It’s funny how people keep calling you dark like that’s an insult.
As if darkness isn’t where the truth lives.
As if the shadows aren’t the place we go when we’re done performing.
I’ve loved you in every form you’ve offered. The glossy kind. The bloody kind. The slow-burn kind that crawls under your skin and refuses to leave. You’ve been a ritual and a refuge. A mirror. A dare. A door I keep opening, even when I already know what’s on the other side.
Because you’ve never asked me to look away.
You let fear become language.
You let desire become power.
You let women be complicated without punishing us for it.
In you, we get to be everything we’re told to sand down in real life.
Angry. Hungry. Brilliant. Unforgivable.
Not just the victim. Not just the prize. Not just the lesson.
The monster.
The hero.
The woman who survives and doesn’t apologize for how.
You’ve always understood something the world pretends not to:
that love isn’t always soft.
that devotion isn’t always pretty.
that sometimes the most honest kind of affection leaves bite marks.
And maybe that’s why I keep coming back.
Because when I’m tired of being palatable, you hand me my full self.
When I’m tired of being told to “calm down,” you say, good—fucking feel it.
When I’m tired of stories that only make room for women if they’re easy to digest, you let us be the main event. Messy. Mythic. Alive.
So this is my love letter—to you in all your glorious darkness. The one that keeps women’s complexity intact. The one that turns dread into art. The one that makes room for tenderness right next to terror, like they’ve always belonged together.
I don’t come to you to escape.
I come to you to remember.
You’re not a guilty pleasure.
You’re a chosen one.
xoxo,
Jenn
Watch / Read / Obsess / Support / Celebrate
G.G. Silverman — The Blood Year Daughter (releases April 28, 2026)
A collection of feminist gothic horror that Publishers Weekly calls “spare yet ferocious… allowing horror and tenderness to coexist in the same breath. It’s a dark delight.” Click here to pre-order.
Want us to celebrate something next month? Email us with the link, the details, and the vibe. If it’s women-led and horror-leaning, we want it in our inbox.
hello@mavensofmayhem.com
CELEBRATE
Awe Inspired — Forbidden Love Charm Lariat
The heart wants what it wants. This lariat stacks a gemstone key, a heart of thorns, and a spiked heart on one chain—romance with edges. Wear it like a vow… or a warning. (10/10 we are saving up for this piece!)
Moth to Flame Candles — Gothic Rose
Rose, but with a threat behind it. Smoky, spiced, and not remotely innocent. Light it when you want the room to feel like it knows your secrets—and approves.
Thistle & Spire — Medusa Collection
Lace as power. Serpentine lines, a wicked silhouette, and that unmistakable Medusa energy—look closer and you’ll swear it moves. Put it on when you want to feel in control… and a little worshipped.
SUPPORT
Scent as a Signature
TokyoMilk's “Dead Sexy” — Vanilla, wood, orchid, ebony. I reach for this when I want to feel irresistible and a little untouchable.
Love Letters for the Damned (luxe edition)
Bone-colored Smythson stationery with royal receipts. Queen Victoria’s residences included. Black ink. A pen that behaves. Blood-red wax. Write the line you’d never say out loud… fold it like a secret, then lock it in red wax like a spell.
Crystal Goblets for Everything
Not just wine. Water. Iced coffee. Sparkling anything. Turn the everyday into ceremony. Make it gorgeous. Make it a little theatrical. Because you deserve it, darling.
OBSESS
Mexican Gothic — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Gothic glamour with rot underneath. A house that wants to keep you. A heroine who refuses to be swallowed. Read it like you’re slipping down a hallway you shouldn’t be in.
The Bloody Chamber — Angela Carter
Lace over a blade. Sensual, brutal, exquisitely controlled. Fairytales rewritten for grown women who know exactly what danger looks like.
The Gilda Stories — Jewelle Gomez
A vampire story with tenderness and bite. Chosen family. Survival. A kind of love that doesn’t require tragedy to feel true.
READ
The Love Witch (dir. Anna Biller)
This is what I put on when I want romance to look gorgeous and feel slightly poisonous. A candy-colored spellbook. Beauty as strategy. Desire with consequences.
Jennifer’s Body (dir. Karyn Kusama, written by Diablo Cody)
Sharp, feral, and funnier than it has any right to be. It lets girls be messy and monstrous without turning it into punishment. And the real love story is exactly where it belongs.
Honeymoon (dir. Leigh Janiak)
A love story at the center, which is why it hits. Newlyweds in a cabin, devotion under pressure, the tiniest things going wrong… then the whole reality bends. Quiet at first. Then it absolutely ruins you.
WATCH
Once a month, we gather our offerings. Timeless. Handpicked. A little decadent.
A screen to stare at, pages to disappear into, objects to covet, women-owned brands to fund, and one creator we’re putting in the spotlight.
Are you ready for the ritual?
That’s the February Edit. A love letter to horror, and the beginning of our monthly ritual. A little decadent, a little dangerous, and made for women who love this genre with their whole damn heart. Horror isn’t just what we watch—it’s how we find each other. A shared pulse. That instant moment of recognition when the story turns deliciously dark and you realize you’re surrounded by your kind of people. If you know that feeling, you’re exactly where you belong.
Let's raise hell 🖤