The Case For Contemporary Goth Fiction

When people in the Goth Subculture talk about Gothic fiction they usually talk about books like Frankenstien, Dracula, The Penny Dreadfuls and authors like Edgar Allen Poe.

 However, most kids today have a hard time reading that shit.

Yes, most classic literature lays a foundation for all things Goth. However, the text is dense. And most of the storylines don’t relate to anything going on today in the subculture.

A lot of darkly inclined kids and babybats want to know what’s going on as related to the Goth subculture of the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and today. But not that many writers are telling stories about those time periods. Instead many Goths take it for granted that someone else will write stories about the modern Goth Subculture.

That’s a dangerous thing for a culture to do. Because when someone else controls the media they can control the narrative regarding it. And instead of telling stories that present a balanced picture of a culture, the owners of those media platforms can use their stage to promote stereotypes and false ideas regarding it. 

The art and the literature are a commentary on a civilization and a culture. They are a snapshot of a culture and a people in a certain time. They are a reference that future generations will use to get an understanding of what happened during a period in history. As I see it, the Goth subculture desperately needs more writers producing literature to tell stories about the last 30 years of it so the kids of today and the adults of tomorrow can have a clear picture of what it’s really about.

I believe Contemporary Goth fiction literature can shatter stereotypes and refute false ideas many people have about the Goth subculture. And it can get more people to take a serious look at it. I believe if there are more writers writing stories that present a balanced picture of the Goth subculture the darkly inclined, baby bats, and the general public can take an objective look at it and come to their own conclusions regarding the Goth lifestyle.

One of the reasons why I wrote the books of the Spinsterella Trilogy was so that people could get a better understanding of African-Americans in the Goth subculture. When it came down to African-Americans in the Goth subculture there’s next to no art or literature to reference the contributions of Black people in the subculture. And I wanted brothers and sisters to know that there were Black people who were active in the Goth subculture and have been living this lifestyle for years. But as I take a look at the bigger picture regarding Goth fiction, I see the need for more authors to start telling stories about their experiences in the subculture.

Yeah, Goth is a primarily a music based subculture. But I’d love to see more contemporary Goth fiction telling the stories of everyday people in the subculture. I know there are a lot of great Goth writers out there and I encourage them to start telling their stories so kids of this generation can learn about the foundations of the subculture and see what’s great about them.