Benjamin Hope: Author of The Procurement of Souls
Benjamin Hope author of fantasy novel Procurement of Souls
Genre: Gothic; Mystery; Horror; Supernatural Publisher: Virago When Dr Faraday attends the Ayres’ Hundreds Hall estate, he quickly becomes a family friend and privy to their troubles: Roderick’s lingering post-war trauma; Mrs Ayre’s grief for her late daughter; their collective struggles to maintain the increasingly dilapidated estate. Waters’ haunting narrative has shades of Shirley Jackson... Continue Reading →
I couldn't resist recommending another of Poe's gothic short-story masterpieces: Genre: Gothic Horror Publisher: Various – Public Domain When the Red Death follows Prince Prospero and his revellers to their masquerade ball, no one is spared. Poe’s ruthless allegorical tale of human mortality is saturated with gothic tradition: from the castellated abbey setting; to the visceral... Continue Reading →
Genre: Gothic Horror Publisher: Various – Public Domain Fortunato’s latest insult will be his last when Montresor leads him in a vengeful plot to his live-entombment. The narrative is unashamedly macabre; the description vivid and sinister. The king of the 19th century American short story sucks all glimmer of hope from this brutal tale until... Continue Reading →
Useful Books for Research into the Victorian and Late Georgian Periods I mentioned at the end of my article, On Researching for an Alternative History Novel, that I would offer up some of the most useful titles I have come across when trying to construct a believable context from which my fictional worlds could grow.... Continue Reading →
Genre: Alternate History; Gothic Horror Publisher: Corvus Books When Michael Crawford inadvertently attracts a vampiric Nephilim for a life-mate, it gruesomely murders his bride in their wedding-bed. Crawford fleas, befriending Keats and other Romantics, Shelley and Byron, whose own viciously jealous Nephilim are at once the source of their creativity and of their isolation. Gory... Continue Reading →
Genre: Steampunk Publisher: Snowbooks When Gideon Smith’s father mysteriously disappears at sea, he unwittingly embarks on a journey worthy of his beloved penny dreadfuls. This rip-roaring adventure brims with narrative verve: the alternate-Victorian setting is nicely realised; the gothic well integrated. It smacks of YA but Bram Stoker, vampires, mummies, zeppelin-flying-sky-pirates, and automata all add... Continue Reading →
Genre: Mystery; Gothic Horror Publisher: Penguin (Modern Classics) A family poisoned by arsenic. Two surviving sisters made pariahs of their community. The tension spirals; the atmosphere grows thick with a leaden dread. This a mystery heavily laced with gothic horror: in the Blackwood’s sprawling, ramshackle grounds; in Merricat’s superstitious rituals; in the insidious, underlying violence... Continue Reading →
Genre: Gothic horror, Naturalism, Psychological Publisher: Penguin (Classics) This is the stuff of nightmares. A quick but far from easy read, such is the power of Zola’s narrative which he weaves with classic 19th-century gothic themes: psychological terror and madness; violent power-play; the supernatural; transgressive sexuality. The narrative is suffocating and Thérèse and Laurent’s world... Continue Reading →
Preview chapters 1-3
Genre: Alternative Historical Fantasy Publisher: Bloomsbury 1806 and magic returns to England with the unravelling relationship between two contrary magicians. This book draws you in and immediately swallows you whole. Gothic-horror overtones and 19th century-pastiche prose conjure one enchanting read and the exquisitely detailed world practically steams from the pages. Pure sophistication: the ‘thinking wo/man’s’... Continue Reading →
Benjamin Hope: Author of The Procurement of Souls 