Gothic fiction has always known that the dark is where the truth lives. Reflections on Gothic Fiction is a podcast for readers, writers, and anyone who has ever felt more at home in a crumbling mansion than a drawing room. Join professional writer and author Annelise Stephenson Powell for conversations that range from the origins of the Gothic tradition to its darkest modern expressions, exploring the literature, the folklore, and the human compulsion to tell stories that are uncomfortable.
Reflections on Gothic Fiction
Claim This Podcastby Annelise Stephenson Powell
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12 episodes
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Podcast Overview
Gothic fiction has always known that the dark is where the truth lives. Reflections on Gothic Fiction is a podcast for readers, writers, and anyone who has ever felt more at home in a crumbling mansion than a drawing room. Join professional writer and author Annelise Stephenson Powell for conversations that range from the origins of the Gothic tradition to its darkest modern expressions, exploring the literature, the folklore, and the human compulsion to tell stories that are uncomfortable.
Language
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Publishing Since
3/19/2026
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Recent Episodes
July 13, 2026
Episode 12: The Gothic Power of Flowers in the Attic — Why We Couldn't Look Away
<p>Four children. One attic. Fifty years of readers who couldn't look away — and couldn't say why. This episode is my attempt to finally explain it.</p><p>Nearly fifty years ago, a thirteen-year-old girl read a book about four children locked in an attic — and never forgot it. This week on Reflections on Gothic Fiction, I'm going back to Flowers in the Attic to ask a question I've never fully answered: why does this novel still haunt readers decades later, when so many "shocking" books fade into nothing?</p><p>The answer isn't the shock value. It's not the doughnuts, or the tar, or even the abuse itself. It's something quieter and stranger — a house that is both prison and sanctuary, a grandmother whose terror is really just a performance of power, and a story that traps us in the same waiting, hoping, and disappointment the children live through.</p><p>This episode is about what Gothic fiction always does: strip away the beautiful surface and show you what's rotting underneath. Foxworth Hall is elegant. Foxworth Hall is also collapsing. And once you see that contradiction, you can't unsee it anywhere else in the genre.</p><p>If you've ever wondered why a book you read as a teenager still lives rent-free in your head — this one's for you.</p><p><br></p><p>And if you write gothic fiction or you want to, my structural guides and workbooks are over at Gothic Writing Studio on Etsy. Serious tools for serious writers. </p><p>Gothic Writing Studio — structural guides and workbooks for serious gothic fiction writers:<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/GothicWritingStudio"> www.etsy.com/shop/GothicWritingStudio</a></p><p>Or a how to write Gothic Fiction book on Amazon: Writing Gothic Fiction — From Classic Castles to Southern Shadows: https://a.co/d/00hF844E</p><p><br></p><p></p>
June 30, 2026
Episode 11: What Female Gothic is Really About
<p>What if the most unsettling women in Gothic fiction aren't the victims, but the ones who refuse to be one?</p><p>In Episode 11, Annelise digs into Female Gothic and the writers who used the genre to explore something far more complicated than haunted houses and helpless heroines: power, complicity, and survival. From Daphne du Maurier's magnetic, unresolvable Rebecca and Rachel to Barbara Baynton's uneasy portrait of femininity in Squeaker's Mate, this episode asks what happens when women in Gothic fiction stop fitting the role they're assigned, and what it means when some women become enforcers of the very systems that harmed them.</p><p>Plus, Annelise takes a look at how these ideas shaped Lenora and Cassia in her own Southern Gothic novel, All the River Took.</p><p>And if you write gothic fiction or you want to, Annelise's structural guides and workbooks are over at Gothic Writing Studio on Etsy. Serious tools for serious writers. </p><p>Gothic Writing Studio — structural guides and workbooks for serious gothic fiction writers:<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/GothicWritingStudio"> www.etsy.com/shop/GothicWritingStudio</a></p><p>Or a how to write Gothic Fiction book on Amazon: Writing Gothic Fiction — From Classic Castles to Southern Shadows: https://a.co/d/00hF844E</p><p><br></p><p></p>
June 16, 2026
Episode 10: Australian Gothic and the Fear of the Interior
<p>What if the Australian bush was never a place of heroic endurance, but one of the most frightening landscapes in literary history?</p><p>In Episode 10, Annelise explores Australian Gothic and the dark tradition of writers who refused the romantic pioneer myth. From Barbara Baynton's brutal, claustrophobic bush fiction to the eerie indifference of Picnic at Hanging Rock, this episode unpacks why the vast Australian interior became such fertile ground for fear, and why that fear feels so disturbingly plausible.</p><p>No supernatural monsters required. Just distance, silence, and the very real horror of being too far from help.</p><p></p>
12 total episodes available
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- What is Reflections on Gothic Fiction?
- How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
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This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.
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