I know this may be considered blasphemy in both the goth and book worlds, but I personally find Neil Gaiman’s writing to be kind of hit or miss. I absolutely loved The Graveyard Book and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and found Good Omens to be a pleasantly amusing read. And of course I’ve been quite enjoying my foray into comics with his classic Sandman series. However, my first impression of Neil Gaiman’s writing was not a great one since I felt the first of his books I picked up—American Gods—failed to live up to the hype. His latest book, a collection of short fiction titled Trigger Warning, left me feeling similarly ambivalent. Most of the stories were great, but a couple were simply bizarre, mediocre, or boring, and I really didn’t buy into his overarching theme. Continue reading Review of Neil Gaiman’s Trigger Warning
Poems to Read in a Graveyard
There’s something about goths, graveyards, and poetry that just seem to go together. Well, part of that is because, long before there were any goths, a number of poets frequented graveyards, viewing them as the ideal setting for melancholy contemplation. This trend was popularized in the eighteenth century by a group of pre-Romantic English writers who became known as the Graveyard Poets. The tradition was continued by the Romantics, who have had a significant influence on popular gothic aesthetic and sentiment, and it has since been revisited by many writers into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Below are five of my favorite poems that were written or take place in a graveyard:
Eterna and Omega Review: Sensitives, Psychics, and Spirits, Oh My!
Our favorite Victorian paranormal research teams are back this week, with Book 2 of the Eterna Files! Back in January, I posted about how much I loved The Eterna Files, the first book in Leanna Renee Hieber’s latest series. Tomorrow, August 9th, the story continues with the release of Eterna and Omega. I’ll be attending the New York City book launch event this Thursday at the Morris-Jumel Mansion. If you’re going, come say hi! If you’re not in NYC but still want a signed copy, WORD bookstore is offering signed and personalized copies for preorder! You can also find it on Amazon or at your local bookstore starting tomorrow. Continue reading Eterna and Omega Review: Sensitives, Psychics, and Spirits, Oh My!
Dead and Vengeful Cats in Gothic Fiction
I spend a lot of time thinking about how much I love cats. They’re cute, cuddly, clever, and just a little bit demonic. Sadly, I don’t own an adorable fluff-ball myself, so I must find other venues for my cat appreciation. This generally involves visiting friends who own cats, looking at cats on social media, and of course, reading books that feature cats. Fortunately, cats—long associated with magic, mystery, and devilry—often feature prominently in gothic literature. Less fortunately, they also have a tendency to die in these stories… But cats are not creatures to be trifled with, and they are particularly adept at exacting revenge. Below are some of my favorite tales starring dead and/or vengeful cats: Continue reading Dead and Vengeful Cats in Gothic Fiction
Limetown Review: A Suspenseful Sci-fi Podcast
I tend to focus primarily on books on this site, but this week I decided to branch out into a new medium—podcasts! I just finished listening to Season 1 of Limetown, a podcast drama produced last summer about mysterious disappearances, mind-blowing scientific advancements, and the quest for truth, even in the face of death.
Limetown is a fictional podcast in the style of a radio show, much like the ever popular Welcome to Nightvale. Or so I’ve heard anyway, since I haven’t actually listened to Nightvale, yet. Podcasts are a new medium for me, and I find myself easily intimidated by the idea of committing to a long series with so many episodes. For this reason, my friend recommended that I start with Limetown, which has a similar sense of sci-fi spookiness but on a much more easily digestible scale. Continue reading Limetown Review: A Suspenseful Sci-fi Podcast
Bird Box Review: From Fear of the Unseen to Fear of Seeing
What if the most dangerous thing you could do was to look outside? This question is the premise of Bird Box, a horror novel by Josh Malerman. I’ve been on a real horror kick lately and am loving getting back in to the genre. This book in particular was such a new and unique example of the genre for me, and it reminded me just how much is out there that I haven’t read yet. Bird Box blends elements of horror, thriller, post-apocalyptic survival, and sci-fi/fantasy. It takes the fear of the unseen to a whole new level: the fear of seeing!
Continue reading Bird Box Review: From Fear of the Unseen to Fear of Seeing
Good Omens Review
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is quite an interesting twist on the genre of devil and demon literature. Collaboratively written by two of the biggest names in fantasy, Good Omens is a humorous tale of the apocalypse starring an angel, a demon, a witch, a witchhunter, and the Antichrist. It’s been on my to-read list for quite a while, as I’ve long been a huge fan of Gaiman and have been meaning to read something by Pratchett. Once again, finding the audiobook in my library helped me to knock this one off my list.
The American Gothic Tradition
Happy 4th of July! On this day in 1776, the founding fathers declared their intention to create a nation that would be independent from Great Britain. Though as they signed the Declaration, I doubt any of them were thinking about creating an independent literary tradition. Nonetheless, as our country began developing its own political and economic system, it also began developing its own culture—and that includes its own literature. American Gothic, apart from being an infamous painting of a dreary farmer couple, is a unique subgenre in the Gothic tradition that is markedly American. Today, I thought I would celebrate this patriotic holiday by sharing with you the history of the American Gothic tradition and some of its most prominent members.
Gothic Tropes: The Doppelganger
The doppelganger, German for “double-goer,” is a literal or symbolic double set in opposition to one of the characters of the story. This theme has appeared in literature for centuries, but is especially popular in works of Gothic fiction. Though, in the most literal sense, a doppelganger is a fellow human being who bears a striking physical resemblance to another character, in these stories, supernatural or imagined doubles with symbolic significance, or sometimes even different aspects of the same person, can be considered doppelgangers. The idea of a doppelganger or alter ego allows for an exploration of human duality. The doppelganger is both duplicate and opposite, showing how opposing forces can exist in one being and forcing us to confront our divided selves.
Review of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach is the one-stop book for everything you ever wanted to know—or never wanted to know—about dead bodies. I read this book on the recommendation of Caitlin Doughty, who’s memoir Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory I also thoroughly enjoyed. Like Doughty, Mary Roach has a pithy and dark sense of humor, although at times Roach comes off as a bit less sensitive. Unlike Doughty, Roach is not a native to the mortuary industry and related realms, approaching these sensitive topics from the inside. Instead she is a celebrated journalist, in the spotlight right now for her latest book, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War. Both Stiff and Grunt, among several other books, are part of a sort of series of works—all given one-word titles with clever subtitles—in which Roach examines a particular topic in depth. I think next I’ll have to check out Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. Continue reading Review of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers