They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Jessica Drake-Thomas, whose book of poetry, Burials, will be released on October 6th from Clash Books!
What does Jessica love when she’s not writing about those who demand to be heard? Spoiler alert: a Gothic mash-up that’s just too perfect, a song to pull you out of the Dark, haunted houses and haunted people, the cost of seeking out the other, and an online mag that’s seeking to claim your fairy tale-loving heart. Curious? Read on to learn more!
Penny Dreadful
How could anyone not love a show that focuses on the Victorian era and the literary monsters that were spawned then? What I love the most is that the characters have been given an update, yet are still true to the source material.
Eva Green’s performance as Vanessa Ives is phenomenal and Rory Kinnear as Frankenstein’s Creature is tender-hearted, despite being a serial murderer.
However, Billie Piper’s “Thee and me” monologue is the single most brilliant performance in speculative television and film, and I will go down fighting on this hill.
“Me and the Devil” — Soap & Skin
Shirley Jackson — The Haunting of Hill House
This is my absolute favorite book. It’s about what happens when a parapsychologist runs a study on a group of people who exhibit special abilities in a notoriously haunted house. Jackson’s novel is a masterclass in Gothic horror.
White is for Witching — Helen Oyeyemi
I really love how Gothic horror has taken a turn from haunted houses to haunted people. This is a good example of that. Miranda Silver is the fourth Silver woman to inherit the family curse. This book is a slow burn, but the eerie vibes are really working here.
Caitlín R. Kiernan — “Andromeda Among the Stones”
This short story really stuck with me — I think about it often. In it, a father endangers his entire family in his search for something other. One by one, he loses all of them in his quest for answers. His daughter ends up cleaning up the mess that he makes when he wakes up something that should have stayed asleep.
Corvid Queen by Sword and Kettle Press
This is an online literary magazine with a focus on fairy tales, and every week, they publish a fairy tale-inspired poem or short story. They are publishing some really phenomenal and original genre work, and I always look forward to it.
Jessica Drake-Thomas is a horror poet and fiction-writer, and formerly, a college English professor. She holds college degrees from Tulane University, Emerson College, and the University of Arizona. She is the author of a collection of poems, Burials, which is forthcoming from CLASH Books in 2020, and a chapbook, Possession (Dancing Girl Press).
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Author photo by Lauren Drake-Thomas
Jessica, thank you so much for sharing, and thank you for joining us!