Published in 2021
184 pages
Alex Woodroe is a Romanian writer and editor of dark speculative fiction. She’s the editor-in-chief of Tenebrous Press. Her folk horror/fantasy book, Whisperwood is coming July 2023 from Flame Tree Press, and she has short stories and non-fiction published across venues like The Horror Library, The NoSleep Podcast, and Nightmare Magazine. She’s passionate about infusing her country’s culture, food, and folklore into her work, and loves talking shop at @AlexWoodroe.
Victoria Nations writes Gothic and weird horror, often about creatures with emotional baggage. Her fiction appears in In Somnio: A Collection of Modern Gothic Horror, Blood & Bone: An Anthology of Body Horror by Women & Non-Binary Writers, and Dangerous Waters: Deadly Women of the Sea, among other publications. Her poetry appears in Magpie Messenger Literary Magazine, “HWA Poetry Showcase, Volume IX,” and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated anthology, Mother: Tales of Love and Terror.
Victoria is a member of the Horror Writers Association, the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. She lives in Florida with her wife and son, who indulge her love of monsters.
What is this book about?
THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOTH
Twenty-five women and non-binary creators from the worlds of Horror Fiction and Illustration coalesce into an unholy union and drag the blackened heart of Classic Gothic Horror into modern daylight. In the process, they have sculpted an altogether sleeker, more feral beast.
In the hands of Mary Shelley, Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson, Gothic Horror explored the bleak shadows of our homes; the darkest corners of the human mind; madness, personal transformation, the occult. In Somnio recasts the legacy of the original Gothmothers in a chilling contemporary light.
Within the walls of an arcane modern art gallery; upon the shores of a hostile but compelling sea; into the blackest burrows of the animal kingdom; tableside at the world’s last restaurant on the eve of the apocalypse; from the deep deep South to a Lovecraftian Steampunk theatre, a cornucopia of disturbing vignettes await you.
Fans of twisted takes on the classics such as Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters; Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House/Bly Manor; moody, secretive novels like Night Film and A House at the Bottom of the Lake; and traditional Gothic Horror and ghost stories will all find something to chill their bones in In Somnio.
This collection features eighteen vibrant, unique stories ranging from deeply intimate one-room settings to sprawling fantasy worlds; from the depths of darkness to comedy and adventure. Each story brings a new perspective to our inherent love of Gothic Horror and what those vital elements of terror still have to say today.
