With In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts, Gwendolyn Kiste’s once again demonstrates that she is the master of revisiting the casts and locales of classic literature through a darkly distorted lens. We meet Mel, the daughter of Daisy Buchanan, as she is trying to navigate the grief of her mother’s passing and the difficulty of her attraction to two different women, one her current coworker, the other one she has known all her life.

She visits the once infamous now run down mansion in West Egg with a would be medium and discovers that Jay Gatsby still holds court over the ghosts of parties past. The sinister ruins still hold an otherworldly draw to those seeking fame and frivolity, including her mother. Mel has to uncover the mysteries of the spectral remnants of party-goers to find Daisy and finally be able to let her go. To do this she must confront Gatsby’s ghost and the manse which threatens to drain the living to feed the dead. 

A moving tale of loss and love, In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts is perfect for lovers of horror and sapphic romance, the perfect companion to Fitzgerald’s novel.

Thank you to the author, Creature Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts by Gwendolyn Kiste, published by Creature Publishing. Expected release date 15 September 2026.

Hailing from the motor city Detroit, Michael Cieslak is a lifetime reader and writer of horror, mystery, and speculative fiction. He has served as an officer in the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers and is the editor of the Erie Tales anthologies. Michael is the Editor in Chief of Dragon’s Roost Press and his works have appeared in a number of collections including DOA: Extreme Horror, Dead Science, Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes, ), and the collaborative steampunk novel Army of Brass.  He is a kilt enthusiast. And he’s killin’ it over at thedragonsroost.biz.