Modern Gothic writers?

Hello, would who those in this group consider some of the best modern Gothic writers? I am a big fan of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Cemetery of Forgotten Books series but not sure if they would be defined as gothic literature. Would love to hear some recommendations, thanks!

Patrick McGrath

The Grotesque
Dr. Haggards Disease

Both are excellent as are his other books, but these are standouts.

I can't answer this myself as I haven't read enough modern literature, but I've been watching the thread to see if anything interesting came up. I did do a quick search online, though, and this little blog post from way back in 2012 came up.

https://www.tor.com/2012/06/19/whats-gothic-now/

She puts things in a nutshell, really. I can't comment on her recommendations in the last paragraph because I haven't read any of them, but I'm tempted to try some.

I'm in the same position: not actually having read enough modern authors. I can suggest some names based on reviews, etc.
Andrew Michael Hurley (The Loney)
Sarah Perry (The Essex Serpent; Melmoth)
Diane Setterfield (The Thirteenth Tale)

I often hear Thomas Ligotti and Joyce Carol Oates referred to as "Gothic" writers but haven't read them myself (actually, a book of contemporary American Gothic edited by Oates has been on its way to me for the past... almost a month...)

>4 housefulofpaper:
I recently picked up a copy of Melmoth as I loved Melmoth the Wanderer and I want to see what sort of job Sarah Perry did in her work.

>5 LolaWalser:
I have read a lot of Thomas Ligotti and I would find it difficult to position it fully in a Gothic context. Some of his stories could be described as Gothic, but others are just too weird to push into such a category. The fact that I have read a lot of Ligotti's work means I like it, but I have difficulty boxing it off as Gothic.

Maybe the label isn't meant exclusively? At least, I didn't take it that way, but then I don't feel very partisan about classification issues--they are so arbitrary. I suppose the more of a fan one is, the more important it gets.

Fwiw, I received American Gothic Tales today and there's a story by Ligotti, The Last Feast of Harlequin. Some of the other authors included: Paul Bowles, William Goyen, W. S. Merwin, Robert Coover, Sylvia Plath, Harlan Ellison, John Crowley, Lisa Tuttle, Katherine Dunn, Nicholas Baker--over 40 authors in all.

Oops, forgot this wasn't the reading thread. Taking the next two paras where they belong.

Thomas Ligotti and Joyce Carol Oates are indeed two of the best modern Gothic writers. Often overlooked is Australia's award-winning Terry Dowling, in particular with his novel CLOWNS ATY MIDNIGHT and his story collections BASIC BLACK: TALES OF APPROPRIATE FEAR and THE NIGHT SHOP.

One book that immediately springs to mind is The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell. She's written a few other books that might also be said to fall into this category, but The Silent Companions is by far my favourite. It's not a particularly 'deep' read, but it's well-written and suitably creepy.

I would also agree with Sarah Perry's Melmoth as already suggested above.

>7 LolaWalser:
... I didn't take it that way, but then I don't feel very partisan about classification issues--they are so arbitrary.

Thank you for the wake-up call. I am the very person who would complain about arbitrary classifications and demaration. I feel better after that.

>10 pgmcc:

If that's irony or something... I don't get it. I meant no reflection on you, I was explaining why *my* use of the label (which I simply reported from another source to begin with) may be sloppy and/or inaccurate. How one goes from that to feeling--apparently?--personally offended I can't begin to comprehend.

>8 666777:

I think I've seen Dowling's name around as an editor (if that's the same person), didn't know he was also a writer.

>9 mooingzelda:

It would appear contemporary Gothic is quite a busy field.

>11 LolaWalser:
Do not get me wrong. There was no Irony intended. It was a sincere thank you because you caused me to pause and think. Please do not think I felt offended in any way.

My own views on book categorisations align with yours in terms of considering them arbitrary. I believe they are more marketing related that useful. There are so many great books that span genre and if they are squeezed into one particular category they will not reach readers who would find them wonderful.

When I re-read my own comment about Ligotti I realised I was commenting in a fashion that was contrary to my normal feelings towards categorisation. I was nitpicking and felt ashamed. All your comment did was, as I described it, woke me up; made me think again.

Apologies if my comment made you think I had taken offence.

>12 pgmcc:

No problem, glad the misunderstanding is cleared up. There's nothing wrong, I don't think, about being a stickler for classification--I was merely noting I'm not a stickler on this issue. But ask me not about the Archaea...

Of course lots of people enjoy discussing where and what are the boundaries of any literary genre--I like listening to that, something new always pops up.

>13 LolaWalser: I have several friends involved in writing and publishing the weird and the Gothic. This means I hear the discussions about what elements make up a Gothic story and that obviously put my mind in auto-pilot when Ligotti was put in that context and I had an autonomic response. :-)

While we are on that subject, obviously Ligotti's work would fall into the weird category... ;-)

>14 pgmcc:

No argument from me... ;)

I recommend Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. She has other books too, but I don't know how gothic those are; Fingersmith definitely has a gothic feel.

Also check out The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (and also maybe her other books).

>16 Caroline77:

I have The Little Stranger and need to unearth and read it!

There are plenty of authors whose work is marketed or classed as horror or fantasy, decadent even; but which is arguably Gothic (either by virtue of using the tropes of the genre or just in a "I know it when I see it" way). They may only be available from small specialist presses or online, especially if they write short fiction rather than novels.

You might want to look at the writers associated with Tartarus Press, Swan River Press, Sarob Press, Egaeus Press, Nightjar Press (all UK or Irish publishers), for starters.

