Nightmuse: Poems of Speculative Darkness by Scott J. Couturier
Jackanapes Press (November 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Scott J. Couturier is a Rhysling-nominated poet and prose writer of the weird, liminal, and darkly fantastic. His work has appeared in numerous venues, including The Audient Void, Spectral Realms, Tales from the Magician’s Skull, Space and Time Magazine, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and Weirdbook; his collection of Weird fiction, The Box, is available from Hybrid Sequence Media, while his collection of autumnal & folk horror verse, I Awaken In October, is available from Jackanapes Press. His newest collection of speculative horror poetry, Nightmuse, is available on Jackanapes Press.
For anyone interested in Weird or Horror poetry, the name Scott J. Couturier is familiar. For those who have not experienced Couturier’s interesting blend of Weird motifs poured into tweaked traditional forms, this collection will provide a thorough introduction. Couturier’s poems are heavy with adjectives and layered descriptions, slowing the reader down to enjoy the nightmares he’s created. For example, “The Plague Queen” begins:
The Plague Queen germinates in plasm
spores to incite terminal spasm.
Droplets of fever-dew she refines
& marrow-chill to strike the spine:
gloating empress of ooze and phlegm
resplendent in spirochete diadem.
These lines are emblematic of Couturier’s verse; a known form filed with a thick, dense language deliberately overwrought to invoke a helpless, hopeless tone. Weird fiction often relies on the horror of powerlessness, and Couturier’s poems invoke a similar emotion. The poems are designed to overwhelm the reader, and are successful in their execution.
Couturier is a well-known horror poet, so anyone familiar with his work will know what they’re getting when they dive into Nightmuse: Poems of Speculative Darkness. There are no surprises from Couturier here, nor should the reader expect there to be. This is an ample collection of Couturier’s work, and fans of horror poetry will want it on their shelves. For readers who aren’t sure about horror poetry or are unaware of what is happening in horror poetry, this collection serves as a great introduction, and fans of authors like H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and others will find much to enjoy between these covers.
