Table of contents - "Exotic Gothic 5" edited by Danel Olson

I only discovered “Exotic Gothic” at the fourth volume of Danel Olson’s anthology series, but what a wonderful discovery it was. A collection of original short stories of a highest quality, dark stories, spread across the world not only through the settings of the tales but the location of the authors as well and published in an exceptional presentation. It is because of the high quality of the books in both content and presentation, reflected perfectly on “Exotic Gothic 4”, that I become quite fond of PS Publishing. And one of the titles from PS Publishing catalogue that held my attention almost immediately is the fifth anthology of Danel Olson’s “Exotic Gothic”, one that promises to be as great as the fourth volume is. Published in two volumes, “Exotic Gothic 5” gathers 26 stories never published in English, with the exception of Joyce Carol Oates’ “A Game of Draughts”, from writers natives or residents of 11 countries, Australia, Bangladesh, England, France, Hungary, India, Mexico, South Africa, Sudan, USA and Wales. As already seen on “Exotic Gothic 4” these remarkable volumes come with very strong line-ups on the tables of contents and amazing cover artworks, this year the first volume has a front and back cover art by Marcela Bolívar, while the second with a front cover art by Apolinar Lorenzo Chuca (responsible for the cover of “Exotic Gothic 4” too) and back cover art by Marcela Bolívar. I am convinced that Danel Olson’s “Exotic Gothic 5” will be an excellent addition to my book collection.

This year the Series has gone farther distances than ever before to find authors who evolve the Gothic genre. Authors born in eleven countries contribute new fiction (or fiction never published in English) to the fifth in the Exotic Gothic serie—twenty–six stories in all, split into two volumes.

A commitment was also made early to encourage gender balance in the anthology. After reading with shock how women writers are severely underrepresented in many genre anthologies the Editor asked, “Why are we cheating ourselves and our readers in this way? And how do we face our daughters if we perpetuate that unfairness?” Thirteen of the stories are written by women, and thirteen by men.

It is with great satisfaction that PS Publishing now presents what may be the most involving and affecting storytelling yet to appear in the entire Gothic Quintet . . .

VOLUME 1

“Preface” by Danel Olson

“All the Lost Ones” by Deborah Biancotti

“The Open Mirror” by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud (translated by Edward Gauvin)

“L’Amour est Mort” by Simon Clark

“Elena’s Egg” by Theodora Goss

“The Girl in the Blue Coat” by Anna Taborska

“Burial Grounds” by Nick Antosca

“Moonrise on Hermit Beach” by Nancy A. Collins

“Goth Thing” by D.E. Cowen & Danel Olson

“The Coroner’s Bride” by Camille DeAngelis

“The Starvation Experiment” by Sheri Holman

“A Game of Draughts” by Joyce Carol Oates

“Foodface” by Stephen Susco

“The Girl Next Door” by Gemini Wahhaj

VOLUME 2

“Preface” by Danel Olson

“The Sleepover” by Terry Dowling

“The Sweet Virgin Meat” by Kola Boof

“XYZ” by Lily Herne

“The Secondary Host” by John Llewellyn Probert

“El Nahual” by Berumen & Coyote

“More Than Pigs and Rosaries Can Give” by Carlos Hernandez

“Xibalba” by Thana Niveau

“Haveli” by Anil Menon

“Diabolically Yours” by Charu Nivedita

“Juicing the Knife” by Deborah Noyes

“He Who Beheld the Darkness” by Reggie Oliver

“The Statue in the Garden” by Paul Park

“Djinn’s Blood” by Lucy Taylor