Books I’m Excited for in 2024

Happy 2024! First things first: as I mentioned at the end of last week’s post, I will be moving to an every-other-week posting schedule this year. But though I’ll be posting less often, I am still just as excited as always about all of the new books coming out this year! Here are just a few of the new releases I am most looking forward to:

1) The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan (set to be released January 9)

The Djinn Waits A Hundred Years coverThis Gothic horror novel is set off the coast of South Africa in a ruined mansion haunted by a djinn. When a young girl named Sana moves in with her father, she uncovers the estate’s long-buried secrets and a tragic tale of lost love. I always love to see classic Gothic tropes in new, unfamiliar settings. Continue reading Books I’m Excited for in 2024

My 2023 Reading Recap

What a great year for reading it’s been! This is the first year in at least a decade that I haven’t participated in the official Goodreads Reading Challenge, since I stopped using Goodreads to track my reading. I did, however, still set reading goals for myself and keep track of each book I read, and I found 2023 to be one of the best reading years of my adult life.

Crocheted snake with many bands of different colors
My 2023 Reading Log Snake, with a color-coded key: Purple for short story collections; light blue for mystery/thriller; gray for nonfiction; dark blue for “other”; black for horror; red for romance; green for sci-fi; and yellow for fantasy

Continue reading My 2023 Reading Recap

Review of Sunless Solstice—Christmas Ghost Stories

As my various posts over the years about Christmas ghost stories might suggest, I’m on a bit of a mission to bring this spooky seasonal activity back into fashion. But I’m not alone in my quest! The British Library has started publishing annual collections of haunting Christmas tales as part of their Tales of the Weird series. Sunless Solstice: Strange Christmas Tales for the Longest Nights, edited by Lucy Evans and Tanya Kirk, is the third such collection, released in December 2022. If you, like me, would like to start spending your Christmases telling scary stories around a fire, I cannot recommend these collections enough! Continue reading Review of Sunless Solstice—Christmas Ghost Stories

Gothic Gambles

Gambling is as pervasive in the world of Gothic literature as it is in the real world. Gothic novels are full of dissolute villains whose dastardly dealings at the card table are just one facet of their poor behavior and hapless heroes who find themselves in dire straits after running up debts. But today I want to highlight a few pieces of short fiction with gambling at their center. These tales warn not just of the ordinary dangers like debt and addiction, but also of potential supernatural consequences for those who gamble excessively or unwisely. 

Photo of four Aces from a black deck of cards
Photo by JESUS ECA on Unsplash

Continue reading Gothic Gambles

Christmas Ghost Stories, Part 3

’Tis the season … for Christmas ghost stories! In recent years, I’ve been all about bringing back the classic tradition of livening up the winter months by sharing tales of terror. After all, encounters with the spirit world are the perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit! You can see some of the seasonally spooky tales I’ve previously recommended here and here. But if those aren’t enough for you, here’s a third round of Christmas ghost stories:

Photo of red berries against a wintery background of snow and bare branches
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Continue reading Christmas Ghost Stories, Part 3

Review of Coffin Hill—Gothic Comics

Coffin Hill vol 1 cover“Wicked witch of Coffin Hill, buried in the woods and lives there still. Hide your face and close your eyes, if you see her you will die. Only the crows to hear you cry…” So goes the nursery rhyme at the heart of the Coffin Hill comics by Caitlin Kittredge, with art by Inaki Miranda and coloring by Eva de la Cruz. This comic series, published by Vertigo between 2013 and 2015, consists of twenty issues which have been collected in three trade volumes: Forest of the Night, Dark Endeavors, and Haunted Houses. With stunningly macabre artwork and a storyline that features black magic, bloody murders, and generational curses, this series is the perfect gateway into comics for any Gothic literature lovers. Continue reading Review of Coffin Hill—Gothic Comics

Review of A Power Unbound—Fantasy Politics and Power Plays

A Power Unbound coverThere’s just nothing quite like a satisfying conclusion to a stellar trilogy. I’ve been eagerly awaiting A Power Unbound, the conclusion to Freya Marske’s The Last Binding series, which finally came out earlier this month. I was sucked into Marske’s intricate world of Edwardian magic from the first few pages of A Marvellous Light and fell even more in love with the series and its recurring characters when I read Book 2, A Restless Truth. With A Power Unbound, Freya Marske does a masterful job of rounding off the series and orchestrating a large cast of characters and complex plot to a satisfying conclusion. Continue reading Review of A Power Unbound—Fantasy Politics and Power Plays

Review of Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror

Out There Screaming coverJordan Peele is one of my absolute favorite directors and I think his horror films are some of the cleverest and most thoughtful contributions to the horror genre in recent years. So when I saw his name on an anthology of short horror fiction, I knew I needed to pick it up. Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, edited by Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams, came out last month, right on the heels of another great horror anthology centering marginalized voices: Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. Judging by the quality of tales in these two collections, this diversity of voices is definitely here to stay in the horror genre! Continue reading Review of Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror

#AScareADay Reading Challenge Reflections

I just spent the past month reading a scary story or poem for each day of October! This ambitious task was part of a reading challenge created by Dr. Sam Hirst, founder of Romancing the Gothic. I had such a great time last year participating in Sam’s inaugural #AGhostADay challenge, that I was thrilled when they announced they were doing a new challenge this October. While last year’s stories were mainly tales of revenants and hauntings, this year Sam broadened the focus to include as wide a variety of scary stories as possible. Subjects ranged from variations on classic vampires, werewolves, witches, and demons to more unique horrors like infectious fungi, primeval animals, and portals to other dimensions. You can see the full reading list of thirty-one stories for #AScareDay here. And check out the #AScareADay hashtag on (the platform formerly known as) Twitter or the #AScareADay feed on BlueSky to follow the discussion. Continue reading #AScareADay Reading Challenge Reflections

My Cousin Rachel Review—More Daphne du Maurier

My Cousin Rachel coverI’ve loved Daphne du Maurier ever since I read and reviewed her most famous novel, Rebecca, during the first year of this blog. Since then, I’ve read a few of her other works, including Jamaica Inn and the short story “The Birds.” But none of her other works have had as powerful an impact as I felt while reading Rebecca. Nothing, that is, until I saw the 2017 film adaptation of My Cousin Rachel starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin. Ever since seeing it in theaters, I’ve been meaning to go back and read du Maurier’s novel of the same name. I finally had the opportunity, thanks to starting a new book club focused on books that have been famously adapted. And now having read it, I can say that My Cousin Rachel is joining Rebecca as one of my favorite Gothic novels of the twentieth century.  Continue reading My Cousin Rachel Review—More Daphne du Maurier