S.C. Green's Blog, page 16

Steff Reviews: Titus Andronicus at the Pop Up Globe, Auckland

Image from Becca Kennett (geckooo94 on Instagram)

Recently, a crazy man named Miles Gregory had a crazy idea: to build a pop-up replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and plonk it down in the middle of Auckland. Being a bit of a shakespeare fan and a huge fan of crazy people and their crazy ideas, my husband and I immediately jumped on the Kickstarter to support the endeavour. The Pop Up Globe was going to run a month-long Shakespeare festival in March to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s life.

It turned out that so many people were so enthusiastic about this idea that the Pop-Up Globe got enough corporate sponsorship they were able to get the thing up-and-running without the Kickstarter. So they cancelled the campaign, but not before offering everyone who’d pledged a free ticket to a show of their choice. We decided to use that ticket for 12th Night, and that we would be a bit indulgent and book ourselves for an ultimate Shakespeare experience – seats in a Lord’s Box directly above the stage – the rooms where, in Shakespeare’s time, royalty and nobility would have sat to enjoy the plays without having to rub noses with the plebs. We managed to rope some other awesome people to joining us, leaving the cost of this extravagance not much more than a ticket to a decent international metal band. Worth it? Oh hell yes.

We chose Titus Andronicus because none of us had ever seen it before, and because we love anything with a bit of gore. No, it lacks the fine storytelling finesse of Macbeth, or the memorable humanism of Romeo & Juliet. It’s confusing, and full of ghastly people doing horrific things. T.S Eliot once called it “one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written.” It is a play without redemption, and yet, it is all the more delightful for the ugly spell it casts upon you. It doesn’t hurt that director Benjamin Henson injects a healthy dose of black comedy into the script, giving this usually absurd plot a new context and a framework that make it engaging to a fresh audience.

View of the Globe from the Pop-Up Bar.

Before the show we relaxed in the associated “pop-up” garden bar outside. The Church Road Winery have done a lovely job of creating a lively and comfortable space in what is usually a crappy, dirty parking lot. The only complaint from my group is the lack of beer choices on the menu. And no, “Heineken” is not a choice. It is never a choice.

Once inside, we were escorted to our box on the upper level. A line of cushioned, Tudor-style chairs were set up along the opening, and a table and sideboard were set up to hold our food, drinks, and belongings. A waiter emerged from the curtains and took our food and drink orders. This done, we could enjoy the spectacle as it unfolded.

The setting had a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max feel, with the cast members wearing tattered rags and fighting with sticks. A gnarled crown marked Saturninus (James Roque) as the new emperor. The only props on stage were aluminium ladders, a couple of wooden scaffolding planks, and some torn construction netting. The pre-show entertainment consisted of a strange and unnerving game of rugby, with the players grunting and leaping as they fought over the “prize” – a mangy teddy bear.

Paul Lewis gave an impressive performance as Titus, the celebrated General who returned to Rome only to have this bitter tragedy play out. I was also enthralled by Jason Hodzelmans’ horned Aaron, the Moor who served as Tamora’s lover in some rather racy scenes that had the whole theatre in stitches. But to me, the standout actor was Cole Jenkins, who played Tamora, the captured Gothic Queen who orchestrated the rape of Titus’ daughter Lavinia and the killing of his sons for the crime. Jenkins doesn’t attempt to camp up his performance, using only the visual clues of a frilled skirt (more of a war-kilt, really) and his gaffer-tape breasts to mark him as a woman. Instead, he focuses on the raw emotions and visceral reactions of his cruel character, and plays her with aplomb. The play is as much Tamora’s tragedy as it is Titus’, for in the end, she unwittingly commits an unforgivable sin, eating a pie (or in this case, a rather exquisite-looking cupcake) containing the cooked remains of her own sons.

In typical Jacobean style, the cast is all men, and this fact when placed in the strange post-apocalyptic setting in front of a modern audience, gives the play a fascinating, surreal quality. From the moment Tamora is “made” onstage (using some handy gaffer tape), the audience is enthralled. The troupe employs many elements of black comedy, leading to some truly delightful moments in amongst all the gore (the dog-racing on sticks being one moment that comes to mind!) I got a little thrill every time one of the actors looked up at us, speaking their lines as though they were directed to us. They swung through the groundlings and even up into the stands and boxes, making not just the enormous stage but the entire theatre their playground. The result felt more intimate than perhaps any other theatre performance I’ve ever seen, even though we were way up above the stage in the heavens.

Seeing Shakespeare performed always makes me feel suspended in time, but this feeling is intensified when sitting (or standing) in the Pop-Up Globe. An exact size replica of the Second Globe theatre (built after the first burned down in 1613) the space is surprisingly small and intimate. Spectators sit in the round, surrounding the stage on all sides and some (the Groundlings, so-called because they stand on the ground) even leaning up against it. The stage takes up fully one half of the ground-space, and the theatre is open to the elements, leaving the actors the additional challenges of competing against traffic noise and passing Hare-Krishna troupes.

For the actors and producers of these plays, the arrangement of the Globe presents unique challenges. Actors have to perform in the round, directing needs to allow as many people as possible to understand what’s happening on stage. There’s nowhere to hide. There can be no fancy tricks. And that’s why it works, and why Henson’s treatment works so well. It’s raw and visceral and appeals to the basest human qualities of love and hate and revenge.

I noticed the character of Marius (Titus’ brother) has been deleted, which was a great decision, as it omitted one more confusing element from the play.

The second act contained the most wrenching moment of the play, when Titus discovers his mutilated daughter, and then unceremoniously sacrifices his own hand that his sons may be spared, only to then have their heads dumped on stage in plastic garbage bags. This is only topped by Tamora’s screech when she realises she’s eaten her beloved son. This is not theatre for the faint-of-heart.

A standing ovation seemed the only fitting way to honour the actors who brought the whole experience to life. The Pop-Up Globe is an amazing venue and I’ve heard it’s going to be touring the world soon. You won’t want to miss it. What an amazing night! I’m forever grateful to live in a city where I can experience such wicked things, and that I have friends who, when one says, “Lets get a box and watch Shakespeare”, answer with “fuck yes!”

The Pop-Up Globe has been so popular they’ve been going for nearly three months. There are performances all through April, and then it’s gone forever. So if you’re in Auckland and get the chance, GO! It’s a pretty unique experience.

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What I learned after two years of indie publishing

I posted this on my private Facebook yesterday. I was actually just going to say, “Yay, 2 years since I published my first novel!” but it ended up being a bit more involved. A lot of friends messaged or commented to say it really helped or inspired them, so I thought you might enjoy it.

The image above is a picture of my book The Sunken on the shelf of Clockwork Steampunk Emporium in Wellington. I was down in the windy city over the weekend marrying some lovely people in a cemetery, and so I popped in to see my books in the wild for the first time ever. It’s a pretty incredible feeling, actually.

Anyway, read this little thing I wrote, if you want. And maybe share it with others if you think it might be inspiring or useful.

***

On this day two years ago I self-published my first ever novel: a silly satire horror tale about metalheads fighting in the apocalypse. It features some bizarrely absurd situations, terrible editing, and a lot of bad drummer jokes. To date, At War With Satan has sold less than 100 copies, and cost me more to produce than I’ll probably ever make back from its paltry royalties.

But publishing this book wasn’t about the money. It was an attempt to claim back some kind of confidence in my own work after years of constant rejections by publishers. It taught me that I didn’t have to ask permission to put something creative out in the world. It taught me that art is not made in publishing houses or writing workshops, it’s made by people like me, one word or stroke or movement at a time. I didn’t have to be Hemingway or Pratchett or Bradbury to find an audience. It taught me that I am good enough, just the way I am.

Two years, ten novels, 20k books sold and one USA-Today placing later, I am still not perfect. I am still not the writer I want to be, but I’m a hell of a lot closer. Every book is a step toward that goal, and along the way I’m picking up wonderful, amazing readers and meeting incredible writers and growing a thicker skin and learning so much and having the most fun ever. I am so INSANELY grateful to everyone who brought a copy of this book, or any of my books, or who shared stuff with their friends or who cheered me on – you gave me confidence that maybe I could really do this. Maybe I am not an imposter.

If you have a song to write, a story to tell, or some awesome idea you love, but you’re afraid of the next step, of not being good enough – then I reckon you should get it out there anyway. It’s as easy and as difficult as hitting PUBLISH. (Or the equivalent in your discipline). You can crash and burn, and that sucks, but it sucks even worse to hide behind fear.

Art doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to change the world. Maybe the only person it will change is you.

One of my favourite not-really-Van Gogh quotes is “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint’. Then by all means paint, and the voice will be silenced.”

Dali said, “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.”

And, in the immortal words of Chuck Wendig, “Art harder, motherfucker.”

Note: Please don’t go and buy At War With Satan. I’m releasing an updated version this year to fix some of the editing issues. Then I’m going to give it away for free, so you can grab a copy then, especially if you love drummer jokes. If you want to know when that gets released, then sign up for my newsletter (you get a couple of free books, too!).

On Dreams

I’ve been having these really strange dreams lately.

Now that, in itself, is not a particularly interesting statement. Most people’s dreams are strange. In fact, it would be far more interesting to hear about someone’s mundane dreams – the dreams where you’re stacking the dishwasher, or talking to your financial advisor about stock market fluctuations. But considering my dream life is quite odd to start with, this new odd dreamscape is making me a little nervous.

I remember nearly every dream I have. It’s the most common morning conversation between my husband and I, usually while we’re watching the sun rise on our drive in to work. “Last night I dreamed I was at this wild party thrown for someone I used to know in high school, and there was this whole table laden with food, and I spent the entire dream choosing what I was going to eat, and never got to eat anything! Now I’m hungry. We should stop at that bakery for pie.“ He, in contrast, has remembeed less than ten dreams since we got married, and they’re usually nightmares of some sort.

(He probably remembers more, but I suspect most of them are R-rated and therefore not appropriate sunrise-driving-conversation topics.)

Unlike most people who recognise familiar people in dreams by their appearance or face, most of the people I recognise in my dreams I do so by intuition. Ofthen the person looks nothing like they do in real life. Sometimes they will have additional details that I will also perceive by “knowing” rather than seeing them or being told about them. As part of my eye condition, I don’t see any colours, but I might “know” that someone is wearing a red scarf.

I also have a lot of recurring dreams – usually not so much the exact same dream, over and over, but dreams that are very similar, with similar themes. Recurring dreams are usually nightmares – although this is probably because people are much more likely to remember nightmares – but mine are around 40% nightmares, 60% plain old ordinary weird dreams. For example, I have a recurring dream about walking through a kind of dry field and then coming across this large climbing frame – like a kids jungle gym – which I then start to climb on. And it’s quite fun but as I’m rolling through tunnels and swinging on monkey bars and climbing nets and things, the climbing frame just keeps getting longer and longer, and I can tell it’s a kind of path toward something, but I never find the end of it.

Sometimes in the recurring dreams, I relive some of my favourite memories, just slightly oddly. Those are awesome. There are a few memories in particular that show up a lot. On the other hand, sometimes I relive traumatic events. They always come as I start to think I’m putting those things behind me, and they bring back all that raw, horrific emotion. It’s as if my consciousness doesn’t want to forget, as if I know that those things are a vital part of what makes me who I am.

I’ve also had prophetic dreams before, although not so many of these. I had one about the two towers the night before that happened. I was working in one tower and my boyfriend at the time was in the second tower, and I could see through a window that he was making out with another girl. I was really angry, and then his tower fell to the ground and my tower was rumbling and everyone was yelling to get out. I ran down the stairwell, papers flying all around me, everything shaking. I was tearing down the stairs but they just kept going and then I woke up, and my Dad was yelling to get up and see what had happened on the news.

So that was freaky.

And then I have consecutive dreams. I don’t even know what you’d really call them. I can’t find much scientific or psychological study on them, apart from Freud, and truthfully, I don’t want that man anywhere near my head. These consecutive dreams tell a continuing story over a series of dreams, live a TV series. Each dream picks up when the other one leaves off.

I experience a consecutive dream about once every three years. They might be 3 dreams in the same night that flow on from each other, or a few dreams over a course of nights. The longest I’ve had has been about a week. But the dreams I’m experiencing at the moment have been running consecutively for two weeks now, with some nights containing three of more dreams that all run in sequence.

In the current dream sequence, my husband and I are house-sitting for a very rich family that we clearly know but have never met. This house-sitting seems to go on for an indeterminate length of time. The house is enormous, and although the kitchen, living room, garden/pool area and master bedroom remain the same in each dream, other rooms and areas seem to come and go as they please.

In some dreams we have different friends over for parties or board games. In other dreams we are exploring the rooms of the house, opening new doors to discover strange and sometimes sinister spaces. In some dreams … well, some are not rated PG.

90% of the dreams have been relatively pleasant, although a few have been quite disturbing, which I think is owing to the fact I was reading a Darcy Coates novel immediately before turning out the light. The changing house might also have something to do with House of Leaves, which I finished late last year.

After the first five nights of dreams, we actually brought the house from the people who owned it, and we’re now living there full time, along with a couple of ghosts and several cats and occasionally one of those giant blind penguins from Lovecraft’s The Mountains of Madness.

So what the fuck is going on in my head?

What are Dreams, Anyway?

Cats dream, too.

Scientifically speaking, dreams are very poorly understood. We know they are stories and images your brain makes while you sleep, and we know that most other animals experience dreams, too. Dreams contain themes, stories, characters, places, objects and concerns that mirror our waking lives but are also completely bizzare and unfathomable.

Your brain and body cycle through different stages of sleep all night. REM sleep (no, not named after a soft-rock band, it stands for Rapid-Eye-Movement, because that’s what your eyes do during this sleep stage) is the deepest form of that sleep, and an ordinary adult will enter this sleep phase about 4-5 times a night. Each time you enter REM phase, you’ll have a dream, and each phase is a little longer, so your first dream of the night (which might be about 20-30 minutes after you go to sleep) will be short, only a few seconds, but the last dream of the night is about an hour, and that’s the one you usually remember.

As to why we dream, that’s a much more complex question. Scientists speculate that dreaming is a form of offline memory processing. It’s out brains sorting through stuff that’s happened to us or what we’re thinking about and tidying everything up. The sensory experiences we have – the dreams – are the brain projecting this organisation.

Others classify dreams as a unique state of consciousness – one where you exist in three temporal dimensions, at the same time experiencing the present, remembering the past and preparing for the future.

Apparently, people with sleep disorders like insomnia remember more dreams than your average human. Which might explain the vivid dreams of my youth.

Interpreting Dreams

When I was about ten, I ordered a book from the Scholastic catelogue on dreams. It was a fascinating read, because it explained what (little) scientists knew about dreams, and went in to how you might be able to interpret some dreams. I was starting to understand that my dream patterns weren’t necessarily a commonality between all people, and I became interested in the idea of finding out more about them.

The book suggested keeping a dream journal, which I have done off and on for years (although I was plagued by quite brutal insomnia until the age of 21, so there wasn’t as much dreaming done during those years). I remember this book explaining that if you wake up immediately after a dream, you’re more likely to remember it vividly, but waking up even 15-20 minutes after a dream finishes means you’re unlikely to remember it at all. This is why people more often remember their nightmares – because you tend to wake yourself up in the mdidle of them, so they are fresh in your mind.

You can buy dream dictionaries online, in which you can look up what you’re dreaming about, and they offer an interpretation. But this book I read – along with every other scientiic text on dreams – stresses that the symbolism of your dreams is highly personalised.

For example, many of my dreams involve tables laden with food that I never get to eat, or a house burning down that I then have to run into and rescue things that are precious to me in descending order (so first it might be a cat, or a friend, trapped inside, and then my laptop/iMac with all my writing on it, and then my photo albums, and often by the end of the dream I’m sitting in a room full of my stuff while the house is burning around me, sorting through stacks of books to decide which ones I’m keeping and which can burn). Most of my nightmares involve either living in haunted houses, or horrible things happening to people I love that I am powerless to prevent.

I can figure out what some of this stuff is about, but other parts are a complete mystery.

Dreams as Prophecy

The idea of dreams being prophetic isn’t just for fantasy novels, it’s been a pervasive theme throughout history, and there have been numerous accounts of prophetic dreams.

Joan of Arc predicted her death in a dream. The Roman Emperor Marcian dreamed he saw the bow of Attila the Hun break on the same night that Attila died. Abraham Lincoln dreamed of his own death just days before his assassination.

Dream have also imparted many famous authors and artists with the inspiration for their greatest works. Robert Louis Stevenson based his story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, off a dream. Much of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos came to him in the form of dreams. Misery – my favourite Stephen King books – came to the writer while he dozed off waiting for a flight.

Often, I wake up and think a dream would make a great plot, but when I go back over it I realise it’s kind of ridiculous. But I’m always very aware of how a dream makes me feel, and I often try to recreate the atmosphere of certain dreams (especially some of my recurring dreams) in certain stories. The Engine Ward series is actually full of bits of dreams.

As for my consecutive dreams, I suspect that I’m more stressed-out then I’d like to let on about our current house building adventure. And these dreams are a way of my head assuring myself that once the damn thing is done, there’s going to be a lot of happy memories to be made there with family and friends. The place will grow and change. I don’t have to do everything right now.

And that I probably shouldn’t read horror novels before going to sleep.

I’m not sure how much longer I can expect this weird consecutive dream to go on for, or what strange oddities it might be replaced with. But dreams will continue to fascinate me, and will always serve as a source of both inspiration and trepidation.

I’ll leave you now with some dream resources and a couple of my favourite songs about dreaming:

Dreamt heater – Images and Words

Iron Maiden – Dream of Mirrors

 

Resources

Medical News Today has quite a robust article on dreaming that explains a lot of the functions and scientific knowledge about dreams. This is where I got most of the facts for this article.

Dreammoods – an online Dream Interpretation Dictionary.

15 Famous Books Inspired by Dreams.

7 Examples of Famous Scientific Discoveries Made in Dreams.

What about you? What are you dreaming about? Have you ever had a recurring or prophetic dream?

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post-scriptum: Hauntings, Strange Dreams, and Music of the Night

In my ears: I am currently obsessed with the Viking saga albums from Rebellion. Such an amazing and underrated band.

Reading: Currently, The Haunting of Blackwood House, by Darcy Coates. It’s not quick as good as The Haunting of Gillespie House – which I mentioned on my 10 favourite gothic novels list – but it is still quite excellent. I’m also re-reading Lord of the Rings on my kindle – it is so nice not having to lug that huge tome around and try to balance it on my nose!

Writing: I just released Coven, the second Witches of the Woods book, and I’m riding a high about that! I’m currently finishing off two more projects that are going to be released this month – Thorn (Engine Ward 3) and a book called Watcher, which will be the first in another novella series set in the village of Crookshollow. My goal this year is to hit publish on AT LEAST 8 books, and at the end of March I should have three down, five to go.

Watching: Just saw a decent horror film called The Visit. It’s handy-cam footage, but done by a young girl, so it’s a bit unique. I really enjoyed this!

On the Farm: We have had sheep shenanigans. It was shearing day last week, and we managed to get all ours done without hassle, but the neighbours sheep kick my husband into a gate, and the bolt in the gate tore his t-shirt and gave him a nasty gash across his stomach. And now Rameses – our ram – seems to have developed a significant limp. But there is a bit of progress being made on our house – cladding is being painted (yay, husband!) ready to go on the walls, and the windows aren’t far away now. We had to get the place valued the other week and were gloriously blown away with the result, so that’s pretty cool. At least the bank is happy. Now we just have to pay off the mortgage as soon as we can so we can enjoy it without worrying about debt.

Loving: Last week it was my birthday, and I basically had a little treat every day, so it was like having a whole birthday week. My husband took me to Gordon Harris (a fancy arts supply store) and had me choose whatever I wanted), so I have some new pencils and pens and paints and things. \m/ I took myself on a date to the Chocolate Boutique in Parnell and had something yummy and chocolatey while I read a book for an hour, which was a pretty nice way to spend an hour. \m/ I was offered a new job, which I am excited about. \m/ On Saturday night a group of us went out for dinner at the Mexican Cafe, and then to Phantom of the Opera. I’ve never seen the Phantom stage show before (only read the book and seen the movie) and it was amazing! The music was perfect, the actors were stunning, the whole thing was just awesome. I wish I’d been able to go again before the run finished \m/ Katie’s Clothing in the UK sent me a glorious package of things, that I will be writing about in excruciating detail next week. The dress I’m wearing in this picture is the Necessary Evil Octopus Dress, and it’s basically become my newest wardrobe staple. Serious dress love right here. \m/ I’m off to Wellington this weekend to marry some goths, meet up with old friends and new, and go to a rather interesting party. \m/ I have been having some terribly strange dreams lately, and it’s got me thinking a lot about the role of dreams. So I’m writing an article about it (as you do). That should go up on the blog this week.

So that’s my life, right now. What about yours?

 

10 of My Favourite Gothic Novels

The “Gothic” genre is probably my favourite fiction genre, and I’d say around 40% of all books I read have some element of the gothic about them. In fact, I love it so much that when my university announced a 3rd year English paper on “Theory & the Gothic” but I didn’t need any more papers for my degree, I snuck into the entire semester’s worth of classes and read all the course material, even though I got no credit for it. Yes, I am #nerd.

The first gothic novel is widely considered to be Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, published in 1764. In its second edition, Walpole subtitled the story “A Gothic Tale” and the term stuck. Gothic books began popping up in England with increasing regularity, and the genre grew in popularity during the 19th century with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and the work of Edgar Allan Poe. The term Gothic refers to the architecture of the castles, manor houses, abbeys and other buildings that usually populate these tales, but has come to mean so much more.

I first read the Castle of Otranto at University when I found it in a volume of Gothic stories while hinting for Carmilla, which I’d heard was quite good. It was while reading this story and the accompanying academic notes – as well as the other stories in the collection – that I realised there was a name for this literature that I loved. I’d previously said that horror was my favourite genre, but that never seemed quite accurate.

There’s a kind of pleasing terror to gothic literature, a quiet unsettledness that has nothing to do with gore and shock. The style grew out of the Romantics, and you can feel the richness of their prose and their obsessiveness in every word. Most of the well-known gothic writers are well dead, but there are some remarkable writers of modern gothic that are keeping the style alive.

I could literally name 100 gothic tales I adore, but in the interests of keeping this blog post down to a manageble length, I’ve trimmed the list down to ten. I have not included Dracula, Frankenstein, or Poe, simply because I believe those are suck classics that if you haven’t read them, they’re the pretty obvious first choices.

1. The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole

I am, however, going to recommend this book. It’s such a vital text in the history of the genre, and it’s a genuinely chilling and enjoyable tale. The story came to Walpole in a dream. It follows the story of Manfred, Lord of the Castle, who has made a contract for his sickly son, Conrad, to wed the fair Isabella. But before the nuptials can take place, Conrad is killed, and Manfred decides to divorce his wife and marry Isabella herself. Of course, this is not the proper order of things, and so Manfred meets more resistance than he could ever imagine.

Read The Castle of Otranto.

2. Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier

“Last night I dreamt of Mandalay again …” Considered by many to be the finest work of the gothic genre, Rebecca is a story of suspense, mystery, and a young girl’s struggle to find her own identity. Life for the orphaned heroine looks very bleak until she meets Maxin de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage whisks her from glamorous Monte Carlo to his brooding and bleak estate of Manderlay. But the memory of Rebecca still haunts the estate, and that’s not all …

Read Rebecca

3. The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper is actually a short story you can read in one sitting. Written in 1892, it follows the narrator’s slow descent into madness as she and her husband spend the summer in a large, gothic manor. Academically, the tale is considered an important feminist text, as it explores themes of male dominance, hysteria and women being trapped in the home. The authors other stories are also well worth a read.

Read The Yellow Wallpaper (and other stories)

4. Winterwood, Dorothy Eden

I recently discovered Dorothy Eden’s book, and have fallen utterly in love. It was pretty cool to find out she is actually a New Zealand author. In her 1969 Gothic masterpiece, Winterwood, she tells the tale of Lavinia Hurst, who accepts a position as a companion to young invalid Flora Meryon, and moves to Winterwood, the family’s isolated estate. But when Flora becomes heiress to a large fortune, and letters start arriving from a dead relative, Lavinia starts to suspect that ghosts haunt Winterwood. A powerful story of desire and suspense.

Read Winterwood.

5. The Haunting of Gillespie House, Darcy Coates

Darcy Coates is an indie author who is storming up the horror charts with her unsettling gothic tales of haunted houses and ravaged ghosts. I just finished reading this book and adored it! (I’ve also been having nightmares about it, which is a sign of a great horror novel). Elle is thrilled to spend a month minding the beautiful Gillespie property, as the aging gothic mansion is ideal for someone seeking solitude. But things start to go very wrong. Scratching in the walls, slamming doors, whispers in the night, a locked room … what secrets are hidden in Gillespie house?

Read The Haunting of Gillespie House.

6. The Woman in Black, Susan Hill

Hill is a master of modern gothic. Written in 1983, The Woman in Black reads as a 19th Century gothic tale, and was recently made into a pretty decent horror film starring Daniel Radcliffe (and a sequel that I haven’t seen yet). Eel Marsh House stands alone, surveying the winswept salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Once, Alice Drablow lived there as a recluse. Now, Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor with a London firm, is summonded to tend her estate, unaware of the tragic and terrible secrets which lie behind the house’s shuttered windows. That is, until he glimpses a young woman with a wasted face, dressed all in black …

Read The Woman in Black

7. The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe

Published in 1794, this book is considered one of the finest examples of female gothic gaze. Ann Radcliffe developed the technique of the explained supernatural, where events that have a seemingly supernatural cause end up having totally natural or human causes. (Conan Doyle and Scooby Doo have a lot to thank her for!). The Mysteries of Udolpho follows Emily St. Aubert as she suffers many misadventures, including the death of her father, supernatural terrors in a gloomy castle, and the machinations of an italian brigand.

Read The Mysteries of Udolpho

8. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

When I met my husband, I had actually never read anything by the Brontë sisters. I mistakingly thought their books were all foolish, silly romances. The first time I went to his house (we weren’t even dating at this time), he pulled a beautiful edition of Wuthering Heights off his shelf and told me to read it. And when a cute boy gives you a book, you comply.

On the forbidding Yorkshire Moors, Wuthering Heights features ghostly apparitions and a Byronic hero in the sometimes demonic Heathcliff. I adored this book, although now Jane Eyre by Emily’s sister Charlotte is my favourite. Critics often talk of the Brontë sisters as writing the Female Gothic, a subversion of attempts to escape the restrictions and entrapments of women within domestic space.

Read Wuthering Heights

9. Lost Souls, Poppy Z Brite

When I was a morose gothic teenager reading Anne Rice and dreaming of my own Louis, I read in an online forum about Poppy Z Brite. Apparently, her books were similar to Rice’s, but more erotic, more subversive, more fixated on the grotesque. So, of course I had to hunt them out. I found Lost Souls in a secondhand bookshop in St. Kevin’s Arcade on K’road, in Auckland, and devoured it in a day. There are a lot of elements crammed into the novel – a rock band! vampires! homoesexuality! New Orleans! Teenage Awakenings! Angst! Eternal Damnation! – but the imagery is so rich and the writing so potent that you kind of fall in love.

Read Lost Souls.

10. The Man in Black, Steffanie Holmes

Yes, I wrote this book. If I write the list, I can add my own book if I want to :) Both the title of this story, and some of the plot elements, are directly inspired by Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black. I’ve published ten books so far, and this story is my favourite, as well as being the best thing I’ve ever written. When Elinor arrives at a creepy gothic house to settle a client’s estate, she didn’t expect to meet a man with a wicked smile and the ability to float through walls. Can she fight her desires long enough to help Eric solve the mystery of his death?

Read The Man in Black.

So there you have ten excellent gothic novels to enjoy. I’ve missed so many great books, Poe, Oscar Wilde, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Rice, Robert Bloch, Jane Austen, Victoria Holt, Barbara Michaels, VC Andrews … sing out in the comments with your own favourites!

Do you want to keep up with all my books news, get exclusive behind-the-scenes book stuff, deleted scenes, and FREE books? Then sign up to my newsletter .

Coven release day – grab the second book in my Witches of the Woods series for $2.99

Dark secrets. Forbidden love.

Ada and Ulrich have fled from the persecution of the village, but now a more dangerous threat awaits them in the forest. Ulrich’s father, Damon of Donau-Ries, has heard of his son’s betrayal. Now, the world’s most formidable witch hunter marches across Europe in search of his heretic son, and the witch who turned him against God. 

While Ulrich fights against his father, Ada faces her own battle. Her magic abilities have finally shown themselves, but she is in possession of a dark secret. Ada is more powerful than she could ever have imagined, but her power is also a danger to herself and to everyone she loves. 

Coven is the second book in my Witches of the Woods series, and it hits the virtual shelves today.

I’ve had a lot of fun writing this series. In this book in particular I’ve been watching Ada really grow as a person. She’s spent most of her life just doing what others have told her, letting other people make her decisions for her, and naively believing that everything will be OK. Being with Ulrich is making her realise that she is sick of it, and that she needs to stand up for herself more. And that leads to … well, you’ll see.

Ulrich isn’t in his dungeon any more, so things are a bit wild, less … controlled. It’s fun. You’ll love it.

You can pick up the ebook copy for Kindle for just $2.99US (or read for free in Kindle Unlimited). I’ve love it if you could leave a review when you’re done – reviews help more readers to find my books.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting my work!

You can sign up for my newsletter, and get some behind-the-scenes content, deleted scenes, exclusive competitions and, of course, FREE BOOKS. Who doesn’t love free stuff? No one, that’s who.

I made the USA Today list!

Hey everyone! So, you remember that multi-author box set I told you about last week? Well, it turns out Happily Ever Alpha made the USA Today bestseller list. I just got the news this morning that we came in at number #117.

I am a USA Today bestselling author.

I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed right now. I’m just kind of wandering around aimlessly, waiting to the news to sink in and actually feel real. This is a pretty incredible thing for me.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of your guys, many of whom have been reading my stuff since I first started writing on the internet, way back in 2008. Without your support, and your kind words and your encouragement, this wouldn’t have been possible. Writing this blog has been a huge part of gaining the confidence I needed to finally hit publish and put my books out in the world. When I decided to self-publish, I never dreamed that it would land me on a bestseller list, and that thousands of people would be reading the words I wrote. I’ve been working toward becoming a novelist since I was a teenager, and today I get to see that it’s all been worth it. And it’s thanks to you, my wonderful, gorgeous readers!

Thank you, thank you, thank you again!

Happily Ever Alpha is now enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, which means you can read it for free if you subscribe to Amazon’s service. All my other titles are in Kindle Unlimited, too, if you want to have a browse.

Ask Steff: Dealing with Haters

Socrates is unamused by your negativity.

Dear Steff Metal

Someone wrote a 1-star review, eviscerating my band’s first release, and posted it on Amazon and iTunes and every other outlet they could. I’m gutted. We worked so hard on this album and now all people see is this horrible review.

How do you deal with haters / people trolling you online, or bad reviews on your work?

