Queer Horror in the BPCL: Books

A true masterwork of storytelling, Dracula has transcended generation, language, and culture to become one of the most popular novels ever written. It is a quintessential tale of suspense and horror, boasting one of the most terrifying characters ever born in literature: Count Dracula, a tragic, night-dwelling specter who feeds upon the blood of the living, and whose diabolical passions prey upon the innocent, the helpless, and the beautiful.

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers--and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

Sentenced to die for a crime he did not commit, S&M photographer Jared Poe must enter into the world of the dead to discover who murdered his lover, and as he ravages the dark streets of New Orleans to clear his name, he must come to terms with the person he has become. "A story of queer love and tragedy with a horrific serial killer at its center who targets anyone who is gender non-confirming." - Goodreads

This remarkable novel begins in 1850s Louisiana, where Gilda escapes slavery and learns about freedom while working in a brothel. After being initiated into eternal life as one who "shares the blood" by two women there, Gilda spends the next two hundred years searching for a place to call home. An instant lesbian classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, re-definitions of family, and yes, the erotic potential of the vampire story.

This is a small paperback with the shorter "Carmilla" and the longer novella "The Haunted Baronet" (which is similar to an earlier Le Fanu story, "The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardaugh", which was a reworking of an even earlier piece, "Sir Dominick's Bargain"). --Goodreads

To serial slayer Andrew Compton, murder is an art, the most intimate art. After feigning his own death to escape from prison, Compton makes his way to the United States with the sole ambition of bringing his "art" to new heights. Tortured by his own perverse desires, and drawn to possess and destroy young boys, Compton inadvertently joins forces with Jay Byrne, a dissolute playboy who has pushed his "art" to limits even Compton hadn't previously imagined. Together, Compton and Byrne set their sights on an exquisite young Vietnamese-American runaway, Tran, whom they deem to be the perfect victim. Swiftly moving from the grimy streets of London's Piccadilly Circus to the decadence of the New Orleans French Quarter, and punctuated by rants from radio talk show host Lush Rimbaud, a.k.a. Luke Ransom, Tran's ex-lover, who is dying of AIDS and who intends to wreak ultimate havoc before leaving this world, Exquisite Corpse unfolds into a labyrinth of murder and love. Ultimately all four characters converge on a singular bloody night after which their lives will be irrevocably changed — or terminated.

It has been a century since a small group of humans was marooned on a distant planet. Now their descendants struggle with rising infertility, infant mortality, and mysterious birth defects for which no cause--or cure--can be found. Reproduction has become essential, and those who cannot produce children are scorned. Anais, a brilliant female doctor born with inexplicable physical abnormalities, falls victim to this severe treatment. But then comes a startling revelation during an examination of a remarkably preserved corpse, a member of the planet's long extinct native race. With horror, Anais discovers that the ancient creature has deformities nearly identical to her own. There must be some link between the planet's past and the plight of the present-day humans, and Anais must find it before she is exiled forever--thwarting her society's last chance for survival.

Kyle Marffin's provocative debut is a modern day retelling of J.S. Sheridan LeFanu's classic 19th century vampire novella. Gothic literature's most notorious female vampire, the seductive Countess Carmilla Karnstein, stalks an unsuspecting victim through glittery streets to the desolate northwoods, and back to her Styrian homeland, glimpsing her unwrittenhistory while replaying the events of the original with a decidedly contemporary twist. --Goodreads

In Dracula's Daughters: The Female Vampire on Film, Douglas Brode and Leah Deyneka have assembled a varied collection of essays that explore this cinematic type that simultaneously frightens and seduces viewers. These essays address a number of issues raised by the female vampire film, such as violence perpetrated on and by women; reactions to the genre from feminists, antifeminists, and postfeminists; the implications of female vampire films for audiences both gay and straight; and how films reflected the period during which they were created. Other topics include female vampire films in relationship to vampire fiction, particularly by women such as Anne Rice; the relationship of the vampire myth to sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS; issues of race and misogyny; and the unique phenomenon of teen vampires in young adult books and films such as Twilight. Featuring more than thirty photos spanning several decades, this collection offers a compelling assessment of an archetypal figure--an enduring representation of dark desires--that continues to captivate audience.

