The Rot Beneath: Unveiling Modern Gothic Horror on launch day!!

From mold-infested rentals to internet-induced paranoia, dive into the chilling world of 'Modern Gothic' with Lauren Archer, as she reveals how everyday horrors inspire unsettling tales

Happy Friday Scribblers,

Today is the official launch day for our ghoulish anthology, ‘Modern Gothic’. Featuring 6 international short story writers, we hope to see some of you tonight for the Manchester Blackwell’s launch! If you can’t make it, you can join us in Birmingham or online (Liverpool sold out.)

The keen eyed amongst you may have spotted our mini window next month for submissions - just open to short fiction and poetry, and for anyone who has not yet submitted this year. We’ll be open from Summer as usual for all categories next year!

Now life is a funny old thing, and horrific things do happen alongside joyful events. Our joy this week comes from being a finalist in the Manchester Culture Awards 2024 within the category of Promotion of Environmental Sustainability!

This year, we delivered multiple creative writing workshops that enabled pupils to creatively explore feelings of climate anxiety. 240 students were delivered the workshop across 6th forms and colleges across Manchester and GM. The students were given a resource pack and utopian reading list to explore further.

The Manchester Culture Awards celebrate and profile the fantastic arts, cultural and creative activity in the city. It is an evening of celebration and reflection that brings together the city’s cultural and creative people, groups and organisations who contribute to Manchester’s cultural landscape and make a positive difference to people’s lives.

(Plus we get to go to a fancy dinner, and I get to take my lovely family and friend.)

Here’s the lovely SJ Bradley signing copies of her book at Truman Books, Leeds! She’ll be performing and chatting about Maps of Imaginary Towns at Farsley Lit Fest on October 17th - tickets here.

Now let’s turn to a haunting interview with Lauren Archer, on her story in Modern Gothic.

'Glorious, surprising, delightful, disgusting, beautiful and heartbreaking...I am so in awe'

- Edward Carey, Author of Edith Holler on ‘Rot’ by Lauren Archer

1.       In ‘The Rot’, the narrator is plagued by her dire rental living conditions. Do you think our environment can affect the way we function and think rationally?

Absolutely. Homes should provide sanctuary, but under capitalism that is often not the case. When you return home from a long day at work, at the end of a tiring (and probably heavily delayed) commute, you should have somewhere safe and comfortable to spend your limited free time. Without that, life feels yet more unstable and insecure. We’ve been in the midst of an increasingly horrifying housing crisis in this country since the 1980s. I’m 30 years old and I’ve been a private renter all my adult life, as have most of my friends. This means I’ve spent tens of thousands of pounds to live in some pretty unpleasant places, seeing my money go towards expanding landlords’ property empires rather than on the basic repairs all renters should be entitled to. Very few people I know can afford to buy a house. If they can, they’re either dedicating all their spare time to renovating a ‘fixer-upper’ or waking up to find their agreed mortgage has doubled overnight. I used to be renter who envied buyers, now I’m not sure anyone has got a good deal. Except landlords, of course!