Toil and Trouble

Kröger, Lisa, and Melanie R. Anderson.  Toil and Trouble: A Women's History of the Occult.  Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2022.

A celebration of magical women and nonbinary people in American history, from Salem to WitchTok.  <There are precious few books where you'll find Dion Fortune with Elvira, and from what I know about Dion Fortune, I'm not so sure she's comfortable.>

Explore the powerful stories of extraordinary women and nonbinary individuals in US history who have turned to the supernatural for strength and resilience. From iconic mediums in the 19th century to modern-day witches fighting against oppression, these trailblazers have utilized magic and mysticism to claim the power that has been denied to them. Discover the various ways in which women have incorporated the occult into their lives, from using it as a tool for political change to embracing their witchy identities, in this eye-opening book. Featuring pioneers like Dion Fortune, Bri Luna, Joan Quigley, Marie Laveau, Elvira, and others, this book sheds light on the often overlooked influence of female magical practitioners.

Lisa Kröger's short fiction has appeared in Cemetery Dance magazine and Lost Highways: Dark Fictions from the Road. Her writing has won a Stoker Award and a Locus Award.  She holds a Ph.D. in Gothic literature, and writes horror in all formats: fiction, nonfiction, podcasts, and screenplays. She’s on the Board of Trustees of the Horror Writer's Association.

Melanie R. Anderson is an assistant professor of English at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS. She is the author of Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison (2013) and coeditor of The Ghostly and the Ghosted in Literature and Film: Spectral Identities (2013) and Shirley Jackson, Influences and Confluences (2016).