The seventies were a decade of groundbreaking horror films: The Exorcist, Carrie, and Halloween were three. This detailed filmography covers these and 173 more. Section One provides an introduction and a brief history of the decade. Section Two proceeds chronologically (from 1970) by year of U.S. release with an entry for each film. Each entry includes: Critical Reception (sampling both '70s and later reviews), Cast and Credits, Filmmaker's Comment (quoting a person pertinent to that film's production), Synopsis (summarizing the film's story), Commentary (analyzing the film from Muir's perspective), Legacy (noting the rank of especially worthy '70s films in the horror pantheon of decades following). Section Three contains a conclusion and these five appendices: horror film cliches of the 1970s, frequently appearing performers, memorable movie ads, recommended films that illustrate how 1970s horror films continue to impact the industry, and the 15 best genre films of the decade as chosen by Muir.

Horror cinema flourishes in times of ideological crisis and national trauma--the Great Depression, the Cold War, the Vietnam era, post-9/11--and this critical text argues that a succession of filmmakers working in horror--from James Whale to Jen and Sylvia Soska--have used the genre, and the shock value it affords, to challenge the status quo during these times. Spanning the decades from the 1930s onward it examines the work of producers and directors as varied as George A. Romero, Pete Walker, Michael Reeves, Herman Cohen, Wes Craven and Brian Yuzna and the ways in which films like Frankenstein (1931), Cat People (1942), The Woman (2011) and American Mary (2012) can be considered "subversive."

Covering a range from supernatural fiction to dark fantasy to graphic horror, these 25 interviewees discuss the creative challenges, expectations and conventions of the horror genre. These authors, directors and actors working in the horror genre include Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, James Herbert, Joe Hill, Steve Niles, Sarah Pinborough, John Carpenter, Mick Garris, Stuart Gordon, Rob Zombie, Christa Campbell, Zach Galligan, Betsy Palmer and Ron Perlman.

Since the early 2000s, zombies have increasingly swarmed the landscape of popular culture, with ever more diverse representations of the undead being imagined. A growing number of zombie narratives have introduced sexual themes, endowing the living dead with their own sexual identity. The unpleasant idea of the sexual zombie is itself provocative, triggering questions about the nature of desire, sex, sexuality, and the politics of our sexual behaviors. However, the notion of zombie sex has been largely unaddressed in scholarship. This collection addresses that unexamined aspect of zombiedom, with essays engaging a variety of media texts, including graphic novels, films, television, pornography, literature, and internet meme culture. The essayists are scholars from a variety of disciplines, including history, theology, film studies, and gender and queer studies. Covering The Walking Dead, Warm Bodies, and Bruce LaBruce's zombie-porn movies, this work investigates the cultural, political and philosophical issues raised by undead sex and zombie sexuality.

A striking and ambitious collection of gay horror fiction by some of today's hottest authors and talented newcomers covering a wide range of creatures of the night and all manner of urban terrors. These dark and sometimes disturbing tales expand the boundaries of the horror genre, with the sexuality of their protagonists a point of reference for the 'horror' of otherness that defines and, at times, divides us. Includes work from Don Mancini, Ron Oliver, Michael Thomas Ford, Thomas S Roche, Lewis Gannett, Nancy Kilpatrick, and Brian Hodge.

Things that go bump in the night. Ghosts of dead lovers who hang about trying to impart one final wish. Tragedies in houses that leave ethereal remnants skulking in the dark. Even a haunted space station. These talented gay and lesbian ghost stories range from the soulful to the hilarious to the downright horrifying, and they never disappoint.