On a recent episode of the She Wore Black podcast, three authors talked about spending the summer watching scary movies, reading creepy books, and wearing SPF 100 as they wander along forlorn shores. YES! I thought. These are my people. So I borrowed the title for my own post about Goth-esque books, movies, and projects I’ve been enjoying this summer, fun-scary antidotes to the horrors of the real world.

Mystic Drive

I just finished another draft of my bubblegum horror novel (woo-hoo!) and hope to do one more pass before handing it off to my agent this fall with held breath and crossed fingers. It’s about a horror-loving teenager who searches for her mom but finds her town’s legends about murderous circus people might not be legends after all. It’s a little bit Stranger Things, a little bit Veronica Mars, and a whole lot of 1980s Goth/stoner Wisconsin.

Bubblegum horror

A new-ish subgenre that describes scary books and movies with a bright, pop-y, often funny aesthetic. Personally I’d argue almost every 1980s slasher falls into this category (looking at you, Nightmare on Elm Street), but movies like Lisa Frankenstein, Happy Death Day, and Bodies, Bodies, Bodies are more to the point.

As far as books, Ryan La Sala’s are a great example of bubblegum horror. He writes creepy stories with a sparkly setting (or should it be the other way round?). I recently finished and loved The Honeys and have Beholder on deck. Riley Sanger’s Final Girls kept me up all night, as did Christina Henry’s Good Girls Don’t Die. This fall, I’m really looking forward to Lish McBride’s upcoming Most Likely to Murder.

Wednesday’s back!

Oh man I’m trying not to binge the whole second season because my family wants to watch it too, but damn that show feeds my dark & gloomy soul. The aesthetic, the vibe, the humor…so good.

I also really enjoyed the second (final!) season of The Sandman. So cool to see those characters and sets I loved from the comics come alive like that. I’m also watching old episodes of True Blood, that porn-y, soap-y, bloody vampire (and werewolf and fairy) dramedy. Sometimes the wackiness and the gore get to be a little much, even for me, but mostly it’s fun.

Hooking and casting

Speaking of catching up, I’m absolutely hooked on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale and can’t believe I haven’t discovered it sooner. Ah well, I’ve got 100+ episodes to enjoy, and so do you if you think you’d like a pseudo-radio broadcast from a desert community where all the conspiracies are true.

I also like to listen to Monstrous Agonies (another brilliant faux-radio show offering advice for the creature community) while crocheting. I haven’t crocheted in forever–I’m more comfortable knitting–but this 6-week crochet-along from Sirdar and @happycrochetlady is Halloween-themed, complete with skulls, bats, and drips of blood. I mean, how could I not?

So even though there’s plenty of summer left to go, I’m happily ensconced in my creepy little bubble with a tall glass of pickle lemonade (seriously, it’s delicious). Bring on the sweltering heat and house-rattling thunderstorms, I’ve got my books and yarn to keep me grimly fiendish.