Loren Rhoads's Blog, page 94
February 5, 2010
The Morbid Things We Do For Money
When I started putting the Morbid book together, I had to make a lot of hard choices about what essays would go in. Some contributors gave me pieces for multiple issues, compounding the dilemma. Dana Fredsti was one of those.Dana wrote about working with big cats, especially a tiger named Jasmine, at a feline rescue facility in Southern California. She wrote about learning to surf, which I ...
February 4, 2010
The Preliminary Stoker Ballot
To my amazement and pleasure, Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues made the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Award in Nonfiction. The next round of voting will determine whether it makes the actual ballot of nominees, then it goes to a vote for the award.I'm startled to get to this point. I've been assuming the book wasn't eligible for the award because all its essays are reprints. (Last ...
The Roadkill Story
One of the best things about publishing the magazine was having people come up and tell me their experiences. Every now and then, someone had had something happen to them that was so immense, so unbelievable, that they had been looking all their lives for a way to share the tale.Bill Selby's story was like that. Jill Tracy told me about it before she introduced us at the first SpookyCon. Bill and ...
February 3, 2010
A Ghost Story
I'd seen Jill Tracy play her soundtrack for Nosferatu at the Red Vic, so I was thrilled when she contacted me about Morbid Curiosity. She had so many stories in her life that could qualify as morbid that she struggled to settle on one. When she sent me "The Keeper of the Shop," I knew I had gold.It's a ghost story set in the early days that I lived in San Francisco. I didn't know ...
February 2, 2010
Why
My favorite essay from Morbid Curiosity (both book and magazine) is M. Parfitt's story "Why." In it, she spells out the inspiration for all the artwork she's made. Along the way, she sums up the genesis and philosophy behind Morbid Curiosity.She couldn't come down to the city to read the piece in person at the Hypnodrome, so Russell Blackwood, director of the Thrillpeddlers, ...
February 1, 2010
Another cemetery book review
Colma, CA by Michael Smookler My rating: 4 of 5 stars The only thing that keeps this book from getting 5 stars is that it isn't longer. I have several books on the cemeteries of Colma, California, so it's nice to have one about the city's history prior to its 17 graveyards. Smookler does a good job of giving a sense of what life was like there, before the living were replaced by the dead. ...
January 30, 2010
So many cemeteries, so little time...
Famous and Curious Cemeteries: A Pictorial, Historical, and Anecdotal View of American and European Cemeteries and the Famous and Infamous People Who by John Francis Marion My rating: 5 of 5 stars This encyclopedia from 1977 explores 51 international cemeteries in depth, followed by visits to 22 American Military graveyards from Mexico City to North Africa, which speccial emphasis on the battle ...
January 29, 2010
Reading at the Hypnodrome
A link to me reading "The Mortician's Gift" should be live on the left now.
The morning of the reading, I was supposed to chaperone my daughter's kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch. I woke up without any voice. I spend the day resting and relaxing, but by evening -- my big evening -- my voice was still throaty and rough. Hence, the mic in this video.
A crossover event, combining readers to the book with acts from the Thrillpeddlers, had been one of the first release events I wanted to do. The evening turned out to be amazing. You can see other readings from that show by searching on Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues on youtube.
There are seven stories total. Three of them are live now and the others are coming as soon as their authors get a chance to preview them. Stay tuned!
Get more on Loren Rhoads at SimonandSchuster.com
January 27, 2010
Live at the Hypnodrome
I finally had to schedule a work day with my husband: get a babysitter, send Mason out for strong coffee, and set us up downstairs in his office, but the results were worth it. I am finally getting the videos from the Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues reading at the Hypnodrome up on youtube.A link to me reading "The Mortician's Gift" should be live on the right now, but here's the ...
