The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own

by Gwendolyn Kiste

Celebrated author Gwendolyn Kiste cordially invites you to explore The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own. Enter a world possessed by recriminations from bygone eras, where the regrets and malice of years past still reverberate and shape our doom. Here, morally complex women and queer antiheroines swim against the current of a social structure that serves as a spectral prison in these layered stories of the weird and the Other.

Known for crafting bold metafictional narratives that grapple with challenging social issues, Kiste’s unwavering voice deftly weaves a siren’s song of resilience and survival. Included among the short stories in this collection are the Bram Stoker Award-winning “The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt From Lucy Westenra’s Diary),” “The Girls From the Horror Movie,” “The Sea Witch of the World’s Fair,” and other riveting new gothic tales of body horror, the supernatural, and unapologetic resistance.

“What’s going on inside you?” I ask, but the darkness never whispers back.

Genres: Horror

164 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication April 14, 2026

About the author

Gwendolyn Kiste is the four-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens, Reluctant Immortals, The Haunting of Velkwood, Boneset & Feathers, and Pretty Marys All in a Row, among others. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in outlets including Lit Hub, Nightmare, Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Vastarien, Tor Nightfire, Titan Books, and The Dark. She's a Lambda Literary Award winner, and her fiction has also received the This Is Horror award for Novel of the Year as well as nominations for the Shirley Jackson, Premios Kelvin, Ignotus, and Dragon awards.

Originally from Ohio, she now resides on an abandoned horse farm outside of Pittsburgh with her husband, their excitable calico cat, and not nearly enough ghosts. Find her online at gwendolynkiste.com

Reviews

[Becky Spratford]

Reading for review in a future issue of Booklist

[N.J. Gallegos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this ARC from Netgalley.

I've read Kiste's "Reluctant Immortals" as well as several short stories is various anthologies and always enjoyed her style. After reading "The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own", she's gained a fan for life. Her prose is lyrical, beautiful, and heart-wrenching. The stories range from gut punches to palate cleansers. A few stories stood out to me. "Her Skin a Grim Canvas" is fashion body horror and culminates in the model's revenge. A nice commentary on how far someone will go for fame, adoration, even mutilating themselves for the craft. "The Last Video Store on the Left" is a nice queer haunted video rental store tale with a nice ending. "Ides" follows a doomsday cult of women (I love a good cult, especially woman-led), and "Best Friends Forever" features the complicated relationships of toxic frenemies.

Kiste writes feminist horror through a queer lens and damn; do I like it!

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years back I read The Haunting Of Velkwood which turned me into a fan of Gwendolyn Kiste immediately. So when I had the opportunity to check out an advanced copy of "The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own" I had to jump at it.

Consisting of short stories that have been released elsewhere plus a handful of unreleased stories, this collection is similar to many of her contemporaries who have put together these types of collections. There are some good stories, some decent ones and a few great ones. The constant throughout is they are all written from the female perspective, putting you in their shoes and bouncing from character to character. Surely some people will have an issue with this, but those are also generally the type of people who you don't need to hear from.

There are no "bad" stories per se throughout, with everything having some sort of redeeming factor or message. Truthfully, the only story I had heard of previously was the award-winning "The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt From Lucy Westenra’s Diary)" which I actually found to be the weakest of all. Not bad, just didn't click for me.

If you are familiar with Kiste's work prior to this release, you will surely find something to take away from this collection. If you haven't by the time the final story, from which the collection takes its name, that one most certainly will as the book ends on a high note.

I've tended to stay away from short stories in my reading over the past decade or so, just as I prefer to become more immersed in the world of the stories that short fiction doesn't always allow the time for, so it was nice to have an opportunity to jump back into this type of book with an author I'm becoming more and more of a fan of.

Must Read: "The Sea Witch of the World's Fair", "The Last Video Store On The Left", "The Eleven Films of Oona Cashford", "The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own"
Good Ones: "The Girls From The Horror Movie", "Ides" "In The Belly of The Wolf", "Sister Glitter Blood"
Weakest (or my personal least favorite): "The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt From Lucy Westenra’s Diary)"

Thanks NetGalley and RDS Publishing for this free arc/copy of The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own; all opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Vanna Book-Mage · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Haunted House She Calls Her Own is a collection of character-driven short stories that encompass the weird, supernatural, psychological and strange. The tone of the collection is set immediately from the first story and the reader is transported into an atmospheric world of eerie and unexplained occurrences that border the line of unsettling and disturbing. This is further developed as the stories progress and the reader is ensconced in an unsettling psychological thread of queer anti-heroines, morally grey characters, hauntings, monsters and ghosts.

The stories are mostly written in the first and second person voices which make the reader feel immersed in the plot alongside the characters in a way that engages the senses and causes an immediacy to the feel of the horrifying tales. There is a flow to the collection even though the stories do not need to be read in order; they have underlying themes of otherness, queerness, the patriarchy as systemically monstrous, the horror of societal expectations, and normalcy as terrifying.

While subtle and nuanced the author’s use of imagery is rich and unflinching, like the descriptions are grappling to be more than seen, but also felt. Overall, this was a rich and terrifying plunge into a short-story horror collection that is atmospherically gothic and haunting in the best ways.

Favourite story standouts: “The Sea Witch of the World’s Fair” & “Ides”

Thanks NetGalley and RDS Publishing for this free arc/copy of The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own; all opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Hannah Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite authors of the weird and creative writes one of my favourite collection of weird and creative short stories. More at ten.

Honestly, though. Does Gwendolyn Kiste ever miss? This anthology had everything you could have asked for and a lot of things you wouldn't have thought to ask for. I greatly enjoy when anthologies--especially by the same author--do not contain any two stories that are alike. I mean, each had the same beautiful and very engaging writing that always makes me sit down and finish Kiste's books in one sitting, but aside from that... I never knew what to expect.

I don't think this collection had a story I didn't enjoy, though I will admit a certain weariness to Dracula-related stories. That's not Kiste's fault, that's just the market. I didn't think I was going to be able to pick a favourite story amongst all of them and I kept stressing in my head, scrolling back and thinking, but then I hit the last story--the story that carries the title of the collection itself. It was beautiful, haunting and very imaginative. At first, I honestly thought, ah, not another story about (...), but the sheer creativity of it! I'm not honestly certain I've seen a ghost story done that way. At least not well enough that it stuck in my mind.

Kiste is an auto-buy for me, so I already had my copy on preorder, but I'm so glad I got to read this early and I HIGHLY suggest that anyone who is a fan of horror, the weird and beautiful and unexpected, grab your copies now. You will not be disappointed.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. One of my favorite reads of 2025 was The Haunting of Velkwood, so I was very excited about this new release from Kiste. I don’t typically enjoy short story collections, but Kiste does a good job maintaining similar themes and messaging throughout the assorted tales, which makes it feel like a cohesive body of work. The horror ranges from spooky to downright upsetting, with an undercurrent of melancholy that is reminiscent of Velkwood. Great horror imagery that really sticks with you! They were a couple of stories that did not work for me early in the book, and one that felt truly out of place towards the end, but I enjoyed the vast majority of this book.

My favorites of the collection (in chronological order) are: The Sea Witch of the World’s Fair, Sister Glitter Blood, Ides, Best Friends Forever, The Eleven Films of Oona Cashford, and Lost in Darkness and Distance.

[Just Another Final Girl Review (Brittany) Levely-Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is my first book review in a while. I hate that Goodreads only lets me do full stars because I would give this book a 3.5-3.75 on other sites that allow me to rate books differently. This short story collection is really well written and incredibly enjoyable. That being said some of the shorts were stories I would individually rate 5 stars but a few of them weren’t as great and I found myself putting down the book and reading a novel in between stories. I loved the first story and I’ve previously reviewed the audiobook version of the second story on this site. I loved that this book included what seems to be the starting point for the novel Reluctant Immortals.

Will edit and add more later…

[Christi Nogle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several of the stories here feature some kind of take on the haunted house theme, and most focus on close relationships between women whether mother-daughter, friends, or girlfriends. Each is a mix of beauty, magic, pain, and anger. Some favorites were "The Sea Witch of the World's Fair," "The Last Video Store on the Left," "Sister Glitter Blood," "All the Hippies Are Dying," and "Lost in Darkness and Distance."

Kiste was one of the authors whose works stood out to me most when I was just starting to read a lot of new short fiction in horror around ten years ago, so it's great to see this wonderful new collection from her! Those who loved it might also appreciate her 2017 collection And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe--as well as her novels, of course.

[Sarah Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been wanting to read Kiste's work for a while, and thought this collection of stories would likely be a great place to start. Oh my god, I was so right! Why have I waited so long?
The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own has something for all horror lovers - cursed movies, historical ghosts, creepy fairy tales...
Kiste's writing is beautifully poetic, while also remaining accessible.
My favourite stories were:
The Eleven Films of Oona Cashford - a unique take on the cursed movie trope. Genuinely creepy!
Sister Glitter Blood - A sentient board game with sinister consequences.
The Last Video Store on the Left - pure nostalgia!

[Jan Stinchcomb · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It isn't fair what the world expects of women, how they must stitch themselves back together on the inside to keep from coming apart, to dam up the sorrow that would drown the whole universe if they let it."
Classic Kiste.

These are carefully structured and hard-hitting horror stories that draw from fairy tales, horror film tropes, and historical events and figures. Favorites include: "The Eight People Who Murdered Me," "Melting Point," "Her Skin a Grim Canvas," "Lost in Darkness and Distance," and the title story, "The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own."

If you've been craving another short story collection from this prolific and insightful author, you are in luck.

[Nikki Kossaris · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own is a beautifully gothic and tragic collection centered on women in all stages of life. Gwendolyn Kiste understands that the body, memory, and expectation can be as haunting as any house.

The standouts for me were “A New Mother’s Guide to Raising an Abomination,” a raw and unsettling take on motherhood, and “Her Skin a Grim Canvas,” which is intimate, disturbing, and lingered with me long after I finished.

This is quiet, emotionally rich horror—more ache than shock—and it’s perfect for readers who love gothic fiction that puts women’s inner lives at the center. Highly recommended.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGaelly.
The stories all have female main characters and nearly all of those females are monsters, or have monsters within them, though the monsters aren't necessarily villains. Spanning a wide range of subjects, the tales are mostly dark and bleak, and several go to places that make you say "Jeez." when you read them. One exception to the bleak theme is "The Eleven Films of Oona Cashford" which contains a macabre sort of humor to it, and may be my favorite out of the bunch.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not love this collection more. My favorite story is “Melting Point”: it’s romantic and terrifying and bittersweet all at once. If you adore Kiste’s mesmeric prose as much as I do, preorder this book immediately.