RED: A Spooky Season Gathering 👻📖🍡
October is here, RED crew, and we're picking a book that fits the season. Pull the lights down low, because this month we're stepping into a house where the past and present share the same closet.
READ: Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
The novel opens in "the house behind the sword ferns," and it introduces three things right away: a man, a murderer, and a stain. After that, nothing is quite what it seems.
In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds. Lee is hiding out at his father's centuries-old home in Japan, and he knows something is wrong with him, and that it has something to do with his mother's disappearance almost a decade ago. On the other side of that door is Sen, a samurai's daughter living in 1877, and the two begin to reach for each other across time.
Readers describe it as a fever dream, and the best advice is to go in as blind as possible and roll with it. Expect a haunted house, unreliable memory, grief, and plenty of dread. Baker also includes an Author's Note that is personal and well worth reading, since it discusses her own family history and the real history behind the samurai myth.
Heads up: this is adult horror, so expect some gore and heavy themes.
EAT: Ghost Mochi 👻
These little ghosts are soft, chewy, and almost too cute to eat, which makes them a good counterweight to a book this unsettling. Make them ahead so you can spend the gathering with your guests instead of at the stove. Bonus points for giving each one its own face.
DRINK: Noroi Sour 🍸
Noroi means "curse" in Japanese, and this sour is the right drink for a book where the past won't stay buried. It's a berry-forward gin sour with earl grey tea, fresh lemon, and a spoonful of blueberry jam, shaken until frothy and served in a coupe with edible flowers. It's pretty to look at, but a little dangerous if you aren't paying attention.
Non-drinkers: brew a strong earl grey and shake it up with the lemon, simple syrup, and jam for a berry-tea mocktail that still looks the part.
Host tip: the recipe is built around the distillery's Quebec wild berries gin, so guests may want a berry-forward gin as a stand-in if they can't find it.
Let's Talk About It: Discussion Topics
Some of these touch on the ending, so save them for after everyone has finished the book.
The house behind the sword ferns: The house acts like a character in its own right, bending reality for everyone inside. How did it shape your reading experience, and how did Baker mix Western Gothic conventions with J-horror dread?
Can we trust Lee? How does his unreliable narration affect the way you read the story? Where did you start doubting what was real?
Names and false identities: Lee's invented roommate says a lot about his relationship with his father. What do names and identity reveal in this book?
Fathers and loyalty: Both Lee and Sen are bound to their fathers by a loyalty that is deeply toxic. How do the two parallel each other?
Trauma and memory: How does the book show grief and trauma distorting what we remember and what we're able to face?
Folklore and the samurai myth: Baker draws on Japanese folktales and challenges the romanticized samurai ideal. Did the Author's Note change how you saw the story?
That ending: Sen's final letter asks Lee to find her again. Does anything change now that Lee remembers everything from the start?
Cast the movie: If Japanese Gothic became a film, who would you cast, and what would the poster look like?
Spooky season reads: What's your best haunted house or ghost story, and where does this one rank?
Welcome back to the table, RED crew, and keep the lights on. 🕯️
Happy Reading, Eating and Drinking!
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