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
Sometimes 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
Classics: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
It’s about time I wrote a post solely centered on the very first Gothic novel. I’m aiming for this to be the first in a new series of posts, much like my Gothic Tropes series. In this new Classics series, I will be discussing classic works from the original Gothic literary movement in greater depth, providing plot summaries, context, and a discussion of the work’s influence on the genre. And where better to start than at the very beginning? The Castle of Otranto was the very first novel to adopt the mantle of “Gothic.” Published in 1764 by English author and art historian Horace Walpole, the novel initially tried to pass itself off as a newly discovered Italian manuscript of far older origin. With its second edition, the story was acknowledged to be a modern creation and was subtitled “A Gothic Story,” thus giving a name to the genre it would soon inspire. Continue reading Classics: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
New Morbid Anatomy Exhibit at Green-Wood Cemetery
This spring, there’s a new pop-up exhibit at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery—and I’ll be volunteering as a docent! The Morbid Anatomy collection will be installed in Green-Wood’s Fort Hamilton Gatehouse, with an exhibition called “The Power of Images: Life, Death, and Rebirth” on the lower level and a library in the building’s attic, with books on the intersection of art and medicine, death and culture. The exhibit will be open from 12:00-5:00pm on weekends, now through June, and is free and open to the public. So far, I’m scheduled to be there on 4/15, 4/21, and 5/6, and maybe there a few other weekends as well. Come visit me!
What is Morbid Anatomy, you ask? Well, if you’re from the Brooklyn area, you may remember that there used to be a quaint little museum in Gowanus that closed down last year. It housed a varied collection along the lines of a Victorian cabinet of curiosities, as well as an extensive library and an event space for authors, lecturers, and workshops. It closed its doors last year, but it didn’t go away for good! Its collections are curated by Morbid Anatomy’s founder Joanna Ebenstein and head librarian/program director Laetitia Barbier. The current exhibition contains a mix of macabre paintings, strange specimens, and funerary ephemera. I’m so excited to see my favorite death-centered museum brought back to life!
Do you have any questions about the exhibit? Have you visited already, or are you planning to? Let me know in the comments!
Review of The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea
I can never resist a new anthology by Ellen Datlow. If you’re unfamiliar, Datlow has put together about ninety different anthologies of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, including The Best Horror of the Year, The Doll Collection, and Children of Lovecraft. Earlier this year, I reviewed a Halloween collection she did with Lisa Morton called Haunted Nights. When I heard that she had just put out a horror anthology themed entirely around the ocean, I knew I had to add it to my list. The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea came out in March and contains a fantastic collection of all-new short horror fiction by authors both well-known and unfamiliar. Continue reading Review of The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea
Review of Mary Roach’s Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
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, which I reviewed back in 2016. After how well she handled the macabre subject of Stiff, I knew I had to check this one out. Continue reading Review of Mary Roach’s Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Review of The Wolf Gift—Anne Rice’s Werewolves
Is there a supernatural creature Anne Rice hasn’t written about? Though she’s best known as the queen of the vampire genre, Anne Rice has written novels about witches, mummies, angels, and now werewolves. The Wolf Gift is the first book in one of Rice’s relatively newer series, having come out back in 2012. Somehow, I’d never heard of this series until I stumbled upon it in the library, but I decided to give her werewolves a shot.
Reuben Golding is an up-and-coming journalist who’s been assigned to do a story on a grand mansion in California that’s being put up for sale. When he visits with the mansion’s owner, Marchent Nideck, and tours the house, Reuben falls in love with the place, wishing he could buy it for himself. But the house has some dark secrets: Marchent’s uncle, the original owner, went missing many years ago, leaving behind strange manuscripts and ancient artifacts from his research. After Reuben survives a brutal attack, he discovers that he’s inherited not just the house, but a mysterious Gift, as well. By night, Reuben transforms into a wolf-like creature and feels compelled to hunt down evil-doers. Could this gift be related to the disappearance of Marchent’s uncle? Will he find answers about what he has become at the Nideck estate? Continue reading Review of The Wolf Gift—Anne Rice’s Werewolves
Review of “The Gown”–Emilie Autumn’s Short Story
It’s the little things that will drive you mad.… “The Gown” is a brand new short story by musician-cum-author Emilie Autumn that explores the concepts of madness and obsession. Over the past couple of years, Emilie Autumn revamped and re-released her pseudo-autobiographical novel The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, which combines an account of her experiences in the psychiatric ward of a hospital with a dark tale of her fictional Victorian alter-ego trapped in an abusive asylum. (I reviewed the interactive ebook of TAFWVG back in August.) In February, Emilie Autumn surprised her fans by releasing a new short story that presents similar themes. “The Gown” is available now on Amazon as either an ebook or paperback. Continue reading Review of “The Gown”–Emilie Autumn’s Short Story