What do you think?
Rate this book
Queer Gothic Anthology #2
Unthinkable: A Queer Gothic Anthology
Unthinkable: A Queer Gothic Anthology collects nineteen original Gothic tales primed to unsettle and entertain.
From a Southern Gothic tale of destruction and revenge, to haunted houses and cursed lovers, to an eco-Gothic saga, Unthinkable’s tales present undying themes of love and tragedy, life and death, all suffused with queerness.
Following on from the success of its predecessor Unspeakable: A Queer Gothic Anthology, Unthinkable features stories from a fresh batch of authors, showcasing the depth and breadth of queer Gothic literature.
Edited by Celine Frohn and featuring an introduction by A Dowry of Blood author S.T. Gibson, Unthinkable promises to haunt the reader long after the final page has been turned.
From a Southern Gothic tale of destruction and revenge, to haunted houses and cursed lovers, to an eco-Gothic saga, Unthinkable’s tales present undying themes of love and tragedy, life and death, all suffused with queerness.
Following on from the success of its predecessor Unspeakable: A Queer Gothic Anthology, Unthinkable features stories from a fresh batch of authors, showcasing the depth and breadth of queer Gothic literature.
Edited by Celine Frohn and featuring an introduction by A Dowry of Blood author S.T. Gibson, Unthinkable promises to haunt the reader long after the final page has been turned.
352 pages, Paperback
First published October 27, 2022
4 people are currently reading
302 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 7, 2023
This is a really strong collection! Perhaps the strongest anthology I've ever read. There was only one story that wasn't for me, and it wasn't in any way bad, just not my thing. Conversely, there were so many that I loved. Two of them made me so emotional I had tears in my eyes ('Sea Salt and Strawberries' and 'An Epitaph, Epistolary'). It's impossible to choose a favourite but I especially loved 'Bess and the Thrasher Bird', which was a sapphic retelling of The Highwayman but with black protagonists and set in America during slavery. This author remixed the poem so well!
Other notable stories: Fun at Parties ('My haunting began with a parlour game'), The Dead Space (vampire hiding in the walls - and not the sexy kind of vampire), Bodies of Water (bad people make the scariest ghosts), Reynardine (missing people and sentient fox furs that are disturbingly connected), and Reflections (a house haunted by its own history, with objects literally transfiguring into older versions of themselves).
The collection is very diverse both in terms of the queerness represented, and also with race and nationality. And there's a list of trigger warnings in the beginning to make it easy for people to avoid stories with specific content. I highly recommend!
Other notable stories: Fun at Parties ('My haunting began with a parlour game'), The Dead Space (vampire hiding in the walls - and not the sexy kind of vampire), Bodies of Water (bad people make the scariest ghosts), Reynardine (missing people and sentient fox furs that are disturbingly connected), and Reflections (a house haunted by its own history, with objects literally transfiguring into older versions of themselves).
The collection is very diverse both in terms of the queerness represented, and also with race and nationality. And there's a list of trigger warnings in the beginning to make it easy for people to avoid stories with specific content. I highly recommend!
March 11, 2023
This is an excellent anthology! Each story in this collection is compelling, emotional, and at times frankly gut-wrenching. These are stories you'll want to savor; many of them will stay with me (haunt me, even) for a long time.
March 5, 2023
there’s always something magical about queer anthologies, and this one was no different. i took many, many notes throughout this, including my thoughts on each story:
> loved saint gibson’s introduction, especially p. vi “[These stories will] appeal to those readers who have always had an affinity for the night, found comfort in shadows, or saw themselves reflected in the monster.”
all sweet souls by antonija mežnarić - 4.5 stars, delightfully creepy, loved the main character and how she was self assured and strong willed. Croatian folklore? never read anything in the same vein, but really loved it.
bess and the thrasher bird by arden powell - oh i love merleau so much. riding around the south and shooting slavers and plantation owners, what a setting/character introduction. i loved the way the characters felt so real even in a short story, and the ending was both heartbreaking and heartfelt at the same time. 4 stars.
