Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A new spin on an old idea

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia

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Moreno Garcia does an amazing job setting the right mood in this newer gothic tale. Set in Mexico in the 1950’s, you forget that the world is more modern than what Noemi Taboada experiences. Having grown up in Mexico City to an affluent family, Noemi’s life is more about finding a worthy suitor and getting married than education or developing skills to join the workforce. Despite this, Noemi is a confident, charming, smart woman who would like to study at the University. While she enjoys […]

Vampires in Old Mexico (AKA Texas). What’s Not to Love?

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas

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cbr16bingo horses Mexican gothic has, to my surprise, become a new favorite genre for me.  It’s a different flavor from the British gothic that I grew up on, more of a sense of connection between the living and the not-so-much living, that seems to be a part of the Dia de los Muertos Mexican mentality.  So it’s always a treat to get a new sort of being, such as the vampires in this book.  So yes, they want to drink blood for nourishment (not unheard […]

Silver Nitrate: a return to horror

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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mood music: Luzbel – pasaporte al infierno Reminiscent of Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno Garcia returns to her Lovecraftian roots with Silver Nitrate. Set in Mexico during the early 1990s, the reader follows Montserrat (Momo), an audio engineer, and Tristan, a washed-up telenovela actor, whose chance encounter with a golden-era director leads them down a path of occultism and nazi worship. Shortly after moving into his apartment, Tristan meets his new neighbor, cult horror director Abel Urueta, after accidentally receiving his mail and delivering it to […]

Hot Priest Plus Actual Witch? OK, I’m Here For It.

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

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I have a new favorite niche – Mexican Gothic.  Actually this genre and I go way back to my high school days.  I was in Spanish III, junior year, and we read Doña Barbara by Romulo Gallego, written in 1929.  OK, it was actually a Venezuelan novel rather than Mexican, but I suspect the landed gentry in those two countries were not all that different back in those days.  Of course, my Spanish was still fledgling, so what was going on was frequently a mystery, […]

The Loftcraftian Horror Genre, a little bit of *magic* and a strong female lead

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Mexican Gothic is a horror genre novel by author Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Set in 1950s Mexico, it follows the protagonist Noemi, a socialite who is tasked by her father to find her estranged cousin who hasn’t been since by the family since her wedding to her English husband. Noemi travels to the mountainside Doyle Family home in the fictional El Triunfo (Spanish for The Triumph). Once arriving, Noemi immediately senses that something is off in this house. A dilapidated and isolated mansion covered in grime and […]

Jane Eyre meets H.P. Lovecraft

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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I am a big fan of gothic fiction reinterpreted in postcolonial settings, so this was right up my alley.  Moreno-Garcia’s novel follows Noemi Taboada, an upper class university student in 1950s Mexico City. When her father receives a strange letter from Noemi’s cousin, Catalina, Noemi goes to visit Catalina in the remote mining town where she lives with her husband Virgil’s family. Granted limited access to her cousin, who is said to be ‘recovering’, Noemi spends a growing amount of time with Virgil’s family, including […]



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