Dear reader,

Hello and welcome to the first edition of the New Gothic Review!

As is perhaps expected, we are long time admirers of Gothic literature and the phenomenal works that have emerged from the genre. Inspired by our love for these classic tales, we built this magazine to cultivate stories that reimagined the Gothic genre for the 21st century.

We were thus forced to ask ourselves what constitutes the “modern” 21st century Gothic? Must it contain a contemporary setting? Must it stem from the familiar Gothic tropes or must they evolve from something new entirely? As the submissions came pouring in, we told ourselves that we would know it when we saw it. But it was not that simple.

At its core, we see the Gothic as a mode by which we materialize our fears and anxieties, giving a space for us to confront them. Everything else is extra. Although the Gothic has such a rich history tied to place and tradition, its tenets are truly universal. The genre does not belong to any one type of story, just as it does not belong to any one culture or region of the world. If there are barriers to what Gothic literature can or cannot be, we want to bring them down. 

We want to open the door as wide as possible. We want to show that the Gothic is just as present on the beaches of Hawaii as it is in the English countryside. We want to celebrate any story that embraces the Gothic spirit and forces us to reconsider what the Gothic can be. And, at the end of the day, we hope to showcase collections of stories that connect us to new Gothic worlds and show how this beautiful genre is a universally human one. We couldn’t be more enthusiastic about these first six stories and how they accomplish exactly that.

We hope you enjoy it.

Sincerely,

Ian, Zach, & Elizabeth