#grey dog elliott gish

[thegalaxyonherlips]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

Queer rage, female rage, feral rage

I love Elliott Gish's Grey Dog. It is very hard, as a queer afab educator, not to identify with the protagonist Ada Bird as she blunders her way through the mystery of her predecessor. Her uncomfortable yet affirmed feelings towards the secondary character Agatha, the minster's wife, make for a road worth walking. Set in the early 1900s, Ada finds herself in a secluded village attempting to teach the village children at an old school house. Through multiple reviews and observations, Ada finds herself again bare to the wolves out to skin her. Ready to cannibalise her insecurities and improper thoughts. Though prayer may be one answer, and seeking comfort in sin another, Ada can't help become prey to the Grey Dog. Always watching. Speaking in soft growls, as distinct as a faint wind at first.

A beautiful book discovering female sexuality and female rage. Worth a read. Definitely a queer masterpiece.

[gigantomachylesbian]

Grey Dog by Elliott Gish is my favorite horror I've read this year for sure!!! It's one of those books that's so up my alley and has so many things I love that it feels like it was handcrafted for me personally >:^) I really recommend it if you like historical horror, especially with natural themes. Plus just look at this cover!!!

Also it felt like a perfect blend of the songs Gigantomachy by cake bake betty and animal fear by marika hackman in case anyone has the same exact music taste as me

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Queer Gothic Horror

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen The Black Hunger by Nicholas Pullen Catfish Lullaby by AC Wise Grey Dog by Elliott Gish What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

[crushcandles]

rec: grey dog by elliott gish

The year is 1901, and Ada Byrd — spinster, schoolmarm, amateur naturalist — accepts a teaching post in isolated Lowry Bridge, grateful for the chance to re-establish herself where no one knows her secrets. She develops friendships with her neighbors, explores the woods with her students, and begins to see a future in this tiny farming community. Her past — riddled with grief and shame — has never seemed so far away. But then, Ada begins to witness strange and grisly phenomena: a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a malformed faun. She soon believes that something old and beastly — which she calls Grey Dog — is behind these visceral offerings, which both beckon and repel her. As her confusion deepens, her grip on what is real, what is delusion, and what is traumatic memory loosens, and Ada takes on the wildness of the woods, behaving erratically and pushing her newfound friends away. In the end, she is left with one question: What is the real horror? The Grey Dog, the uncontainable power of female rage, or Ada herself?

We're only halfway through 2024, but Grey Dog is the best book I've laid hands and eyes on this year. It's tight and lush and gross, with a protagonist spiraling out of repression and control. It pores over the details without explaining everything, letting your imagination run as wild as Ada's. The first-person, diary-writing, historical fiction framework is wonderfully done, and takes that style and uses it to examine a bloody, wild story of landscapes, bodies, anger, and desire. Queer, in multiple senses, and so exciting, both in its story and in its audacity to be what it is. An incredible debut.

[babadork]

"But the knock," I said desperately. I was almost pleading, I realized, on the verge of begging on my knees for someone else to experience what I was experiencing, to assure me that what was happening was happening, that I was not -- oh please! -- going mad. "There was a knock, Agatha, surely you heard it!"

Agatha's frown deepened. "There is no one knocking, Ada."

The knock came again at the end of her sentence, again as though it had been carefully timed, and this time I felt sure that there was an edge of mockery to it. Whatever was on the other side of the door could hear her and knew that she was deaf to whatever noises might come from it. It knew it could get up to whatever mischief it wanted, and I would not be believed -- I would never be believed!

The anger that sparked in my breast at that moment spurred me to my feet. The anger was unexpected, but bracing in its sudden, righteous burn. How dare this spectre, this thing, torment me! How dare it mock my terror, my pounding heart, the hairs that stood up on the back of my neck! I was at the door -- I had hold of the knob -- I had it flung open with a hoarse and incomprehensible shout!

Agatha shouted something behind me, some word of alarm or reproach, but I scarcely heard it. Unburdened by hat or coat, I stepped over the threshold and into the snow.

"Coward!" I screamed. "Watch me from the shadows, will you? Whisper my name? Knock in the middle of the night? Come out and look me in the eye!"

[whatcha-reading-today]

Grey Dog | Elliott Gish

I picked this up at my library because that cover is pretty awesome. Our main character Ada Byrd takes a teaching post in an isolated town and spooky shit just starts happening. This is absolutely one of those nasty books where bad shit happens and people accept it for a bit. The writing is so beautiful and a bit on the flowery side which I think is good--please describe that nastiness with loving language. The ending is great, though I must say visualizing our protagonist being constantly naked and covered in grime. Vile. Gross. But that's why I come to horror.

Format: Physical Copy

Read in: August 2024

[notmorbid]

grey dog.

dialogue prompts from grey dog by elliott gish.

to my future self: my apologies, and godspeed.

i do not travel well, at the best of times.

i was raised in a small town. they suit me very well.

let's get a bit of supper in you.

happiness is an act of will.

there are two gods: the god of inside, and the god of outside.

who are you?

you frightened me. i thought i was alone.

you're never alone out here.

more hands make less work.

every day it gets better. you just mind that.

i feel wrung out as an old rag.

the fiercest tigers make the best mothers.

what a mess i've made of you.

i was about to put the kettle on.

i like you as you are.

rumors fly faster and further than the truth.

you deserve a chance to let your hair down.

certain things are not to be discussed.

is there anything more tiresome than a sunday school picnic?

there's no such thing as witches.

i thought it would be a dreadful trial, but you made it easy.

you are a perfect strawberry.

it will get worse before it gets better.

every town needs its witch, doesn't it? someone to whisper about in the dark?

i thought of ___ as a friend.

a young girl's reputation is as fragile as ice on a water bucket.

i don't want you to be alone in the dark.

i'm glad you came here.

you're the last thing i expected to find here.

a child may know that there are no monsters under the bed, but he will take a running leap onto the mattress, anyway. just in case.

nothing occurs in the natural world that cannot be understood through patient observation.

you can always follow me out of the dark.

if i am to drink hemlock, then let it be in good company.

you're going to run out of exclamation points, if you don't use them more sparingly.

don't you quote scripture at me.

did you think i materialized fully formed in this house?

i have a past, just as you do. just as everyone does.

widowhood has much to recommend it.

you must be going mad with boredom.

it does not become you, this passion for tragedy.

if that happened to me, i would hate god.

how have you been keeping?

you spoke the truth, and shamed the devil every time.

you have never loved anything but your own blessed reputation.

it was ordinary, in the beginning. i must remember that.

there are always eyes in the dark.

it isn't in the bible, but that doesn't mean it isn't so.

you are many things to me, but a mother is not one of them.

i can't imagine you crying.

a holiday might do you good.

my nerves are raw as meat.

i want to fend off sleep and dreams as long as i can.

it's funny, isn't it, the things that frighten us as children.

a monster seen is a monster that can be dealt with.

the shine is off the world.

you can come in, you know.

pretty is as pretty does.

what has happened to you?

whatever happened, god didn't stop it. doesn't that make it his will?

it will be alright, won't it?

you should've told me. i would have made you a cake.

did you never have birthday parties when you were a child?

so many unhappy memories. we must make a better one.

what is happening to me?

perhaps you could read to me?

i know it's a bit childish, but i like being read to when i'm not well.

there was a knock. surely you heard it.

watch me from the shadows, will you? whisper my name? come out and look me in the eye.

why are you laughing? what is it that you find so very funny?

get out of here right now, or you will catch it.

you and i know how much more there is out there in the wide, wild world.

not enraged. outraged.

what do you have to cry about?

i don't want to hear. i don't want to see.

i may be doomed, but i am not mad.

no one has ever wanted me so much.

an older sister can fix anything.

i really thought i would be able to simply carry on.

idle hands are the devil's playthings.

i need to speak to you about that night.

you are my friend. the truest friend i have.

i want to understand what happened. and to help, if i can.

a hurt animal will bite, even when someone is trying to dress its wounds.

i don't care about inconvenience, or what people think. i care about you.

you're solicitous as an angel.

i can scarcely remember the last time i wasn't nervous.

your voice is not your own, nor your expression.

i am well used to lying by omission.

it does not do for a woman to be too clever.

isn't that strange? to hate someone you have never met?

it spoke to me. it knew my name.

i don't want to be in the dark.

you know, don't you? you know for certain.

i tried to turn back, but i couldn't.

when you say 'it', what do you mean?

it's worse than not having it at all: having it, and then not having it.

is the truth something i owed you?

if i owe you my past, do you owe me yours?

every woman is full of tragedies. she is obliged to share them with no one but god.

i have nothing but questions, and no answers.

i am like a lost handkerchief: i turn up when i'm least expected.

i only did what you asked of me.

fear makes you ugly.

you are such an innocent, in spite of everything.

can you not recognize when you are being wooed?

no one has ever wooed me before.

people avoid me now.

a woman laughing is always a disturbing thing for a man to witness.

the value of knowledge does not need to be justified by utility.

you have never thought of what is best for me. only what is best for you.

what power have you over me now?

it pains me to see you so changed.

i am more myself than i have ever been before.

i am not a thing that you can shape. not anymore.

the prospect of being hanged sharpens the mind most wonderfully.

your heart is cold. beneath that skin of yours is only ice, not blood.

i have so little patience left.

you must take this to your grave.

there are a lot of stories about you.

you get to where you can recognize it. that look someone has.

intentions and prayers are useless to me.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in April 2024 🌈

🌈 Good morning, my bookish bats! Struggling to keep up with all the amazing queer books coming out this month? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Remember to #readqueerallyear! Happy reading!

