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Goth Halloween. Darkness, Magic & Vampires

The cover of Goth Halloween: Valentina, a goth girl in a black corset with tattooed arms, among lit candles, a skull and a carved pumpkin, under the title in silver letters and the English Edition seal.

October 31 we wait for it all year.

Print bookazine in premium color, large format 8.5 x 11 in.

Buy it on Amazon

The same English edition, on Amazon in these countries:

A night of candles lit in the window, of chairs left empty at the table for those who are gone, of faces covered so as not to be recognized by those who return.

In these pages you’ll find the women condemned as witches, the vampire who came before Dracula, the Countess of Čachtice, and the Serbian graves opened in 1725 before the emperor’s men. There are seven tales to read aloud on the night of the 31st, places to go, from Whitby to Snagov, and nine movies chosen one by one, from Herzog’s Nosferatu to Eggers’s.

And there are seven goth girls, with their faces and their words about this night.

What You’ll Find Inside

The dead who come home for dinner, witches, vampires and nine movies for October 31

  1. page 3 This Is the Night, Our Night. The editorial. The night we wait for all year, and what you’ll find in these pages.
  2. page 9 Samhain: All I Wait For. Valentina spends the summer waiting for it to end, and tells us about her October 31.
  3. page 13 Why October 31? The dead came home for dinner, and the living covered their faces.
  4. page 19 When the Dead Come Home for Dinner. The table set for those who are gone, and the rules you must not get wrong.
  5. page 25 The Soul Cake. Before trick-or-treating, people knocked for the dead, and a cake bought a prayer.
  6. page 31 The Women Condemned as Witches. An accusation that starts with a sow, a cow, a quarrel between neighbors.
  7. page 37 Carmilla, the Vampire before Dracula. Twenty-five years before Stoker, a girl enters a castle and takes another girl’s hand.
  8. page 43 Countess Báthory and the Blood. The castle of Čachtice, the bodies of the girls, the story of the blood bath.
  9. page 49 Mary Shelley Wrote about Monsters. Mary at eighteen, Ann Radcliffe vanishing, and a nameless woman with twenty-five novels.
  10. page 55 Jack O’Lantern, the Man Who Tricked the Devil. Neither heaven nor hell would have him, and ever since he walks with a glowing turnip.
  11. page 61 Victorian Mourning: How Long It Lasted and What They Wore. Two years of black, crape over the face, jewelry made from the hair of the dead.
  12. page 67 The Mask Kept the Dead from Recognizing You. People came back from the cemetery with covered faces, so the dead wouldn’t follow them home.
  13. page 73 The Vampires the Emperor Put on Record. Serbia, 1725 and 1732. The graves opened, and what lay inside written down.
  14. page 79 Seven Quick Tales to Read Aloud on the Night of October 31. Candles on the coffee table, and at a certain hour someone gets up to check the door.
  15. page 87 Whitby, Highgate, Salem, Snagov: Where to Go for Halloween. A harbor, a cemetery, the town of the hanged women, an island with an empty tomb.
  16. page 93 Nine Movies for October 31, Picked by Goth Halloween. One Nosferatu at sunset, one at dawn, and seven movies in between.

Flip Through It

Four of the 108 pages, between the front and back covers: the contents and Countess Báthory.

The front cover: Valentina in a black corset among candles, a skull and a lit pumpkin, under the title Goth Halloween in silver and the English Edition seal.
Page 4: a jar labeled Salem’s Poison with a bat on it, among old apothecary bottles and a key.
Page 5: the contents printed on old paper, the same sixteen entries in blackletter with rust-colored page numbers.
Page 42: the portrait of Countess Erzsébet Báthory, known in English as Elizabeth Bathory, with a large white lace collar, pearls and a green gown.
Page 43: the opening of the article Countess Báthory and the Blood, with a rust-colored drop cap and the text in two columns.
The back cover: inside an arched frame, the title in silver, the description, the Goth Asylum crest and a QR code.

This Is the Night, Our Night.

I can smell October coming: wet leaves on the sidewalks, wood burning somewhere, the first fog of the morning. Every evening the dark arrives a little earlier, and for me the countdown begins. On October 31 the rest of the world dresses more or less like us, lovers of black, of horror, of vampires and magic, and for one night nobody looks at us funny.

This bookazine is for that night. Inside you’ll find the dead who came home for dinner, the cakes given to anyone who knocked in exchange for a prayer, the masks worn so the dead wouldn’t recognize you, and Jack, who wanders with a glowing turnip because neither heaven nor hell would have him. You’ll find the women condemned as witches, Carmilla twenty-five years before Dracula, Countess Báthory in her castle, the young women who wrote about monsters, and the Victorian widows with two years of black on their backs and crape over their faces. Then the Serbian graves opened before the emperor’s men, seven tales to read aloud, the places to go on the 31st, from Whitby to Snagov, and nine movies to watch until dawn.

Between one piece and the next you’ll meet the women who kindly joined Goth Halloween, told us what this night means to them, and sent us beautiful photos.

Here’s how I spend the 31st: the pumpkin glowing on the windowsill, the stories lined up on the table, and the front door left ajar until morning, for anyone who wants to come back.

How It’s Made

A bookazine printed in premium color, more than 100 pages.

What it is
A bookazine devoted to goth subcultures and Halloween, in color, in English
Format
Large format, 8.5 x 11 in (21.6 x 27.9 cm)
Interior
Premium color
Binding
Paperback
Pages
108
ISBN
979-8160225517
Buy it on Amazon

On sale until October 27: $18.50 on Amazon in the USA, €17.60 on Amazon in the EU

The same English edition, on Amazon in these countries:

The cover of Goth Halloween, with Valentina among the candles, the skull and the lit pumpkin. The back cover of Goth Halloween: on black and burgundy, inside an arched frame with small red diamonds, the title in silver, the words October 31, we wait for it all year, the description, the Goth Asylum crest and a QR code at the bottom.

Goth Halloween by Goth Asylum www.gothasylum.com