#queer gothic horror

[t-hornapple]

A scholar’s research into an obscure folk song takes a sinister turn when it leads him to the decaying castle of Astiigos and the lord who governs it.

For readers who enjoy Dracula, The work of Vernon Lee & M.R. James, The Historian, The Castle of Otranto, heavily historical world building and many footnotes. This is a queer gothic horror novel written in the style of early 19th century prose.

“A gorgeous blend of folk horror and the gothic, Astiigos has a vividly imagined world, brooding, elegant prose, and delightfully sexy and eerie secrets in equal measure.” - Robin Zeno

You can get a free teaser or purchase the full Part I on my itch store. $7 gets you the epub, mobi, PDF and a darkmode PDF.

[cannibalbite]

"My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage" by Susan Stryker.

[hymyarts]

cursed beings. another little moment, but something a bit more experimental compared to the previous piece. For @t-hornapple

[bebs-art-gallery]

Dante's Inferno (1861)

— by Gustave Doré

[obaaaa]

We're growing

[miasmatik]

gals being pals— happy pride, demons 🖤🩸

[catchymemes]

[theholmwoodfoundation]

THE HOLMWOOD FOUNDATION PROLOGUE/TRAILER

It's finally here! Please enjoy the trailer/prologue for Season One of the Holmwood Foundation. Starring Rebecca Root, Seán Carlsen and Attila Puskas.

FILE TAKEN FROM THE WORK RECORDER OF MADELINE TOWNSEND, JUNIOR ARCHIVIST AT THE HOLMWOOD FOUNDATION, LUCY WESTENRA BUILDING, WHITBY.

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY, OR AT THE ACAST LINK BELOW:

CW: Brief Sirens. Loud Static

The Holmwood Foundation is a Found Footage Horror-Fiction Podcast.

We follow Maddie Townsend (Rebecca Root) and Jeremy Larkin (Seán Carlsen), two co-workers at the Holmwood Foundation: a secret organisation that has been maintaining and studying the remains of Count Dracula for the last 130 years, as they are possessed by the ghosts of Jonathan and Mina Harker, and embark on a nightmare road trip, carrying Dracula's severed head across the UK in an effort to stop him once and for all.

Find the Trailer transcript on our website, if required.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://www.theholmwoodfoundation.com/

Please like and share if you enjoy, and keep an eye on our socials (you can find us on Tumblr, Insta, Twitter, Tiktok and Facebook) in the coming weeks for both our Pilot Episode and our official Season One Kickstarter!

[theartofasty]

INFLORESCENCE -original painting and prints available-

[borninwinter81]

Queer horror from my teens

I periodically wonder whether these books are still known and read by young goths and horror fans as they were all extremely important to me in my teenage years, so I thought I'd share them.

Though I'm cishet, during the mid 90s two of my favourite authors wrote primarily queer fiction: they were Anne Rice and another author from New Orleans who is now known as Billy Martin.

He came out as a trans man in 2011, however these books were published prior to that so unfortunately you have to search for them under his deadname. This is why I've used that name in the tags on this post. I don't believe the books were ever reprinted with his current name.

Though I loved Rice, I always felt a more immediate connection with Martin due to his vivid portrayal of subcultures like goth and punk, and how it felt to be a teenager who was part of them. I could see myself in many of his characters as I had the same interests, listened to the same music, and shared the same sense of social alienation. Remember in the 90s the Internet was still a reasonably new thing, and many of us didn't have a home Internet connection at all. There was certainly no social media, no YouTube, and no real way to meet and interact with like-minded teens unless you were lucky enough to have another "weird kid" at your school. If you were a weird kid, you likely had very few friends and were bullied.

That as much as anything else led me to seek solace in books written by an author who I felt understood me, and characters who became my friends.

Lost Souls is about vampires in a kind of Lost Boys/Near Dark way. Fans of the YouTuber OfHerbsAndAltars might be interested to know that this book is where the name of his channel comes from - it's a description of the taste of Chartreuse liqueur.

Drawing Blood is about ghosts, a "murder house", computer hacking, comic art and a very beautiful (if rather messed up) romance. This one is probably my favourite of the three.

Exquisite Corpse is about serial killers, set against the AIDS crisis of the 90s. If you like the Hannibal TV series you'll probably enjoy this one - imagine if Dennis Nilsen and Jeffrey Dahmer had somehow met.

Martin doesn't pull any punches when it comes to descriptions of blood and gore, violence, abusive parents or his portrayal of toxic romantic relationships (of which there are many in his books), but if you can deal with those things there is also a great deal of beauty, phenomenally good writing, and a somewhat unique perspective on the supernatural.

Maybe I'm biased, looking at these through the lens of my teenage self. Maybe they'd seem horribly dated to today's young audience. But I still wanted to make this post in case there's someone out there who will end up loving them as much as I did.

[t-hornapple]

SOON

The Lord of Astiigos - a gothic horror novel

A scholar’s research into an obscure folk song takes a sinister turn when it leads him to the decaying castle of Astiigos and the lord who governs it.

PART I OUT OCTOBER, 2024.

follow me on itch.io for be notified of when it releases

[cannibalbite]

"My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage" by Susan Stryker.

[nothingfromnowherenooneatall]

Took my polaroid around my village.

Its giving Lovecraftian Folk Horror meets Highland Gothic.

[meerawrites]

Black Vampires!

Below the cut you’ll find a list of 10 pieces of vampire media centring black folks by black folks, happy black history month!

1. Fledgling by Octavia Butler (see more)

2.The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomèz

3.House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

4.Darknesses by Lachelle Seville

5.My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due

6.Slay: the stories of the vampire noire by multiple authors

7.Horror Noire (documentary on AMC+)

8.Vampires in Brooklyn (movie)

9.The Dark World Series by @writingvampires

10.The Black Vampyre (1819) by Uriah Derick D'Arcy, problematic themes and handling of blackness, however our black protagonist vampire, a black bisexual (implied) vampire protagonist is very AMC-Louis-like and it’s important for understanding the others as groundbreaking and reclaiming their stories as they are.

Happy Black History month! I rarely make booklists like this, however, it recently came to my attention that some people aren’t aware of the brilliant subgenre that is gothic/horror written by people of global majority (colour), given it is black history month this list focuses on black people vampire stories written by black people, most of which are also queer (cause vampires are queer af). Allyship is the bare minimum, if we as a society are to grow at all from our forefathers we must understand that our ancestors were flawed, unlearn internalized biases (racism etc), and make intersectional spaces for everyone. I’ve kept it to 10 for my own ability to count everything, I can say with most certainty there’s more out there. These are just the ones I’ve read/watched and have influenced me the most.

[obaaaa]

NEW TEASER: The Abduction...

[seraphim777s]

various photos from Texas Furry Fiesta this year (2024)

by florian-s fauna

+ polaroid 600 +