I want this to be a platform for EVERYONE within the horror community; authors, publishers, bloggers, reviewers, actors, directors, artists. I could go on, if you work in the genre then you are more than welcome to apply for the job.
The rules are quite simple…
You are invited to imagine yourselves as warden for an old graveyard, and choose eight books, preferably horror/dark genre, to take with you to cover your shift; here you can discuss why you chose the books.
As well as the books, wardens are allowed one song/album to listen to. Again, an explanation for this choice is required.
You must also discuss one luxury item you can bring, which must be inanimate and not allow communication.
If you’d like to take part in The Graveyard Shift then please submit an application to gavin@kendallreviews.com
A new shift is about to begin. The warden for the week’s #GraveyardShift is…
Loren Rhoads
In the first full-length collection of her edgy, award-winning short stories, Loren Rhoads punctures the boundaries between horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction in a maelstrom of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Ghosts, succubi, naiads, vampires, the Wild Hunt, and the worst predator in the woods stalk these pages, alongside human monsters who follow their cravings past sanity or sense.
The stories have come from the pages of the magazines Cemetery Dance, City Slab, Instant City, and Space & Time, the Wily Writers podcast, and the books Sins of the Sirens, Demon Lovers, The Haunted Mansion Project: Year Two, Tales for the Camp Fire, and more.
You can buy Unsafe Words from Amazon UK & Amazon US
House of Leaves By Mark Z. Danielewski – This is the epic, recursive, immersive haunted house story that every haunted house movie on TV wants to be. I’ve wanted to tackle this book for the longest time. Keeping myself awake for my overnight shift in the graveyard seems like the perfect time to settle down with it.
Dracula By Bram Stoker – Dracula was the first horror novel that rocked my world. I reread the novel every couple of years and it reveals something new to me each time. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of theories about where Lucy’s crypt was meant to be located, so I want to reread with a map of Victorian London and see what I can discover.
Paradise Lost By John Milton – This is another book I feel like I should have read, but it’s always been hard to find time to focus on it. Maybe, if I’m forced to entertain myself with it in the dead of night, I’ll find the poem wasn’t worth the effort. Trapped in a graveyard overnight may be the only way I’ll ever find out.
Spectral Evidence By Gemma Files – I love Gemma Files’ short stories, but somehow I missed picking up this collection. Her delicious descriptions will be my treat for finally slogging through Milton.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination By Edgar Allan Poe – I was 10 when I discovered this book in my local library. I’ve dipped in and out of this collection since then, rereading old favorites and paying no attention to the rest. Recently, I listened to Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone reading Poe’s stories on CD. Now I want to explore the less familiar stories again. I may even read aloud to the ghosts.
Voodoo Heart By John Everson just came out. I am dying to get my hands on it. I love the short story that inspired this novel, which was in Vigilantes of Love, the collection that introduced me to John’s work initially. John’s books are always blood-drenched and wonderfully visceral.
Your Cruel Fingers Will Close My Eyes By Martha J. Allard – I read this in draft, but I want to luxuriate in the final version. It’s a fairy tale where the prince is the monster, the Loch Ness Monster gives up Scotland for Hollywood, and love is deadly poison.
Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, edited By Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn – I just picked up this collection of horror by women of Asian descent. I’m particularly looking forward to the stories by Rena Mason, Christina Sng, and Angela Yuriko Smith.
Album
Diamond Dogs By David Bowie
To accompany all my reading, I would cue up my favorite album, David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs. The album’s wordplay is Bowie at his best. The echoes of the 1984 musical that he never got permission to perform still fire my imagination, after countless listens. “We are the dead”? You bet.
Luxury
To wash it all down, I choose a bottle of Hill’s Absinthe. The Czechs drink it by dunking a sugar cube in their glass, then setting it on fire to caramelize. I like the echo of will o’ the wisps in the absinthe flame. Maybe I and the ghosts can get a dialog going.
Unsafe Words
In the first full-length collection of her edgy, award-winning short stories, Loren Rhoads punctures the boundaries between horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction in a maelstrom of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Ghosts, succubi, naiads, vampires, the Wild Hunt, and the worst predator in the woods stalk these pages, alongside human monsters who follow their cravings past sanity or sense.
The stories have come from the pages of the magazines Cemetery Dance, City Slab, Instant City, and Space & Time, the Wily Writers podcast, and the books Sins of the Sirens, Demon Lovers, The Haunted Mansion Project: Year Two, Tales for the Camp Fire, and more.
You can buy Unsafe Words from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Loren Rhoades
Loren Rhoads is the author of THE DANGEROUS TYPE, KILL BY NUMBERS, and NO MORE HEROES, which compose the space opera trilogy called IN THE WAKE OF THE TEMPLARS.
She’s also the co-author (with Brian Thomas) of the novels LOST ANGELS and ANGELUS ROSE, the AS ABOVE, SO BELOW series, coming in 2016.
For 10 years, Loren edited the cult nonfiction magazine Morbid Curiosity. From the magazine, she distilled her favorite essays into MORBID CURIOSITY CURES THE BLUES: True Stories of the Unsavory, Unwise, Unorthodox and Unusual, which was published by Scribner.
She likes long walks in the moonlight and old graveyards.
You can find out more about Loren by visiting www.lorenrhoads.com
Follow Loren on Twitter @morbidloren
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