H. 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
My favorite decadent spies are back! Though they’re a little worse for wear…. Around this time last year, 
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! 
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 
Is there life after death? This question has plagued humanity from its very beginnings, leading many people to find answers through philosophy, faith, or religion. But what if you could finally get a definitive answer through science? In Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Mary Roach explores the various historical figures and modern scientists who have tried to solve this age-old mystery and searches for some answers of her own. Spook is the second in her monosyllable series of science/humor books, and came on the heels of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, 
