Books by Michael McDowell
“Blackwater is one of my favourite modern iterations of Southern Gothic fiction…Blackwater is currently published as one big novel, but really it’s a series of six novellas which tell the story of a family in Perdido, Alabama, situated against the Blackwater River. It’s a generational story; we see this family evolve over decades. The conceit is that in the early part of the 20th century, during a time when the river floods its banks and Perdido is partially submerged, two people rescue someone that they think is a woman trapped on the top floor of a building. In reality, she is a river monster – she can assume human form, but she’s a carnivorous, aquatic predator” Read more...
Nathan Ballingrud, Novelist
“This book’s haunted house is a holiday home on Alabama’s Gulf Coast. It’s less thunderstorms and flickering lights (although there are some of those) and more sweltering heat and ominous piles of sand. Following the death of the matriarch, and a rather bizarre funeral, the Savage and McCray families take some time to visit their summer homes. The homes sit on either side of a vacant house buried in sand. Of course, the house isn’t entirely vacant, and the youngest family member can’t help herself from awakening the forces within…” Read more...
Kylie Whitehead, Novelist
Interviews where books by Michael McDowell were recommended
The Best Haunted House Books, recommended by Kylie Whitehead
Looking for a scary story this Halloween? Us too. We asked Kylie Whitehead, author of the acclaimed literary body horror Absorbed, to select five of the best haunted house books. Here she discusses her spine-tingling recommendations, which include Anne Rivers Siddons’s cult hit The House Next Door and Michael McDowell’s Southern Gothic novel The Elementals.
The Best Gothic Horror Books, recommended by Nathan Ballingrud
Gothic horror allows us to talk about psychological horror and repression while having a huge amount of fun, explains author Nathan Ballingrud. He talks us through his top five choices, from haunted houses to smoggy London to the swamps of Alabama, and considers the chilling parts of ourselves and our societies that they bring to light.