[ Release dates may have changed. ]

❤️ Spring on the Peninsula - Ery Shin 🧡 When I Arrived at the Castle - Emily Carroll 💛 Bloodline - Jenn Alexander 💚 Grey Dog - Elliott Gish 💙 Every Time You Hear That Song - Jenna Voris 💜 I'm in Love with the Villainess v. 2 - Inori and Hanagata ❤️ The Caravaggio Syndrome - Alessandro Giardino 🧡 Leather, Lace, and Locs - Anne Shade 💛 Firebugs - Nico Bulling 💙 I Married My Female Friend v.2 - Shio Usui 💜 The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray - Christine Calella 🌈 A Sweet Sting of Salt - Rose Sutherland ❤️ The Selected Shepherd: Poems - Reginald Shepherd 🧡 Rough Trade - Katrina Carrasco 💛 Aubrey McFadden is Never Getting Married - Georgia Beers 💚 Taming of a Rebel - Eada Friesian 💙 Dayspring - Anthony Oliveira 💜 The Titanic Survivors Book Club - Timothy Schaffert ❤️ Orphia And Eurydicius - Elyse John 🧡 The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers - Samuel Burr 💛 A Good Happy Girl - Marissa Higgins 💙 Winnie Nash Is Not Your Sunshine - Nicole Melleby 💜 Here We Go Again - Alison Cochrun 🌈 Women! In! Peril! - Jessie Ren Marshall

❤️ Blood City Rollers - V. P. Anderson and Tatiana Hill 🧡 The Prospects - KT Hoffman 💛 Crazy Like a Fox: Adventures in Schizophrenia - Christi Furnas 💚 WATCHNIGHT - Cyree Jarelle Johnson 💙 Love From The Sidelines - Tuesday Harper 💜 The Pleasure in Pain - Roxie Voorhees ❤️ Mal - Perla Zul 🧡 The Black Girl Survives in This One - Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell 💛 Darker by Four - June C.L. Tan 💙 Otherworldly - F.T. Lukens 💜 Hearts Still Beating - Brooke Archer 🌈 Tryst Six Venom - Penelope Douglas

❤️ Teenage Dirtbags - James Acker 🧡 The Heart Wants What It Wants - D.M. Batten 💛 Something Kindred by Ciera Burch 💚 Sheine Lende - Dr. Darcie Little Badger & Rovina Cai 💙 Rainbow Overalls - Maggie Fortuna 💜 Flowers for Dead Girls - Abigail Collins ❤️ Canto Contigo - Jonny Garza Villa

❤️ Court of Wanderers - Rin Chupeco 🧡 Molten Death - Leslie Karst 💛 Triad Magic - ‘Nathan Burgoine 💚 You, Me and Bad Movies - Twoony 💙 The Faithful Dark - Cate Baumer 💜 A Case for Discretion - Ashley Moore ❤️ Party of Fools - Cedar McCloud 🧡 The Last Love Song - Kalie Holford 💛 This is Me Trying - Racquel Marie 💙 Dear Wendy - Ann Zhao 💜 Sun Eater - Dre Levant 🌈 The Breakup Lists - Adib Khorram

❤️ Bad Dream - Nicole Maines & Rye Hickman 🧡 If We Were Stars - Eule Grey 💛 The Broken Lines of Us - Shia Woods 💚 Eye of the Ouroboros - Megan Bontrager 💙 Henry Henry - Allen Bratton 💜 Dear Bi Men - JR Yussuf ❤️ Paige Not Found - Jen Wilde 🧡 Mechanic Shop Femme’s Guide to Car Ownership - Chaya Milchtein 💛 Wide Awake Now - David Levithan 💙 Merciless Saviors - H.E. Edgmon 💜 Smile and Be a Villain - Yves Donlon 🌈 Crash Landing - Charmaine Anne Li

❤️ Call Forth a Fox - Markelle Grabo 🧡 Central Avenue Poetry Prize 2024 - Beau Adler 💛 Good Bones - Aurora Rey 💚 Curiosities - Anne Fleming 💙 Someone You Can Build a Nest in - John Wiswell 💜 Revisiting Summer Nights - Ashley Bartlett ❤️ Bright Spring - Emmaline Strange

