The season of mists is upon us, and what better way to celebrate it than with a bit of poetry and our Autumn Favorites? We hope that summer treated you well and we look forward to seeing all of your wonderful work in the upcoming winter open call (keep an eye on your inbox for the theme!)
We also just reached 1,000 followers on Threads! Thank you to everyone who has followed along and engaged with our poetry prompts and random musings. If you haven’t already, check out our Pinterest, Bluesky, Instagram, and Facebook pages, where we share pieces that we publish, open call announcements, and things that inspire us – and we’d love to check out your profiles too!
Finally, several of our authors have recently published work that we’d like to highlight:
- Every Storm Is A Message, the debut novel of Kris Spencer
- Spring Days, a poetry collection by Ion Corcos
- Urban Enigmas, a poetry collection by Patrick ten Brink
Without further ado, here’s what we’ve been enjoying this autumn season…
Ariel’s Favorites
Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams
This collection delivers what it promises— new Black horror. Horror is one of my favorite genres, and there was something special and refreshing about reading stories that centered the Black experience. Some stories focus on the horrors of racism in interesting ways, while others just focus on the terrifying stories of Black protagonists. Some of the stories felt a little… unfinished, or abrupt and I was surprised that they were included in the collection. That being said, many of the stories in this collection were quite enjoyable and creepy, with characters the reader can cheer or mourn for. If you enjoy horror, short stories, and diverse reading, I would suggest giving this book a read– just don’t expect every story to blow you away or bring something totally new to the genre.
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
This is likely not the first time that we have mentioned this text, but as I reread it this year in anticipation for the autumn season, I felt it was worth mentioning again. I would consider Carmilla essential reading for those who want to better understand the vampire genre.
It is filled with sapphic (sub) text and explores the duality between the arousing and terrifying nature of the modern vampire. The writing style is of course dated, and a bit repetitive and dry, but not to a painful degree. While it might be a rather controversial opinion, I can say I genuinely enjoy my reading experience of this novel over that of Dracula, though I feel both are perfect autumn reads and seminal works in the vampire and gothic genres.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Here we have the maiden voyage novel of the science fiction genre and a wonderful addition to the horror and gothic genres as well. It is easy to see why this novel has so deeply affected the cultural zeitgeist for generations. Life and death, creator and creation, love and fear– the dualities of human nature and philosophy can be found here.
All of this being said, the novel is quite unlike any film adaptation (I have seen), and is slower-paced, mostly from Frankenstein’s perspective (the doctor, if you’re unaware, not the creature), and was mired deeply in the emotions of the characters more than actual events. Much of the push and pull between who the real villain is and who is the tormented is created primarily through what I would consider unreliable narration,which I think adds to the intrigue.
This book is full of descriptions of the natural world and fuzzy on the scientific details.For those who read a lot of horror, you won’t find intense and gruesome detail in this novel. Sometimes it felt like the things that would bring intense horror to a scene (details of how the monster’s parts were retrieved, for example) were skipped over, and replaced with long mournful monologues that became repetitive, and dare I say, unnecessary.
There is a lot of self-pity, melancholia, and death (often through deeply unlikely circumstances) in this novel, so it reads much more as a drama than a horror novel at points, but it does carry a sense of brooding and suspense throughout. If you enjoy gothic literature then this novel is a cornerstone of the genre that you should be sure to read, if you haven’t already.
Ghosts (US)
While I love horror, my real sweet spot is warm-hearted spooky media. For this reason, I have really enjoyed Ghosts. The show begins when couple Samantha and Jay inherit an old manor and form dreams of turning it into a hotel/B&B. However, after a near-death experience, Samantha is suddenly able to see all of the ghosts that inhabit the mansion. What ensues is a series of heart-warming, funny, and sometimes actually a bit spooky events as Samantha and Jay learn to live with the ghosts and become something resembling a family.
Music
Art
Halloween March by grimquiet
Straight On Till Morning by Maggie Vandewalle
Terri’s Favorites
Books
Films
Music
Art
I’ve been particularly enjoying the work of two of my favorite creators, Dylan’s House Of Shadows and Ophelia Tattoo. They each exemplify two sides of the spooky coin, and I always love seeing what they come up with next.
I also recently stumbled upon Piotr Baċko’s Observer II, which has become a new favorite…
…as well as the work of Greg Mort, particularly The Sun The Moon And Stars:
