Alyssa’s Library | An Education in Malice

An Education in Malice

S. T. Gibson

Save to Your Books

Sumptuous and addictive, An Education in Malice is a dark academia tale of blood, secrets and insatiable hungers from S.T. Gibson, author of the cult hit A Dowry of Blood.

Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua’s College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold.

On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla.

But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.

For more from S.T. Gibson, check out A Dowry of Blood.

Get the Bindery app

Posts about this title from Alyssa’s Library

Alyssa’s Library\ \ alyssa\ \ • Aug 18 2025

some sapphic fantasy books you need to read this fall <333

14 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Wanderland Reads\ \ Sayer\ \ • Mar 16

Join for free

Sapphic Speculative Fiction Expands the Imagination\ \ Many people approach queer romance through familiar frameworks. Modern settings. Recognizable social rules. Families that resemble the structures most of us grew up around. I wrote about this a week or two ago, about looking beyond contemporary romance for great sapphic stories.\ \ Those stories matter. They reflect lived experience and present-day struggles.\ \ Yet some of the most thought-provoking sapphic stories appear in places where the rules look completely different.\ \ Speculative fiction offers writers a simple but radical tool. The ability to ask what happens when the world operates under different assumptions?\ \ What happens when gender does not function the way our societies expect?\ \ What happens when colonial hierarchies collapse or never existed in the first place?\ \ What happens when family and community follow different structures?\ \ Sapphic speculative fiction thrives in these questions.\ \ What counts as speculative fiction?\ \ Speculative fiction serves as an umbrella term for stories that imagine worlds different from our own.\ \ Fantasy explores magic, mythology, and alternate societies.\ \ Science fiction looks at future technology, space exploration, and evolving social systems.\ \ Alternate history reimagines historical timelines.\ \ Dystopian and utopian fiction examine political systems taken to extreme outcomes.\ \ Magical realism blends ordinary life with elements that challenge reality.\ \ All of these genres share a common feature. They build worlds where the assumptions we treat as natural begin to shift.\ \ When those foundations move, storytelling changes.\ \ Reimagining gender systems\ \ Many speculative worlds question the rigid gender frameworks common in contemporary culture.\ \ Some settings include fluid understandings of gender. Others remove the strict gender hierarchy. Some societies organize identity through entirely different categories.\ \ When gender works differently, relationships evolve as well.\ \ Characters express attraction without the scripts that dominate many romance narratives. Partnerships develop around compatibility, trust, or shared goals rather than predetermined roles.\ \ For readers, this shift opens new ways of thinking about identity and connection.\ \ Challenging colonial power structures\ \ Speculative fiction often explores empire, conquest, and resistance.\ \ Many worlds center characters fighting against oppressive systems or rebuilding communities after political collapse. Some stories draw inspiration from Indigenous traditions or non-Western perspectives to imagine societies structured around different values.\ \ Within these settings, sapphic characters frequently appear as leaders, rebels, scholars, or explorers. Their relationships unfold inside larger struggles over power, survival, and cultural memory.\ \ Love does not exist in isolation. It grows alongside questions about justice, resistance, and the future of entire communities.\ \ Rethinking family and community\ \ Another striking feature of speculative fiction involves how stories approach family.\ \ The nuclear family model rarely stands as the only option. Characters often live within chosen families, cooperative communities, traveling crews, or political alliances.\ \ Romantic relationships exist inside these broader networks of care.\ \ Two people falling in love may also share responsibilities to their crew, their village, or their resistance movement. Partnership becomes part of a wider web of loyalty and support.\ \ For many readers, this structure feels both imaginative and deeply familiar.\ \ Common tropes in sapphic speculative fiction\ \ Speculative fiction combines romance with adventure and conflict. Certain narrative patterns recur.\ \ A princess guarded by a loyal warrior or knight who begins to question her duty.\ \ Rival soldiers from opposing factions are forced to work together.\ \ A scholar and a fighter navigating a dangerous quest.\ \ Political enemies are forming uneasy alliances during a rebellion.\ \ Explorers encounter unfamiliar worlds and build trust through survival.\ \ These tropes create tension, intimacy, and emotional growth while the larger story unfolds.\ \ Why these stories expand the imagination\ \ Speculative fiction does more than entertain. It shifts perspective.\ \ When readers step into worlds built on different assumptions, the systems shaping their own lives become visible. Gender roles, political hierarchies, and family structures reveal themselves as historical constructs rather than permanent truths.\ \ Sapphic speculative fiction takes this imaginative shift even further.\ \ Queer women appear not as side characters but as central figures in the story of the world itself. They lead revolutions. Build communities. Explore unknown territories. Fall in love while reshaping the societies around them.\ \ These stories ask readers to imagine something larger than representation.\ \ They ask us to imagine entirely different ways people live together.\ \ An invitation to explore\ \ If you have not spent time with sapphic speculative fiction, consider this an invitation.\ \ Explore fantasy worlds where magic reshapes power.\ \ Read science fiction that questions identity in future societies.\ \ Look for stories where love grows alongside resistance, exploration, and discovery.\ \ These books stretch the imagination in ways that linger long after the final page.\ \ I am especially interested in reading more sapphic speculative fiction this year.\ \ Which books expanded your worldview?\ \ Which stories stayed with you long after you finished them?\ \ Here is a list of books I've read and books on my TBR!\ \ \ \ Join for free or login

