Join members of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies for the third of our Spring/Summer Contemporary Gothic Reading Groups for 2025. This in-person reading group takes place during our Gothic Crossroads conference at Manchester Metropolitan University. These free sessions, which we run in the summer months, give us a chance to explore the prominent role of the Gothic in modern and contemporary culture. Come along for a relaxed conversation among enthusiasts and avid readers.

Manchester Poetry Library, located on the ground floor of the Grosvenor East building on Manchester Metropolitan University All Saints campus, is the North West’s first public poetry library. The library will be open for browsing from 17.15 onwards. To find out more about the library and its mission, click here.

FORMAT
The session will be led by one of our postgraduate Gothic researchers Quen Took and Becky Alaise. There is no need to prepare questions or reviews. Please just turn up on the day ready to chat about the book.

AUDIENCE
This reading group is free and open to everyone, but please note that regular attendees tend to be postgraduate researchers and members of staff. For this reason, the group might not suit total beginners.

For more information on the Contemporary Gothic Reading Group and other events organised by the Gothic Centre, please visit our website: https://manchestergothic.mmu.ac.uk/

or join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1589997731237020

About Hell Followed with Us:

An instant New York Times bestseller, this furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors is perfect for fans of Cemetery Boys.

Prepare to die. His kingdom is near.

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him―the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.

Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.