The Dark Academicals

Wildly, it’s becoming a bit of tradition to see out the end of the season with a podcast episode dedicated to speaking to an author and Season 10 saw us speak to the wonderfully lovely and very smart Kat Dunn, the author of ‘Hungerstone’, ‘Bitterthorn’ and the ‘Battalion of the Dead’ trilogy.

It was ‘Hungerstone’ that captured us and we had so many things to discuss about the Gothic, dark academia, women and the wonderful ‘Hungerstone’ which you can learn about right here:

FOR WHAT DO YOU HUNGER . . . ?

Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage the relationship has soured, and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them from London to the Peak District, to the remote, imposing Nethershaw estate, where he plans to host a hunting party. Lenore must work to restore the crumbling house and ready it for Henry's guests - their future depends on it.

But as the couple travel through the bleak countryside, a shocking carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night, Carmilla who stirs up something deep within Lenore. And before long, girls from the local villages fall sick, consumed by a terrible hunger . . .

As the day of the hunt draws closer, Lenore begins to unravel, questioning the role she has been playing all these years. Torn between regaining her husband's affection and the cravings Carmilla has awakened, soon Lenore will uncover a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk . . .

Set against the violent wilderness of the Peaks and the uncontrolled appetite of the Industrial Revolution, HUNGERSTONE is a compulsive sapphic reworking of CARMILLA, the book that inspired DRACULA: a captivating story of appetite and desire.

With influences of the Gothic and inspiration from a classic vampire tale, ‘Hungerstone’ was something we absolutely had to read for the podcast (you can listen to the episode here) and we were so excited to get to speak to Kat herself.

A book pitched as ‘dark academia romantasy’? Say less.

This promises some potential for morally grey taboo romance, a real villain and a fun time, but the ever present conflict between romantasy, spicy romance and dark academia will test what we know and see as dark academia as it always does when we read these types of novels for the podcast.

“Your destiny is not to do what is right. Your destiny is to destroy us all.”Willow Madizza never thought she’d accept a place at Hollow’s Grove University, the secret and prestigious institution where the best and brightest of her fellow witches learn to wield their magic.But Willow has reasons for being at Hollow’s Grove beyond the education it offers. Raised to be a weapon against the Coven that presides over the University, she must find the bones of her ancestors in order to reclaim the magic that is her destiny.Her only obstacle is Alaric Grayson Thorne, the University’s beautiful and infuriating Headmaster. Gray is ruthless, manipulative, dangerous – he represents everything Willow has been taught to despise. But despite their mutual loathing, Gray understands Willow better than anyone, and he might just be the key to unlocking her full power…

Will the romantasy outweigh the dark academia? Or will the dark academia stay shrouded in spice?

In this episode we discuss:

- When love interests are actually just predators

- The unrealised potential of this novel

- Witches and vampires, oh my

‘Vita Nostra’ has lingered on our masterlist of dark academia titles since the conception of The Dark Academicals and after we tackled a novel about translation in season nine, it felt only right to tackle a novel that has been translated, and the beloved ‘Vita Nostra’ was the answer.

While I feel like I’ve known about the existence of ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ by Joan Lindsay for so very long, it even has a film adaptation, but the mysterious synopsis and the question it asks about fact vs fiction really speak to our dark academia adjacent desires. This is the first time either of us has read this modern classic! Let’s dive in!

Both Sarah and I have big buzzwords outside of dark academia, and several of them are vampires and ‘Carmilla’ retelling and we added ‘Hungerstone’ to our line up so fast when we learned that this novel is inspired by ‘Carmilla’ b Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, a sapphic vampire novella that predated ‘Dracula’.

Even with my slight aversion to historical fiction, reading this and talking about it on Season 10 was a no-brainer.

FOR WHAT DO YOU HUNGER . . . ?

Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage the relationship has soured, and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them from London to the Peak District, to the remote, imposing Nethershaw estate, where he plans to host a hunting party. Lenore must work to restore the crumbling house and ready it for Henry's guests - their future depends on it.

But as the couple travel through the bleak countryside, a shocking carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night, Carmilla who stirs up something deep within Lenore. And before long, girls from the local villages fall sick, consumed by a terrible hunger . . .

As the day of the hunt draws closer, Lenore begins to unravel, questioning the role she has been playing all these years. Torn between regaining her husband's affection and the cravings Carmilla has awakened, soon Lenore will uncover a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk . . .

But does the Gothic lead in dark academia with ‘Hungerstone’?

In this episode we discuss:

- The motifs of blood

- The crumbling estate of Nethshaw and the way it interacts with Lenore’s crumbling marriage and mental state

- Carmilla’s presence in the novel, and her lack of presence on page

It always feel like a risk to put a book on the line up that has such mixed reviews and a reasonably low Goodreads average, but ‘An Academy for Liars’ by Alexis Henderson was just calling out to be read and analysed for this season of the podcast. It sounds dark, twisty, and delicious, with a whole heap of hints at dark academia - it had to happen.

Lennon Carter’s life is falling apart.

Until she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to sit the entrance exam for somewhere very few have heard of - Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah.

