Loren Rhoads's Blog, page 56

Cypress Lawn Book Club selection for May

Colma’s lovely Cypress Lawn Memorial Park is trying something new:  a book club!  You can find out the basic idea at the Cypress Lawn Heritage Foundation’s website.

I’m honored to say that Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel was chosen to be the book club selection for May.

Come join me this Thursday, May 21 to discuss Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel.

The book club will meet at 11 a.m. in Cypress Lawn’s Reception Center at 1370 El Camino Real, Colma, California. If you’d like more information, please contact Terry Hamburg.

Future books will range from autobiographies and novels written by people interred at Cypress Lawn and may include more cemetery history or history of the San Francisco Bay Area.  When possible, the book club will visit the appropriate grave sites.

I’ve belonged to a book club before, so I’m very much looking forward to this experience.  The first couple of meetings have been full of interesting information.

Even if you’re not close enough to attend, you can still read along with us!

Here’s a taste of Wish You Were Here:

World Horror in Atlanta

Photo by Tracy Ingle

In a couple of days, I’ll be going to Atlanta for this year’s World Horror Convention. I’ve never been to Atlanta before, so I’m really looking forward to it.

Here is my schedule for WHC2015. It’s pretty loose, which means there is plenty of time to explore graveyards.

THURSDAY:

I’m free all day on Thursday, so I’m debating renting a car and driving to Savannah to visit Bonaventure Cemetery.

FRIDAY:

My morning is free, so I think I’ll check out the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change, where Dr. King and Coretta Scott King are buried.

5-6 PM

Just the Facts, Monster: How to Dig Deeper than the Internet for Accurate Storytelling

Moderator: John T. Glover

Panelists: Courtney Alameda, James Dorr, Cynthia Lott, Loren Rhoads, Matthew Weber

An incorrect fact or detail in a story can pull a reader right out of your narrative and destroy the impact of an otherwise excellent piece of fiction. Writers who also are research professionals (librarians, archivists or journalists) share their insider tips to help you avoid the factcheck trap.

Topics cover will include Net and bricks-and-mortar resources you may not know about, how to approach experts, how to vet sources, maximizing a trip to an archives or library, and more.

6 PM

Drinks with the Ladies of Horror

This one is tentative, but I hope it happens.  If you’re a horror-writer of the female persuasion, you should meet us in the hotel bar.

SATURDAY

10 AM

Oakland Cemetery offers an 1-1/2-hour tour for $12 of the Sights, Symbols, and Stories of Oakland. They describe it like this: “Discover the history, the period gardens, and the art and architecture that give Oakland its distinctive character. Oakland is a museum of Atlanta’s history with over 70,000 stories to tell; stories filled with both stunning victories and heart-wrenching tragedies.” You can find the information here: http://www.oaklandcemetery.com/plan-your-visit/guided-walking-tours/

I’m debating the Stoker Banquet, but I will be at the awards ceremony — and the after-party to celebrate all my friends who won.

SUNDAY

10-11 AM

Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading

Participants: Leadie Jo Flowers, April Grey, Loren Rhoads, SL Schmitz

This is my first event with Broad Universe, an international organization dedicated to promoting, encouraging, honoring, and celebrating women writers and editors in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other speculative genres.

I’ll be reading from The Dangerous Type, the first of the In the Wake of the Templars books, which comes out in July.

NOON-1 PM

The Death Panel: Funerals, Cemeteries, Burial, Autopsies, and Decomposition

Moderator: Loren Rhoads

Panelists: Jason Brock, Tonya Hurley, Rena Mason, William F. Nolan

From the Death Salon to the Death Museum, from permanent memorialization to cutting-edge composting of corpses, from Death Cafes to the Right to Die movement, death is in the news these days. Come get your questions answered and find inspiration in how to make death matter.

Books I’ll have to sign:

1. AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (Black Bed Sheets)

2. WISH YOU WERE HERE: ADVENTURES IN CEMETERY TRAVEL (Western Legends Press)

3. MORBID CURIOSITY CURES THE BLUES (Scribner)

I’ll also have a handful of THE DANGEROUS TYPE ARCs. If you’re a reviewer, hit me up.

Death Salon interview: Sarah Troop

Last week, the Death Salon took over the Getty Villa in LA.  I wasn’t able to attend (I was finishing the third of my space opera trilogy, darn it), but I did interview the amazing Sarah Troop, the Social Media Editor of the Death Salon.

Sarah Troop is an incredible cook and deeply knowledgable about the ways in which food is used to mourn and celebrate at funerals.

By day, Sarah is a museum curator and historian. The rest of the time, she is the executive director of the Order of the Good Death. She writes and recreates historical and cultural recipes for her blog Nourishing Death, which examines the relationship between food and death in rituals, culture, religion, and society. Sarah also recently co-created Death & the Maiden, a project that endeavors to explore the historical and cultural roles women have played in relation to death.