❤️ Girls Night - I.S. Belle 🧡 Late Bloomer - Mazey Eddings 💛 Withered - A.G.A. Wilmot 💚 A Wolf Steps in Blood - Tamara Jerée 💙 It Always Finds Me - Anthology 💜 Dulhaniyaa - Talia Bhatt ❤️ Moon Dust in My Hairnet - JR Creaden 🧡 Blood Justice - Terry J. Benton-Walker 💛 Relinquishing Control - J.J. Arias

❤️ Selamlik - Khaled Alesmael 🧡 Houseswap 101 - Jaime Clevenger 💛 Earthflown by Frances Wren & Litarnes 💚 Covenant v.1 - LySandra Vuong 💙 Honey - Victor Lodato 💜 The Dragonfly Gambit - A.D. Sui ❤️ Double Dyno - Sharon K Angelici & Taylor Rose

[militibus-ex-umbra]

“When you say ‘it’ what do you mean?” (Makoto to Akechi) - @epitomees

grey dog. dialogue prompts from grey dog by elliott gish

"When I say it, I meant keeping up the appearance that you're tolerating me being around you. Feel free to say how you feel Makoto. I can take it."

[theartisanalwriter]

Grey Dog

Shelly Kawaja reviews Halifax writer Eliot Gish’s Grey Dog (ECW Press, 2024) Grey Dog, by Elliott Gish, reads like a diary from 1901 that was hidden in the false bottom of a hope chest and discovered for our reading pleasure in 2024. It suggests that many of the social inequities and gender stereotypes of the time have also, maddeningly, been preserved to hound us in the present day; the…

[nevinslibrary]

Mystery/Thriller Monday

Julie has just lost her daughter, and, decides to take a teaching job on an island off the coast of Maine (it has something like more than 4500 islands, although, some of them are nothing more than very large rocks). The school, a one room schoolhouse, is in the town of Mercy. And, since I’m recommending this on Mystery/Thriller Monday, well, you probably aren’t surprised that while Mercy seems like a charming little town, underneath are the hard core secrets, a twisty bunch of secrets.

The combo of the awesome setting (isolation, the sea, oh the fog) as well as how well the author writes this small town and twists it makes for a super suspenseful novel that most definitely had me turning the pages like a madwoman. It was such a great read that even kept me thinking while sweeping me away in its story.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Woman in Cabin Ten by Ruth Ware, Harrison Squared by Daryl Gregory, or Grey Dog by Elliott Gish

The Second Mother by Jenny Milchman

[paulsemel]

A walk in the woods can be relaxing.

Unless it's the woods in Elliot Gish's new haunted forest horror novel "Grey Dog."

To learn why, check out this exclusive interview. https://paulsemel.com/exclusive-interview-grey-dog-author-elliott-gish/ 📖🌳🌳🌲🌳

[lgbtqreads]

New Releases: April 9, 2024

Young Adult Every Time You Hear That Song by Jenna Voris They say to never meet your idols. But they never said anything about upending your life for a quest designed by one. Seventeen-year-old aspiring journalist Darren Purchase has been a lifelong fan of country music legend Decklee Cassel, who’s as famous for her classic hits as she is for her partnership with songwriter Mickenlee Hooper. The…

[crushcandles]

13 Books Meme

Thanks for the tag @littlestsnicket! Tagging @major-trouble @samstree @zambonirider & @candybarrnerd to give me passive recs in the form of this meme.

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

1) The Last book I read: I finished Poor Things by Alasdair Gray and My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones basically back-to-back 2) A book I recommend: The fact that As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann isn't WILDLY popular on tumblr with people who like fucked-up queer fiction is a shame 3) A book that I couldn’t put down: Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica 4) A book I’ve read twice (or more): Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald 5) A book on my TBR: Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers by Jude Ellison S. Doyle 6) A book I’ve put down: Wintering by Katherine May 7) A book on my wish list: I'd love to start collecting volumes of Killing Stalking by Koogi 8) A favorite book from childhood: Any and all Animorph books 9) A book you would give to a friend: The Song of Achilles (of course) 10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own: Crush by Richard Siken (of course of course) 11) A nonfiction book you own: The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum 12) What are you currently reading: Nothing! I went two whole weeks without a book. 13) What are you planning on reading next? I just picked up Grey Dog by Elliott Gish from the library. I don't remember why I put it on hold but I'll find out!

[queerliblib]

NEXT: GREY DOG by elliott gish

recc’d for:

mysterious spinsters (i love you)

manifestations of the ‘uncontainable power of female rage'

those interested in examining confusion/delusion

amateur naturalists

if you need something, anything, else to think about, our ‘available now’ list on the home page of QLL on your libby app has queer books you can check out right now, no wait, no holds

there are hundreds of titles there, to give you a little escape, hold your hand, help you feel like you’re not alone

[elliottgish]

An exciting thing has happened!