🚨🚨 NEW WEBSITE IS NOW UP AND RUNNING 🚨🚨 Take a look at mysteriousbookshop.com

We’re hiring a summer intern!

“In the house behind the sword ferns, there was a man, and a murderer, and a stain.” New blog post! Check out my review of JAPANESE GOTHIC by Kylie Lee Baker: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-ja... 💙📚 😱📚

New blog post! Check out my recent of @carterkeane.bsky.social’s debut anti-Capitalist horror novella MORSEL: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-mo... 💙📚 😱📚

Spring is here, and you know what that means: Dracula season! For the last four years, I’ve made an annual tradition out of doing Dracula Daily, reading the text of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in real time from the day the story starts (May 3) until it ends (Nov 7).

New blog post! If you like intrepid lady scientists and surprising twists on classic Gothic tropes, check out my review of WOLF WORM by @tkingfisher.com: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-wo... 💙📚 😱📚

INDIE BOOKSTORE DAY OFFER Spring cleaning revealed a limited number of these old pins we made for the bookshop in the 1980s, so we will be giving the away on Indie Bookstore Day, SATURDAY APRIL 25, *in store only* with purchases of over $100. See you then!

#BookSky, make sure I'm on your radar if you like Gothic Historical Young Adult Romance with *a lot* of ghosts and many nods to Daphne du Maurier and The Brontës! 🖤

New blog post! Check out my review of NOBODY’S BABY, the second book in @oliviawaite.com’s new cozy sci-fi mystery series: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-no... 💙📚 🔎💀📚 #scifi

This spring , you can take a Victorian True Crime tour with @boroughsofthedead.bsky.social, and then shop for your next true crime read at The Mysterious Bookshop!

New blog post! Check out my review of NIGHT OF THE MANNEQUINS by @sgj.bsky.social: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-ni... 💙📚 😱📚

Today is the start of the Trans Rights Readathon 🏳️‍⚧️ which raises money for various organizations supporting the trans community and encourages folks to read and amplify books by trans authors! (1/2)

Did you miss this Saturday's talk? It was a great introduction to one of the queen's of American Mystery writing in the 20th century Mary Roberts Rinehart Come find out more about her incredibly eventful life and writing youtu.be/sK6ANShtC18

New blog post! Check out my review of A DARK AND DROWNING TIDE by Allison Saft, an excellent sapphic Jewish fantasy that plays with folklore and dark academia: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-a-... 💙📚

This Saturday is the Goths for Breakfast charity day. Goths unite! We're raising money for Magic Breakfast to feed hungry kids with a teaching marathon of fascinating talks and writing workshops. Pop in and out as you like - the talks are recorded! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1982926549...

Coming soon: THE DAUGHTERS by Joanna Margaret When archivist Genevieve Tompkins moves to the small town of Wilton Springs to catalog the papers of the founding family, she discovers a strange connection between recent disappearances and the faded Victorian spa town’s history of witch trials. ⚡️📚

We're fundraising for public libraries again! 📚This week, when you donate $15 USD or more to your public library, friends of a library organization, or the @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social, you'll receive a free audiobook credit 💓 Last year, we raised $55,000. How much will we raise this year? ⏬

New blog post! Check out my review of Cameron Sullivan's excellent debut fantasy, THE RED WINTER (out tomorrow): www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-th... 💙📚 😱📚

Goths for Breakfast is a fantastic day of online talks and workshops supporting a good cause. Check out the programme - so much range!

We’re seeking a mysterious new bookseller to join our team! Details in the alt text…

This year's Romancing the Gothic Online Conference is taking place on the 22nd/23rd August. We're celebrating the publication of Radcliffe's posthumous works with a conference dedicated to women and people of marginalised genders in horror and the Gothic romancingthegothic.com/2025/10/15/r...

It's that time of year again!!! 🥳 It's Goths for Breakfast time! This year, it's running on 28th February 9am - 10pm GMT. Online. Pop in and out as much as you like! It's a charity teach-a-thon, raising money for Magic breakfast to feed hungry kids. Get tickets - buytickets.at/romancingthe...

Okay, this sounds delicious. Someone please go have one of these in my honor. I’m so sad I will be out of town! 😭

New blog post! Check out my review of @victormanibo.com’s new Filipino Gothic, THE VILLA, ONCE BELOVED: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-th... 💙📚 😱📚

TOMORROW, NYC Book People! Don't miss this super-cool premiere event! Can't wait to see folks, sign books and tell you ghost stories! 🖤👻

I'm planning the annual charity teach-athon for Romancing the Gothic. GOTHS FOR BREAKFAST is a full day of classes and workshops (more or less related to the Gothic) raising money for @magicbreakfastuk.bsky.social to feed hungry kids! Looking for volunteer speakers! Get in touch!

Mutual Aid by Dean Spade is free on Libro for the next week (until 2/2).  We know that books can't fix everything, but they can help us show up for and strengthen our communities. Our employee book club read this last year, leading to a great discussion. We hope that it helps others do the same 💗 ⏬

New blog post! Check out my review of THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER by @sgj.bsky.social, which I can already tell is going to be one of my favorite reads of the year: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-th... 💙📚 😱📚

This is International Gothic Reading Month! This January and every January to come, we are reading Gothic literature. Visit the International Gothic Reading Month (IGRM) website for more details on how to participate. americangothicsociety.com/internationa... #Booksy #Readersky #Gothicfans #Gothic

New blog post! Check out my list of books I’m excited for coming out in 2026, with a bit of everything ranging from pure horror to fantasy to cozy sci-fi, with some dashes of mystery and romance: www.thegothiclibrary.com/books-im-exc... 💙📚 😱📚

This year, I'm running a lot of courses through other organisations, but I'm also running one myself! A deep dive into the work of Ann Radcliffe. Come and explore the works of the Gothic Enchantress with me and go beyond the stereotypes! buytickets.at/romancingthe...

peek = 🫣 peak = 🗻 pique = 👀

Check out the books I worked on this year!

New blog post! Check out my recap of my reading for 2025. It’s been a weird year, but there were some great reads along the way… www.thegothiclibrary.com/my-2025-read...

Romancing the Gothic organises free talks every Saturday all through the year! Our talks are open to all, happen at two different times (usually) so people can join us from different time zones, and are free (though donations welcome to support the programme) This year's programme below!

New blog post! Check out my review of @sarahgailey.bsky.social’s strange and sexy take on John Carpenter’s The Thing—SPREAD ME: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-sp... 💙📚 😱📚

Happy Chanukah!

Okay, the AI-generated book club scam emails are getting ridiculous. Just got forwarded one from one of my authors that is literally a page long, with effusive flowery language.

I’m hiring a new intern to support me and the rest of the publishing team at Penzler Publishers!

New blog post! If you love demons and dysfunctional families, check out my review of PLAY NICE by @rachelharrison.bsky.social: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-pl... 💙📚 😱📚

Crisis averted: I was able to find a copy of Play Nice at The Twisted Spine and check the quote I needed. Hooray for indie bookstores! Keep an eye out for my review tomorrow morning!

Hi! We're a small business & we'd love to get a sale today. 1st time since we set up in 2015 that we've had no traffic on #SmallBusinessSaturday It's so hard, we know everyone is spread thin. Us too. But if you like vintage / gothy stuff, everything below is still available, thanks for your time:

Does anyone have a physical or ebook copy of Rachel Harrison’s latest novel, Play Nice? I read the audiobook, but need to check the exact wording of a quote and have no idea how to go about finding it in the audiobook… If you’ve got a copy and are willing to look up the quote for me, let me know!

New blog post! Check out my review of CINDER HOUSE, a spooky and sweet Cinderella retelling by @freyamarske.bsky.social: www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-ci... 💙📚

Seen as it looks like I won't have a main job for a while (and seen as I haven't been paid anything since September) if you'd like to support the work that I do through Romancing the Gothic, you can! You can also buy courses (in case you didn't know!) ko-fi.com/samhirst

New blog post! Check out my reflections on this year’s #AScareADay reading challenge for October: www.thegothiclibrary.com/ascareaday-2...

Day 31, the final story of #AScareADay is “The Path She Sings” by Vanessa Fogg. A fitting last name for this story! The narrator grieves his undead wife. The creature that moves around his house is no longer her, not really. Or is it? 1/

Day 30 of #AScareADay is “Bleeding Hearts” by Suzan Palumbo. A sweet, uplifting tale as we near the end of the challenge. A witch who heals heartbreaks finally begins to face her own grief and open her heart up to someone new. 1/

Day 29 of #AScareADay is “The Portrait of Sal Pullman” by Lonnie Nadler and Abby Howard—a web comic and one of the most unsettling stories we’ve read so far! “I am celebrated. I am a masterpiece. I am in hell.” 1/

Day 28 of #AScareADay is “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island” by Nibedita Sen This was the only story on this year’s challenge that I’ve read before. In fact, I’ve had the pleasure of listening to Nibedita read it aloud at two different salons. 1/