In Episode 3 Toni gets to to talk to one of her favorite authors about how folklore and horror intersect; as well as horror books with a folklore element by women. Jen from Book Den stops by to talk about the Rebecca read along. Finally Toni talks about her current reads and new releases.
Folklore and Horror
Folklore can range from art to stories that are passed down orally but how does horror and folklore intersect. Just to make sure everyone is on the same page folklore can include urban legends and fairytales but I decided to focus on each one in their own episode.
- Definition of Folklore
- Folklore and Horror
- Horror Folklore Stories
- Folk Horror Narrative
- Resurgence of Folk Horror
Folklore with Horror Elements
This is just a start of folklore with horror elements. Every culture has folklore that has horror elements in the story.
Toni chats Folklore and Horror with Gwendolyn Kiste
When I think about authors who have a touch of folklore in their horror stories the first person that pops in my head at the moment is Gwendolyn Kiste. We chat about the various ways that folklore and horror intersect.
Gwendolyn Kiste is the author of the Bram Stoker Award-nominated fiction collection, And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, from JournalStone; the dark fantasy novella, Pretty Marys All in a Row, from Broken Eye Books; and her debut novel, The Rust Maidens, from Trepidatio Publishing. Her short fiction has appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Shimmer, Black Static, Daily Science Fiction, Interzone, LampLight, and Three-Lobed Burning Eye as well as Flame Tree Publishing’s Chilling Horror Short Stories anthology, among others.
A native of Ohio, she currently resides on an abandoned horse farm outside of Pittsburgh with her husband, two cats, and not nearly enough ghosts. You can also find her online at Facebook and Twitter.
- Evolution of Folklore
- Tainted Candy
- Trunk or Treat
- Trunk or Treat replacing trick or treat
- Ichabod Crane
Horror Books Written By Women that Feature Folktales
We Will All Go Down Together by Gemma Files
Every family has its monsters…and some are nothing but. In the woods outside Overdeere, Ontario, there are trees that speak, a village that doesn’t appear on any map, and a hill that opens wide, entrapping unwary travellers. Music drifts up from deep underground, while dreams – and nightmares – take on solid shape, flitting through the darkness. It’s a place most people usually know better than to go, at least locally – until tonight, when five bloodlines mired in ancient strife will finally converge once more. Devize, Glouwer, Rusk, Druir, Roke – these are the clans who make up the notorious Five-Family Coven. Four hundred years ago, this alliance of witches, changelings, and sorcerers sought to ruin and recreate the Earth in their own image, thwarted only by treachery that sent half of them to be burned alive. Driven apart by rage and hatred, their descendants have continued to feud, intermarry, and breed with each other throughout the centuries, their mutual dislike becoming ever more destructively intimate. But now, from downtown Toronto to the wilds beyond, where reality’s walls grow thin, dark forces are drawing the Coven’s last heirs to a final confrontation. Psychics, ex-possessees, defrocked changeling priests, shamans for hire, body-stealing witches, and monster-slaying nuns – the bastard children of a thousand evil angels – all are haunted by a ghost beyond any one person’s power to exorcize unless they agree to stand together once more – at least long enough to wreak vengeance upon themselves!
That They May Be Awakened In Time by Frida Arwen Rosesund
This hasn’t been translated into English. But it is described here.
Dark Lanterns By Zoe Drake
A city of 12 million people. 12 months of the year. 4 seasons. 15 short stories. In these spine-chilling tales we meet 15 residents of modern Tokyo; businesspeople, high-school students, laborers, foreign exchange students, chefs, gangsters, down-and-outs…
Each of them will encounter one of the Yohkai – the supernatural creatures immortalized in Japanese myths, legends and folk tales. Some of them will survive the experience. Some of them will not.
All of them will be changed forever.
Currently Reading
The Samhanach and other Halloween Treats by Lisa Morton
On one magical night of the year—when the breeze is scented with dead leaves and pumpkin, when the days have grown shorter and winter’s first touch prickles your skin—the barrier between worlds is at its thinnest, and dark magic abounds. Whether it’s the legendary trickster Jack about to acquire his first lantern, a teenage girl beginning to discover her own alluring power, or a fallen angel seeking redemption, Halloween’s sinister spell enchants all.
The Fiends in the Furrows edited by David T. Neal and Christine M. Scott
The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror is a collection of nine short stories that hew both to the earthy traditions and blaze new trails in Folk Horror.
Recently Read
Love for Slaughter By Sara Tantlinger
This was Ms. Tantlinger’s debut poetry collection. It was fantastic. Tantlinger’s prose is beautiful and horrific at the same time. This is a poetess who can turn murder and bondage into a beautiful act of love or hate. There is so much to love about this poetry collection.
Full Review is on my blog and LOHF review is coming shortly.
New Releases For the First Half of November
Missing Person | Sarah Lotz | Nov. 1 |
Pariahs (Ilings #1) | Julie Benally | Nov. 1 |
Sleeping with the Monster | Anya Martin | Nov. 3 |
Brother Nash | Bridgit Connell | Nov. 6 |
City of Spells (Haunted Florida #3) | Gaby Triana | Nov. 16 |
The Rust Maidens | Gwendolyn Kiste | Nov. 16 |
I was very lucky to receive a review copy of my most eagerly anticipated release. I would suggest that you haven’t pre-ordered it please do so it is amazing!!
The Rust Maidens By Gwendolyn Kiste
Something’s happening to the girls on Denton Street.
It’s the summer of 1980 in Cleveland, Ohio, and Phoebe Shaw and her best friend Jacqueline have just graduated high school, only to confront an ugly, uncertain future. Across the city, abandoned factories populate the skyline; meanwhile at the shore, one strong spark, and the Cuyahoga River might catch fire. But none of that compares to what’s happening in their own west side neighborhood. The girls Phoebe and Jacqueline have grown up with are changing. It starts with footprints of dark water on the sidewalk. Then, one by one, the girls’ bodies wither away, their fingernails turning to broken glass, and their bones exposed like corroded metal beneath their flesh.
As rumors spread about the grotesque transformations, soon everyone from nosy tourists to clinic doctors and government men start arriving on Denton Street, eager to catch sight of “the Rust Maidens” in metamorphosis. But even with all the onlookers, nobody can explain what’s happening or why—except perhaps the Rust Maidens themselves. Whispering in secret, they know more than they’re telling, and Phoebe realizes her former friends are quietly preparing for something that will tear their neighborhood apart.
Alternating between past and present, Phoebe struggles to unravel the mystery of the Rust Maidens—and her own unwitting role in the transformations—before she loses everything she’s held dear: her home, her best friend, and even perhaps her own body.
LOHF News
The Rebecca read along has started and the comments on the first week have been amazing!!
If you are a bit behind don’t fret you can still comment on the first week post here!!
Horror Community News
The Night Worms inaugural box has been sold out. But don’t fret they will be offering another box shortly. They are starting out small so they are able to work any kinks out before offering a larger box run.
Twitterstone’s December box is going to be Ladies of Horror Fiction both the authors and the artists.
If you would like to reach out to the LOHFpodcast, our email address is LOHFPod@gmail.com or you can tweet me at @Toni_The_Reader We would love to hear about new releases, news in the community, and suggestions for the podcast. You can find out more about the members of the Ladies of Horror Fiction via our website at www.ladiesofhorrorfiction.com.
The music for this episode is by Nicolas Gasparini at thedarkpiano.com
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