Greek mythology, feminism, and body horror collide in Martine Desjardins’s intriguing Gothic fantasia
By melding elements of Greek mythology, nature, and body horror, Desjardins has created something unique and enticing.
In It Came from the Closet, queer writers reflect on the horror movies that have influenced, enticed, or repelled them
Together, these essays provide a justification and rationale for queer readings of what may in fact turn out to be one of the queerest genres around.
The chain saw and the shark: Cultural critic W. Scott Poole examines the twin poles of American horror in Dark Carnivals
Poole's extended argument about the dominance of American empire and the ways horror filmmakers (and, to a lesser extent, novelists) have responded to it is potent and challenging.
Montreal-based writer Cassandra Khaw combines lyricism and brevity in short works of horror and dark fantasy
When Khaw is at their best, their writing has teeth – blackened, razor sharp, and ready to rend flesh.
Feral men and murderous TERFs: the post-apocalyptic world of Gretchen Felker-Martin’s Manhunt
This gruesome, often darkly funny novel manages to put a new spin on its central metaphor.
In Nightmare Fuel, Canadian author Nina Nesseth investigates the neuroscience underpinning why people love being scared at the movies
As a primer to the ways cinematic horror works on audiences' psyches and the specific neurological responses these techniques can elicit, Nightmare Fuel is a breezy and fluent read.
The Great War provides the backdrop for a story about death and resurrection on an industrial scale
The Talosite exists at the confluence of sci-fi and body horror, with the actual horrors of the First World War a constant shadow in the background.
Claire Kohda and Rachel Yoder mix genre tropes with feminism in a pair of horror-adjacent debut novels
Vampires and werewolves are the genre touchstones that get renovated in these two works of fabulism.
Trauma and revenge on the grindhouse circuit: Kealan Patrick Burke and Joe R. Lansdale provide tales of bloody retribution
Two novels – one from the 1980s and one from the 2010s – showcase the grindhouse-driven mentality of horror's golden age.
What the body remembers: Naben Ruthnum examines corporeality and identity in his novella Helpmeet
Ruthnum's brief work of fin-de-siècle body horror reads like a mash-up of David Cronenberg and Henry James.