Lennon has been chosen because - like everyone else at the school - she is special. She possesses the innate gift of persuasion: the ability to wield her will like a weapon and to use it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself.
After passing the gruelling exam, Lennon must now learn how to master this devastating power.
While persuasion takes a heavy toll on her body and her mind, she is captivated by all that surrounds her - her studies, Drayton’s lush, moss-draped campus, her brilliant classmates and, most of all, by Dante, the charismatic adviser who both intimidates and enamours her.

But as Lennon becomes more adept at wielding her uncanny abilities, she uncovers more about the unsettling history of Drayton and Dante’s tragic and violent past, and is increasingly disturbed by what she finds.

For it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption and darkness . . . and it's a test she's terrified she is going to fail.

Everything about Lennon’s adventures at Drayton College sound like some dark academia boxes could be ticked… Let’s find out!

In this episode we discuss:

• The “Dante” character archetype.

• Elitism, performance and the pressure of exclusive institution.

• The capacity and limitations of human free will and autonomy.

• Is it Dark Academia?
  

Podcast RSS

• ‘An Academy for Liars’ by Alexis Henderson

• ‘Ninth House' by Leigh Bardugo

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘The Whispering Dark’ by Kelly Andrew

• ‘Darkly’ by Marisha Pessl

• ‘A Study in Drowning’ by Ava Reid

• ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats' by Jon Ronson
  

Please sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer for exclusive book club content, extra episodes and exclusive content!

With ‘Special Topics and Calamity Physics’ and ‘Night Film’ both catapulting Marisha Pessl into the realms of early BookTube and book internet fanfare in the early 2010s, with whispers of dark academia and academia-related stories that blend with thrillers and literary fiction.

We’ve both been long-interested in Marisha Pessl as an author and the fascinating premise and stunning cover of ‘Darkly’ meant it was sent straight to the top of our dark academia wishlist…

A seemingly ordinary high school student. A mysterious summer internship. And a legendary games designer, now dead.

When an ad for an internship with the Louisiana Veda Foundation appears, Arcadia 'Dia' Gannon rushes to apply. Veda's game-making empire, Darkly, was renowned for its ingenious and terrifying games back in the day and Dia is as obsessed with them as anyone.

The remaining games are priced like highly sought-after works of art, with the rarest and most notorious commanding tens of millions of dollars at auction. Now, Dia is thrust into the enigmatic heart of the operation. But who are these other interns? Why do they all seem to have something to hide? And why was she really chosen? It soon becomes clear that this summer will be the most twisted Darkly game of all.

But will ‘Darkly’ live up to our inflated dark academia dreams?

In this episode we discuss:

- The many pop culture, movie, TV and literary influences and connections we found in ‘Darkly’

- The way that the media villainise creative, successful women, and the way that the men around them support and facilitate it

- The role of romance, Poe Valois III and Choke Newington

This will forever go down as a Podcast highlight for us. Being given the opportunity to talk with the one and only M L Rio about Dark Academia, her new book ‘Graveyard Shift’, while also waxing lyrical about ‘If We Were Villains’ was something me and Sophie could have only dreamed of when we started The Dark Academicals.

M L Rio's novella is summarised thusly:

“Every night, in the college's ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.

One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn't there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?

Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks--and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.”

In this episode we discuss:

The rising trend of the Dark Academia genre

M L Rio's writing patterns, preferences, influences and processes

THAT ENDING of ‘Graveyard Shift’

The cultural and linguistic legacy of Shakespeare and his works

A sneaky little insight into the next novel, ‘Hot Wax'

And a whole lot of tangents…

This historical fantasy is from the realms of classic YA and we’re both super excited to revisit this novel that we both read around 10 years ago for the podcast as from what we remember, it has definite dark academia fantasy vibes.

While this series is now out of print, ‘The Great and Terrible Beauty’ is still available in ebook, and it stands as a touchstone of YA.

It's 1895, and after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in British India to Spence Academy, a proper boarding school in England.

Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception at Spence is a chilly one. To make things worse, she's being followed by a mysterious young Indian man who has been sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence's most powerful girls – and their foray into the spiritual world – lead to?

But how will it hold up to the tropes of dark academia and a reread a decade later?

In this episode we discuss:

Revisiting a classic YA novel fifteen years later

Sophie’s issues with historical fiction and the subjugation of women

An unexpected treatise on politics, reading, and how everything is political in the wake of the 2024 US Presidential Election

And a whole lot of tangents…

This debut novel has been everywhere all year and it’s about time we got around to reading it. ‘The Four’ by Ellie Keel sounds super dark and it gives real dark academia vibes already: scholarship students in an elite institution, a dead friend, and the mystery of what happened.

We were always The Four. From our very first day at High Realms.

The four scholarship pupils. Outsiders in a world of power and privilege.

It would have made our lives a lot easier if Marta had simply pushed Genevieve out of our bedroom window that day. Certainly, it would have been tragic. She would have died instantly.

But Marta didn’t push her then, or – if you choose to believe me – at any other time. If she had, all of what we went through would not have happened.

I’ve told this story as clearly as I could – as rationally as I’ve been able, in the circumstances, to achieve. I don’t regret what we did. And I would do it all again.

There are good dark academia tingles coming from this synopsis and we’re so excited to see if it lives up to that and delivers on the dark academia.

In this episode we discuss:

The importance of character arcs and development (and when it falls short)

Institutional maltreatment, generational expectations (and exploitation) and morality vs elitism

Justice for Marta