Kevin Jackson:
Nelson knows her turf and, unlike many academics who dine below the salt, she gives the impression of being genuinely affectionate towards her disreputable subject matter. She is sometimes thought-provoking and has clearly read more proper historians and solid thinkers than most pop-culture pundits.
Elizabeth Lowry:
[A] spirited examination of the role of pulp Gothic fiction in contemporary culture...Nelson's overview of the origins of the Gothic genre and its later ramification into sub-genres such as the ghost story, vampire tale, esoteric thriller and post-apocalyptic survival narrative is lively and sharp. She is equally at home discussing high and low art, and is at her most persuasive when tracing the literary evolution of specific motifs.
Deborah D. Rogers:
A fun, well-written and original read that offers flashes of insight.
Jillian Mandelkern:
This highbrow yet accessible analysis of a genre dedicated to "outrageousness" and "lowbrow ways" will appeal to history, literature, and pop culture buffs in addition to studious devotees of the domain.
Marina Warner, author of Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights:
Gothicka is a spirited and illuminating successor to Nelson's highly original previous study, The Secret Life of Puppets. It picks up on many of the lines of thought in Puppets and applies them to opening up some of the most successful books and films of the last three decades, works which, while being read by millions, have not received much critical or scholarly attention. Nelson is preeminent in her knowledge of this field where the study of contemporary religion fuses with mass media and bestseller culture, and Gothicka is a terrific, original, eye-opening, and entertaining work.
Junot Díaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao:
Where else can Vijay Mishra's The Gothic Sublime trade shadows with Stephenie Meyer's vampires and Guillermo del Toro's grotesqueries except in the mysterium tremendum of Nelson's astounding Gothicka? A book of delirious erudition that establishes the Gothic at the heart of our civilization and then proceeds to trace in our vampires, our saviors, our zombies, our medieval conspiracies, our superheroes, and our monsters how the contemporary Gothic is shedding the dark supernaturalism of its origins, a brightening that not only reveals our present obsessions but also seems to portend the dawning of a new kind of post-Christian spirituality. Provocative, forward-looking and masterful.
Harold Bloom, Yale University:
This is an admirable, strong, and original book, a worthy sequel to The Secret Life of Puppets. Nelson's prose is clear and restrained, very winning and illuminating of the dark corners in 21st-century America and beyond in a stricken world. I can think of no rival works this substantial.
Jeffrey J. Kripal, Rice University:
There are other books in the field of religion and popular culture, but none really do what Nelson does, that is, point out that strictly secular, Marxist, materialist, or psychological readings will no longer do. This is the real genius or daemon of this book. Nelson's voice is without peer in this domain--she is carving out a most unique and most brave stance.
