2017 Press and Radio
At Green Apple on the Park
My chief lesson in 2017, when it came to work, was what exactly a big publishing house could do for me. 199 Cemeteries is my 11th book. I’ve worked with independent presses big and small, as well as running my own publishing house. I’d even published with Scribner, so I thought I’d worked with a big professional house, but I think the size of the advance in that case worked against me. In the months before Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues was published, I worked with four different publicists at Scribner — and they didn’t get me any press at all.
This time around, Black Dog let me work closely with the Head of Marketing as well as with an A-#1 in-house publicist, Marisol Salaman. I was amazed and deeply honored by all the media attention she was able to draw to my book.
Radio Interviews:
[image error]
Waiting to begin taping Under the Radar
Cemetery Travel: World’s Best Destinations (background for Blueprints for Living interview on ABC radio in Australia)
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/cemetery-travel—10-of-the-worlds-best/8667452
Tombstone Tourism on Blueprints for Living on ABC radio in Australia – includes link to listen to the podcast.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/tombstone-tourism/8665726
Gary Shapiro’s From the Bookshelf aired on KSCO in Santa Cruz, California on September 25. My bit starts 23 minutes in. https://player.fm/series/gary-shapiros-from-the-bookshelf/guests-james-gleick-and-loren-rhodes
Agony Column (long version of Rick Kleffel’s show), broadcast on October 6 on KBCZ 90.1 FM, Santa Cruz Community Radio: http://www.bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-interviews/loren_rhoads-2017.mp3
[image error]The Agony Column (short version): http://www.bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-time_to_read/time_to_read_ep274_loren_rhoads.mp3
Finch Files Halloween episode, with Bay Area legend Peter Finch:
https://www.mixcloud.com/peter-finch2/finch-files-halloween-17-episode-94/
The Jim Bohannon Show aired several times on and around October 26 on more than 500 radio stations around the US. Here’s my bit as an audio file.
https://lorenrhoads.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/offbeat-cemeteries-1026.mp3
Callie Crosby interviewed me for WGBH’s program, Under the Radar: https://news.wgbh.org/2017/11/10/author-graveyard-aficionado-asks-whats-your-favorite-cemetery
My favorite interview ever might be Horror Addicts #150: Cure for the Holidaze. Emerian asked what I did to chill out and survive the holidays. One guess what my answer was. https://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2017/11/18/horroraddicts-net-150-cure-for-the-holidaze-special/
At some point during October, I was on the Entertainment Weekly Radio show on Sirius XM. I missed hearing it, so I don’t have the airdate.
I appeared (briefly!) on the Sean Moncrief Show on Newstalk.com, a national radio broadcast in Ireland on November 6, 2017.
My last radio interview for the year was live on the Michael J. Thorp Show on December 20th. It is part of the SuperTalk 1570 Cumulus channel and broadcast in Flint, Michigan on WWCK AM.
Print/Online Interviews:
The only interview I did about my Alondra stories appeared as a Four Questions interview on the Merry Ghost Hunter blog: https://merryghosthunter.wordpress.com/2017/09/17/4-question-interview-loren-rhoads/
A Narrative Species article by Rich Kleffel accompanied his Agony Column shows:
“Loren Rhoads suggests 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die: Life, Death, and Everything in Between.”
https://narrativespecies.wordpress.com/2017/10/02/loren-rhoads-suggests-199-cemeteries-to-see-before-you-die-life-death-and-everything-in-between/
Time magazine interviewed me for their 10/3/17 issue:
“What Gets Remembered: How Visiting a Cemetery Can Teach you About History”
http://time.com/4963379/cemeteries-history-rhoads/
San Francisco magazine interviewed me about Bay Area cemeteries that everyone should visit:
“Just in Time for Halloween, Bay Area Cemeteries to See Before You Die”
https://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/just-time-halloween-the-bay-area-cemeteries-see-you-die
I’ve been a subscriber to Real Simple for more than a decade, so it was a thrill to be interviewed for “10 Hauntingly Beautiful Cemeteries to Visit Before Halloween”
https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/travel/beautiful-cemeteries-to-visit
The San Diego Union Tribune interviewed me in advance of my reading at Mysterious Galaxy and drew in a big crowd: “Cemetery-book author takes readers to 199 of her favorites”
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/books/sd-et-author-rhoads-20171010-story.html
The book writer for the LA Times came to my reading at Stories, then interviewed me and some of the audience members. Her story appeared as “Hurry to see a cemetery while you can still appreciate it, says author Loren Rhoads”
http://beta.latimes.com/books/la-et-jc-199-cemeteries-20171018-htmlstory.html
“A Guide to the World’s Most Intriguing Cemeteries” was Allison C. Meier’s summary of the interview I did for Hyperallergic.
https://hyperallergic.com/403271/a-tombstone-explorers-guide-to-the-worlds-most-intriguing-cemeteries
USA Today columnist Larry Bleiberg asked me for “10 Great Cemeteries to Visit Before You Die”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/10greatplaces/2017/10/27/cemeteries/803205001/
The National Trust for Historic Preservation asked me for “The Best Historic Cemeteries to Visit Around the World”
https://savingplaces.org/stories/the-best-historic-cemeteries-to-visit-around-the-world#.WjarlVQ-f2Q
“Two of the 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die are in Utah appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/arts/2017/10/27/two-of-the-199-cemeteries-to-see-before-you-die-are-in-utah/
“A Kind of Serendipity: 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die” is a more traditional interview, published by the Funeral Zone blog in the UK and Australia.
https://www.funeralzone.co.uk/blog/loren-rhoads-199-cemeteries-travel-book
Death & the Maiden also interview me about 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die:
https://deadmaidens.com/2017/12/12/199-cemeteries-to-see-before-you-die/
Articles:
[image error]“Dark Tourism: Why Would You Want to Spend Your Holiday Visiting a Cemetery?” This news story was based on the interview for the Blueprints for Living show on ABC radio in Australia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-06/tombstone-tourism-why-we-visit-cemeteries-on-holidays/8673454
“In Search of Cemeteries Alive with Beauty, Art, and History” on the Atlas Obscura site.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cemeteries-to-visit-before-you-die-monuments
The New York Times featured the book in their Open Book column in the Books section:
“A Guide to Graveside Tourism”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/books/review/199-cemeteries-to-see-before-you-die.html
Did You Know focused on “7 Amazing Cemeteries to Visit Before You Inhabit One (if You’re into That Sort of Thing)”
http://didyouknowfacts.com/8-amazing-cemeteries-visit-inhabit-one-know-youre-sort-thing/
Mind-Blowing Facts echoed that with “10 Unique Cemeteries to Visit Before You Inhabit One”
https://mind-blowingfacts.com/unique-cemeteries/
The San Francisco Chronicle also featured the book in their Sunday Lit section:
Travel Books: “199 Cemeteries” A Lively Chronicle of Culture
http://www.sfchronicle.com/travel/article/Travel-Books-199-Cemeteries-a-lively-12241291.php?cmpid=gsa-sfgate-result
Mental Floss highlighted “12 of the Most Beautiful Cemeteries Around the World”
http://mentalfloss.com/photos/504533/12-most-beautiful-cemeteries-around-world
Lenore Gwynn was my editor at Gothic Beauty and provided a lovely blurb for the book. She wrote about it for her blog: http://lenore.online/199-cemeteries-see-die
Mental Floss was inspired to write “These Connected Graves in the Netherlands Prove Love Conquers All” after reading my book.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/505109/these-connected-graves-netherlands-prove-love-conquers-all
The London Dead review:
http://thelondondead.blogspot.com/2017/10/199-cemeteries-to-see-before-you-die.html
Vice had a different angle in “Being Dead Sucks Even More than You Thought.”
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5gwwy/being-dead-sucks-even-more-than-you-thought
Popsugar focused on “11 Cemeteries That Are Hauntingly Beautiful”
https://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/World-Most-Beautiful-Cemeteries-44166497
Travel Gumbo announced my book and linked to my blog: http://www.travelgumbo.com/topic/199-cemeteries-to-see-before-you-die-by-loren-rhoads
The Wall Street Journal wrote a lovely piece about my book in “Books for Impassioned Travelers.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-must-read-for-restless-fly-fishermenand-other-books-for-travelers-1509645620
The perfect review of Wish You Were Here and 199 Cemeteries appeared on Luna Luna as “Two Books to Delight the Tombstone Tourist in You.”
http://www.lunalunamagazine.com/dark/2-boos-to-delight-the-tombstone-tourist
Funeral Zone featured “10 Cemeteries to See Before you Die.”
https://www.funeralzone.co.uk/blog/10-cemeteries-see-you-die
“Cemeteries You Must See Before You Die: Scotland to Japan, the world’s most haunted and beautiful burial sites revealed” appeared in The Daily Mail about the UK edition of the book.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-5150991/The-worlds-hauntingly-beautiful-burial-sites.html
J’aime Rubio was kind enough to add my name to the page called “My Favorite Authors!” on her website: https://www.jaimerubiowriter.com/my-favorite-authors/
Miscellaneous Good Things:
[image error]199 Cemeteries hit #1 in Amazon’s Literary and Religious Travel Guides on September 22, 2017.
It made the Order of the Good Death Booklist: http://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/resources/books#5
And Cult of Weird’s Morbid Must-Reads for Fall:
http://www.cultofweird.com/books/2017-fall-reading-list/
I was a guest on the Writers Chatroom:
http://archive.aweber.com/chatroom/7ljfO/h/Horror_Month_Presents_Loren_Rhoads.htm
It made the list of Best New Books list in Entertainment Weekly.
It reached #5 on the Borderlands Books Best Sellers in Hardcover in October.
Cult of Weird featured 199 Cemeteries on their Weird Book Wednesday on Tumblr and got a huge response.
And I got invited to join the TBD Writers Group, with Angel McCoy, Lisa Morton, Jennifer Brozek, and Allison McKenzie. They are inspiring me to write some new stories!
Books Lists & Gift Guides:
199 Cemeteries made Borderlands Books’ Opinionated Holiday Gift Guide.
The Cult of Weird Holiday Gift Guide:
http://www.cultofweird.com/curiosities/2017-holiday-gift-guide/
The Macabre Holiday Gift Guide 2017:
https://boroughsofthedead.com/macabre-holiday-gift-guide-2017/
The list of Macabre Non-Fiction Books for Darklings:
http://www.thespookyvegan.com/2017/12/macabre-non-fiction-books-for-darklings.html
The Weekly Gift Ideas from the Staff of Atlas Obscura:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/weekly-wishlist-dice-fire-cemetery-flux-science-toy
And “14 Holiday Gift Book Ideas to Help You Finish off Your Christmas Shopping” at the Deseret News in Utah:
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900005765/14-holiday-gift-book-ideas-to-help-you-finish-off-your-christmas-shopping.html
