# Let's talk Gothic fiction, movies, etc. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279 "2010-09-10T12:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/1 "2010-09-10T12:59:55Z")
Maybe it’s the fact that the stores have had Halloween merchandise since mid-August. Maybe the slightly cooler temperatures and appearance of some dry leaves on the ground. Maybe I just love this genre because it’s awesome. But I’m in the mood for some Gothic fiction. As a matter of fact, I recently finished John Harwood’s [The Seance](http://www.amazon.com/Seance-John-Harwood/dp/0151012032). I was delighted to see that he had finally followed up his debut [The Ghost Writer](http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Writer-John-Harwood/dp/0156032325/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2), which I love to re-read for the nested Victorian ghost stories, even if the ending of the larger tale is a bit of a mess. And The Seance really delivers - it’s more tightly constructed, with a coherent payoff, and it still captures that creepy, ghostly mood wonderfully. On the other hand, I was disappointed with [The House of Lost Souls](http://www.amazon.com/House-Lost-Souls-F-G-Cottam/dp/0312544324/ref=pd_sim_b_2) by F. G. Cottam. It had a lot of atmosphere, then it became a bit far-fetched but still intriguing, then an element was jammed in during the climax that ruined it for me. I’m also very slowly progressing on _The Mysteries of Udolpho_, having gotten curious about it while reading Northanger Abbey. It is slow to get going, but I’m keeping on in hopes of some fun decrepit castle hijinks. So what do you like in the genre? It doesn’t have to be books - that’s just what I’ve been on lately. As a matter of fact, if anyone knows of some good creepy-themed podcasts or audiobooks, I’d love that too. I really enjoyed \*Nightmares on Congress Street \*IV and V, which I got through Audible. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/2 "2010-09-10T16:11:11Z")
You must read Matthew Lewis’ [The Monk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monk). (full text available [here](http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/601)) It is so lurid and salacious, with blasphemy, sacrilege, rape, incest, murder, torture, witchcraft, consortion with demons, scenes set in Hell featuring the Devil, demons feasting on the souls of the damned…it is fabulous. The back of my book asserts that Parliament deemed Lewis (who was himself a member) “licentious and perverse”, and the book well lives up to that charge. If you have someone to read it out loud to, so much the better. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/3 "2010-09-10T16:57:08Z")
You may hate it, particularly if you hate Sci-Fi, but…I often describe the works of Alastair Reynolds as Gothic Science Fiction. Plenty of body horror, descriptions of truly nauseating acts, lots of terrible, suspenseful things happening to the deserving and non-deserving. Most importantly, the specifics are often hinted at, or left for you to extrapolate how terrifying they’d be. If you want to give him a try, I’d start with his short story collection, **Galactic North** , then try his take on Film Noir, **Chasm City**. **Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days** , is another good one too. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/4 "2010-09-10T18:30:59Z")
I don’t really know exactly what qualifies as “gothic” so apologies if this doesn’t, but _[The Little Stranger](http://www.amazon.com/Little-Stranger-Sarah-Waters/dp/1594484465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284143391&sr=8-1)_ by Sarah Walters knocked my freaking socks off. Creepy haunted decaying mansion with the remnants of a once-proud family would qualify, right? ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/5 "2010-09-10T18:43:41Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I don’t really know exactly what qualifies as “gothic” so apologies if this doesn’t, but _[The Little Stranger](http://www.amazon.com/Little-Stranger-Sarah-Waters/dp/1594484465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284143391&sr=8-1)_ by Sarah Walters knocked my freaking socks off. Creepy haunted decaying mansion with the remnants of a once-proud family would qualify, right? Definitely qualifies! I done put it on my list. (BTW, I love my library system - it lets you keep a list of books you’re interested in, request books online, and order ILL books online as well.) Wikipedia has an interesting [entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_fiction)on Gothic fiction. It casts a pretty wide net. _The Castle of Otranto_ was the original Gothic tale in 1764, but it goes through Bronte and Dickens, Shelley and Byron, Poe and Lovecraft\*, right up to Oates and King, and even inspiring various flavors of metal music. My favorite Southern Gothic horror tale is [All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By](http://www.amazon.com/Heads-Turn-When-Hunt-Goes/dp/0899684270/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284144070&sr=1-1). My favorite modern take, in the vein of Jane Eyre, is [The Thirteenth Tale](http://www.amazon.com/Thirteenth-Tale-Novel-Diane-Setterfield/dp/0743298039/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284144194&sr=1-1). \*BTW, I just found out there’s a collection of short stories combining Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes, including an award-winning story by Neil Gaiman. How have I never heard of this before? It’s on my list too: [Shadows Over Baker Street](http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Over-Baker-Street-Terror/dp/0345452739/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284143916&sr=1-1). ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/6 "2010-09-10T18:55:22Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > … > My favorite Southern Gothic horror tale is [All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By](http://www.amazon.com/Heads-Turn-When-Hunt-Goes/dp/0899684270/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284144070&sr=1-1)… > \*BTW, I just found out there’s a collection of short stories combining Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes, including an award-winning story by Neil Gaiman. How have I never heard of this before? It’s on my list too: [Shadows Over Baker Street](http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Over-Baker-Street-Terror/dp/0345452739/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284143916&sr=1-1). I’ve read really good things about “All Heads…” from both Stephen King and Larry Niven. Yet another book I need to pick up. The Shadows over Baker Street collection is a bit uneven, but Gaiman’s first story in the volume, **A Study In Emerald** , is excellent. And it can be found as a .pdf file at his site, [here](http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf). Wonderfully done and whetted my appetite for more updates of the Cthulhu Mythos. His short story, “**[I Cthulhu](http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Short_Stories/I_Cthulhu)**” (not in the volume) is pretty good too. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/7 "2010-09-10T22:45:11Z")
Graphic Novel: All-Action Classics No. 1: Dracula by Ben Caldwell > **[Amazon.com: All-Action Classics: Dracula: 9781402731525: Mucci, Michael,...](https://www.amazon.com/All-Action-Classics-No-1-Dracula/dp/1402731523)** > > Amazon.com: All-Action Classics: Dracula: 9781402731525: Mucci, Michael, Caldwell, Ben: Books Note–give the Murfreesboro reviewer a “Helpful” vote or 10, please. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/8 "2010-09-10T23:58:22Z")
Mary (Wollestonecraft Godwin) Shelley is best remembered for writing _Frankenstein_ (a Gothic classic in its own right if you’ve never read it and one never really captured in a movie, least of all by the Karloff films), but she wrote a novel called _Mathilda_ that’s much better and absolutely gives you the creeps. If you don’t know much about Mary Shelley’s life then some biographical information is necessary to explain why: She was the daughter of the philosopher/novelist/anarchist/essayist William Godwin and the novelist/philosopher/feminist/poet Mary Godwin, a very beautiful woman who Mary was said to much resemble in appearance. Mary Wollestonecraft was a bit of a “free spirit” who wrote fairly candidly about her affairs, lived openly with men she wasn’t married to, had a couple of splashy suicide attempts (one literally so- she jumped into the Thames- the other one was with laudanum) and had an illegitimate daughter by the time she met Godwin. By most accounts they were an extremely happy couple, very passionate and soul mates and all that jazz, and in spite of having written against marriage many times she actually married him not long after learning she was pregnant. (Perhaps she felt that _two_ illegitimate kids in the late 18th century was pushing it, plus she was almost 40 so she wasn’t likely to be fighting off suitors much longer). She died a few days after giving birth to their daughter, who was named for her (Mary Wollestonecraft Godwin) in 1797. Mary and her half-sister Fanny were largely abandoned to governesses while their father mourned. He remarried to a stepmother who was hated by the girls and who returned the compliment, especially after her own son was born, but they got along famously with their stepmother’s (illegitimate) children including their stepsister Claire. To keep peace in his house and to cut expenses William actually sent them on very long visits to stay with his relatives and his wife’s relatives and friends as much as possible so he and Mary rarely lived in the same house for very long until she was in her teens though he wrote her long letters