> i like that the collection went from western gothic to Black gothic, and in just two stories showed the way the theme of the collection transcends cultures
raion kuīn by hunter liguore - i found this pretty mid, i don’t think the characters had much depth and i didn’t feel any kind of connection to the broader story either. 3 stars
vestal by dee holloway - 3.5 i enjoyed this well enough, i think the villain was interesting, especially since it was more micro aggressions than anything cartoonishly overt. i liked the magic system in this too, i wanted to see more of how MCs magic worked. i liked annie as a character, even if she was a bit bland and cookie cutter, but i didn’t feel totally convinced of their relationship.
> i find it interesting that i’ve read four stories so far, and they have all been sapphic. i’m hoping to read some achillean stories as well as trans characters, especially nonbinary people, being monstrous the way the cis characters are seemingly allowed to be.
clutching air by jillian bost - 3 stars, i liked the setting but it didn’t feel contained, and i think the idea would’ve been better executed either as a novella or a full length novel. the first M/M story of the collection so far.
fun at parties by k. blair - 5 stars, perfection, knew what it was and wasn’t bloated with fluff. gave me the same vibes as saint gibson’s a dowry of blood.
the dead space by stewart horn - 5 stars, so good. another M/M story, i liked the inclusion of glasgow as a setting and the monster genuinely creeped me out.
it passed by morning by adriana c. grigore - 2 stars, liked the nonbinary main character but was a bit lost by the setting and thought it needed a lot more worldbuilding, or to have less rigid rules/roles. it had so much potential but sadly didn’t live up to it imo.
the wellkeepers by sydney meeker - 3 stars, didn’t love this a lot, I felt the atmosphere was the best part of the whole thing and it didn’t feel like enough to keep a whole story together. I liked the ‘mystery’ of the two older women, but the main plot didn’t interest me very much.
sea salt and strawberries by solstice lamarre - 5 stars, favourite of the collection. I loved the writing, I loved the timelessness and placelessness of it; this could be set literally anywhere, anytime. I loved the forest god’s character, and the ending made me tear up. Oh I loved it so much.
bodies of water by valentin narziss - 2 stars, again I didn’t like this one very much. i’m realising that a lot of the ocean/sea based stories in this collection aren’t my favourites. I did enjoy the themes of grief, but I felt like we were held at arms length and I didn’t feel much of anything toward it.
reynardine by kallyn hunter - 4.5 stars, a story in the vein of SGJ’s work. the slasher vibes really worked for showing how brutal life is to certain groups of people. i was a bit confused by the fact that the MC is described as pale, but the missing girl was Black. that just sat funny with me, because there was no need to have the violence done to a young Black girl so blatantly. loved that a trans person was so readily accepted by the MC’s guardian though.
reflections by gillian joseph - 4 stars, super spooky. i loved the writing and the fact the author pulled off a genuinely surprising twist in as few pages as they did. i was a tiny bit confused by the ending, but the way the rest of the story came together made me not really mind it in the end.
> i am really loving how much trans rep is in these stories. i like the casual mention of binders and they/them pronouns and the fact these stories aren’t centred around transphobic pain.
in ruins by g. t. korbin - 3 stars, i saw what the author was trying to do, but it didn’t impact me very much. the MC felt very flat, as if she wasn’t even supposed to be a character, just a plot device so the author could talk about art and ownership. i did enjoy the way art was discussed in general though, i just wish the story went a little bit deeper. i also enjoyed that it was set in athens, and didn’t centre the UK/US.
blood play by tabitha o’connell - 3.5 stars, i liked the discussion of kink, especially because it’s so important when discussing queer culture and pride. there were a lot of feminism/consent 101 talk, like ‘communication is key!’ and ‘safe words are a thing’, which i felt were a bit unnecessary. this story definitely felt geared towards a YA audience instead of an adult one, particularly in the writing style. overall it was fine/good, but not my favourite.
