Dark Academia: Part I
By Book Moon
By Book Moon
1 year into my 3-year long MFA and I've only just stumbled onto this little treat of a subgenre called, Dark Academia. Does this foray into the intersection of horror and the desire for intellectual enlightenment reflect some underlying, recently-sustained trauma? Really, who can say. I, for one, won't be looking into it too hard.
The Orchard
David Hopen
$27.99 $26.03David Hopen is a student at Yale Law School. Raised in Hollywood, Florida, he earned his master's from the University of Oxford and graduated from Yale College. The Orchard is his debut novel.
Magic for Liars
Sarah Gailey
$17.99 $16.73Fantasy meets detective noir but make her all grown up? Say no more, friends. Where shall I direct my funds?
Trust Exercise
Susan Choi
$15.99 $14.87Let's set the scene: It's the early 1980s, at a highly competitive performing arts high school in an American suburb. This has all the makings of a rip-roaring good time. In this one, the teacher's the one who's up to no good. Mr. Kingsley is his name and he's positively chilling.
The Basic Eight
Daniel Handler
$16.99 $15.80Remember Daniel Handler? Not ringing any bells? Perhaps you know him by his other name, Lemony Snicket, the author of those books LITERALLY everyone read as a child. Well, DH's books, unlike his alter ego's, tend to be for a slightly more grown-up readership. But they're just as dark, just as painfully funny, as in, I'm laughing because I'm uncomfortable, not necessarily because I find this amusing. Currently backordered, but I'm sure you can find it somewhere.
Hangsaman
Shirley Jackson
$16.00 $14.88Hangsaman is Shirley Jackson's second novel. It's based on her own experiences and the real-life 1946 disappearance of a Bennington College sophomore. This year was the first time I'd ever read anything from the late-great SJ. I know, *gasp* But then I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House and now I'm a brand new woman.
For Your Own Good
Samantha Downing
$27.00 $25.11"Set at a prestigious private school—complete with interfering parents, overeager students, and one teacher who just wants to teach them all a lesson..." —publisher promo. Available for pre-order on July 20, 2021.
Plain Bad Heroines
Emily M. Danforth and Sara Lautman
$27.99 $26.03I kid you not, there's no place more cursed than a private *New England* all-girls boarding school. Give me prestige. Give me exclusivity. Give me romance. Give me secrets and lies and rumors. Give me whispers behind open fists and closed doors. Give me treachery. Give me two dead little girls. Because there's nothing I love more than a good mystery.
The Truants
Kate Weinberg
$17.00 $15.81"A thrilling debut novel perfect for lovers of Agatha Christie and The Secret History, exploring deceit, first love, and the depths to which obsession can drive us. People disappear when they most want to be seen." — publisher promo
Ninth House
Leigh Bardugo
$28.99 $26.96I just attended a reading (hosted by Book Moon) with Leigh Bardugo (+ Rivers Solomon) and she was absolutely delightful. And I, like half of America, just recently binged Netflix's Shadow and Bone. Fantasy used to be my bread-and-butter growing up and while I still occasionally dabble in the world of magic and mayhem, the books I read, then and now, were a lot less YA. Ninth House is Bardugo's adult debut and I'm here for it. Clicked "pay now" as soon as the event concluded.
If We Were Villains
M. L. Rio
$17.99 $16.73M. L. Rio has worked in bookstores and theatres for years, and holds a master's in Shakespeare studies from King's College London. If We Were Villains is her debut novel.
Truly Devious: A Mystery
Maureen Johnson
$15.99 $14.87“When you have enough power and money, you can dictate the meanings of words.” ― Maureen Johnson, Truly Devious
Catherine House
Elisabeth Thomas
$27.99 $26.03“This dark, speculative thriller . . . [is] an electrifying update on gothic horror, evoking haunting institutional imagery and weaving in 'psychosexual' experimentation and power imbalances.” ― Buzzfeed. You had me at "psychosexual."
Franchesca received her bachelor's degree in English Lit. from Boston University. It's two years later, and she's starting the first year of her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Try as she might, she can't seem to venture beyond The Old Colony State. She enjoys horror movies, steak (well-done like a heathen), tasteful erotica, and occasionally, EDM. She currently resides in Easthampton, MA suffering through remote classes.