Like many before her that have never come back, she’s made it to the Countess’ castle determined to snuff out the horror, but she could never be prepared for what hides within its turrets; what unfurls under its fluttering flags. Emily Carroll has fashioned a rich gothic horror charged with eroticism that doesn’t just make your skin crawl, it crawls into it.

Emily Carroll was born in London, Ontario, in June of 1983. In addition to the many short online comics found at her website, her work has been featured in numerous print anthologies. She currently lives with her wife Kate and their large orange cat in Stratford, Ontario.

Emily Carroll's profile page

“Carroll’s lush, sensual artwork complements the material, creating a sense of ornate decadence and nightmarish disorientation with elegant but economical lines in a simple red-and-black color scheme with muted grey shadowing and splatter paint details.” —Publishers Weekly

“As violence and sex intermingle, it becomes more obvious that the stories express a nexus between fear and excitement, that moment when the possibilities are defined by fright and allure, and we this is a moment we have captured again and again in multiple fairy tales, legends, myths, and other types of stories through the eras.” — John Seven,The Comics Beat

“Carroll is drawing her line between erotic metaphor and blood-splattering literalness.” — Chris Gavaler,PopMatters

“Her full-bleed pages and limited palette, her incongruous close-ups, her weird shading and her unexpected teeth all surgically peel back your skin.” — Hillary Brown,Paste

“Carroll’s work feels ancient and gothic, like, say, a castle.” — James Hepplewhite,Bleeding Cool

“As with any good fairy tale, there is magic (of sorts). Here it takes shape through Carroll’s incredible capacity to scare…” — Shea Hennum,The Comics Journal

“The environs of the castle become part of the very structure of the page with those floating reds floating across the stygian darkness and giving the reader the feeling of characters moving as much through a void of experiences as they are a physical space.” — Andy Oliver,Broken Frontier

“When I Arrived at the Castle feels like slipping into a rich velvet robe only to find that its red color is from centuries of bloodstains.” — Melissa Brinks,Women Write About Comics

“Gothic fans rejoice, Emily Carroll has returned with yet another hauntingly stunning graphic novel,When I Arrived at the Castle. It’s the lesbian and vampiric erotic horror story you didn’t know you needed.” — Dorielys Cruz,Study Breaks

“[Emily] does things with the page that are partway between webcomic, manga and children’s picture book (it’s not for children). Anyone working in comics should be looking at this.” — Warren Ellis

“This erotic, lesbian horror story combinesCarmilla with fairy tales to create an all-new hero tale.” — Kristian Wilson,Bustle

“Emily Carroll’s latest work is chilling, erotic, surprising, and superb.” — Mike Donachie,The Star

“When I Arrived at the Castle is a blood-drenched romance and a cartoon gothic opera.” — Benjamin Welton,New York Journal of Books

“Already an exceptional illustrator, with this novel Carroll cements herself as one of Canada’s most impressive new horror authors.” — Jonathan Ball,Winnipeg Free Press

Praise forThrough the Woods

“Instead of the gratifying defeat of evil, the gothic stories often leave off unsettlingly with a twist of the knife, just at the moment some fresh horror beckons.”—Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

"Through the Woods is a triumph, it's gorgeous, soft and bright, and it is dark, earthy and spin-chilling. [Emily Carroll] should be recognized as one of the best graphic storytellers out there." — Kate Beaton, author ofHark! A Vagrant

"Beautiful, beguiling, and thrillingly eerie." — Michael Faber, author ofThe Crimson Petal and the White

“The book is about maintaining a constant bodily reaction. Emily Carroll’s style grabs you by the organs.” — Arpad Okay,The Comics Beat

“Emily Carroll is that rare beast — a fabulous writer who also happens to be a great illustrator and understands colour in a way that brings something primal to everything she creates.” — Lindsay Pereira,Huffington Post

“I loved the mix of familiar horror tropes, dramatic art and feminist themes in this graphic novella, and look forward to Carroll’s next work.” — Kelsea O’Connor,Geist

“Drawn solely in black, white and deepest, dankest red, Castle is dipped in the old magic of fables and the contradictory, shifting logic of dreams.” — Seamas O’Reilly,The Irish Times

“This gothic encounter between a lady vampire and a catwoman may be a lesbian love story or a gory revenge tale…But either way, it’s a bloody good tale.” — Jacob Anderson-Minshall,The Advocate

“Clever, dirty and incredibly scary, it’s an announcement of vaulting ambition—and a welcome one.” — Sam Thielman,The Guardian, 31 December 2019