Don’t you just hate it when all you want is to study dead languages alone in your office, but you’ve just discovered a dangerous cult that is trying to resurrect the dead and take over the world, and it’s up to you and a handsome detective to stop them? Percival Endicott Whyborne is a particularly reluctant hero in Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk, which came out back in 2012. This first book in Hawk’s lengthy Whyborne & Griffin series is a subversive take on Lovecraft’s cosmic horror mythos that centers a love story between two men. I adore it when writers take the world that H. P. Lovecraft created and use it to create stories that would leave the notoriously bigoted author turning in his grave. Continue reading Review of Widdershins—Gay Romance and Cosmic Horror
Month: June 2020
Review of The Quiet Gentleman—Regency Romance with a Gothic Flair
When the black sheep of the family inherits the title and estate, you know some Gothic inheritance drama is about to go down. Gervase Frant has succeeded his father as Earl, only to find himself fending off attacks on his life while living amongst the family that always hated him in Georgette Heyer’s The Quiet Gentleman (1951). The Romancing the Gothic book club I’ve been participating in this summer recently introduced me to Heyer—the prolific twentieth-century British author who essentially established historical romance as a genre, specializing in the Regency romance. The Quiet Gentleman is a prime example of her work and also shows the clear influence that the Gothic often had on the budding romance genre. Continue reading Review of The Quiet Gentleman—Regency Romance with a Gothic Flair
Review of The Last Memoria
If you lose your memories, how do you know who you are? Can you be guilty of a crime you don’t remember? What if there are parts of yourself that are better off forgotten? Rachel Emma Shaw explores these themes of memory and identity in her debut fantasy novel The Last Memoria. The book came out just last month and is the first in a duology. The audiobook is currently available for free, for a limited time—read to the end for details. Continue reading Review of The Last Memoria
Contemporary Black Horror Writers
Let’s get one thing clear: The Gothic Library stands with Black Lives Matter and with the protests against police brutality and against the injustices done to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and too many others. As we watch the horrors play out in the news and on our streets, it becomes clear why Black authors are some of the most poignant voices in horror fiction. To be Black in America is to live in a real-world horror story, an idea that Leila Taylor explored in depth in her book Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul. I have briefly touched before on the past contributions of African-American writers to the Gothic genre, but today I want to highlight a few living authors whom you can support: Continue reading Contemporary Black Horror Writers
Guest Appearance on Sublimely Gothic Podcast
There’s a new Gothic podcast in town! Sublimely Gothic is a Gothic literature-themed podcast hosted by Amy Sophiamehr and Jessica Znidarsic. In each episode, they discuss a single Gothic text along with its core tropes and themes. The podcast launched last month with a debut episode on Jane Eyre. And I had the pleasure of being a guest on Episode 2: The Castle of Otranto, which aired on Friday. You can find both episodes on the Pagan Poetess website!
Let me know what you think of the episode! I’m hoping to do more guest appearances with Sublimely Gothic in the future, so keep an eye out.
The Gothic Library is Five Years Old!
Happy bloggiversary! As of this Friday, June 5, I’ll have been posting weekly to The Gothic Library for exactly five years. When I started this blog the summer after graduating college, I never imagined I’d stick with it for so long or that it would become such a huge part of my life. For those of you who have been with me for all five years, thank you for believing in me! For readers who have found this blog more recently, thank you for joining! The last time I did any sort of reflecting on my blogging journey was back at my one-year anniversary, so I’d like to take this time to highlight some of the accomplishments I’m most proud of that have come out of this blog:
