Agnes, We're Not Murderers!
Will be published approx. on 30. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
220 pages
978-1-968043-08-7 (ISBN)
Description
Lesbian vixens from another dead world thread through moon-drenched cornfields and opulent drawing rooms in this literary horror remix of iconic gothic sagas.
Agnes is wasting away. In a bed of velvet and silk, she dreams of death-and Mary.
Mary-a wraith with bloodstained gown and mouth-drips mystery and menace. She materializes beside a lake, beneath a pear tree, outside the window. She turns servants feral and plunges the manor into anarchy. Since her arrival, nothing is right. The maids snarl. The nights grow strange. Agnes swoons.
Her brother, Arthur, calls it a sickness. A curse. He stalks the halls with scissors in his fist. He wants purity and order. He'll strike out the unintelligible. He is not the only one. Others have begun to stir-jilted lovers, disgraced doctors, moralists with sharpened knives. The disorder is spreading. It's riotous. Contagious. They'll purify the world in flame.
Written partially through footnotes and with a mystery of interwoven red text, Agnes, We're Not Murderers! is an atmospheric gothic vampire journey for fans of Kathe Koja and Mark Z. Danielewski.
Agnes is wasting away. In a bed of velvet and silk, she dreams of death-and Mary.
Mary-a wraith with bloodstained gown and mouth-drips mystery and menace. She materializes beside a lake, beneath a pear tree, outside the window. She turns servants feral and plunges the manor into anarchy. Since her arrival, nothing is right. The maids snarl. The nights grow strange. Agnes swoons.
Her brother, Arthur, calls it a sickness. A curse. He stalks the halls with scissors in his fist. He wants purity and order. He'll strike out the unintelligible. He is not the only one. Others have begun to stir-jilted lovers, disgraced doctors, moralists with sharpened knives. The disorder is spreading. It's riotous. Contagious. They'll purify the world in flame.
Written partially through footnotes and with a mystery of interwoven red text, Agnes, We're Not Murderers! is an atmospheric gothic vampire journey for fans of Kathe Koja and Mark Z. Danielewski.
Reviews / Votes
"Alexander's ambitious solo debut gleefully plays with gothic conventions. The metafictional tale moves between black and red text, with footnotes, also in red, written by a mysterious author, creating a rich sense of intertextuality. Alexander embraces this formal instability, assembling a gothic bricolage that proves as ingenious as it is demanding." -Publishers Weekly"Clever, uncompromising, and utterly meta, Agnes, We're Not Murderers! is a reading experience unlike any other. Packed to the brim with footnotes and references to classics, this is gothic fiction at its absolute weirdest. Jessica Alexander is a major horror author to watch." -Gwendolyn Kiste, Four-Time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Haunting of Velkwood and Everything Looks Better in Red
"Agnes isn't like the other girls-witty, twisty, scary, gorgeously constructed, never ever boring, determined to go her own wild way. I had a blast with this book." -Kathe Koja, author of The Cipher and the Dark Factory trilogy
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
281 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-968043-08-7 (9781968043087)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jessica Alexander's books include None of This Is an Invitation (Astrophil Press, coauthored with Katie Jean Shinkle), That Woman Could Be You (BlazeVOX books, coauthored with Vi Khi Nao), and Dear Enemy (Subito Press). She lives in Chattanooga, TN.