Goth Book Club: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Vampires are back in vogue and I have questions.

Hello! How are you this week? I’ve been hella struggling since the semester ended — almost like not being in crazy schedule mode makes it harder to get things done. Though I feel a bit like the fog is lifting. After an insanely busy February and March, April has been (so far) full of good news, so I’m trying to remember to count the things I’m proud of and the things I’ve achieved rather than focus so much on the things I haven’t done or struggled to do. I literally finished a script and a 7,000 word short story and a huge grant application on top of teaching and also supervising a dozen and a half students on their final creative writing projects, which was so fulfilling.

I’m now switching gears back to my next book project which feels a little bit like a puzzle right now. I’ll have a bad writing day and feel like I’m totally stuck but if I’m being honest I’ve put like 3,000 words into the project over a couple of weeks, among finding new ways into the work, and that is something. This is me reminding myself that yes it’s something, whatever it is. :~)

Speaking of incredible new achievements,

Juliet Escoria

and

Mesha Maren

have launched

Zona Motel

, which is a sharp black scream into the too-shiny void of big five publishing and polished lit scenes. They publish essays, reviews, interviews, dispatches and most importantly, gossip. Read the manifesto, read the publication and then submit 🎱💋

In other news, I also opened applications to Fuck, Marry, Kill, my six-month workshop that starts this June. Applications close May 1. All you really need to send is just a writing sample. Click the button to learn more and apply, if you feel so inclined.

The next Goth Book Club meet up is 18 May, 8pm GMT / 3pm EST! We’ll be reading Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima. My cover doesn’t look like this! I need to find my copy, it’s an older one too. 🫠

Onto Stoker’s Dracula: I have so many thoughts. Is it horny? A cautionary tale? How well do modern adaptations interpret it? In this month’s replay of Goth Book Club, we talked about everything from queerness in Stoker’s fiction, if reading Victorian texts is hard or if Stoker’s writing is just too wordy, to whether or not the new Nosferatu film is good, actually. Spoiler: I am VERY on the fence! I’ve been so on the fence I’ve been trying to write an intro to this for two weeks circling around my feelings about it, and instead am going to make it an essay.

Thank you for everyone who joined on this one! We went a little over time because

Josh Link

, who co-hosts Taste the Pod of Dracula, joined us late and I really wanted to pick his brain. Then we started talking about Robert Eggers, lol.

The replay is available below! 🧛🏻‍♂️