Gothic Literature is one of my favorite aesthetic genres, but Southern Gothic Literature?- it has a special place in my literary heart.

I had a professor in college who said that Southern Gothic Literature is filled with America's darkest secrets. That has stuck with me since.

What makes a book fit into the Gothic Literary genre? It's a blend of moody atmosphere, macabre elements and is romanticized. There's a sharpness to the character's faults, and there are often dark secrets lurking between the words.

Take all of that and set it in the American South, it takes what we romanticize about our southern culture and flips it around, unearthing the underbelly that is the evil that lurks in the foggy swamps, bayous, grasslands, weathered beaches. And these stories are important.

So, if you haven't dabbled in Southern Gothic, I highly recommend it.

I will link a few below for you. Give us some more that you have enjoyed!