered and translated by an enterprising soul—to both increase their mystique and shield the author’s reputation from critiques of this untested new style. As Gothic novels became increasingly popular with female authors, many of them adopted male pen names or left their name off entirely to avoid the stigma of their gender. Today, pseudonyms give authors the opportunity to depart from their usual genres, to step away from their existing fame, or simply to add to the fun.  Continue reading Anonymity and Pseudonyms in Gothic Literature

Review of Dread Nation–Civil War Zombies!

When the dead start to rise on the battlefield at Gettysburg, the American Civil War is taken in a whole new direction. This is the premise of Justina Ireland’s unique new zombie tale, Dread Nation. This book has been on my radar since the beginning of the year, so as soon as it came out last month, I hopped on the waiting list to get the audiobook from the library. I love the idea of combining zombie horror with alternative history. Add in a badass teenage heroine who takes on zombies and institutionalized racism alike with her sharp-edged sickles, and I’m 100% sold! Continue reading Review of Dread Nation–Civil War Zombies!

The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart Review

The very first novel I ever reviewed on this blog was Leanna Renee Hieber’s Darker Still, book one in her YA fantasy Magic Most Foul series. Three years later, I’ve finally gotten around to reading its sequel. If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that I love Leanna and everything she writes. Darker Still was actually one of my favorites, but I kept being distracted by all of her new releases instead of continuing the series. Recently, though, Leanna’s been dropping hints that a few of the Magic Most Foul characters will be appearing in her upcoming new book The Spectral City. Not wanting to be out of the loop, I decided that it was high time I got caught up.  Continue reading The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart Review

Tune In to “In Goth We Trust” this Wednesday Night!

Tune in on Wednesday night to hear my voice on the radio! Chelsea Goodwin has invited me to call in as a guest on her radio show In Goth We Trust. The show runs from 10:00pm to 12:00am (Eastern Time) every Wednesday and Thursday night on WIOX Community Radio in the Catskills. She plays a wide variety of gothic music and interviews folks from  throughout the wider goth community.

I’ll be calling in this Wednesday, May 2, at 10:30pm to discuss my work on this blog, the panels I gave at Dark Side of the Con, what I’ve been up to in Green-Wood Cemetery, and whatever else we feel like talking about. If you’re local to the New York City Watershed area, you can tune your radios to 91.3 FM. The show will also be streamed live online. You can listen at WIOXradio.org (scroll down a bit to find the player, you may need to download Adobe Flash) or use a radio app like TuneIn. I’m looking forward to chatting with Chelsea!

The Invention of True Crime

Illustration of Mary Rogers floating in the HudsonSometimes fact is more horrifying than fiction. This is the philosophy behind true crime, a genre that seeks to present nonfiction accounts of real-world crimes in a style accessible and entertaining to the average reader. The genre has been a hot topic lately, after a new suspect was arrested last week for the crimes of the Golden State Killer, just months after Michelle McNamara’s true crime book on the subject, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, hit the New York Times bestseller list. But can true crime books really help solve cold cases? The inventor of the genre seemed to think so.  Continue reading The Invention of True Crime

Children of Blood and Bone Review

Zélie is a Reaper, the first one in eleven years. But with the power of death, can she really bring magic back to life? Find out in Tomi Adeyemi’s debut novel Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. The buzz around this new African-inspired YA fantasy novel has been taking over Twitter since well before the book’s release last month—so much so that I already had it on my radar when writing my list of Books I’m Excited for in 2018 at the beginning of the year. I had the audiobook on hold from the library for almost a month before finally getting it in, but it was definitely worth the wait. Continue reading Children of Blood and Bone Review