The Gothic Dispatch, Author at The Gothic Dispatch

Edward Gorey photographed in the window of a department store.

There Was Just One, and Now It’s Dead: Remembering Edward Gorey

Posted on 21 February 202521 February 2025 by The Gothic Dispatch

During his lifetime, Edward Gorey was presumed to be English, Victorian and dead. One of them, at least, is now true.

Join me in marking what would have been the 100th birthday of the Grandfather of Goth with a whistle-stop tour of his life, work and death. Hear his stories of a perfectly ordinary childhood that was really anything but. Follow him to New York City and the Gotham Book Mart, where he became a cult icon. And see if you can succeed where he could not in escaping the long shadow of Dracula.

In a black and white film still, a woman points a small pistol at a man, the two staring at each other in early 20th century fashion.

How Can I Use That?: The Influences of Edward Gorey

Posted on 19 February 202519 February 2025 by The Gothic Dispatch

He famously read Dracula at the age of seven. From then on, Edward Gorey and his host of pale-skinned, dark-eyed characters feasted on culture wherever they could find it.

Join me in marking what would have been the 100th birthday of the Grandfather of Goth by digging into his biggest influences. Piece together the clues scattered throughout his life. Examine the strange and disturbing marks they left on his work. And hunt his favourite artists, writers and filmmakers around the world and through the centuries.

The cover of Edward Gorey's book, The Gashlycrumb Tinies.

Goofy, Elegant Murders: The Essential Works of Edward Gorey

Posted on 17 February 202518 February 2025 by The Gothic Dispatch

Edward Gorey wrote 116 books of his own, illustrated more than 500 for other writers and left behind boxes of unfinished manuscripts. So, where should you start?

Join me in marking what would have been the 100th birthday of the Grandfather of Goth by picking out some of his most essential and influential stories. Learn why The Gashlycrumb Tinies and The Doubtful Guest are still delighting readers today. Discover disturbing stories you might have missed. And hear the writer-illustrator pick out his own favourites – before drawing your own conclusions.

A young woman is sitting in a chair reading a story which has made her nervous. Source: Wellcome Images

I Waked One Morning From a Dream: What Is Gothic Literature?

Posted on 16 January 202516 January 2025 by The Gothic Dispatch

There have been many nights when I’ve laid awake wondering: What makes a book Gothic? Who decides what is and isn’t Gothic fiction? And why, why, why do I keep reading them?

It’s time to reveal the truth about Gothic literature. Together, we’ll unravel the fragments, falsehoods and frame narratives to separate fact from fiction. Interrogate Gothic literature’s most renowned writers – including Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis. And find out why this obscure, 200-year-old genre is still haunting us today.

The King’s Men at Rollright – a stone circle dating back to around 2500 BC.

The Legend of the Rollright Stones, Where a Witch Tricked a King

Posted on 31 October 202431 October 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

While you or I may – and should – depart this strange site as soon as possible, the King’s Men at Rollright must themselves wait until midnight. Or so goes one of the many stories.

Greetings from the Rollright Stones, three ancient arrangements in a field in Oxfordshire, England. Hear the stories, both plausible and improbable, behind their mysterious appearance. Pay tribute to the wooden witch that still watches over them. And if you’re spending the night in the nearby village, make sure you’re safe in bed before the clock strikes midnight.

Quite at Home in Hell: A Eulogy to Gothic Master Painter Henry Fuseli

Posted on 10 October 202410 October 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

If there’s a word for the sensation of recognising something from a dream, I’m sure I don’t know it. But the proliferation of Henry Fuseli’s work means we all know the feeling.

Tonight, light a candle for Henry Fuseli, whose painting The Nightmare has influenced 250 years of Gothic imagery. See his dark and obscure interpretations of some of English literature’s greatest characters. Uncover the lies that inspired some of his finest and most Gothic work. And wonder, much like Fuseli’s own tormented dreamer, where you’ve seen all this before.

The Keble College chapel, an enormous red and white brick Gothic Revival building on the edge of a green quad.

Gothic Revival Masterpiece Keble College and the Quest To Destroy It

Posted on 19 September 202419 September 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

I have no shortage of critics, be they of my writing, my comportment or my appearance. But even their numbers cannot rival those of the Destroy Keble Society.

Greetings from Keble College, one of the many colleges that make up Oxford University and, most certainly, the least popular. Discover the unsavoury source of the fortune that funded its building. Hear the horrible things that England’s brightest minds have said about its Gothic Revival style. And if you’re a member of rival St John’s College, please leave your chisel at the gate.

The statue of the devil in Madrid, now exhibited as the Fountain of the Fallen Angel. The bronze sculpture of an angel writhes in agony, wrapped in snakes.

The Fountain of the Fallen Angel is the world’s oldest statue of the devil

Posted on 19 August 202419 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

Spain would have you believe that it’s home to the world’s first and only monument to the devil. But it doesn’t know some of the people I do. This is merely the first and only one in public.

Greetings from the Fountain of the Fallen Angel in Madrid’s El Retiro park, where pride comes before, during and after the fall. Get as close as you dare to a statue commemorating the origins of evil. Ponder the strange coincidence that placed it exactly 666 metres above sea level. And remember that, no matter your sins, somebody else has almost certainly done worse.

The exterior of the Museo del Prado in Madrid, with its large statue of Francisco de Goya outside.

The gothic moods of Francisco de Goya’s Black Paintings

Posted on 18 July 202415 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

There aren’t many people who could withdraw to a remote farmhouse, paint horrifying scenes on the walls and be hailed for their genius. Francisco de Goya was one of them. I am not.

Greetings from the Museo del Prado, one of the world’s most prestigious art museums and home of the 14 Black Paintings of Francisco de Goya. Discover some of the darkest work of Goya’s life and the tragedies that inspired it. Lose yourself in scenes of witchcraft and violence, gothic moods of which he was a master. And do your best to keep the work out of sight – just as the artist intended.

A view over the courtyard of San Juan de los Reyes.

Solemnity, seclusion and sin at San Juan de los Reyes Monastery

Posted on 17 June 202415 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

Matthew Lewis’s novel The Monk is full of gothic obscurity. I travelled to Toledo to get as close as possible to the novel’s setting – as long as you don’t mean geographically.

Greetings from San Juan de los Reyes Monastery, where Franciscan monks lived and studied in solemnity and seclusion. Discover the corridors and chapel of the monastery built for Spanish royalty. Wonder at the possible sins and secrets kept behind the many locked doors. And succeed where the monk Ambrosio and I have failed, in staying on the path of virtue.