Exotic Gothic

Exotic Gothic: Forbidden Tales from Our Gothic World (published Oct. 2007 by Ash-Tree Press, hardcover and trade ppk., cover photography from Anne Brigman-courtesy Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 306pp.) "showcases twenty-three stories (eight original to the anthology) that take place around the world."[4] The second volume (Exotic Gothic 2: New Tales of Taboo) was a finalist for the 2008 Shirley Jackson Award, and the third (Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations) was a finalist for the 2009 Shirley Jackson Award[5] and 2010 World Fantasy Award,[6] and both had stories reprinted in the following year's round of "Best Of" collections.

According to the Houston Chronicle newspaper, "The collection includes contemporary ghost, werewolf, vampire, and beastly creature stories; weird and paranormal tales; and neo-Gothic romances....[prompted from] a sabbatical last fall [2006], after his own Gothic research led him to a walking tour of Transylvania and facing a gypsy woman's curse..." [7] The 2003 Bram Stoker Award-finalist webzine Horror World[8] concludes that Exotic Gothic "raises the question as to 'How does the contemporary global Gothic enlarge, transcend, scramble, subvert, or mock the genre?' Olson subdivided the Anthology into Sections for Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Each Section then has various stories that are set within or relate to the particular geographic area.."[9] Inside the first volume, the editor "celebrates the loosening of geographic bonds, an emancipation of the genre."[10]

Exotic Gothic 2: New Tales of Taboo was published Sept. 2008 by Ash-Tree Press, hardcover and trade ppk., original cover photography by Nicholas Royle, 318pp.[16]

Ellen Datlow described "Exotic Gothic 2 edited by Danel Olson (Ash-Tree Press) as a worthy follow-up to the editor's first, mixed reprint and original anthology. EG2 has all new stories taking place all over the world. The most notable were those by George Makana Clark, Barbara Roden, Nicholas Royle, Nancy A. Collins, Edward P. Crandall, Christopher Fowler, Reggie Oliver, Tia V. Travis, and Rob Hood."[17]

Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations was published in Dec. 2009 by Ash-Tree Press, hardcover, original art by Jason Zerillo, 277pp.[27]

In each successive volume of the Exotic Gothic series so far, women have assumed more presence on the table of contents, but it is a presence still shy of what one sampling of contemporary American-edited horror anthologies found: Black Static staff reviewer Peter Tennant discusses the disparity of women in US and British horror anthologies (not mentioning Exotic Gothic 3, but writing within ten months of Exotic Gothic 3's release), pointing out that women make up around 32% of the contributors for American-edited horror anthologies he examined, and merely 21% of the contributors for contemporary UK-edited horror anthologies he examined.[28] Reviewer Rich Horton in the March 2010 issue of Locus (magazine), praised Exotic Gothic 3 for its "evocations of ghost traditions unfamiliar to most Westerners."[29] Horton wrote that "I found my favorite story to be the most traditional, Barbara Roden's "The Haunted House of Etobicoke," and it is so beautifully executed that we are moved again."[29]

Peter Tennant, writing in Black Static, noted that "Of the other overlapping anthologies, Exotic Gothic 3 scored with both [anthologists] Jones and Datlow" in 2010.[30] Author Stephen Jones found "The third volume in the series edited and introduced by Danel Olson, Exotic Gothic 3, was one of the more satisfying anthologies of the year\."[31] Humanities Librarian Richard Bleiler describes it as a "strong and often satisfying collection of stories."[32] Bleiler argues that some of the books best tales come out of Africa and Europe: Zimbabwe born contributor "George Makana Clarke's tale is gripping and nightmarish and carries an internal conviction," while "disastrous relationships ... figure prominently in the European section, and the horrors of the Third Reich and the Balkan Wars echo ... particularly [in] Peter Bell's 'The Barony at Rodal,' Christopher Fowler's 'Arkangel,' and David Wellington (author)'s 'Grvnice'."[32] In a summary of international horror fiction from 2009, anthologist Ellen Datlow argues that Exotic Gothic 3 "is an all original collection ... with terrific ones from Simon Clark, Terry Dowling, Simon Kurt Unsworth, and Kaaron Warren, and good ones from the other contributors."[33]

Exotic Gothic 4: A Postscripts Anthology was released as hardcover July 2012 and paperback January 2014 by PS Publishing, original cover photography by Apolinar L. Chuca, 301pp.[44]

Writing for LOCUS magazine Lois Tilton described the fourth incarnation as “Neo-Gothic stories, which the editor aptly characterizes as ‘that genre of things wrongly hungered for and things wrongly alive.”[45] Mario Guslandi, writing for Thirteen O’Clock,[46] echoes Tilton’s fondness for the book's non-Western settings: “[The] stories by a distinguished group of genre experts, set in different locations, addressing a diversity of themes [still share] the character of modern gothic fiction [but] set in places of the world we either least associate with 'gothic' or fail to even consider in the genre."[47]

Making a case that the anthology represents social criticism, Morgan interprets Margo Lanagan's lead-story in the collection, "Blooding the Bride", as "a strong feminist subtext on the nature of the marriage rite as an oppressive trap for women, even in our modern, post-feminist movement time."[47] According to Morgan the book is dominated by "themes of cultural oppression, the evil claws of colonialism still deeply embedded in the back of certain nations, feminine sacrifice to ancient traditions with hidden shackles, ... elavat[ing] them beyond mere horror stories."[47]

A review in Dead Reckoning described the novel as “a sumptuous package,” with stories “sensuous,” “skewed and grotesque,” “passionate,” and “ambiguously ghostly.” [48]

Eotic Gothic 4 won the World Fantasy Award for Best Edited Anthology on 3 November 2013, as well as the Shirley Jackson Award for Superior Anthology on 14 July 2013. In an interview after the awards in The Gothic Imagination, Olson described his approach to selecting the stories: “My hope is to choose stories that, like dreams, resurface long after our first experience with them, and often an indication of that power manifests in the images, rhythms, struggles, and secret identifications within [their] opening paragraph.” [49]

Exotic Gothic 5 was released 2013 by PS Publishing, hardcover, Vol. I original front and back cover photography by Marcela Bolívar, design by Michael Smith, 244 pages;[56]

One of the short stories, "The Open Mirror" from Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, first appeared in its original French in the Catholic daily, La Croix in 2008.[57] "A Game of Draughts" from Joyce Carol Oates was published in similar form in her 2013 novel, The Accursed.[58]

Italian reviewer Mario Guslandi described the volume as "dark stories of modern gothic from every corner of the world ... apt to elicit pleasurable shivers without resorting to gore and violence."[59] Horror Novel Reviews agreed with Guslandi regarding the volumes' disinclination towards blood and grue: “Like the prior anthologies, [Olsen] focuses on the Gothic literary tradition of suspense, fear, and atmosphere rather than gore and violence." Comparing the two volumes, Horror Novel Reviews concludes that though it “reaches into the colonial fear of native sexuality” [60] A consensus by Locus editors and reviewers placed Exotic Gothic 5 on the 2013 Locus Recommended Reading List along with one dozen other original anthologies.[61]

A review in the print quarterly Gothic Beauty by Gail Brasie conclude that "the series [stops] the assumption that the only people reading neo-Gothic stories are white kids" and does so successful: "The storytelling is brilliant and as varied as the settings."[62]