Monster Capital London Launch

About the event

Join us at Bookmarks, London for a special Monster Capital anticapitalist horror fiction event with writers Mathew Holness, Kiare Ladner, Jess Glaisher & Em Colquhoun.

Monster Capital, a bold new anthology Comma Press's acclaimed Theory Horror series, takes its inspiration from the writings of philosopher Mark Fisher and his concept of Capitalist Realism. The anthology, edited by David Sue and Ra Page, build's on Mark Fisher' image of capitalism as something monstrous — an abstract parasite, a zombie-maker, a force that consumes, reshapes and haunts our lives. Combining folk horror, body horror and the surreal, thirteen writers explore algorithmic obsession, parasocial addiction, vanishing communities and the eerie logic of the market. A gothic reckoning with late capitalism — unsettling, urgent and darkly imaginative.

“A wide vari­ety of hor­ri­fy­ing and enter­tain­ing tales of the zom­bie-like sys­tem which, though always on the verge of death, still con­trols our lives... The exe­cu­tion of this col­lec­tion is as good as the concept, and that’s high praise.” - Morning Star

About the Readers:

Em Colquhoun is a writer, editor, and photographer from Hull, best known for her writing about the work of Mark Fisher. She is the editor of Fisher's lecture collection Postcapitalist Desire and the author of Egress, which explored Fisher’s legacy in the aftermath of his death in 2017. She blogs as xenogothic and has recently been writing about adoptees and psychoanalysis, and supporting direct actionists in British prisons.

Matthew Holness is a writer, director and actor. He created and starred in Channel 4’s Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and has written three novels in character as Garth Marenghi: TerrorTome, Incarcerat and This Bursted Earth (all Coronet). His short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including ‘Possum’ in The New Uncanny (Comma, 2008), which he adapted into a feature film.

Kiare Ladner is the author of Nightshift, a novel about obsession and nocturnal lives (Picador 2021; HarperCollins 2022). Her short fiction has been anthologised, commissioned for radio and shortlisted in competitions, including the BBC National Short Story Award. She teaches and mentors writers in London. She grew up in South Africa and now lives in London.

Jess Glaisher is a queer disabled writer and performer, and author of the dystopian audiobook Dear Lina. They won second place in the Dinesh Allirajah Prize 2024, and their play Dyke Drama was longlisted for BOLD Playwrights 2024. They’re currently working on a horror collection and a gothic novel.