Tag: Gothic Horror

Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Vervain Hollow by Catriona Silvey: A haunting cult novel about addiction, belonging, and the price of escape

Mandy Webster

Sometimes the most unsettling horror novels aren’t about monsters lurking in the dark—they’re about the things we desperately want, even when we know they’ll destroy us. In Vervain Hollow by Catriona Silvey, a burned-out cult, a charismatic leader who may never have been human, and a young woman unable to let go of the power she once possessed combine to create one of the most compelling and emotionally complex horror novels I’ve read this year.

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Two years ago, Laura escaped Vervain Hollow after the sprawling house burned to the ground with its enigmatic leader trapped inside. Since then, she’s returned to a normal life, but “normal” isn’t the same thing as healing. She still longs for Vervain and the extraordinary power he shared with his followers. When her former friend Aliyah contacts her with shocking news—that another former acolyte has returned to the hollow after receiving a message from Vervain himself—Laura sees only one possibility. Somehow, he’s still alive.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo is a haunting reimagining of Peter Pan that turns childhood fantasy into nightmare fuel

Mandy Webster

There’s something deeply unsettling about taking a story associated with innocence and wonder and revealing the horror that may have been lurking beneath it all along. It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo does exactly that, transforming the mythology of Peter Pan into a dark, grief-soaked horror novel that feels equally inspired by It and gothic fairy tales whispered to children who are already old enough to know monsters are real. Releasing June 9, 2026, the novel delivers both supernatural terror and an unexpectedly emotional exploration of trauma, manipulation, and survival.

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Set during World War I, the story follows Wendy Darling, now an adult working at a children’s home while also assisting wounded soldiers returned from the Western Front. One of the soldiers lies trapped in an unshakable sleep until he murmurs the words “Peter Pan,” forcing Wendy to confront memories she has spent years trying to bury. When a young girl under Wendy’s care disappears, the past comes roaring back. Wendy knows the truth no one else believes: Peter Pan is real, and he is not the whimsical boy immortalized in storybooks. He is a predator.

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Author Interview

Inside the imagination of Laura Holt: Mythology, magic, and writing without limits

Mandy Webster

From gothic horror and tragic romance to epic fantasy and southern folklore, Laura Holt writes with a deep love for stories that blur the line between myth and reality. Holt is also featured in Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny with her short story “After Alice,” a fitting addition to a collection shaped by eerie beauty and unsettling imagination. In this interview, Holt reflects on the authors who shaped her creativity, the unexpected lessons she’s learned about storytelling and publishing, and the themes she returns to again and again in her work. She also discusses writing authentic stories in a trend-driven world, finding inspiration in mythology and folklore, and why coffee, cookies, and carefully curated playlists remain essential parts of her creative process.

Author Laura Holt discusses mythology, horror, storytelling, and her short story “After Alice,” featured in Beautiful and Terrifying.

Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today?
A: Some of my earliest literary influences were authors like Roald Dahl, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, R. L. Stine, and J.R.R. Tolkien. For me, Dahl’s book The Witches was my gateway read to the fantasy genre, likeable villains, and morally gray characters, so he will always hold a special place in my heart. Poe and Shakespeare introduced me to poetry and short stories, as well as tragic love and darker subject matter, both of which play a big part in my writing today. And there is one author who has cracked the code on how to write the perfect story every time, it is Stine, so along with reading his books for a good scare, I study his writing style a lot.

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Author Interview

Inside The Girl with a Thousand Faces: Sunyi Dean on Gothic horror, Chinese folklore, and morally complex characters

Mandy Webster

From the haunted corridors of Kowloon Walled City to the restless spirits woven through Chinese folklore, Sunyi Dean writes horror that unsettles as much as it mesmerizes. In this interview, Dean discusses the cultural history behind The Girl with a Thousand Faces, the challenges of balancing myth with historical inspiration, and why morally complicated characters fascinate her as a writer. She also reflects on grief, forgiveness, experimental narrative structure, and the Gothic and speculative authors who helped shape her distinct voice in contemporary horror fiction.

Sunyi Dean discusses Chinese folklore, Gothic horror, and the layered themes behind her haunting new novel, The Girl with a Thousand Faces.

Q: The Girl with a Thousand Faces blends Gothic horror with Chinese mythology and the real history of Kowloon Walled City. What drew you to that setting, and how did you approach balancing historical inspiration with the supernatural elements of the story?
A: Hong Kong is the place I grew up and learned Cantonese in (though I’ve since lost that language.) I have a complicated relationship with both the city itself, and my family ties there. It is a place of contrasts and contradictions, of extreme modernity and old traditions. I loved portraying it, and tried to keep the ‘important’ aspects of history as true as possible. A lot of trial and error was involved, and many rounds of edits. Whether the balance is right I will leave to the reader to decide!

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

A Dark and Wild Wood by Sarah Nicole Lemon is a haunting gothic fantasy about the illusion of male power

Mandy Webster

In A Dark and Wild Wood, women survive by making themselves smaller for men who were never as powerful as they seemed in the first place. Inspired by the Bluebeard fairy tale, A Dark and Wild Wood is a lush, gothic historical fantasy drenched in ghostly visions, dark magic, and decaying beauty. The novel follows Salomé, a young woman cursed—or perhaps gifted—with the ability to see spirits. After witnessing her foster mother burned as a witch, she and her beloved sister Rochelle are sent to live in a convent, where silence, obedience, and repression become the conditions of survival. But the convent is only the first prison Salomé inhabits.

