I realized it’s been nearly four years since the last time I recommended some podcasts that readers of this blog might enjoy. In that time, there’s been a major surge of interest in the Gothic genre and a slew of new podcasts on the subject have cropped up. Today I’d like to specifically highlight three of my favorite shows where the hosts read, analyze, and discuss Gothic literature in a spirit similar to what I try to do here at The Gothic Library.
Vampire Campfire
Vampire Campfire is my latest podcast fixation. Started last summer by sisters (I believe) Rebecca and Hannah, the show explores the intertextual nature of vampire media by putting multiple works, from classic literature to the latest CW television shows, in conversation with each other. Each episode (released biweekly) explores a different trope, cliche, or theme across the breadth of the vampire genre. The central thesis of the show is something I’ve found to be true throughout my study of Gothic literature: these texts (or films, or tv shows) are all in conversation with each other, referencing, building upon, or intentionally diverging from the works that came before them. My favorite episodes so far include “Are All Vampires a Leetle Gäy,” in which Hannah and Rebecca discuss the inherent queerness of the genre even in works that try to avoid or downplay it, and “How Many Vampires Does It Take to End the World,” an exploration of the sub-subgenre of vampire apocalyptic fiction. If you’re as obsessed with vampire stories as I am, then this is the podcast for you! Learn more about the show and get alerted to new episodes here.
Everyone Should Read
Also started last year and with only eight episodes out so far, Everyone Should Read is a podcast where writer/director Kate Watters and sociologist Drew Silva discuss all of the books, plays, sonnets, short stories, and essays you’ve been meaning to read. While I expect this to become quite a broad literature podcast, Kate and Drew pick a focus for each season and the entire first season centers on Gothic literature, starting off with Dracula and Frankenstein. Later episodes cover select works from across a broad range of the Gothic genre, from poems like “The Raven” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” to newer works like Mexican Gothic and Vampires of El Norte. The two cohosts pick a different work of literature to read and discuss each episode, making for fun pairings that put the works in conversation with each other. Kate and Drew are amateur Gothic enthusiasts, not literature experts, so they are often encountering these works for the first time and occasionally get some facts wrong, but their excitement and enthusiasm makes their conversations compelling. At the end of each episode, they use their reading experience to evaluate whether they feel that “everyone should read” the particular works discussed. The show has been on hiatus since they wrapped up the end of Season 1 last fall, but I look forward to seeing what areas of literature Kate and Drew dive into next. You can find more information on the show here.
The Poe Show
The Poe Show is a little older, having started in 2023, but I only recently discovered it thanks to the creator’s TikTok posts and started listening from the beginning. The show is hosted by actor, singer, and composer Tynan Portillo. In each episode, he creates his own audio narration of a story or poem, complete with original music, sound effects, and high-quality audio production. He follows each reading with some commentary, usually including discussions of the work’s publication history, various adaptations, the choices he made when composing the background music, and his own analysis of the story’s meaning. As the title of the show suggests, Tynan mostly reads works from the godfather of American Gothic, Edgar Allan Poe. But occasionally he branches out to works by a surprising variety of other authors, including Katherine Mansfield, Robert Frost, and H. P. Lovecraft. More recently, Tynan has also created a segment of the podcast called “unscripted” episodes, where he discusses biographical elements of Poe’s life in a more informal manner, rather than doing a reading. The show is active and ongoing, releasing episodes on an irregular schedule once or twice a month. You can get more details here.
Check out these shows and let me know what you think! And if you’ve got other Gothic literature discussion podcasts to recommend, please put them in the comments!