How to tell you&#x27;re reading a gothic novel – in pictures When Horace Walpole published his &#x27;gothic story&#x27; The Castle of Otranto, he launched a literary movement which has sired monsters, unleashed lightning and put damsels in distress for 250 years. A horde of sub-genres has followed, from southern gothic to gothic SF, but are some novels more gothic than others? We return to the genre&#x27;s roots in the 18th century for this definitive guide