Worlds Where Sapphic Stories Rewrite the Rules

26 books

Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Jan 11

Join for free

My Academic Journey

The course of... well... coursework never did run smooth.

18 books

The Bibliothecary\ \ Samantha\ \ • Nov 18 2025

Join for free

what I read this fall | EARLY ACCESS

In which I discuss the books I've read recently...

♡ Join THE BIBLIOTHECARY: patreon.com/thoughtsontomes or https://bibliothecarybooks.binderybooks.com/ ►► Bibliothecary members get perks such as early access to videos, written posts, podcast-like ramblings, witchcraft book reviews and sharing about my personal craft, a year long interactive reading challenge, seasonal readalongs, and more!

★ Reading spreadsheet I use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twhrdlRfnRs&t=626s ► End screen song: Magic Forest - Kevin MacLeod

★ FREELANCE EDITING SERVICES: https://tinyurl.com/editing-services -- I'm currently accepting clients for developmental editing and manuscript evaluation (I'm full for 2025 - booking now for 2026). I'm interested in working with adult fantasy and scifi, especially Hades and Persephone retellings, stories involving polyamory, and mental health rep. I offer free editing samples of your first 1,000 words to make sure we are a good fit.

➝ DISCLAIMER: This video is not sponsored. All opinions are my own.

WHERE TO FIND ME ► BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtsontomes.bsky.social ► Storygraph (alternative to goodreads): https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/thoughtsontomes ► Instagram: @thoughtsontomes ► Tiktok: @thoughtsontomes_

MORE THAN BOOKS? ★ Check out The Bibliothecary! I used to discuss witchcraft and other topics on my other channel but that content has all moved to The Bibliothecary: https://bibliothecarybooks.binderybooks.com/

REVIEW/BUSINESS INQUIRES ➝ Email: thoughtsontomes@gmail.com ➝ Review Policy: https://thoughtsontomes.tumblr.com/reviewpolicy -- due to the volume of email requests I get, I do not accept review requests from indie or self-published authors at this time

9 books

Bookwyrm Ink\ \ Bookwyrm Ink\ \ • Oct 2 2025

Join for free

71 Books I totally recommend. 📚In song!

68 books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Sep 21 2025

Join for free

Hi Party People and Disco Dancers,\ \ Tis the season! it's both Sapphic September and it's dark adademia autumn, so here are 3 books that do both:\ \ An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson\ \ \ \ This is a Carmilla retelling, set in a US Ivy League university. Two rival students become close as they come under the mentorship of an alluring professor, until a series of murders makes them suspect something dark is at work... I love vampires, and this is a brilliant, atmospheric, sensual story.\ \ A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft\ \ \ \ Two rival magic scholars are sent on an expedition to find the fountain of youth, but when members of the group are murdered, the two of them suspect each other, while fighting a very tense attraction. This is an eerie, dark take on fantasy, with deep water spirits and creepy critters, with biting, snappy banter between the two leads. Loved it. \ \ Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir\ \ \ \ OK, hear me out... I think this counts as dark academia. Yes, technically it's lesbian necromancers in space, but they spend most of the time trapped with a bunch of scholars in a mystrious mansion trying to solve a series of academic puzzles. It's dark, moody and it's got a lot of books, what more could you want? Oh yeah, and swords.\ \ Enjoy!\ \ Disco x\ \ Join for free or login

Diverse Discoveries: Sapphic Dark Academia

2 books

Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Sep 12 2025

Join for free

\ \ Join for free or login](https://marysmanybooks.binderybooks.com/item/0pL715QfJzGves8vQGmn/)

After Hours & Let's Talk Vampires

In which Mary rambles somewhat about vampire lore! What are some of your favorite vampire stories? Comment and let me know!

