Gothic Whispers: Unveiling Modern Anxieties Through Victorian Letters

Plus a big CONGRATULATIONS to SJ Bradley on publication day for 'Maps of Imaginary Towns'

Good morning Scribblers,

It’s been an interesting month for us - we signed with the International Editors & Yáñez ’Co, S. L. Literary Agency, Barcelona, to represent our titles for Spanish translation deals! So I sincerely hope we may be taking over Spanish-speaking bookshops in future, with gorgeous new editions of our titles…

Announcing the last of our gorgeous 2025 fiction titles: we welcome Amy Lilwall and ‘The Water That May Come’! Full announcement here.

"The Water That May Come" presents a harrowing vision of a Britain on the brink of environmental catastrophe. As rising seas threaten to engulf the nation, four lives hang in the balance:

- Pinko, a privileged heir clinging to decadence 

- Jane, a working-class veterinary nurse racing to reunite her fractured family

- Ashleigh, Jane's pregnant teenage daughter 

- Gavin, a humble young artist 

With sanctuary beckoning from across the Channel, each character faces impossible choices in this race for survival. Lilwall's novel turns a critical lens on Britain's immigration debate, blurring borders and challenging notions of identity and belonging.

Pre-order ‘The Water That May Come’ as part of our 2025 subscription and membership here, and receive 25% off - plus a year of our paid Substack!

Today we are delighted to be celebrating the launch of gritty and tender debut short story collection ‘Maps of Imaginary Towns’ by SJ Bradley, following on from her career as a novelist!! Last night the bookshop on a barge, Holdfast Books, went ashore and hosted SJ and Stu Hennigan for a gorgeous evening of storytelling.

 "I love Bradley’s off-beat sensibility: these stories drew me in with their intimate character details, then made me laugh-out-loud with their dark invention and wit." 

- Naomi Booth, Author of 'Exit Management'

From futuristic colonies to drab estates, Bradley illuminates the quiet heroism pulsing through seemingly ordinary lives. Grief, ambition, and belonging. Grab a copy here.

Now as the nights grow colder, and gear up to release ghoulish short story anthology ‘Modern Gothic’ into the world (Join us on Fri 11th at Manchester Blackwell’s!), we spoke to theatre performer and writer Rose Biggin, about her spooky tale…

Modern Gothic Interview - ‘A Respectable Tenancy’ by Rose Biggin

Here's a spoiler-free blurb for the story:

In this chilling epistolary tale set in 19th century England, Elizabeth chronicles her family's life at Greenwood estate through letters to her mother. What begins as an exciting new chapter soon turns sinister as the true nature of their tenancy agreement comes to light. As the years pass, Elizabeth grapples with increasingly disturbing "rent" demands from their mysterious Landlord, testing the limits of what she and her loved ones are willing to sacrifice for their home. This haunting story explores themes of exploitation, denial, and the gradual erosion of morality in the face of an insidious system that demands ever-greater concessions.

● You use a very interesting narrative form here - the story is told solely through email correspondence and letters from the past. What effect did you hope to achieve with this technique?

I was playing with the genre of the ‘found footage’ story - where one tells a story through various texts while also explaining the circumstances in which they’ve been found.

So there’s a framing device of some contemporary people who’ve become interested in this stack of Victorian letters, and are sharing them with each other over email.

I wanted to draw parallels between eras and situations: we’re invited to identify with the almost-melodrama in the past story, and move between that and a colder, more distanced contemporary frame narrative. So there are layered tones, the worry is contrasted with the coolness, the past is layered up with the modern.  What effect it might have, I must leave up to the reader.

● In the story the landlord’s demands for rent become more and more unreasonable, a feeling which many people are perhaps accustomed to! How does your story reflect current anxieties regarding the contemporary housing crisis?