As someone who also grew up in the South as an “other” (though not in the same ways), a lot of this really resonated with me on a personal level which I did not expect, and I definitely expect to go back over some of these paragraphs and chapters again from a mindset of personal growth vs. entertainment and review purposes.

What makes the book stand out for me is the way Mitchell and Venditozzi balance their respect and reverence for these victims with a sense of humor in the writing. The footnotes, which provide helpful bits of context for the chapter, are also filled with opinions and asides which makes the reading that much more approachable.

America’s Most Gothic is a charming blend of storytelling, folklore, and history. After an introduction explaining why the authors, Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes, connect these American ghost and folktales to the Gothic, they share the tales with a wealth of interesting background and related facts, theories, and stories. 

Scream with Me by Eleanor Johnson is a must-read for anyone who thinks about or wants to learn about how horror reflects or can impact society - in this case with a focus on feminist issues such as bodily autonomy and reproductive rights.

Textbook-level research has gone into this (which makes sense as the author teaches horror history in her curriculum at Columbia), but Scream with Me is as easy and engaging to read as a novel.

Some have humorous or nostalgic moments like when John Langan reminded me of how afraid we all were of quicksand when we were kids. And others nearly moved me to tears (“I’m not crying, you’re crying!”) such as when Cynthia Pelayo talked about the importance of breaking cycles of abuse. Others touched on shared experiences like when Clay Chapman mentioned the Challenger explosion; I was already inhaling every Stephen King book I could get my hands on at the time at 12, but that moment of real life horror is an indelible part of my brain chemistry.

I remember getting TB tests in elementary school and, as I wanted to be a writer, believing I would eventually suffer  from “consumption” as I insisted on calling it - as some of my favorite writers had, with no real thought to how terrible the disease actually is - nor how widespread and both simple and difficult to treat/cure.

I was really excited for this anthology and its theme of lost, liminal spaces. I also appreciated the mix of well-known and unknown authors.