Goddess of Filth

I remember "The Queen of the Cicadas" was absolutely all over Goodreads horror when I started here, and now in 2026, I've finally tried Castro (although not The Queen of the Cicadas yet). I think that the writing of this novella is nothing special, but the messaging is extremely poignant for me. The fact that a God figure can be something that helps someone overcome the challenges in their life, without the fire and brimstone of making morals objective, is quite appealing to me. I love the fact that Fernanda has faith in this Goddess and that the Goddess, in turn, is able to help her understand herself more, without just harping on things deemed "impure" and "unsaintly." It's a version of religion that floats my boat immensely. Also. the idea... that we can just have sex... when we feel like it... because MAYBE I know this is crazy... but just MAYBE we should be able to regulate ourselves when the time is right to love physically (ourselves and others), and find the right person for us without waiting for society and our elders to tell us that we can. This novella aligns with my morals and ethics quite well. Pretty brutal though, nothing a horror reader isn't used too.