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When Rochelle vanishes, Salomé eventually escapes and spends five years working in a brothel, surviving at the whims of the men around her while continuing to hide her supernatural abilities for fear of suffering the same fate as her foster mother. The novel smartly presents the convent and the brothel as two versions of the same confinement. One is built around religious authority, the other around male desire, but both demand submission and self-erasure from women in exchange for survival.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Bone of My Bone by Johanna van Veen is a haunting folk horror novel about faith, fear, and the stories people choose to believe

Mandy Webster

War turns people into monsters long before anything supernatural enters the picture, and Bone of My Bone understands that better than most horror novels. Set during the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War, Johanna van Veen’s latest is brutal, atmospheric, and deeply philosophical, blending folk horror with theological questions about morality, sainthood, and the terrifying power of blind faith.

Get your copy of Bone of My Bone from my independent online bookstore today!

The novel follows Sister Ursula, a young nun fleeing the destruction of her convent, and Elsebeth, a sharp-witted peasant woman trying to survive a countryside ravaged by soldiers, starvation, and death. After escaping a violent attack, the two women come into possession of a skull believed to belong to a saint. Legend says reuniting the skull with the saint’s body will grant a wish, and the pair set off across the Bavarian wilderness hoping salvation might still exist somewhere in the ruins of the world.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Until Death by Mary Berman is a darkly funny horror novel about how easily love can become a trap

Mandy Webster

There’s a moment in Until Death when it becomes clear that the real horror isn’t just the eerie chapel, the controlling future in-laws, or the increasingly sinister wedding planning. It’s the realization that Ophelia has slowly stopped trusting her own instincts. That loss of self feels far more unsettling than any supernatural element lurking in the background, and it’s what gives Mary Berman’s debut its sharpest edge.

Get your copy of Until Death from my independent online bookstore today!

The novel follows Ophelia Cohen, a woman who never intended to get married after watching her parents’ relationship sour her on the entire institution. But as her mother’s dementia worsens, Ophelia becomes consumed by the fear of ending up alone. When she meets Luke—a man who seems almost custom-built to satisfy both her emotional vulnerabilities and her mother’s wishes—marriage suddenly feels less impossible. From there, the story spirals into a chaotic blend of wedding horror, psychological manipulation, family pressure, and increasingly alarming red flags.

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Writers on Writing

Demons of the Night: A horror novel about good, evil, and finding your own path

Mandy Webster

Demons of the Night is a horror novel that asks: who gets to decide what is good and what is evil? It follows Docia, a young woman whose parents have gone to great lengths to hide the truth about who she really is. They want her to be a “good Christian woman” and believe secrecy is the only way to protect her. But their plan is about to backfire.

The cover of Demons of the Night was designed by my friend, author and artist Lance Savage, who created a fictionalized version of Holy Hill to reflect the novel’s dark atmosphere. Visit Lance’s website to see more of his work.

Docia longs for independence, for a life beyond her family’s overprotection. She wants normal experiences—friendships, romance, freedom. When Blane appears at a church lecture on demons, Docia is intrigued. But he’s there for the wrong reasons, and she quickly realizes that the life she desires may require confronting truths her parents have worked so hard to conceal. As the story unfolds, Docia must grapple with her identity, her morality, and the question of whether she can define herself outside the rigid framework her family imposes.

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Elderfly Press

Beautiful and Terrifying releases today: Step into the uncanny!

Mandy Webster

It’s here—and it’s been a long time coming. Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny officially releases today, and I couldn’t be more excited (or a little unsettled) to finally share it with you.

Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny is available for purchase today!

This anthology brings together a collection of short fiction, poetry, and black-and-white art that all live in that uneasy space where beauty and horror overlap. These are stories that don’t just aim to scare—they linger. They follow you. They ask you to look a little closer than you’re comfortable with.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker: A haunting premise that never quite sinks its teeth in

Mandy Webster

The promise of Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker is immediate and irresistible: a blood-soaked, myth-laced horror novel where two lives—separated by centuries—intersect through a house that shouldn’t exist.

Set across two timelines, the novel follows Lee Turner in 2026, fleeing to his father’s secluded home in Japan after a brutal, inexplicable act of violence, and Sen, a young samurai in 1877 living in fear of both imperial soldiers and something far worse within her own home. The house behind the sword ferns becomes the connective thread between them—a place where reality bends, ghosts linger, and something buried refuses to stay that way.

Get your copy of Japanese Gothic from my independent online bookstore today!

Despite the title, though, this isn’t quite the gothic experience I expected. Going in, I anticipated the kind of creeping dread that lingers long after you’ve put the book down—the kind that makes you think twice about turning off the lights. Instead, the horror here leans heavily into blood and gore, but never quite lands with emotional or psychological weight. There’s a noticeable fairy tale quality to the storytelling that creates distance rather than immersion. It’s vivid, yes—but it rarely feels real enough to truly unsettle.

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