> the last story really showed me that i need to learn more about the asexual and aromantic identities. category is usually has great nonfiction, and i believe there’s something available on libby too.
an epitaph, epistolary by m. špoljar - 4.5 stars, this was so beautiful. it touched on mental health, grief, how to love someone and hold space for them even in death, and in the end, moving on. it was bittersweet and incredibly sad, but wonderfully written.
the ghost at haunting’s end by elisabeth r. moore - 3.5 stars, i really liked the ideas and concepts that this story brought up. i didn’t feel particularly connected to the plot, more so the ideas that were involved. the queerness aspect was super minimal, but i did like that there was polyamory mentioned.
q. e. d. by kimberly rei - 2 stars, i think this one went a bit over my head. i don’t really have much to say but the writing was lush, so i want to check out more of the author’s work in future.
> loved saint gibson’s introduction, especially p. vi “[These stories will] appeal to those readers who have always had an affinity for the night, found comfort in shadows, or saw themselves reflected in the monster.”
all sweet souls by antonija mežnarić - 4.5 stars, delightfully creepy, loved the main character and how she was self assured and strong willed. Croatian folklore? never read anything in the same vein, but really loved it.
bess and the thrasher bird by arden powell - oh i love merleau so much. riding around the south and shooting slavers and plantation owners, what a setting/character introduction. i loved the way the characters felt so real even in a short story, and the ending was both heartbreaking and heartfelt at the same time. 4 stars.
> i like that the collection went from western gothic to Black gothic, and in just two stories showed the way the theme of the collection transcends cultures
raion kuīn by hunter liguore - i found this pretty mid, i don’t think the characters had much depth and i didn’t feel any kind of connection to the broader story either. 3 stars
vestal by dee holloway - 3.5 i enjoyed this well enough, i think the villain was interesting, especially since it was more micro aggressions than anything cartoonishly overt. i liked the magic system in this too, i wanted to see more of how MCs magic worked. i liked annie as a character, even if she was a bit bland and cookie cutter, but i didn’t feel totally convinced of their relationship.
> i find it interesting that i’ve read four stories so far, and they have all been sapphic. i’m hoping to read some achillean stories as well as trans characters, especially nonbinary people, being monstrous the way the cis characters are seemingly allowed to be.
clutching air by jillian bost - 3 stars, i liked the setting but it didn’t feel contained, and i think the idea would’ve been better executed either as a novella or a full length novel. the first M/M story of the collection so far.
fun at parties by k. blair - 5 stars, perfection, knew what it was and wasn’t bloated with fluff. gave me the same vibes as saint gibson’s a dowry of blood.
the dead space by stewart horn - 5 stars, so good. another M/M story, i liked the inclusion of glasgow as a setting and the monster genuinely creeped me out.
it passed by morning by adriana c. grigore - 2 stars, liked the nonbinary main character but was a bit lost by the setting and thought it needed a lot more worldbuilding, or to have less rigid rules/roles. it had so much potential but sadly didn’t live up to it imo.
the wellkeepers by sydney meeker - 3 stars, didn’t love this a lot, I felt the atmosphere was the best part of the whole thing and it didn’t feel like enough to keep a whole story together. I liked the ‘mystery’ of the two older women, but the main plot didn’t interest me very much.
sea salt and strawberries by solstice lamarre - 5 stars, favourite of the collection. I loved the writing, I loved the timelessness and placelessness of it; this could be set literally anywhere, anytime. I loved the forest god’s character, and the ending made me tear up. Oh I loved it so much.
bodies of water by valentin narziss - 2 stars, again I didn’t like this one very much. i’m realising that a lot of the ocean/sea based stories in this collection aren’t my favourites. I did enjoy the themes of grief, but I felt like we were held at arms length and I didn’t feel much of anything toward it.
reynardine by kallyn hunter - 4.5 stars, a story in the vein of SGJ’s work. the slasher vibes really worked for showing how brutal life is to certain groups of people. i was a bit confused by the fact that the MC is described as pale, but the missing girl was Black. that just sat funny with me, because there was no need to have the violence done to a young Black girl so blatantly. loved that a trans person was so readily accepted by the MC’s guardian though.
reflections by gillian joseph - 4 stars, super spooky. i loved the writing and the fact the author pulled off a genuinely surprising twist in as few pages as they did. i was a tiny bit confused by the ending, but the way the rest of the story came together made me not really mind it in the end.
