Out October 2024
Embark on a chilling journey through nightmarish tales that will captivate the ghoulish modern reader. Encounter landlords with sinister requests, ethereal housemates, and a glass-encased jungle built by an eccentric father. These gothic stories blur the lines between dreams and reality, weaving a tapestry of macabre encounters and festering secrets.
'Glorious, surprising, delightful, disgusting, beautiful and heartbreaking...I am so in awe' - Edward Carey, Author of Edith Holler on ‘Rot’ by Lauren Archer
“A fantastic collection for lovers of eerie, atmospheric and quintessentially gothic tales that are all unique and memorable." - Marika Page, My Book Corner
'Modern Gothic is a tour de force of short horror fiction. Sometimes gruesome and always uncomfortable this collection will disquite any reader, its perfect for fans of the weird.' - Brooke Smith, Bookseller at House of Books and Friends
'These macabre tales feature oppressive, labyrinthine dreams, and even more unsettling realities. This is a damp, festering collection full of death and decay – rotten petals, decomposing carcases, creeping fungi – with a really interesting theme of living situations or, as one story puts it, “unhomely homes”. The characters in these stories are all experiencing their own forms of haunting, and must question the boundaries between the real and the imagined. I thought ‘Rot’ and ‘The City Where One Finds the Lost’ were excellently visceral, and I enjoyed the anti-capitalist undertones that ran throughout the collection.'- Alyssa Lloyd, Small Press Book Club
About the Contributors
Lerah Mae Barcenilla
Grew up in the Philippines before moving to UK. Writes on diaspora, memory, mythology, folklore. Award-winning poet. Researcher for Maniwala Movement on pre-colonial Philippine cultures.
Lauren Archer
Gothic, surreal writer based in Liverpool, UK. Stories published in literary journals. Longlisted for Mslexia Short Story Prize 2022.
Rose Biggin
Writer and theatre performer in London. Fiction in anthologies and award winner. Historical gothic novel forthcoming. Associate lecturer at Birkbeck.
Michael Bird
Prolific fiction writer with stories published widely in journals/anthologies. Pushcart Prize nominated. Also an investigative journalist.
Pete Hartley
Extensive playwriting career. Award wins include BBC and Cheshire competitions. Acclaimed plays produced.
Edward Karshner
Professor teaching writing and Appalachian Literature. Fiction in anthologies. Creative non-fiction in journals/blogs on Appalachian culture. Presenter at writers' workshops.
