Recs if you like The Boatman's Daughter...

A selection of contemporary Southern Gothic titles exploring the decay, despair, and trauma of the reconstructed American South. Come for the palpably atmospheric settings and descriptions, stay for the literary commentary on the legacy of the South's oft-romanticized past.

As a note: I did not include the most well known writers in the genre, e.g. Truman Capote, Harper Lee, William Faulkner, etc. as the list is more focused on the resurgence of Southern Gothic in contemporary literature.

It’s hot and humid, the cicadas are buzzing, and there’s violence in the air.

Horror books and short stories set in the Deep South.

Think: swamps, bayous, bullfrogs, Spanish moss, hauntings, haints, voodoo/hoodoo, monsters hidden in plain sight, structural violence, and the oppressive weight of history.

Comps: True Detective S1; Sinners; South of Midnight

❗️Some of the these books are classified as extreme horror/splatterpunk. PLEASE protect yourself, and check all trigger warnings.❗️

recommendations welcomed

We think of summer as the season of light, but shadows are longest when the sun is highest. It is the time of the year when the woods grow too thick to see through, the water grows too dark to see into, and the heat makes the mind play tricks. From the rotting porches of the South to the blood-stained cabins of the North... We call them the Summer Nightmares.

For when you want a horror novel that gets down and dirty with the land

Goth books, watch out though, some might crossover into Vampire territory!

unnerving, unsettling, spooky or generally creepy books that take place in summer + have that slow scorching summer dread vibe

Salt, shipwrecks, and stories that pull you under.

Horror books that either primarily or exclusively take place in Louisiana. Tried to stick to horror and not venture out into thriller territory!

The wettest horror in town — watery graves, haunted dams, spooky shipwrecks, black oceans that exist beyond the limits of man — this list has got it all.

Rule #1 of the Holler: If you hear something calling your name, no you didn't.