> i am really loving how much trans rep is in these stories. i like the casual mention of binders and they/them pronouns and the fact these stories aren’t centred around transphobic pain.
in ruins by g. t. korbin - 3 stars, i saw what the author was trying to do, but it didn’t impact me very much. the MC felt very flat, as if she wasn’t even supposed to be a character, just a plot device so the author could talk about art and ownership. i did enjoy the way art was discussed in general though, i just wish the story went a little bit deeper. i also enjoyed that it was set in athens, and didn’t centre the UK/US.
blood play by tabitha o’connell - 3.5 stars, i liked the discussion of kink, especially because it’s so important when discussing queer culture and pride. there were a lot of feminism/consent 101 talk, like ‘communication is key!’ and ‘safe words are a thing’, which i felt were a bit unnecessary. this story definitely felt geared towards a YA audience instead of an adult one, particularly in the writing style. overall it was fine/good, but not my favourite.
> the last story really showed me that i need to learn more about the asexual and aromantic identities. category is usually has great nonfiction, and i believe there’s something available on libby too.
an epitaph, epistolary by m. špoljar - 4.5 stars, this was so beautiful. it touched on mental health, grief, how to love someone and hold space for them even in death, and in the end, moving on. it was bittersweet and incredibly sad, but wonderfully written.
the ghost at haunting’s end by elisabeth r. moore - 3.5 stars, i really liked the ideas and concepts that this story brought up. i didn’t feel particularly connected to the plot, more so the ideas that were involved. the queerness aspect was super minimal, but i did like that there was polyamory mentioned.
q. e. d. by kimberly rei - 2 stars, i think this one went a bit over my head. i don’t really have much to say but the writing was lush, so i want to check out more of the author’s work in future.
March 23, 2024
3.5 stars
This was a great collection of short stories.
there were stories with androids, kelpies, witches and so much more.
there was a wide range of genres mostly fantasy and gothic but some Science fiction and Horror.
The stories took you all around the globe, to Scotland, Japan , Canada , the USA and to alternative earth and fantasy worlds.
The representation and the curation of this anthology was very well done, there was representation in the stories as well as with the authors. the representation didn't just include LGBTQIA+ representation , but also indigenous and mental illness.
like any anthology or collection of short stories there will always be stories in the collection you like and some you don't. But overall I found i enjoyed almost all , there was none i disliked.
I would definitely recommend this collection to anyone (as long as your ok with some blood and maybe read the content warnings at the beginning of the book encase for each story)
This was a great collection of short stories.
there were stories with androids, kelpies, witches and so much more.
there was a wide range of genres mostly fantasy and gothic but some Science fiction and Horror.
The stories took you all around the globe, to Scotland, Japan , Canada , the USA and to alternative earth and fantasy worlds.
The representation and the curation of this anthology was very well done, there was representation in the stories as well as with the authors. the representation didn't just include LGBTQIA+ representation , but also indigenous and mental illness.
like any anthology or collection of short stories there will always be stories in the collection you like and some you don't. But overall I found i enjoyed almost all , there was none i disliked.
I would definitely recommend this collection to anyone (as long as your ok with some blood and maybe read the content warnings at the beginning of the book encase for each story)
October 2, 2024
2.6 Stars - Some massive hits namely ‘Sea Salt and Strawberry’s’ by Solstice Lamarre, ‘An Epitaph, Epistolary’ by M Špoljar and ‘The Wellkeepers’ by Sydney Meeker, however with these hits came massive misses for me that I simply didn’t find enjoyable or, to be frank, interesting. I feel some of the story’s need more length to tell the story the author wanted to portray and others the concept couldn’t even grip attention for 20 pages.