telling her of his love for her- some of them, um… yeah… he _really_ loved her. (Her half sister Fanny, who wasn’t his, not so much.) The family reunited largely because people were tired of supporting them. It was becoming simply horrendously dysfunctional: Godwin was always broke and deep in debt and did all manner of odd things to pay the bills (children’s books, pornography, borrowing from Regency era loan sharks, and possibly prostituting his stepdaughter Fanny) but they were falling deeper into poverty and had gone from country cottages to cheap city houses. Then they all met Percy. At 20 Percy Bysshe Shelley was a (minor) aristocrat, well educated, brilliant, beautiful (in that tubercular English aristocrat way), usually broke and deep in debt himself, and married (his wife was Harriet) with a child and another on the way. He was a reader and admirer of both Wollstonecraft and Godwin and begged to come over and soon moved in, which delighted Godwin both to have a fan who was already getting some fame and to have a guy willing to pay him money (because again in that English aristocratic way the fact he was always in debt never seemed to stop him from having money). Mary was 15 at the time and at some point over the next year (debate as to when) began an affair with him. When she got pregnant by him at 16 he tried to marry her off to his best friend (with the unlikely Hazzard-ous name of Thomas Jefferson Hogg) but she held out for him and they eloped to Italy (though not in the “elope” as in “legally married” sense as he was still married to his wife who had just borne their second child that year). Like most young couples who elope they took the bride’s stepsister with them, which greatly upset Mary’s half-sister Fanny as, among other reasons, she was in love with Shelley herself and in fact may have had an affair with him; Claire almost certainly shagged him, then she met his friend Lord Byron and went with him and had her own illegitimate child (Allegra). Things generally go to hell all around for a while. Mary had a nightmare pregnancy that resulted in a very premature baby, then had to attend a party Shelley threw in Italy when he received word Harriet had been delivered of a healthy son, then their baby died and she wrote to her friend and former suitor the somehow utterly ominous line > [@](#): > > My dearest Hogg my baby is dead # but there were also lighthearted moments: bisexual menages with her stepsister and Dr. Polidori and Byron and her husband, running from bill collectors, getting disowned by her father for having a bastard child (?!) and getting pregnant again (lots of times), and all this before she was even 18. Then 1816 was a red letter year: Harriet (Mrs. Shelley) drowned herself, and Fanny (Mary’s half sister) checked into a roadside inn and killed herself with laudanum, both emulating (though in Harriet’s case I’m sure coincidentally) Mary Wollestonecraft’s suicide attempts but both being much better at it than she had been. And other stuff was happening with Claire and Mary’s half brother and father and stepmother and Frankenstein was born and she was constantly pregnant and having a roller coaster marriage to Percy that ended one month before his 30th birthday in 1822 when he drowned while boating. His death may have been due to illness or to intoxication (alcohol or drug) or may have been suicide, for he had been having major depression and guilt issues over the women he’d wronged (mainly Harriet) and the children he’d abandoned and money problems and what not. And believe it or not, this is the short version of the story. Them folks was a big ol’ mess. So anyway, she wrote _Mathilda_. It’s known she wrote parts of it as early as 1819 but it’s not certain how much or how often she edited it afterwards, which might make a difference for reasons we’ll see: Mathilda is a girl whose parents were unconventional literary icons and very happily married until her mother died in childbirth, after which her father marries another woman and spends lots of time away from her but writes her long letters. She looks a lot like her mother. When she and her father do reunite the father confides that he does not love her as a father should but is, rather, truly, madly, desperately in love with her and begs her to consider marrying him (or a marital like relationship). Meanwhile she has met the young beautiful and engaged (get that- not married, engaged) poet Woodville when she herself is 16 and begins an affair. Ultimately she elopes with Woodville, in part because she loves him and in part to get away from her father and his crazy house. Her father disowns her for this, and soon after her father- a handsome and great poet in his own right- kills himself by taking laudanum and drowning, but making it look like a boating accident. Then it gets depressing. Anyway, it’s an almost horrifying read. It’s written in first person with Mathilda writing to Woodville from (of course) her deathbed. It wasn’t published in full until 1959, Godwin himself believed to have convinced his daughter not to publish it. Sorry- didn’t mean to make it this long, but it’s a Gothic recommend. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/9 "2010-09-11T00:59:09Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Mary (Wollestonecraft Godwin) Shelley is best remembered for writing _Frankenstein_ (a Gothic classic in its own right if you’ve never read it and one never really captured in a movie, least of all by the Karloff films), but she wrote a novel called _Mathilda_ that’s much better and absolutely gives you the creeps. If you don’t know much about Mary Shelley’s life then some biographical information is necessary to explain why: > > She was the daughter of the philosopher/novelist/anarchist/essayist William Godwin and the novelist/philosopher/feminist/poet Mary Godwin, a very beautiful woman who Mary was said to much resemble in appearance. Mary Wollestonecraft was a bit of a “free spirit” who wrote fairly candidly about her affairs, lived openly with men she wasn’t married to, had a couple of splashy suicide attempts (one literally so- she jumped into the Thames- the other one was with laudanum) and had an illegitimate daughter by the time she met Godwin. By most accounts they were an extremely happy couple, very passionate and soul mates and all that jazz, and in spite of having written against marriage many times she actually married him not long after learning she was pregnant. (Perhaps she felt that _two_ illegitimate kids in the late 18th century was pushing it, plus she was almost 40 so she wasn’t likely to be fighting off suitors much longer). She died a few days after giving birth to their daughter, who was named for her (Mary Wollestonecraft Godwin) in 1797. > Mary and her half-sister Fanny were largely abandoned to governesses while their father mourned. He remarried to a stepmother who was hated by the girls and who returned the compliment, especially after her own son was born, but they got along famously with their stepmother’s (illegitimate) children including their stepsister Claire. To keep peace in his house and to cut expenses William actually sent them on very long visits to stay with his relatives and his wife’s relatives and friends as much as possible so he and Mary rarely lived in the same house for very long until she was in her teens though he wrote her long letters telling her of his love for her- some of them, um… yeah… he _really_ loved her. (Her half sister Fanny, who wasn’t his, not so much.) > The family reunited largely because people were tired of supporting them. It was becoming simply horrendously dysfunctional: Godwin was always broke and deep in debt and did all manner of odd things to pay the bills (children’s books, pornography, borrowing from Regency era loan sharks, and possibly prostituting his stepdaughter Fanny) but they were falling deeper into poverty and had gone from country cottages to cheap city houses. Then they all met Percy. > At 20 Percy Bysshe Shelley was a (minor) aristocrat, well educated, brilliant, beautiful (in that tubercular English aristocrat way), usually broke and deep in debt himself, and married (his wife was Harriet) with a child and another on the way. He was a reader and admirer of both Wollstonecraft and Godwin and begged to come over and soon moved in, which delighted Godwin both to have a fan who was already getting some fame and to have a guy willing to pay him money (because again in that English aristocratic way the fact he was always in debt never seemed to stop him from having money). Mary was 15 at the time and at some point over the next year (debate as to when) began an affair with him. When she got pregnant by him at 16 he tried to marry her off to his best friend (with the unlikely Hazzard-ous name of Thomas Jefferson Hogg) but she held out for him and they eloped to Italy (though not in the “elope” as in “legally married” sense as he was still married to his wife who had just borne their second child that year). Like most young couples who elope they took the bride’s stepsister with them, which greatly upset Mary’s half-sister Fanny as, among other reasons, she was in love with Shelley herself and in fact may have had an affair with him; Claire almost certainly shagged him, then she met his friend Lord Byron and went with him and had her own illegitimate child (Allegra). > Things generally go to hell all around for a while. Mary had a nightmare pregnancy that resulted in a very premature baby, then had to attend a party Shelley threw in Italy when he received word Harriet had been delivered of a healthy son, then their baby died and she wrote to her friend and former suitor the somehow utterly ominous line > > > [@](#): > > > > My dearest Hogg my baby is dead > > # but there were also lighthearted moments: bisexual menages with her stepsister and Dr. Polidori and Byron and her husband, running from bill collectors, getting disowned by her father for having a bastard child (?!) and getting pregnant again (lots of times), and all this before she was even 18. Then 1816 was a red letter year: Harriet (Mrs. Shelley) drowned herself, and Fanny (Mary’s half sister) checked into a roadside inn and killed herself with laudanum, both emulating (though in Harriet’s case I’m sure coincidentally) Mary Wollestonecraft’s suicide attempts but both being much better at it than she had been. And other stuff was happening with Claire and Mary’s half brother and father and stepmother and Frankenstein was born and she was constantly pregnant and having a roller coaster marriage to Percy that ended one month before his 30th birthday in 1822 when he drowned while boating. His death may have been due to illness or to intoxication (alcohol or drug) or may have been suicide, for he had been having major depression and guilt issues over the women he’d wronged (mainly Harriet) and the children he’d abandoned and money problems and what not. And believe it or not, this is the short version of the story. Them folks was a big ol’ mess. > > So anyway, she wrote _Mathilda_. It’s known she wrote parts of it as early as 1819 but it’s not certain how much or how often she edited it afterwards, which might make a difference for reasons we’ll see: > > Mathilda is a girl whose parents were unconventional literary icons and very happily married until her mother died in childbirth, after which her father marries another woman and spends lots of time away from her but writes her long letters. She looks a lot like her mother. When she and her father do reunite the father confides that he does not love her as a father should but is, rather, truly, madly, desperately in love with her and begs her to consider marrying him (or a marital like relationship). > Meanwhile she has met the young beautiful and engaged (get that- not married, engaged) poet Woodville when she herself is 16 and begins an affair. Ultimately she elopes with Woodville, in part because she loves him and in part to get away from her father and his crazy house. Her father disowns her for this, and soon after her father- a handsome and great poet in his own right- kills himself by taking laudanum and drowning, but making it look like a boating accident. > Then it gets depressing. > > Anyway, it’s an almost horrifying read. It’s written in first person with Mathilda writing to Woodville from (of course) her deathbed. It wasn’t published in full until 1959, Godwin himself believed to have convinced his daughter not to publish it. > > Sorry- didn’t mean to make it this long, but it’s a Gothic recommend. Wow! That’s quite a story! THAT would make an interesting movie (or more likely mini-series). She was well educated being that she was so young, ‘Frankenstein’ is quite wordy and erudite. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/10 "2010-09-11T05:05:53Z")
Following up on Sampiro’s post there is a film made of that summer in the Alps where the gang wrote their attempts at Gothic fiction. It’s appropriately named “Gothic.” Byron was usually accompanied by his personal physician, Dr. Polidori, the original Dr. Feelgood, and his offering was Varney The Vampire. After Shelley drowned they gave him a Viking funeral complete with a sendoff on a raft on fire. Those darned kids. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/11 "2010-09-11T05:09:31Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > Byron was usually accompanied by his personal physician, Dr. Polidori, the original Dr. Feelgood, and his offering was Varney The Vampire. “Gonna suck yer neck, know whut I mean, Vern?” Terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/12 "2010-09-11T05:14:49Z")
Barbara Michaels has written a number of modern Gothic tales, including (but not limited to) _Aimee, Come Home_, _Stitches in Time_, _Houses of Stone_, and _The Crying Child_. I also rather like John Bellairs, although most of his books could best be termed “juvenile Gothic”. Scary but not gory. _The House with The Clock in its Walls_ is probably his best known, but there are many others. A short, fun read, usually. He also wrote an adult novel called _The Face in the Frost_ that’s quite good. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/13 "2010-09-11T08:53:17Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I don’t really know exactly what qualifies as “gothic” so apologies if this doesn’t, but _[The Little Stranger](http://www.amazon.com/Little-Stranger-Sarah-Waters/dp/1594484465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284143391&sr=8-1)_ by Sarah Walters knocked my freaking socks off. Creepy haunted decaying mansion with the remnants of a once-proud family would qualify, right? Wow. This book was the worst, most tedious ghost story I ever read. I finished it in January and I’m still kicking myself for wading through almost 500 pages in the expectation that there might be _something_ scary in it. If anyone in this thread decides to read it, let me give you a piece of advice: If you don’t like it by page 100, don’t bother going farther. Someone in the worst Steven King thread mentioned _Shadowland_ by Peter Straub, and that one might count as modern gothic. Two boys are taught “magic tricks” in an isolated mansion… ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/14 "2010-09-11T13:01:02Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > “Gonna suck yer neck, know whut I mean, Vern?” > > Terrifying. 😃 > [@elfkin477](#): > > > [@jsgoddess](#): > > > > I don’t really know exactly what qualifies as “gothic” so apologies if this doesn’t, but _[The Little Stranger](http://www.amazon.com/Little-Stranger-Sarah-Waters/dp/1594484465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284143391&sr=8-1)_ by Sarah Walters knocked my freaking socks off. Creepy haunted decaying mansion with the remnants of a once-proud family would qualify, right? > > Wow. This book was the worst, most tedious ghost story I ever read. I finished it in January and I’m still kicking myself for wading through almost 500 pages in the expectation that there might be _something_ scary in it. If anyone in this thread decides to read it, let me give you a piece of advice: If you don’t like it by page 100, don’t bother going farther. Noted. I used to be one of those people that feels you ought to finish any book you begin. Not anymore! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/15 "2010-09-11T13:41:10Z")
The Woman In Black, a book by Susan Hill, is being made into a film for next year, starring Daniel Radcliffe. A ghost story that was made into a play (I haven’t been able to get the book from the library, only the transcript for the play). ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/16 "2010-09-11T13:44:56Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > Following up on Sampiro’s post there is a film made of that summer in the Alps where the gang wrote their attempts at Gothic fiction. It’s appropriately named “Gothic.” > > Byron was usually accompanied by his personal physician, Dr. Polidori, the original Dr. Feelgood, and his offering was Varney The Vampire. > > After Shelley drowned they gave him a Viking funeral complete with a sendoff on a raft on fire. Those darned kids. Sorry- gotta do this. Polidori’s offering was the short story “The Vampire” starring the Byronesque Lord Ruthven. “Varney the Vampyre” was a LOOOONG serial penny dreadful by James Malcolm Rymer (it had been attributed for the longest time to Thomas Prescott Prest, who I think gave us Sweeney Todd). Also, I believe Shelley’s funeral was being burned on a beachside funeral pyre- out of which his heart was retrieved as a keepsake. I highly recommend the movie GOTHIC. As a plus, it was directed by Ken Russell. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/17 "2010-09-11T17:31:46Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > [ > Sorry- gotta do this. > > Polidori’s offering was the short story “The Vampire” starring the Byronesque Lord Ruthven. “Varney the Vampyre” was a LOOOONG serial penny dreadful by James Malcolm Rymer (it had been attributed for the longest time to Thomas Prescott Prest, who I think gave us Sweeney Todd). > > Also, I believe Shelley’s funeral was being burned on a beachside funeral pyre- out of which his heart was retrieved as a keepsake. > > I highly recommend the movie GOTHIC. As a plus, it was directed by Ken Russell. Thanks for the correction, **Friar Ted.** As I typed I did wonder. Those lit classes are receding into the distant past and I should probably take the time to google before I post! I do remember the cremation on the beach. They made much of the fact that his heart wouldn’t destruct. They didn’t send him off on a raft when it was all done? I need to go google! ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/18 "2010-09-11T17:40:33Z")
Not a word about it. I’ve confabulated! Must’ve been thinking about Ole Shelley. They buried him in his favorite cemetary of which he had once remarked it would make one half in love with death to be buried in such a spot. _Tres_ Gothic! One of the articles I read remarked that it was the liver which was the last thing to be consumed during cremation and not the heart. Therefor instead of his gravestone reading “Lover of lovers,” it should have read “Liver of livers!” Once again history proves to be equally dark, if not more so for it’s reality, than fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-gothic-fiction-movies-etc/553279/19 "2010-09-11T17:51:46Z")
In addition to GOTHIC there’s a movie called _[HAUNTED SUMMER](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095280/)_ about roughly the same plot.