***

My little corner of the internet isn’t anywhere near the size of someone like Amanda Palmer, or Alestorm, or any of the other amazing artists I follow who use their online presence to grow their audience. But it is not immune from vitriol, trolling or lashings of pure, unadulterated rage. I’ve had my fair share of ugly comments, 1-star reviews, and hate mail over the years, and let me tell you that I completely empathise with you here.

I am definitely not an expert at dealing with online hate, but I have a few tips that help me, and they might help you, too. Here goes:

Realise that Not Everyone Likes Your Shit, And That’s OK.

It would be great if everyone thought you were an undiscovered genius, and the world was filled with magical unicorns farting rainbows, but that’s just not the way things are.

Have you ever bitched to your friends about a movie or book you hated? What about writing a review of a bad experience at a restaurant? How many reviews have you written about all the restaurants you ate at where everything was perfectly all right? It’s the same thing with your work. I often tell my friends when they talk about reading my stuff, “It’s OK if you don’t like it. We don’t have to like all the same things.” Because that would just be boring!

Criticism is an important part of art. If people look at a painting, read a book, or listen to a piece of music and learn to critically assess it, then they are participating in the fundamental enjoyment derived from being a consumer of art. People love to dissect work, pull it apart in their heads and put it back together again in a way that resonates with them. And after a while, a person learns more about their particular taste.

People are passionate about art, but unfortunately, it’s much easier to get riled up about something you hate than it is to say, “Oh, that was alright.” I find people only comment on my blog or review my books if they either a) passionately love them or b) violently oppose them. Not everyone in the world is going to passionately love what you do, many of them will think it’s just all right, and some will hate it. That’s OK. That’s their right, and it’s not your job to convert them. You’re not in the business of changing people. You don’t want people who hate you to be part of your audience. Then you’d be Limp Bizkit.

If you ever need a quick fix after seeing a negative review of your own work, go read the negative reviews of someone whose work you really admire. I was reading Andy Weir’s 1-star reviews the other day after getting a 1-star of my own. It’s good to know this is something that impacts even the big names, the awesome people. It helps put it into perspective.

Be A Positive Example

People sign up to writers forums all the time to complain about their bad reviews, and often, when you do a little digging, you find out that they regularly review books themselves, many of which they give negative reviews. At that point, I am out of the conversation, done. It’s hypocritical to dish out dirt to other artists and then be upset when it happens to you.

I’m not saying you have to like everything in the world, or lie and give glowing reviews to art you actually hate. But if you aren’t a fan of something, just ignore it. It’s not hurting you in any way. Just let those fans keep on liking that lame thing, and you keep doing your thing, and no one is hurting anyone’s career. Leave the in-depth, scathing criticism to the actual critics.

The reason I don’t write a blog that shares a huge number of reviews is mainly because I don’t want to be forced to publish reviews for albums I think are mediocre or bad. I want to share albums or books or whatever that excite me and light me up in some way. I know how hard it can be to put your work out there, and I want to support other artists, rather than tear them down.

Now, this only applies to your public image. In private, between your friends, feel free to rip shreds into everything if you must. Sometimes a little hate is cathartic. But don’t write that shit down and publish it, because it says more about you than it does about the work in question. Make sure your own review policy for your public image is the same policy you’d like reviewers to extend to yourself.

In short, just be nice. It’s a good policy to live by in general.

Ask why you’re doing this

It takes a certain kind of bravery to put your work out there for others to consume and therefore judge. Don’t make that decision lightly.

If bad reviews or internet hate upset you, why are you making your work publicly available? You could always make music or write or paint for your own enjoyment, and share with your family and friends if you must – people who are going to praise you for finishing something, even if it’s not personally to their taste. You could create for the sheer enjoyment of creating. You don’t have to put it in front of the whole world if you don’t want to.

So why do you want to? What are your goals? Do you want to make a living from your art, or meet new people, or collaborate with other artists on cool projects, or make a million dollars, or deliver important information to people who need it, or inspire others, or tell your story, or just find a few fans across the world?

Why are you doing this? You don’t have to. If you don’t want the negativity, then you can always step back, go private, make your art for it’s own sake. That’s not a bad thing, it’s not piking out. It’s a matter of getting out of your work what you want. It’s your choice.

Constructive Criticism Can Help You Improve

I don’t know it all, and I never pretend that I do. With each book I write, I improve and I learn new things. But nothing I do is perfect, and I am happy to have readers who point that out. Because I’m in the business of giving them what they want.

One of the coolest things is that you guys actually help me to improve my art. When you talk, I listen, even if you don’t think I do. I recently published The Gauge War, the second book in the Engine Ward series (following on from The Sunken).

When I was working on the draft, I read through my reviews for the first book. One criticism kept popping up, again and again. Sometimes it was phrased nicely, sometimes not. Every time I saw it, it stung a little: The Sunken has no strong female characters.

It’s a fair criticism, because it’s true. The book focuses on the relationships of four men. A huge part of the theme of the series is about friendship, and theirs was the friendship I was focused on in that book. The exclusion of a strong female POV was unintentional – it wasn’t that I deliberately left a female voice out. It’s just that it wasn’t part of the story, not yet.

But I didn’t realise how much this factored into the way people read and enjoyed a book. And that genre expectations called for a prominent female voice. I heard the readers, and I made some changes. When I was writing the next book, this was in the back of my head, and I realised that I could make the second book stronger by including a more powerful female presence. And so I did.

Even though it still makes me sad whenever I see a bad review, without those reviews, The Gauge War would have been a much weaker book. I am grateful for the people who took the time to think critically about what didn’t work in the book, as it helped me to improve as a writer. My readers are awesome, and I trust you guys if you tell me something isn’t quite right!

It’s More About Them

This particular point applies less to that 1-star review from the person who just simply wasn’t the right audience for your thing, and more to those people who seem to go out of their way to maliciously attack you in every available forum, create groups and pages specifically dedicated to hating you and everything you do, and sending you horrible messages just to make you feel bad.

This kind of bullying/trolling usually starts when you get some amount of success behind you. The trolls can get quite dramatic – posting screeds of vitriol against you on forums, on your blog, on Facebook pages, reviewing all your products with 1-stars just to drag your averages down, inciting others to join them in their mission to help you fail.

If you ever got bullied as a kid, you probably spent many lonely days wondering what was wrong with you, what it was about your core, your essence, that made others hate you. And some adult who couldn’t possibly understand told you that when people bully, it is more about them than it is about you.