I wish I loved this more than I did. I have never been so close to DNFing a book at so many instances as I was with this anthology. (I am glad I didn’t as I really resonated with ‘Sea Salt and Strawberry’ and ‘An Epitaph, Elistolary’ both of which I will carry there theme and message with me)
The concept I adore but this didn’t connect the way I wished it did. And believe me I wanted to love this!
I wish I loved this more than I did. I have never been so close to DNFing a book at so many instances as I was with this anthology. (I am glad I didn’t as I really resonated with ‘Sea Salt and Strawberry’ and ‘An Epitaph, Elistolary’ both of which I will carry there theme and message with me)
The concept I adore but this didn’t connect the way I wished it did. And believe me I wanted to love this!
November 19, 2022
From a monastery in medieval Japan to a hipster bar in Buffalo, this anthology is a journey rife with mystery and longing from beginning to end. Editor Celine Frohn has brought together a diverse collection of evocative stories that reframe the gothic with a queer lens. These are tales of haunted houses and haunted hearts, each story shimmering with its own dark magic. This is an anthology that will leave you shivering - maybe with fear, maybe with desire, or maybe, with a little bit of both.
December 5, 2022
A bit biased, as I have a story in the collection, but I really enjoyed this assembly. Some serious stand-outs include "Raion Kuin" by Hunter Liguore, Sydney Meeker's "The Wellkeepers," "Bodies of Water" by Valentin Narziss, and "Reflections" from Gillian Joseph. From weird Americana to cyborgs, Mythos-tinged monsters to living statues, there's a Gothic flavor in this anthology for every reader.
October 29, 2025
☆ 4.5 ☆
March 6, 2025
A fun collection! I don't read a lot of gothic stories so I was surprised by the breadth of settings and themes presented here.
I think I also found I enjoyed some more than others out of personal preference, and some I enjoyed because of the writing itself.
Hard to rate such a wide variety of stories. I would say I recommend it to anyone I think would enjoy gothic stories with queer characters and themes. I struggled with some stories though, so I couldn't say I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I think I also found I enjoyed some more than others out of personal preference, and some I enjoyed because of the writing itself.
Hard to rate such a wide variety of stories. I would say I recommend it to anyone I think would enjoy gothic stories with queer characters and themes. I struggled with some stories though, so I couldn't say I thoroughly enjoyed it.
November 26, 2022
While I love the theme, I found the collection hit and miss again. I loved a few stories, "Reflections", "Bess and the Thrasher Bird", "The Ghost at Haunting's End." Those I can see myself reading over and over. Others felt somewhat unfinished, like early drafts, or maybe just weren't my cup of tea.
September 8, 2023
“Bess and the Thrasher Bird” 👢🪶
“The Dead Space” 📝🩸
“The Wellkeepers” 🐴🐋
“Sea Salt and Strawberries” 😭🍃🍓
“Reynardine” 🏳️⚧️🦊🔥
“Reflections” 🪞😈🤯
“Blood Pay” 🍕🧛🏻
“An Epitaph, Epistolary” ❤️🩹👻
“The Ghost at Haunting’s End” 🦾🧠
“The Dead Space” 📝🩸
“The Wellkeepers” 🐴🐋
“Sea Salt and Strawberries” 😭🍃🍓
“Reynardine” 🏳️⚧️🦊🔥
“Reflections” 🪞😈🤯
“Blood Pay” 🍕🧛🏻
“An Epitaph, Epistolary” ❤️🩹👻
“The Ghost at Haunting’s End” 🦾🧠
August 14, 2024
A very solid anthology - it's been too long since I read Unspeakable to compare the two, tbh. The stories I enjoyed particularly were "Raion Kuin" by Hunter Liguore, "Vestal" by Dee Holloway and "Reflections" by Gillian Joseph.
November 28, 2023
Sea salt and strawberries was incredible
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews