A brooding duke in a lonely, windswept castle—at first glance, the Duke of Gracewood appears to be your typical Gothic Romance hero. But Viola Carroll already knows the good-hearted and sensitive man that lies beneath this gruff exterior. If only he could see Viola for who she truly was…. A Lady for a Duke is a queer Regency romance that came out last year and is my first experience with the work of the prolific and versatile Alexis Hall, though I’ve long been aware of his stature in the genre. If you love romance novels that pull at your heartstrings and seeing trans characters represented in historical contexts, don’t miss this one! Continue reading Review of A Lady for a Duke—Queer Regency Romance
Review of The Weight of Blood—A Modern Homage to Carrie
If there’s one piece of advice you need to survive a YA horror novel, it’s this: Stay home on prom night. Stephen King can probably be credited with kicking off the trope of blood-soaked proms in his 1974 debut novel Carrie, which famously ends with a massacre when a gory prom prank drives a bullied teenager to unleash her psychic powers upon her classmates and the surrounding town. In The Weight of Blood, which came out back in November, Tiffany D. Jackson takes the bones of Stephen King’s Carrie and reimagines the story for the twenty-first century, updating its themes for a modern audience. Continue reading Review of The Weight of Blood—A Modern Homage to Carrie
Review of An Unholy Thirst: Fifteen Vampire Tales
Vampire stories were some of my first reading loves, and I still have a soft spot for them today. Which is why I can never turn down a new anthology of vampire tales—especially when it includes some of my favorite authors! An Unholy Thirst: Fifteen Vampire Tales, edited by Cliff Biggers and Charles R. Rutledge, came out back in 2021 and I’ve been sitting on it for a while, waiting for the right moment to sink my teeth in. I’m quite happy it turned out to be my first finished read of 2023, as it makes a great start to my reading year. Continue reading Review of An Unholy Thirst: Fifteen Vampire Tales
Not Good For Maidens—A Goblin Market Retelling
Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” has always been one of my favorite poems, so when I saw there was a new YA fantasy novel that takes this poem as its premise, I had to pick it up. Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino, which came out last spring, tells the story of two generations of young women who face down the temptations of the infamous goblin market. Continue reading Not Good For Maidens—A Goblin Market Retelling
Books I’m Excited for in 2023
Happy New Year! One of my favorite parts of this celebratory season is researching all of the exciting new books that will be coming out in the new year. This year, I found so many intriguing titles that I had trouble narrowing them down. Here are just a few of the books coming out in 2023 that are immediately going on my to-read list:
1) Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (set to be released January 10)
At last, we are getting a sequel to Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo’s dark academia novel about the occult societies of Yale! At the end of the first book, Alex learned that her mentor Darlington had disappeared through a portal into Purgatory and is still trapped on the other side. In this book, she embarks on an impossible rescue mission. Even the esteemed Lethe organization isn’t willing to risk their resources to save one of their own. But if anyone can get to hell and back with only her wits, some arcane texts, and a ragtag band of allies, it’s Alex Stern. And sure, why not throw in a series of unexplained murders for her to solve, as well?
2) Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones (set to be released February 7)
Here’s another sequel, this time to Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart Is a Chainsaw, which I read last year. Book one introduced us to young Jade Daniels, a high schooler in the rural Idaho town of Proofrock who views the world through the lens of her favorite slasher movies. The first book left the reader wondering just how unreliable of a narrator Jade might be, right up until the bodies start dropping during a big party on Indian Lake. Unfortunately, Jade was left on the hook for these murders, and this second book picks up after she’s spent a few years in jail. Jade’s return to Proofrock happens to coincide with the escape of a local serial killer set on seeking vengeance.
3) The Foxglove King by Hannah F. Whitten (set to be released March 7)
I haven’t read any of Hannah F. Whitten’s other books yet, but the description of this first book in a new YA fantasy series caught my eye. In it, a young woman with illicit death magic is thrust into court politics when the king needs her to solve a series of mass deaths.
4) Lone Women by Victor LaValle (set to be released March 21)
I heard Victor LaValle read a few pages from his manuscript of this book at the Fantastic Fiction at KGB Bar reading series in NYC last year and am excited for this book to come out so that I can finally read the rest! LaValle blends horror with western in this tale of a woman trying to outrun her secrets as she journeys from California to become a homesteader in Montana in the early twentieth century.
5) A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (set to be released March 28)
I read my first T. Kingfisher book last year—What Moves the Dead—and absolutely fell in love. Now the author is back with her own spin on the haunted house genre, A House with Good Bones. In this Southern Gothic, a woman arrives at her mother’s house for an extended visit, only to discover that neither the house nor her mother are quite how she remembers them. The house has been painted a sterile white and is littered with unsettling objects like jars of teeth and creepy paintings. Meanwhile, her mother is nervous and jumpy but won’t explain why. Sounds like this family has some buried secrets that are ripe for discovering.
6) Witch King by Martha Wells (set to be released May 30)
Earlier in the pandemic, I absolutely devoured Martha Wells’s Murderbot books. But though I’ve only known her for her science fiction, I’m excited to check out her first fantasy novel in over a decade. And how could I resist the premise of a powerful, long-dead demon who is accidentally resurrected by a foolish lesser mage?