10 books

somenoveltea's bindery\ \ Maddie\ \ • Sep 4 2025

Join for free

Dark Academia Recs!

i seldom do recs but dark academia is my FAVORITE sub-genre of all time. also drop any recs u have bc i'll literally read all of them #booktok #bookrecs #darkacademia #bookrecommendations #darkacademiabooks

16 books

Alyssa’s Library\ \ alyssa\ \ • Aug 18 2025

some sapphic fantasy books you need to read this fall <333

14 books

Wanderland Reads\ \ Sayer\ \ • Jun 9 2025

Join for free

\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://wanderlandreads.binderybooks.com/item/aCXvrS6Wdf5l03p06Sem/)

Queer Book Haul from Imaginarium

15 books

Wanderland Reads\ \ Sayer\ \ • Apr 7 2025

Join for free

Sapphic Reading Challenge Recommendations: Retellings

What books would you add to this list?

How are you doing on your sapphic reading challenge? I just finished Timeless Legion by JC Rycroft which fits into the sapphic fantasy prompt.

#sapphicreadingchallenge #sapphicromance #sapphicbooks #retellings #wlw #queerlit

7 books

Wanderland Reads\ \ Sayer\ \ • Apr 7 2025

Join for free

Sapphic Reading Challenge Recommendations: Vampires

Happy Sapphic Sunday Wanderland Fam!

Today’s recs are for the vampire prompt on the Sapphic Reading Challenge. What are some of your favorite sapphic vampire romances?

If you haven’t already, please download the new template bc there were changes made after I learned that MENA is a eurocentric name for the decolonized term SWANA, which is now used in its place, and a prompt specifically for Pacific Island authors and South Asian authors were added as well as some free spaces for your favorite BIPOC sapphic books (so the template was balanced!)

#sapphicromance #bookishcommunity #sapphicsunday #wanderlandreads #sapphicreadingchallenge #wlw #sapphicreads #queerlit

15 books

Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Apr 2 2025

Join for free

Academic Fantasy Book Recs!

It’s no secret that I love academic fantasy books, so after finding Blood Over Bright Haven I couldn’t help but revisit some of my favorites in the genre.

From magic school concepts to post-graduate research these scholarly fantasy books have the perfect #darkacademia or #lightacademia vibes.

Also, there are definitely at least 20 more books in this category, but these are some of the ones that I’ve loved enough to keep physical copies of ✨

#darkacademiabooks #lightacademiabooks #magicschool #fantasybookstagram #fantasybookrecs

11 books

Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Oct 14 2024

Join for free

I Say No to Book Buying Bans

I buy a lot of books, but do I read a lot of books? Let’s find out together!

Also, this is satire friends, I only buy books that I’m interested in reading. It may take me awhile to get to them, but I do eventually read them or I pass them off to friends/family/little free library if I decide I’ve changed my mind.

#bookishreels #booksbooksbooks #bookstacks #bookstagrammer #bookreelsofinstagram #readerlife

10 books

Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Sep 27 2024

Join for free

🕯️ October Hopefuls 🕯️

Yes, I read gothic and dark academia fiction all year round, but that doesn’t stop me from building a special October TBR. Here are 7 books I’ve been saving specifically for spooky season, including a very Strange Beasts from my favorite little publisher, @bindery_books and @theinkyphoenix, which comes out in just a few short weeks!

Which one should I read first and what’s on your October TBR?

6 books

Paws, Pages and Brews\ \ Sammie\ \ • Aug 26 2024

Join for free

#creatorsearchinsights #vampirebooks #falltbr #bookrecommendations #vampire #queertiktok #lgbtq

Queer Vampire book recs for fall and all year round!

11 books

Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Jun 28 2024

Join for free

Books I'm afraid to read (because I was excited but now I'm scared I won't like them)

PLS convince me to read these because i am or was excited for all of them and now im a little bit scared 😅

7 books