Off/Kilter: 3 Books for Women In Horror Month

Sodom Road Exit by Amber Dawn (Arsenal Pulp Press)Desire, dread, ghost towns…what more could we ask for? Amber Dawn’s Sodom Road Exit breaks the boundaries of horror with a unique queering of the genre that delivers dark and lusty paranormal thrills. After Starla Mia Martin drops out of university, she has no choice but to return to living with her mother in Crystal Beach, Ontario–a ghost town following the loss of it’s beloved amusement park. But her troubles with debt and her mother soon seem like the least of her worries when strange sights and sounds begin to haunt her, leaving her to confront the traumas that plague the beach.

Vampire Cousins, illustrated by cathon, text by Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau (Pow Pow Press)Here in our Off/Kilter column, we LOVE dark art – especially when it comes from badass women like Montréal-based artist cathon, whose illustrations are the moody backdrop for Alexandre Fontaine Rousseu’s graphic novel Vampire Cousins. With all the feels of an old-school horror flick, this tale follows a naive young girl on a trip to meet her strange cousin, who has an odd aversion to garlic, and a secret that will be revealed just a little too late…

The Apple Tree by Daphne Du Maurier (Biblioasis)Well known for her classic gothic novel Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier is one of the pioneers of horror fiction as we know it now. In her unsettling dark story The Apple Tree, originally published in 1962 and revived in this new edition from Biblioasis, a widower harbours a  secret: he’s not so sad that his wife has died from pneumonia. In fact, it’s a bit of a relief to be free from her badgering. But the feeling of her presence remains, and that crooked tree in the orchard is starting to take on an uncanny resemblance…* * *Find more Off/Kilter on the ALU blog >>