How did you get interested in death?

Sarah Troop:  As a Mexican-American, I’m fortunate to come from a death-positive culture. My grandmother, particularly, has had a huge influence on me. Pretty much all conversations with her eventually lead to the subject of death. Yours or hers, it doesn’t matter. Either one will do.

Since I can remember, she’s been planning her own funeral. She speaks openly about her plans with grace and humor. She has purchased numerous plots/graves which she frequently offers me, as if offering a stick of gum or something equally as trivial: “You know, I have these extra graves. Do you want one?” 

Growing up having this wonderful example of an adult who is so open about the subject of death and addresses it with that same humor, practicality, and joy as she does life, is… Well, obviously, it has helped define my own identity to a great extent.

How did you get connected with the Death Salon?

ST: I had been part of a conversation that started on Twitter, primarily among Order of the Good Death members, about getting together in the real world. This quickly segued into the idea of sharing our work with each other and a wider audience. Megan (Rosenbloom — interviewed here) and Caitlin (Doughty, author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes) took the seeds of these ideas and created the concept and format of Death Salon.

How far would you like to see the Death Salon go?

ST:  We had no idea what to expect when we started this, but I know we are all so excited and honored that institutions like the Getty and Mütter Museum are collaborating on our 2015 events. It may seem a small thing, but right now the thing I find so meaningful is the impact we are making for people on a personal level. The people that came to Death Salon out of curiosity, that said “We had no idea what to expect,” but now, are making big changes in not only their relationship to death but their relationships with their loved ones.

Some of Sarah’s treats at the first Death Salon party, October 2013

What’s your favorite morbid recipe?

ST:  Ah! This is like asking which child is your favorite! I’m going with this one because there is chocolate and pumpkins in it, and who doesn’t like chocolate and pumpkins?

As I understand it, the word chocolate originates from the Aztec cacahuatl, “black nut.” The species name cacao, from the Mayan language, is a reference to the tree, fruit, and drink that was made from it. The Mayans regarded the cacao as a holy tree – life sustaining, but also as a portal to death.

The Aztecs often called chocolate yollotl–eztil – “heart, blood.” In turn, they called the still-beating hearts ripped from the chests of their live human sacrifices cacahuatl – “cocoa fruit” or “Gods’ food.”

Just before a victim was sacrificed, they were given a drink called itzpacaltl – “water with which obsidian blades are washed.” It was used to intoxicate the victim into an ecstatic state.

Shamans or sacrificial priests took the sacrificial knives and washed off the blood from the last victim in water. They then combined it with chocolate and pumpkin. It is said that the drink had the following effect: “He became nearly unconscious and forgot what was said to him. Then his good mood came back and he started to dance again. It is believed that, bewitched by the drink, he gave himself, full of joy and happiness, before death.” – Diego de Duran

I hope that was suitably morbid enough. Also, I’d like to note I have never actually made this recipe. Probably.

Are you writing a cookbook?  

ST: I am currently writing a local history book that will be out in April 2016. I know it doesn’t sound all that morbid, but if you know me, you can rest assured there will be some morbid gems in there.

Of course, I have a couple books on the subject of the relationship between food and death in mind and I’m always making notes for those. One of them is more ‘academic’ and will require a lot of international travel and research before I can get to it. Another, more practical book I have in mind is to help people integrate food  into funerals, memorial practices, and rituals for mourners, too, in very personal, creative ways.

I can’t wait!

***

An audio recording of Sarah’s lecture on Forest Lawn and LA’s relationship to death at last weekend’s Death Salon is available here.

The second Death Salon of 2015 will be held at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia on October 5 & 6.  You should not miss it!

Orally fixated

Emerian Rich (in her secret identity as Emmy Z. Madrigal) has a fun new way to rate novels on her romance blog.  She invited me and some of the other Ladies of Horror (a super-secret Facebook group, kind of like the Ladies Anarchism and Knitting Society, except writers) to participate.

We were supposed to read through our novels for the Kiss Count.  Emerian wanted to know how many kisses, how many graphic sex scenes, and how many F2B (Fade to Black, like sex on broadcast TV) scenes there were.  I thought it would be fun to read through As Above, So Below to find out.

Wow, was I surprised.  As Above came in with 46 instances of kissing.  That doesn’t actually count all of the individual kisses, because I only counted the feverish kisses and little nips as one kiss each.  I knew the book was obsessed with kissing, but I had no idea.

Here’s the description of two of my favorites:

“I’ll show you mercy,” Azaziel threatened, looming over her suddenly. Lorelei whimpered—it wasn’t entirely feigned—but there was nowhere to go to get away from him. The angel grasped her head in his palms and bent down over her. She felt his cool breath in her hair. His lips melted against her flushed forehead. Sweet angelic compassion washed over her.

Lorelei collapsed as if her limbs were unstrung. The lingering pain in her head vanished, but the kindness of his grace turned to terror in her chest. She tried to remember how to breathe. She thought he’d killed her.

“Fuck your compassion, Angel,” she snarled weakly.

He laughed, the first truly amused laugh she’d heard from him. He stroked the hair from the succubus’s face. “You’re all right, Lorelei.”

As he said it, it was true. She drew a deep, shuddering breath. “That was one hell of a kiss, Aza.”

“Glad you liked it.”

She dropped her gaze and put just the right amount of hesitation into her voice. “Can I have another one?”

When his lips brushed her cheekbone, she turned her face into his. Their lips met. A spark passed between them, magnified as it traveled. They both jumped. He pulled away just a fraction.

Lorelei yearned toward him. Weakness trembled in her muscles. Aza couldn’t resist that. He supported her in his arms.

Using all her guile, Lorelei pressed her mouth into his. His compassion flowed into her again, but now that she was prepared, it didn’t paralyze her. She felt it swirl down into her body, curling smoky tendrils around her heart.

Deep in her hips, though, was the unquenchable fire of who she was, the lust that drove her. Raising that power up the ladder of her spine, she focused it as finely as a laser into her kiss.

You can check out the Kiss Counts here.

And here’s the book trailer:

Morbid Catch-up

Cover painting by Cody Tilson

Things are progressing nicely with my space opera trilogy.  I finished the final proofreading on The Dangerous Type last night.  Kill By Numbers is in my editor’s hands.  I’ve passed the halfway point on the first draft of No More Heroes.  Everything is set for the books to come out in July, September, and November of this year.

Here’s the listing of all the great stuff Night Shade Books is publishing this spring and summer. I am so thrilled to be in this company.

My guest posting has gone way down while I jam on writing the last book, but I’ve been out and about a little bit, so I thought I’d better pull those appearances together.

Most recently, I was interviewed by Malina Roos for her epic series of Women In Horror chats.

I was interviewed in Awwthentic Magazine about winning the Wattpad HQ Love Award for All You Need is Morbid.

DJ Lilycat had me on her radio show again to talk about writing science fiction, cemeteries, and what strong women wear into battle.  You can listen to that podcast here for the moment, or here when she gets the permanent page updated.

Cemetery Travel was chosen as a Niche Blog to Brighten Your Winter by Mental Floss.

I had an essay accepted for the Horror Addicts Guide to Life, which should be out in May.

And I sold a story to (and already got paid by!) an anthology that I am super excited about.  They’ve asked me not to release the title yet, until they can get the table of contents finalized, but I am so incredibly honored to be part of this project.

On the Radio today!

My poor blog is long-neglected while I hammer out the third Raena Zacari book.  More on that soon!  For now, an announcement:

This Sunday (today!) author Loren Rhoads will be on the Lilycat on Stuff radio show on http://FCCFREERADIO.com/ from 12-2 PM San Francisco time.

You can listen live or check out the podcast later.

Loren is:

Author of The Dangerous Type trilogy

Co-author of As Above, So Below with Brian Thomas

Author of Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel

Editor of The Haunted Mansion Project: Year Two

http://www.lorenrhoads.com/

….now she will be telling us how we can write our own spooky tales …

Sundays – Lilycat on Stuff – 1 A studio -12 -2PM

http://FCCFREERADIO.com/

Past shows at:

http://fccfreeradio.com/shows/lilycat/live/lilycat_show.mp3

and

http://www.lilycat.com/radioshows.html

Win a Copy of As Above, So Below

In honor of the anniversary of its publication, I’m giving away two copies of As Above, So Below on Goodreads!

“Aside from framing the war between Heaven and Hell through well-developed characters and a familiarity with theology, Rhoads and Thomas’s depiction of temptation make this book.  In literature, sometimes the mix of horror fiction with romance and erotica leans mainly toward horror, or pulls the primary attention of only one gender of reader (both of these scenarios can be great).  However, As Above, So Below is not that story.  Any fan of erotic horror fiction, male or female, is going to have fun reading this one.  As Above, So Below has a creative plot, vivid descriptive imagery, relentless temptation, graphic horror, and fiery, fun sex.”

– Jeremy Price, Up All Night Horror Fiction Review

Goodreads Book Giveaway


As Above, So Below
by Loren Rhoads

Giveaway ends February 14, 2015.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

On Retreat in my Dreams

I dreamed this morning that I was at Gilchrist, the retreat center I’ve written about before.  I was hiking through the mists as the sun started to break through.  Dewdrops sparkled on my shoes.  I remembered seeing the deer on the next hill, watching me, before leaping away into the trees, white tail flashing.

In my dream, I thought: I should go back to the cabin soon.  I should settle down to write.

Then I woke.  I remembered I still have at least 5,000 words to write on Kill By Numbers, the sequel to The Dangerous Type.  It’s due February 1.  I can make the deadline, but apparently my subconscious felt I needed a momentary retreat before it kicked me out of bed to get to work.

Kill By Numbers is the reason I haven’t been blogging — or doing much of anything else.  I found out about the deadline at the end of November, when I still had 25,000 words to go.

I’ve made good progress, but it’s been interesting to me that I slammed the first 50K words out during Nanowrimo 2013.  The rest of the book — a subplot, much more character development, several more points of view — has taken much longer.  It’s been the difference between a good, solid first draft and an almost submission-ready novel.

I found out last week that the third book in the trilogy is due April 1, so once the current novel is out the door, I need to dive into the next one.  I’ve got a good outline to work from and a couple of kickass opening scenes, but it’s going to be a long haul.

I need to figure out how cram my Gilchrist experience — the long drive, the great copilot conversation, the amazing home-cooked meals, the isolation, the silence, the woods — into a day. Because that’s all I can afford to take off, before I kick into gear on No More Heroes.

I can do this.  I’ve been preparing for it all my life.  But’s it’s still daunting.

Roving Packs of Teenaged Ferals

I’ve wanted to start writing about the science fiction books that influenced my writing and there’s no better place to start than the book that revised my world and showed me what was possible in fiction.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this for the first time as a senior in high school and it changed everything for me, as a writer and as a reader. The book is even better decades later.

The first time I read A Clockwork Orange, the edition came with a glossary and I spent a lot of time looking up everything Alex says. This time, without a glossary, I just let the language flow over me — and didn’t have any trouble with it. The context makes things clear after you struggle a brief while.

It was fascinating to reread the story now that I’m so familiar with Kubrick’s movie. Malcolm McDowell is wonderful as Alex, but he was 28 when the movie came out in 1971. In the book, Alex is 15 after he’s charged with murder. I find it much more frightening when he’s a feral child who doesn’t know how to take responsibility for his actions.

The movie also lost the breadth of Alex’s love for music. For a boy who’s bounced between schools and has no adult role models, he’s educated himself on classical music. That detail hints at his potential. I was glad to read in the final chapter that Alex has been rewarded for that musical knowledge with a job that he enjoys.

Spoilers below.

When A Clockwork Orange was originally published in the US, its final chapter was removed.  Burgess was furious. In fact, his introduction to this edition is still furious, decades after the cut had been made.  This edition was the first time the chapter was restored in this country.

Funnily enough, I’m not sure that the restored final chapter entirely worked for me. It was chilling when the book ended (as the movie does) with “I was cured all right.”

I understand that Burgess wanted to show that Alex could change and grow up, but the author’s numerological explanation (he wrote 21 chapters because 21 is the age of adulthood) falls apart when Alex is only 18 as the book ends. It’s hard for me to believe an 18-year-old craves a son of his own. Alex doesn’t have any sort of epiphany where he suddenly discovers empathy for others. He just grows bored of the violence. Fair enough, but I don’t see how that leads to “I’d better meet girls so I can have a son.”

Influence on my work

Feral packs of teenaged boys appear in the Lorelei books (briefly in As Above, So Below, but moreso in Dies Irae, which hasn’t been published yet) and in The Dangerous Type.  Both groups were inspired by Alex and his droogs — and by an experience I had while still living at home.

When I was 19, one of the churches in my hometown hired me to oversee a Dungeons & Dragons game for a bunch of junior high-age boys.  We had a great time together.  I took them to the video arcade. They showed me Monty Python’s Holy Grail.  We played a lot of D&D.

One day — and I don’t even remember how it started — the boys wrestled me down onto the gaming table in the basement of the church. They pinned my arms and legs.  One of them began unbuttoning my shirt.  And I had the sense that something very, very bad was on the verge of happening.

I was larger than these boys, older, wilier, and had a vicious tongue.  None of that mattered when they were acting as a pack. They could have hurt me badly and, while I might have hurt someone of them in return, I couldn’t have fended them all off.

It helped that they didn’t know better than to meet my eyes. I stared at each of them in turn, furious and disappointed in them, and they were young enough to be embarrassed and to let me go.

The moment happened so many years ago, but still I can feel myself on my back in a church basement, waiting for something terrible to happen and almost powerless to stop it.  So both Lorelei and Raena have had to face those feral boys in my stead.

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

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Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,700 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.