‘Leon Craig has set up her writing space at the place where gothic horror meets contemporary fiction, where magic meets despair, and where all the cool queer kids hang out to show off their tattoos before they get swallowed by the night.’
Neil Gaiman
‘Trust me: you want to read this. It’s the queer horror book of your dreams.’
Kirsty Logan
‘‘Unsettling, funny and fiercely intelligent … A queer carnival of monsters and masks. These stories penetrate the surface of their characters’ assumed identities to reveal the glittering realities beneath.’
Julia Armfield
‘Craig’s collection dances with horror – the monster is not always who you expect. A book for anyone who likes to play in the dark.’
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
‘Both vibrantly contemporary and decadently gothic, the stories in Parallel Hells shimmer with queer
power and wicked humour. At times I was reminded of the darkly wondrous work of Ramona
Ausubel, Kelly Link, Patrick McGrath or Patrick Süskind – but Leon Craig has a distinctively Dionysian
literary sensibility that is all her own, and I can’t wait to read everything she writes.’
Sharlene Teo
‘By turns dark, sharp, witty and tender. I’m a huge fan of Leon Craig’s writing, and the way she
reveals the complex dance of beauty and brutality in our innermost, most vulnerable selves.’
Naomi Ishiguro
Richly and nastily wonderful, a glorious gothic mansion with something frightening waiting for you in each room …. glimmering writing’
Mikaella Clements
‘Surreal, mesmeric and playful … Unheimlich, mysterious, perverted’
Sally Oliver
‘Horrifying majesty…brilliant’
Alice Ash
‘Arresting and provocative, this strange and dark collection grabbed me by the throat.’
Megan Bradbury
‘Glorious and twisted’
Tor.com
‘Anyone searching for an adventure into the literary underworld need look no further than this queer and compelling collection.’
Lily Kuenzler, Review 31
‘This decadent and distorted collection of queer gothic short stories didn’t disappoint.’
Brixton Review of Books
‘As in the very best gothic literature, Craig’s worlds are primarily not far removed from our own . . .
Craig, a deft hand at this most difficult of forms, the short story, writes crisp prose redolent of
Angela Carter’s, particularly in its visceral, sometimes horrifying physicality. . . Parallel Hells will not
disappoint any connoisseur of the gothic in its most fulsome and unapologetic sense.’
Literary Review
‘A glorious collection of short stories that reads as if Edgar Allan Poe and Shirley Jackson had a little
queer baby . . . It is such a fresh and playful approach to storytelling that you cannot help but be totally enamoured with Craig’s abilities.’
Big Issue
‘Through this blend of folklore and legend, repurposed to capture modern anxieties, the reader will come across cursed bracelets, severed hands, vampires and femme fatales … lingers in the mind like a fragrance, packing very human anxieties into the silver scales of a supernatural consciousness.’
London Magazine
‘Read Parallel Hells for a different take on vampires, demons and monsters you never knew existed’
Mslexia
‘Angela Carter with a LGBTQI+ filter’
Financial Times
‘Leon Craig confidently navigates real places and imaginary spaces most of us shy away from . . .
What really impresses are the virtuoso changes of tone and tempo, and the way narratives flicker
between registers – gothic to comedy, folk horror to social embarrassment – with easy confidence and grace’
Daily Mail
‘Craig manages to recall the decadence of Carter whilst ensuring their stories never feel like re-treading old ground … Craig manages to create a staggering array of different atmospheres, settings, and tones in the thirteen stories, drawing on myriad tales, cultures and tropes in quick succession, but never losing the specificity of each tale.’
Horrified magazine
‘This book is one to be enjoyed by those who savour the squirm-inducing, and who enjoy a narrative with multiple layers to pick through … the discordance the reader is made to feel gets under the skin, which is something any horror writer should be proud to achieve’
Folklore Podcast website review