Book 16 for my 2025 goal of 30 books for the year! 

The year is 1923. Veronica Brinkley is landing on the moon to get psychiatric treatment at the Barrowfield Home for the Treatment of the Melancholy.

You didn’t read that wrong: she’s landing on the actual moon for psychiatric care in 1923. This is the beginning of the surreal Gothic fantasy Crypt of the Moon Spider, by Nathan Ballingrud, released last year.

This is a short novella that packs a lot of punch. The events and setting of the story defy conventional logic, but that gives them the feeling of an extended nightmare, which is appropriate for the main character Victoria, who is being sent for treatment for severe depression.

The “moon spider” of the title refers to the fact that the moon in this story is habitable and in fact has large forests that can be seen from Earth (the dark patches we see). Years earlier, a group of explorers found the lair of a gigantic spider on the moon and formed a cult of worship around it. The spider later died, but the cultists remain, and now they help with the psychiatric treatments by providing spider silk that can be used to replace the “bad” parts of the brain and cure people’s ailments.

As one can expect from psychiatric care in the 1920s, Victoria soon learns that the treatment is cruel and inhuman and less concerned with patient care than experimenting on the human brain. The doctor is an arrogant man lacking empathy, and his assistant is a cruel brute.

But cruel psychiatric care is not the only thing happening at the Barrowfield Home. The servants of the spider have their own plans, and those plans will lead to a horrific conclusion.

I really enjoyed Crypt of the Moon Spider. I found it sufficiently compelling that I managed to read it over two nights — the first night, I read chapter one, and then the second night I was drawn in enough to finish the rest of the story. This also gives an idea of how short it is — about 90 pages. It is the first of a planned “Lunar Gothic” trilogy, the second part of which is due to be released in October of this year.

I should note that though the story deals with rather gruesome topics like sadistic psychiatric treatment and actual body horror, none of it feels excessive and it all exists in service of the story.

Overall, I found this a great short read. I will almost certainly be checking out part 2 of the trilogy when it arrives.

As always, the links I use in this post go to bookshop dot org, where I can potentially earn a small commission if you buy through them. You are, of course, welcome to buy anywhere you like!