Generally, all authors are popular in the Gothic scene who deal with the longing for death, the gruesome, transience, mysterious encounters, the struggle for love and death, bloodthirsty horror, fantastic incidents or dark end-time stories.
Despite this, some have of course made it into the "black Hall-of-Fame". Among them are the two vampire parents Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. Edgar Allan Poe is also on the winners' rostrum. He has enriched the goth bookshelf with "The Fall of the House of Usher" and numerous short stories and poems. His likeness is also worn in the black scene as a necklace or shirt print. E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Elixirs of the Devil" is right up there with Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and Charles Baudelaire (The Flowers of Evil). H.P. Lovecraft has a real special status, shining with the Cthulhu myth and other stories of horror, fantasy and science fiction (black).
Contemporary authors also have a firm foothold in the scene and hold their readings at the major Gothic festivals, for example: Markus Heitz, Christian von Aster, Klaus Märkert, Wolfgang Hohlbein and many more. When it comes to non-fiction books about the black scene, Alexander Nym (Schillerndes Dunkel) or Andi Harrimen (Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace) have made a name for themselves. That wasn't easy, because there aren't many books about the scene that the scene members don't laugh their heads off about.
