By Lucy Powell, Jess Scaffidi Saggio, Katie Farr, Ayman Sabir and Iona Fleming
Evocation by S.T. Gibson is the first in a new gothic fantasy series. The story follows David, a young man once hailed as a psychic prodigy, now caught in a deal with the devil. As the threat of death looms over him, he must enlist the help of his ex-boyfriend and secret society as old emotions return to the fore.
Evocation is inspired by both the fantasy and gothic genres. The novel, Gibson explains, “is primarily in conversation with the urban fantasy series’ [she] grew up reading,” including the Hellblazer comics, the Nightside series by Simon R Green, and the Bordertown shared universe. Gibson was also inspired by contemporary fantasy novels such as The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. Nevertheless, “there are callbacks,” states Gibson, “to older, more traditionally gothic stories in the big ancestral mansion haunted by family trauma, the machinations of the secret society, and the looming threat of a demon coming to steal a soul.”
Gibson has “spent most of [her] life studying religion, spirituality and occultism;” her Master’s degree involved study at the Princeton Theological Seminary, she has observed spiritual practices, and has worked “as a practitioner sifting through traditions.” Consequently, the magic in Evocation “is rooted in living, diverse magical traditions;” Gibson states that she aims to “present these traditions in a respectful way powered by curiosity and compassion, not voyeurism.” In terms of worldbuilding, she included her own observations on the place of magic in our universe, letting the characters lead.
For the secret society in Evocation, Gibson drew inspiration from the European ceremonial magic craze from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, “particularly the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and to some extent Rosicrucians and Thelema.” While these secret occult societies peaked in the Victorian era, today “branches or offshoots of these original societies still exist in some capacity,” though more as “study groups or small lodges.” Gibson wanted to explore “what the inner workings of such a society might look like in the age of Instagram and Discord occult forums.” This brought into focus the interesting “friction between the sacred and the mundane” in secret societies. While on one hand, they appeal to people “seeking community and transcendence,” which they can offer to “the credulous and the disciplined,” they are all still ultimately made up of people with the same concerns as ever – “who’s dating who and how to spend the endowment.” The enduring appeal of the occult and religion in general lies more with the sacred side, in the innate human drive to use “stories, signs, and symbols to assign meaning to being alive.” As well as this, Gibson portrayed her interest in using these “tools” to shape one's “lived reality” in the present.
A polyamorous romance forms the central relationship around which this book revolves, with Gibson describing the relationship between Moira, Rhys and David as “alchemy” – their connection being, for her, “nothing less than electrifying.” For some authors, figuring out exactly how to depict romantic relationships within the narrative can prove the trickiest part of writing. However, for Gibson the trio’s relationship was “the easiest relationship decision [she] ever made.” In Evocation, David, Moira and Rhys are “a three-sided, equally weighted triangle that each brings out elements of the other that simply could not exist in isolation, or in a two-person dyad.”
When it came to writing the polyamorous relationship and getting it “right” on the page, Gibson gets straight to the point, and explained that she “always treat[s] [her] polyamorous romances with the same complexity and care [she] bring[s] to [her] monogamous romances.” Letting her polyamorous characters be “messy” was something she easily kept in too, because she recognised that it was also “a right we pretty much always afford monogamous characters.” “Love is complicated and wild, lust and jealousy and challenge and all,” she added.
Evocation forms the first part of a much longer series called The Summoner’s Circle – although this wasn’t always the case. Gibson said the series, and its first book Evocation, began with a “bite-sized magical marriage in trouble novella” she self-published six years ago called Odd Spirits. Now, that has sprawled out into a four-part series, something which “surprised her.” However, whilst it “happened by accident,” Gibson took this concept and simply “kept writing and never stopped exploring.” Now, with the series starting with Evocation and followed by Odd Spirits in autumn 2024, it seemed only “natural to have this sprawling soap opera of a four-book series planned out.”
Many reviews have dubbed Evocation a “dark academia” novel, but Gibson explains that she does not think this categorisation necessarily fits as the story does not deal with the “dark underbelly of academia,” and none of its characters are in any type of education. Equally, Gibson acknowledges that the dark academia definition is “evolving,” and as such, she can fully appreciate that Evocation has many dark academia features. Gibson welcomes any and all genre categorisations which “help enthusiastic readers find a book they’re going to love.” Above all, Gibson herself was an “original dark academia enthusiast on Tumblr in the mid 2010s,” and notes that she welcomes the reviews which praise Evocation’s dark academic vibes!
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