This House is Haunted, Slade House, Florence and Giles, The Distant Hours, and Black Rabbit Hall

>16 Caroline77: Thank you for the recommendations. I've read Fingersmith and enjoyed it, although not sure if it would fit my own personal definition of gothic. I just recently finished Setterfield's Once Upon a River and found it to be more of a folk tale with possible supernatural overtones.

Love this question! I have to underscore the recommendation for The Little Stranger and add You Should Have Left. The second book can be read in a single sitting, but leave extra time because you will want to read it twice!

Fingersmith isn't through-and-through gothic, I agree, but to my mind it has gothic elements, and, with the gloomy estate, a gothic feel. I think along the lines of what housefulofpaper says in post 18: "There are plenty of authors whose work is marketed or classed as horror or fantasy, decadent even; but which is arguably Gothic (either by virtue of using the tropes of the genre or just in a "I know it when I see it" way)."

Anyway, now I understand you want very gothic. I'm not sure that all of my other suggestions are very gothic. I think Slade House--companion book to The Bone Clocks--definitely is. It sounds like Waters's The Little Stranger is a good choice.

The Stranger Diaries is a fun gothic read for sure. I listened to it on my commute-- perfect for a cold foggy morning!

>23 Caroline77: Thanks for the recommendations. I've read Mitchell's Cloud Atlas (loved it) and Thousand Summers of Jacob de Zoet (just okay), I had Bone Clocks on my list of books to check out but heard mixed things.

>25 davelin: You're welcome. Just FYI: You can read Slade House before TBC, as I did (didn't realize they were connected) and understand it fine, but TBC is supposed to come first. SH references TBC, from what I hear. Obviously, I missed those references. :/ Oh, and also, I think the Jacob de Zoet book is connected to these too.

Thank you for your kind responses.

>26 Caroline77: David Mitchell also tries to retrofit a link to Black Swan Green which I thought was pushing it a bit.

>1 davelin: - I can't answer this myself as I haven't read enough modern literature ...

>12 pgmcc: - ... so many great books that span genre ...
Your post reminded me of one modern writer I have read. Tanith Lee (sadly, no longer with us) didn't much hold with genres and disliked being categorised, and, indeed, is hard to categorise, with individual works often hard to pin down. If I mention Gothic, Weird, Sci-fi and Fin de siècle Decadence, her work is (usually) somewhere in that area.

>1 davelin:
If you haven't read her, there is a lot of her stuff for Kindle and you might try one of the short story collections like Dreams of Dark and Light or Blood 20: Tales of Vampire Horror as a taster (the latter's title is actually a little inadequate--Lee has a way of never being quite what one expects).

Really nice to see so many new people. Slade House caught my eye, love the "house that eats people" trope.

>27 pgmcc: Ah. I didn't know.

>29 LolaWalser: I adored Slade House. It's a great one for this time of year too. Try it.

Also, I'm not in this group, but the thread is highlighted on the main page urging people to stop by and post. Nice thread.

>30 Caroline77:

ah riiiiight--'tis the season after all! Come get yer heebie-jeebies here!

I loved Sarah Perry's 'The Essex Serpent' - thought it very gothic and lyrical. I enjoyed, but wasn't as impressed with 'Melmoth'. Sarah Perry also wrote a disturbing short story 'They flee from me that sometime did me seek', published in 'Eight Ghosts: The English Heritage book of new Ghost Stories'. This book is rather hit and miss, but in addition to the eight ghost stories, has an essay by Andrew Martin about how the Castles, Abbeys and Houses of England inspired the ghost story, and a gazetteer of English Heritage properties and the ghosts that haunt them.

I also think Andrew Michael Hurley is a gothic writer. He shares with Ann Radcliffe an ability to draw the reader in through vivid descriptions of landscape and atmosphere, and takes his time to set the scene and slowly draw the reader in. I have yet to read his breakthrough novel 'The Loney', but raced through the folk horrorish 'Devil's Day', and loved his M R James influenced short story 'Mr Lanyard's Last Case' (in the aforementioned 'Eight Ghosts' book from English Heritage.)

Surely Susan Hill should also be mentioned here, not least for 'The Woman in Black'. I also thought the 4 short stories in 'The Travelling Bag' quite good too.

>32 Rembetis:

Arbitrarily, perhaps, I limited my suggestions to works from the current century (but after all, we are nearly a fifth of the way through it already!); but relaxing that rule then The Woman in Black is very good indeed. None of them quite reach that book's level, but I did enjoy it when, for a few years, a new spooky novella would appear from Hill in time for Halloween.

>33 housefulofpaper: Given a lot of my reading is over a hundred years old, I interpreted 'modern' as anything post about 1970! I agree that none of Hill's spooky books get anywhere near the level of 'The Woman in Black'.

>34 Rembetis: I once again find myself in a minority of one. I was not very much impressed by The Woman in Black. I thought it was a standard ghost story but it was not much else. When I looked at my copy of the book and compared it to other ghost/weird stories I have read I found no underlining or annotation in the Hill book and dozens of little notes and highlighting in, for example, my Robert Aickman stories. I felt Hill told a straightforward story about a ghost and stopped.

Apologies if this upsets anyone's feelings.

>35 pgmcc: Gosh, that's fine to feel that way, no upset feelings here, your opinion of 'The Woman in Black' is just as valid as anyone else's! For me, and I can only speak for myself, that story gets under my skin. It's one of the few pieces of fiction I find scary on repeat readings, despite its simplicity.