Sponsored by DC.
New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp (This Is Where It Ends) and artist Manuel Preitano unveil a graphic novel that explores the dark corridors of Barbara Gordon’s first mystery: herself. After a gunshot leaves her paralyzed, Barbara Gordon enters the Arkham Center for Independence, where Gotham’s teens undergo physical and mental rehabilitation. Now using a wheelchair, Barbara must adapt to a new normal, but she cannot shake the feeling that something is dangerously amiss. In The Oracle Code, universal truths cannot be escaped, and Barbara Gordon must battle the phantoms of her past before they swarm her future.
Almost every horror fan knows about the trope of the Final Girl, the one who survives to the end of the film through no real merit of her own. She’s usually blonde. Usually small. Usually “pure.” She’s basically the one who DESERVES IT the least, but she doesn’t survive on any of her own merit.
That’s not necessarily how it works in real life, of course. Terrible things happen to good people all the time–but that doesn’t mean we can’t admire the strong women featured in horror novels. (Don’t worry, I’m not spoiling any plot points for you–I won’t say whether these girls make it to the end.)
By the way, I’m Mary Kay McBrayer, and I’ll be your Virgil through this realm of hell, the Final Girl. To commemorate this edition of The Fright Stuff, Book Riot’s weekly newsletter about the latest and greatest in horror, here’s a film still from the most epic Freudian horror film I’ve ever seen, The Descent. Here we go. Let’s talk about Final Girls (or women in horror in general) for Women’s History Month.
Earworm: “Bad Girls” by M.I.A.
Fresh hells (FKA new releases):
The Return by Rachel Harrison
If you like the noir-style of narrator as well as milennial-accessible language, you’ll love this debut novel from Rachel Harrison. When the prettiest of a group of four close college friends goes missing for two years and then suddenly returns, they go on a girls’ trip. They realize almost as soon as they get to the hotel, though, that something is wrong with the one who has returned.
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
This is the fourth of Grady Hendrix’s horror novels, and if you loved his novel, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, like I did, you’ll love this one, too. The narrative moves at a clip, but it does not sacrifice the development of its characters–something that I found particularly refreshing about this book because, as the title implies, white-wine-drinking, affluent housewives are seldom taken seriously, much less in the Charleston of the 1990s, and much much less when a wealthy-yet-vampire stranger is involved. (This one has his trademark visceral descriptions of gore, too, don’t worry!)
Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed
Molecular biologist turned author, Premee Mohamed, introduces us to best friends Nick and Joanna. When Joanna “invents a clean reactor that could eliminate fossil fuels and change the world, she awakens primal, evil Ancient Ones set on subjugating humanity.” This novel is a bildungsroman set among a “war of eldritch horror.”
Cryptkeepers (FKA horrors from the backlist):
Men, Women, and Chainsaws by Carol Clover
If you’re looking for the ultimate horror criticism, this is the one you can’t do without. Carol Clover coined the term “final girl,” and she’s responsible for identifying a lot more of them, like “the terrible place,” for example. I particularly like her analysis of the occult in horror films, and what it means based on the characters’ genders.
“Inventory” by Carmen Maria Machado
This story is featured in her debut collection, Her Body and Other Parties, and I thought it was particularly apt since it deals with the theme of terminal disease spreading because people can’t stay away from each other. It’s also harrowing and sexy, and if you’re in the mood to read some horror about hypothetical plague, you can read the short story online here.
Paradise by Toni Morrison
This narrative is set 17 miles outside of Ruby, an all-Black town in Oklahoma, at a decadent edifice nicknamed The Convent, which houses four women who are nothing close to nuns. The book opens with the men of Ruby waging war on the women’s homes. This novel is by Toni Morrison. Just go get it. You won’t regret it.
Harbingers (FKA news of the literary horror world):
According to this study, women authors lead literary fiction book sales, so that’s dope.
Check out this new research on one of our wonderful women classic horror/sci-fi authors, Octavia Butler, “Finding Octavia Butler’s Pasadena.”
The freaky medieval legend behind this holy well was one of the inspirations behind Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Want to know why Stephen King is so hard to adapt? Check out this article.
While we socially distance ourselves in our own homes, you might want to read about the homes/manors of Gothic heroines… whose homes are always bigger than they seem.
Want to read horror literature about pandemics? Check this out.
What about the horrors of social distancing? Read here.
Though it may not seem to be on theme for horror literature, you can read about what it’s like to promote a book during a pandemic, and if you want to help those authors, here’s a list of book tours that have been canceled, and how to pay it forward.
Here’s what New York Indie Bookstores are doing to survive among the doom and gloom.
And if you’re looking for short-notice horror reads till your orders get delivered, did you know that FANGORIA is opening up its content digitally for two months free?
For more literary updates on the COVID-19 pandemic, click here.
I’m Mary Kay McBrayer, and you can find me on Twitter or Instagram– make sure y’all get at me with any important news that I missed! Stay safe and sequestered!
Your Virgil,
Mary Kay McBrayer
Co-host of Book Riot’s literary fiction podcast, Novel Gazing