Call for Chapters - Games and the Gothic: Playing in the Shadows

A new edited collection seeks contributions on games, play, and the Gothic tradition.

Edited by Professor Jeff Howard (Falmouth University) and Dr Chloé Germaine (Manchester Metropolitan University), a new edited collection, Games and the Gothic: Playing in the Shadows, under contract with Edinburgh University Press, will examine how digital, tabletop, material, and role-playing forms of play engage the Gothic tradition. Drawing on Gothic studies, game studies, and literary criticism, contributors will explore how Gothic aesthetics, temporality, and affect intersect with mechanics, player agency, and game worlds.

"We trace how the Gothic circulates between screens, objects, narratives, and embodied acts of play."

The collection is already taking strong shape, with confirmed contributions on topics ranging from Gothic gamebooks and the history of Gothic roleplaying to ecogothic videogames, Gothic worldbuilding, and the occultural dimensions of games. The editors are now seeking a small number of additional chapters to round out the volume.

Topics especially welcome

While the editors welcome proposals on any aspect of games and the Gothic, they are particularly interested in further contributions addressing areas currently underrepresented in the collection:

• Gothic tabletop roleplaying

• The mechanics and dynamics of Gothic games

• MMORPGs and the Gothic

• Gothic identity, gender, and queer play

• Gameful adaptation of Gothic fiction

Proposals from early-career researchers are warmly welcomed, as are contributions from scholars working across and between game studies, Gothic studies, and literary criticism.

How to submit

Abstracts of up to 500 words, plus a short biographical note, are due 1 October 2026.

Full chapters of 8,000 words are due 31 August 2027.

Send proposals to Jeff.Howard@falmouth.ac.uk