Hot Goth in the city
3 novels that prove thrills and chills aren't only for remote locations
Looking for a good read for spooky season? Check out “Viiiiiiiibes” or “Something witchy this way comes” for additional recommendations!
If you think you can only have spooky encounters in a lonely house in the middle of nowhere, think again. This week’s recs are all set in bustling cities, but are every bit as uncanny and unsettling as their countryside counterparts.
Hey, what’s the uncanny?
As I put together this week’s recs, I realized that they’re all united by a strong sense of the uncanny, as well as by their urban setting.
The uncanny is a term coined by Freud that basically means familiar and strange at the same time. So, for example: you meet someone who looks exactly like a person you know, but it’s not them — uncanny. You return to a familiar place, but something has changed…you’re just not sure what — uncanny. It’s a big part of Gothic novels, which often create feelings of unease through uncanny occurrences.
Is it connected to the uncanny valley?
Yup! The uncanny valley describes the way that certain animated or digital representations of humans can be deeply unsettling. My grandmother used to hate cartoons because they weirded her out, and I was always confused by that as a child — now I know why!
Here’s the general idea: as the animation of a character becomes more and more lifelike, it hits a point right before a photograph of an actual person, say, where it makes viewers really uncomfortable. This 30 Rock clip does a great job describing it (start around 1:35 for the uncanny valley).
So basically, you’re looking at an image of a human that feels like it’s almost alive, but not quite. If you find dolls or clowns creepy, you’re probably experiencing some version of the uncanny valley. They’re almost human, but something is…off. Uncanny!
Recommendations
Without further ado, 3 uncanny, Goth-ish novels set in cities. None of these are straightforwardly Gothic, but they have some of the same vibes. Enjoy!
When No One Is Watching (2020) by Alyssa Cole
I enjoyed this thriller so much that I ended up reading it again — okay, listening to it again — in preparation for this newsletter. A lot of reviews compare Cole’s book to Rear Window, and there’s definitely an element of that, but I think the more apt comparison is Gaslight, but with gentrification. Sydney Green returns to the Brooklyn neighborhood where she grew up, only to discover that it’s changing rapidly. Her old neighbors are being pushed out, people are disappearing, and strange things are happening, but she’s constantly being told, “isn’t it great? the neighborhood is so much better than it used to be!”. Even though Sydney knows that something is wrong, she can’t put her finger on what, and, like Ingrid Bergman’s character in Gaslight, she starts to wonder if she’s going crazy. The uncanny is everywhere in this novel: it’s Sydney’s old neighborhood, but also it’s not; it’s slavery, redlining, and restrictive covenants all over again, but it’s also something new.
In the categories from “Recommendation remix,” this is very much beach read, but a smart one!
The Changeling (2017) by Victor LaValle
You know the old British lore about human babies being changed out for fairies? Well imagine that, but in Queens in the 21st century. Again, the uncanny is all over the place: your baby, but not. I don’t want to give too much away, but suffice to say the book starts with Apollo and Emma, who meet, fall in love, and have a baby, but then Emma loses her mind a little bit and things take a very dark turn. Apollo spends the rest of the novel plunged into a fantastical NYC, trying to figure out what has happened to his wife and child.
Fun fact: LaValle is also the author of Destroyer (mentioned in “How about a graphic novel?”). I absolutely love his work. In the “Recommendation remix” categories, I would probably put this in serious fiction — I remember thinking it was capital G Good when I read it several years ago.
Neverwhere (1996) by Neil Gaiman
And finally, a classic from the patron saint of goths everywhere, Neil Gaiman. I read this years ago, and I’ve been listening to the audiobook this time around (read by Neil himself) and loving it just as much as I did the first time! What if the London you knew was only one half of the city? We occupy London Above, but Neverwhere introduces us to the dark, fantastical world of London Below. This book is a classic hero’s journey into the unknown, as Richard Mayhew gets plunged into London Below and must find his way through. There’s lots of whimsy — what if Earl’s Court tube station was an actual court with an actual earl? — and plenty of darkness (literal and figurative), but I would say the tone of the book is less scary and more like a modern fairytale. In the “Recommendation remix” categories, I’d put this in stop trying to scare me!
Now get out there and enjoy this beautiful weekend! The moon is full and Halloween is just around the corner. Wishing you fall foliage, pumpkin muffins, a chill in the air, and a chill down your spine. See you Tuesday!