I know, it’s so helpful. I mean, all I ever wanted to be was someone like my bullies, normal and pretty and popular, and now someone is trying to tell me they’re doing this to me because they feel shit about themselves? What do they have to feel shit about? I mean, that’s just great. It sure does make the school day zip along faster.

That was sarcasm, in case you didn’t catch it.

So, while I know it’s not helpful to hear if you’re living it, let me be that adult. It’s not about you. It’s about them.

There might be a number of reasons why they’ve chosen you. You may openly share beliefs or a lifestyle that the hater abhors, and they feel morally obliged to take you down. You may have created something that inadvertently offends them on a deep emotional level, and they lash out in anger. They may feel as if you present a false image of yourself, and they feel it’s their moral duty to expose the truth. They may feel envy for your life as theirs isn’t going so well and they want to drag you down to their level. They could have emotional or mental impairments that you or they don’t even understand.

None of that has anything to do with you. It’s all about them using their personal mission against you to fill some need in their own life. And as such, you need to stay out of it. I know it’s hard, but if this sort of thing is happening, it’s best not to engage. Let them do their thing. You do your thing.

Trolling damage control

But what if trolls have been somewhat successful? What if they’ve successfully buried your book in bad reviews, or manipulated search engine results? Is there anything you can do?

There’s always something you can do. Here are a few ideas.

1. Read the review policies of the sites where you’ve been one-star bombed, and if any of your negative reviews violate those policies, contact the sites to request them be taken down.

2. Create a campaign to encourage the fans you DO have to leave their own honest reviews to help jump your review averages back up.

3. Find one or two people in your real like who you trust and who are kind to you, and do all your ranting and bitching and crying to them. If you don’t have anyone in your life who can do this, find a creative buddy online who you can share sob stories with. Rant as much as you need to feel better, but at all costs, keep those rants out of the public eye!

4. Create comment policies on your own website. If a shitty comment comes in, refer back to your policy to decide if it gets published or not. You don’t have to publish every comment that comes in. If you keep getting too much shit, just turn comments off.

5. It can be hard for people to understand that what is presented online isn’t the whole of a person – a perfect instagram feed doesn’t equal a perfect life. Some people want what you have, and it makes them angry that you (seem to) have it and they don’t. It can help sometimes if you’re getting a lot of comments about that sort of thing to do a bit of a “behind-the-scenes” reveal, where you talk about some of the less-than-glamourous realities of your life. It might help the commenters to see you as more human.

6. Make more epic shit. Make so much epic shit the trolls can’t keep up.

7. There comes a point where if some rumour is getting ridiculously out of control, it might be time to consider addressing it. Think VERY HARD about doing this, as you can’t take your words back if you do confront your trolls. It’s important to publish any response on a channel you control, so your own website, not Facebook, not Youtube. Somewhere that’s YOUR space. When you write, be honest and humble. Don’t spew hatred back at reviewers. Write it as you would write not to the haters, but to your fans who might be concerned about your or hearing something false about you that makes them not want to be fans anymore. Address it to them, because they are the people who really matter to you.

8. If you truly feel a project has been compromised beyond repair by trolls, then can it and start again with a new project, under a different name, and don’t connect the two. Starting from scratch sucks, but it can also be a blessing in disguise. You would have learned a lot you can apply to putting out a more polished product from the start.

I hope this helps when dealing with negativity online. Above all, I think it helps to remember that behind those awful comments is a human being, and something you’ve created has had an impact on them, even if it wasn’t the impact you were hoping for. There is room for all sorts of opinions and moral perspectives and worldviews, so don’t spend too much time worrying about those that don’t agree with you.

I get bad reviews, although I’m at the point now where I don’t really read them much anymore. The good ones, either, simply because I don’t want to feel as if I need the validation. But sometimes I do glimpse a 1-star, and they sting. Perhaps they always sting. But criticism is a vital part of art, and the experience helps me to grow as a writer, and that’s ultimately a good thing.

Readers, do you have anything to add? Have you ever had to deal with online trolls?

Grab your copy of my gothic romance, The Man in Black now, and for a limited time, get a free novella! Or, join my mailing list to get first notice of new books, deleted scenes, free swag, and other awesome stuff.

 

Happily Ever Alpha is Here! Grab 21 hot paranormal romance books for just $0.99!

As you probably know, I have a romance alter ego. Stephanie Holmes writes steamy, gothic paranormal romances featuring clever heroines, dark, brooding heroes, and some pretty unique settings. I’m currently writing the Witches of the Woods series – a three-part BDSM novel series set in medieval Germany, about an innocent witch who falls in love with a dangerous witch hunter. A lot of the research for the book was done on my last trip to Germany, where we visited a hexanplatz and the Rothenburg Criminal Museum.

The first book in the series, Witch Hunter, is part of the Happily Ever Alpha box set. This set contains 21 hot paranormal titles from some USA Today and New York Times bestselling authors, like Rebecca Hamilton, Sylvia Frost, and Alexia Purdy. I’m absolutely blown away that they decided my dark witchy book was good enough to be part of this set.

Happily Ever Alpha is out today!

Fourteen HOT paranormal alpha-male romances and six additional kick-ass paranormal romance tales bundled together in one of the steamiest collections to date! With twenty-one novels and novellas and over one million seductive words of fiction, this paranormal romance boxed set will leave you Happily Ever Alpha.

These hot heroes and tough as nails heroines will steal your heart and make your beg for more. With sexy shifters, hot vampires, wickedly cool witches, and so much more, this boxed set will has titles that will either warm you up or set you on fire—Take your pick!

Buy Happily Ever Alpha now!

Grab your copy from any of the major ebook retailers!

All of my books are usually Amazon exclusive, but for a limited time, you can grab this box set – including my book Witch Hunter – from all the major ebook retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks and Kobo. Better hurry though, because come Feb 1 it’s going to be back to Amazon-exclusive, and the price goes up!

Join the Party!

Head on over to our Facebook Launch Party – we’ve got tons of giveaways, hot men, fun quizzes, excerpts, free books, author interviews, and more!

That’s your book update for today! I really hope you enjoy Happily Ever Alpha, and thank you so much for all the support you’ve given me and my books. You guys are just beyond amazing!

You can grab your copy of my latest book, The Man in Black now, and get a free novella! Or, join my mailing list to get first notice of new books, deleted scenes, free swag, and other awesome stuff.

Top 10 Metal Albums of 2015

It’s that time again, the time I dig deep into the depths of my dark soul and issue forth a list of the albums I’ve heard in 2015 that I think are worth a mention. (See 2014’s, 2013’s, 2012’s, 2011’s, and 2010’s lists here).

I’m going to be honest ­– I have no doubt that many amazing albums were released this year, but I probably didn’t hear them. I’ve been pretty distracted by 3-4 truly amazing albums this year, as well as discovering some old bands who I’ve never listened to before, and so I haven’t paid attention to new metal releases like I usually do. As a result, I really struggled to put together this list, so I gratefully accept any recommendations in the comments.

1. Chelsea Wolfe – Abyss

Blame this album for distracting me for most of the year. It is not only my top choice for 2015, it is one of my favourite albums of all time. Wolfe weaves drudging, dissonant riffs with a haunting vocal line that speaks of personal sorrow and torment. Her sounds has its roots firmly planted in folk but the raw, doom-style guitar brings her many fans among the metal crowd. A powerful and evocative release, perfectly produced to bring out the layers of sound and the bleak beauty of Wolfe’s songwriting. Although I’ve adored all her previous releases, especially 2013’s Pain is Beauty, on Abyss Wolfe demonstrates that she has mastered her craft.

Chelsea Wolfe is my new #girlcrush.

Buy Abyss.

2. Ghost – Meliora

I am absolutely infatuated with Ghost, and as I said in my previous review Meliora has sealed my adoration. By far their best album yet, Meliora does away with some of the Mercyful Fate-lite elements of Infestissumam and return to their heavy roots and catchy hooks. There is not a single bad song on this album, from the aggressive, hook-laden, “The Pinnacle to the Pit”, to the deliciously beautiful melody of ‘He Is.” Meliora is accessible and commercial and heavy as fuck. I now worship ardently at the altar of Ghost.

Buy Meliora

3. Obsequiae ­– Aria of Vernal Tombs

I haven’t heard a raw black metal album I liked in a long time, but Obsequiae is definitely my kind of thing. The Minneapolis trio blend medieval harp and strange, echoing vocals with their dark, hypnotic black metal to create an album that is part early Sacramentum, part bubonic plague, but all brilliant.

Buy Aria of Vernal Tombs.

4. Skepticism ­– Ordeal

My favourite funeral doom band return after FAR too long with an album of haunting beauty and depth. recorded live in front of an audience in Turku, Finland, and featuring six new songs alongside two old tracks, the live element adds a depth and immediacy to the often theatrical and always elegant depiction of suffering.

Buy Ordeal.

5. Draconian – Sovran

I have already reviewed Draconian’s Sovran here, so if you want more details about the album, have a look there. Suffice it to say that I have been quite enamoured with the new doom-laden direction this Swedish gothic quintet have taken their sound. If you’re in doubt, just listen to “Pale Tortured Blue”, and I’m sure you’ll come around. New vocalist Heike has added a unique depth to the music, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Buy Sovran.

6. Gloryhammer – Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards

I haven’t seen this album on any other top lists for 2015, which makes me sad. Maybe it’s because “serious” reviewers from “serious” publications only like “serious” metal ­– American blackgaze and post-metal so drawn out glaciers get an inferiority complex. But what happens when you’ve had your fill of pseudo-intellectualism and you just want some music you can actually enjoy?

Gloryhammer is what happens. From the thundering, infectious chorus of “Goblin King of the Darkstorm Galaxy” to the obligatory narrated epic of “Apocalypse 1992”, these guys fill their songs with catchy hooks and brilliant lyrics. Why does Gloryhammer work? Because it’s damn good music written not to take the piss, but with brilliant and sincere conviction and a firm love of the genre it so expertly lambasts. Space 1992 isn’t just profoundly silly, it is also the best power metal release of the year, hands down, no contest.

Life’s too short to be drowning in funeral doom all the time. Sometimes, you just need some unicorn-slaying goblin king anthems.

Buy Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards.

7. Crypt Sermon – Out of the Garden

There is a lot of really decent doom hybrids coming out over the last couple of years. In fact, I’d almost go so far as to say doom as a genre is having a bit of a shot at the limelight. But I haven’t heard a straight doom release in a LONG time that measures up to Out of the Garden. And knowing that this is the debut LP from a relatively unknown Philedelphia quintet makes it even more remarkable. There’s a bit of Candlemass worship going on in the first half of the album, but that’s not a bad thing when the songs are solid and the musicianship tight. My favourite track is “Into the Holy of Holies” ­– the longest track on Out of the Garden, as well as the most ambitious.

Buy Out of the Garden.

8. Elder – Lore

I’ve heard Elder before, but I’d written them off long ago as a mediocre stoner bnad. Now I have no idea where I got that label from. Lore is a masterpiece of progression mixed with the deep bass and churning riffs we love about doom. There are only five tracks on this record, each one a thundering epic, each one filled with the complex melodies, clever transitions and purging, atmospheric riffs. Dirty vocals give a polished record a gritty edge, and the whole package leaves you gasping for more.

Buy Lore.

9. Arcturus – Arcturian

I was a bit disillusioned with the last Arcturus release, (Sideshow Symphonies, back in 2005) but Arcturian has renewed my faith in the kings of avant garde. manage to combine a with some ambitious vocal trickery from Vortex and the weird, shambolic guitar riffs. Hellhammers machine-gun beats pummel through the entire record. And what makes me so happy is that the songwriting is back to the same level it was on The Sham Mirrors. It’s a bit of a slow burn, and I took at least three plays through to really enjoy it, but now that I do it’s on constant rotation.

Buy Arcturian.

10. Vhöl – Deeper than Sky

Combining members of Hammers of Misfortune, YOB, and Agalloch, Vhöl’s second album Deeper than Sky is a surreal mix of styles. While the first two tracks feel a bit familiar, when you get to the epic 12 minute “Deeper than Sky”, you really see what creativity has been unleashed. The immense, apocalyptic “Lightless Sun” and the crazy instrumental “Paino” are other highlights. This is a bit of an odd album rooted in pure thrash and it’s really fun to blast loud.

Buy Deeper than Sky.

There are a few honourable mentions, as new releases from Deafhaven, Paradise Lost, High on Fire, Monolord, and Blind Guardian have been on rotation a bit around here. Now tell me metal people, what am I missing? Hit me with your 2015 favourites.

You can grab your copy of my latest book, The Man in Black now, and get a free novella! Or, join my mailing list to get first notice of new books, deleted scenes, free swag, and other awesome stuff.