7) The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (set to be released June 27)
To my great shame, I have not yet read any of Tananarive Due’s works, despite how many times she’s been recommended to me. But this book looks like it would be a great place to start! The Reformatory explores the horrors of racism and injustice in a segregated reform school in Jim Crow Florida.
8) Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (set to be released July 18)
Since first picking up Mexican Gothic in 2020, I have yet to be disappointed by a Silvia Moreno-Garcia novel. Her newest book is a dark thriller that combines the horror cinema scene of 1990s Mexico City with Nazi occultism. When overlooked sound editor Montserrat and fading opera star Tristán are roped into helping a washed-up director finish a film allegedly shot using magic-imbued silver nitrate stock, they discover that sorcerers and magic are not just the stuff of movies….
9) Alecto the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (set to be released October 10)
Perhaps one of the most anticipated books coming out next year is the conclusion to Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb series. Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, and Nona the Ninth have all been among my favorite books of the last three years, so I can’t wait to see what Alecto the Ninth has in store. Little information has been released yet about the finale to this epic science fantasy series, if the pattern of the previous books and the final chapter of Nona are anything to go by, this book will likely be told from the perspective of Alecto, the first entity to be resurrected by the Emperor Undying at the end of the world. And it seems like she has some scores to settle.
10) The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan (set to be released Fall of 2023)
I’m so excited to see more and more Jewish-inspired fantasy coming out these days. This first foray into adult fantasy by heretofore YA author Ariel Kaplan draws on Jewish folklore and the history of the Spanish Inquisition. Set in a fantasy world with parallels to fifteenth-century Spain, the story centers on Toba and Naftaly, who each have strange abilities and secrets. Toba can write faster than she can speak, in multiple languages, with both hands at the same time, while Naftaly has unusual dreams of square-pupiled strangers in a magical world. While struggling for their survival, both uncover hidden truths about their own identities, their histories, and the connections between the human and magical realms.
What books are on your reading list for 2023? Are you planning on reading any of those listed above? Did I miss any upcoming releases you think should be on my list? Let me know in the comments!
My 2022 Reading Challenge Recap
This year has been a year full of major life changes, including all sorts of changes to my reading habits. One major change is that I’m starting to move away from Goodreads, and am reevaluating how I track and document the books that I read. So this may very well be my last time doing the Goodreads Reading Challenge, specifically, though I will still be tracking my books and setting numerical goals. I’m still experimenting with finding the best alternatives, but one that I’ve started using is StoryGraph. I’m not sure how much I’ll be posting on there, but you can follow along with me at TheGothicLibrary.
Winner of the Haunted History of Invisible Women Giveaway
Congratulations to Danielle on winning last week’s giveaway! Danielle, who has been contacted by email will be the proud new owner of a copy of A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, signed by authors Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes.
For the rest of you, I still highly recommend grabbing this book from your favorite local retailer, or buying it online and supporting The Gothic Library in the process using this Bookshop.org affiliate link.
I haven’t done a giveaway in quite a while, but let me know if you’d like to see more of these!
Review of Lavender House—A Queer Murder Mystery
When the police would rather beat you than help you, who do you call in to solve a murder? The queer communities of 1950s San Francisco are the backdrop to a murder mystery in Lev A.C. Rosen’s latest novel, Lavender House, which came out in October. After being drawn to this book’s gorgeous purple cover every time I passed it, I finally picked it up and it’s been one of my favorite reads of the year! Continue reading Review of Lavender House—A Queer Murder Mystery
A Haunted History of Invisible Women Review and Giveaway
A wispy woman in white, a widow who haunts the home she once ruled over, a fair maiden whose life was tragically cut short—have you ever noticed how many of the ghost stories of popular culture and local legend feature female spirits? Brilliant and knowledgeable ghost tour guides Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes—whom I have taken many tours of NYC with through Boroughs of the Dead—explore this phenomenon and its significance in their first nonfiction book, A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, which came out back in September. Through a blend of personal, professional, and academic lenses, Leanna and Adrea provide a cultural analysis of the ghostly women that populate American legends and what their stories can tell us about ourselves and about American society. As a lover of ghost stories who also loves to examine why and how we tell them, I cannot recommend this book enough! In my excitement to preorder the book, I wound up with more copies than I need, so I’ll be giving away one of my extras. Read to the bottom of this post for information on how to enter to win a signed copy of A Haunted History of Invisible Women! Continue reading A Haunted History of Invisible Women Review and Giveaway
Cautionary Tales Against Resurrection
It’s a common moral in tales of folklore and fantasy: Do not disturb the dead. No matter how powerful of magic you possess, it is always inadvisable to go against the laws of both nature and the divine by attempting to reverse the irreversible. Even if you do manage to bring someone back from those Plutonian shores, they are never quite the same. Yet, as humans with a complicated relationship to mortality, it is natural for us to grieve the absence of those we love and to long to bring them back to life. Countless tales of Gothic and horror literature are here to remind us exactly why those thoughts should remain just a fantasy and not be acted upon. Here are just a few of my favorite examples of stories that warn against raising the dead:
