Monday, 1 December 2025

Gothic Romance is Alive!

I took this snap of the house beyond the field yesterday and immediately thought of those fabulous gothic romance paperbacks I used to collect.


 Gothic romance, an American literary sub-genre which boomed in the 60's and 70's, always had superbly illustrated covers which mostly followed the same artistic conventions: a dark night, a fleeing lady and an eerie house in which an upstairs light can be seen, as in my photograph too!

Here's one of countless examples of these covers, The House at Swansea, showing all three graphical conventions.


Perhaps the most famous of the gothic romance writers was Marilyn Ross, who penned the Dark Shadows paperbacks, now very collectable.

He also wrote many generic gothic romances, such as this, Beware My Love, which again shows all three cover conventions.


Have you any gothic romance in your life?


 

6 comments:

  1. You are full of surprises, Woodsy! I wouldn't peg you a Gothic Romance man, but then again, you don't fit into the usual mold! The covers are cool, though. SFZ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha, I really enjoyed collecting them years back SF.

      Delete
  2. I had one or two of those Dark Shadows novels back when they were still new. They sell reprints now, but they're too expensive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, I picked up quite a handful at sales Baron. Beautiful paperbacks.

      Delete
  3. Sorry, Woodsy -the thought of you wandering around, in your nightwear shatters the mood!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha, I've gone Looey, you just need to turn that upstairs light off!

      Delete