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…
Jon O’Bergh
Jada Mercer is used to getting her way, and she loves danger. When she meets Asher Williams, a sensitive musician in a band, she pressures him to prove himself through the rigors of an extreme haunt known as Horror Place. At the same time, the haunt’s owners, Phil and Donna Woods, are locked in an escalating feud with neighbor Ruth Littleton. The terrifying consequences unfold step by step as the characters are pushed beyond the breaking point. Weaving layers of truth and fiction, the story challenges our sense of reality with unexpected twists and turns.
You can buy The Shatter Point from Amazon UK & Amazon US
If I’m going to pick items to accompany me as warden of a deserted graveyard, I want variety. A range to satisfy different needs. I want tears, I want scares, I want laughter. Especially laughter, in case I get the heebie-jeebies.
Books
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. I’m a huge Tremblay fan. He masterfully handles ambiguity, exemplified here by the fact we’re never quite sure if a predicted apocalypse is happening or not. That tension between what is real and what is imagined is a particular interest of mine. A vacationing family becomes the victim of a home invasion by doomsday fanatics who are convinced only a human sacrifice can stop the apocalypse. I appreciate Tremblay’s sensitive portrayal of an unconventional family comprising two white dads and their adopted Asian daughter. He tells the story by alternating between the viewpoints of each character. The standoff between the family and the invaders becomes increasingly claustrophobic as the story takes dark, unexpected turns.
The Man Who Was Magic by Paul Gallico. I first read this middle-grade novel when I was about eleven years old. It was a gift from a beloved family friend who passed away too young a few years later. Perhaps the memory of our bond lends the book added weight for me. I could re-read it over and over, and periodically return to it for comfort. The plot follows the arrival of a humble magic man in Mageia, the famed city of magicians. He comes to improve his skill, not knowing the other magicians use tricks rather than real magic. One faction, fearing he will put them out of business, conspires to destroy him. The story makes me cry, laugh out loud, and tremble with fear. I always enjoy the scene where the stranger’s talking dog, who has been abducted and locked in a dark museum, triggers a cacophony of scary skeletons and animatronic figures in an effort to get someone to open the door so he can escape to warn his owner of the plot. With incredible heart, Gallico confronts avarice, prejudice, and the dark side of human nature.
The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson. It’s no small feat to create a poignant horror story, but Davidson accomplished that with this novel. Not only is it deeply moving, but he springs an unexpected twist on the reader. Jake—a boy growing up in Niagara Falls, Canada—spends time one summer with his eccentric, “damaged” uncle, who leads Jake and his ragtag band of companions on nocturnal visits to haunted locales. In essence, the story concerns the disquieting nature of memory and how we are haunted by the past. Davidson (who has also written plenty of straight-ahead horror under the pen name Nick Cutter) uses language and storytelling style to create a work as art. Sometimes you crave fast thrills, but sometimes you crave artistry. Davidson delivers the latter.
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse. Navajo mythology, a bad-ass female heroine, and a post-apocalyptic landscape make this a winner. I love the American desert southwest, and this novel plunked me right down in the middle of that region—albeit one transformed by climate change. The story reads like a fast-paced action flick, but turns the genre on its head through the presence of underrepresented characters. Maggie, our Native American protagonist, is a monster hunter who teams up with a young, attractive medicine man. In classic fashion, she embarks on an epic journey unravelling clues and chasing supernatural creatures, but ultimately must confront something about her past in order to survive. The novel manages to honor the tropes while infusing them with fresh blood.
There, There by Tommy Orange. Most folks would not classify this as a horror novel, but spiders bursting out of faces and a mass shooting give the tale a patina of horror. Through interconnected families living in Oakland, California, the story explores what it means to be Native American in an urban, contemporary environment. I love stories with a strong sense of place, and since I know the Bay Area well, the setting resonated with me. Orange takes the title from the famous Gertrude Stein quote about Oakland: “There’s no there there.” But the title also evokes the words someone uses to soothe a person who is suffering. The New York Times Book Review declared this to be one of the ten best books of 2018.
Welcome to the Show, curated by Matt Hayward and Doug Murano. The seventeen stories in this anthology concern a fictional San Francisco music venue called The Shantyman that is haunted by strange happenings. What makes this anthology stand out? Well, I may be a bit biased as a musician and former San Franciscan, but there is an elegant, chronological flow to the arrangement of stories. What happens in the last story by Mary SanGiovanni mirrors something from the first story by Alan M. Clark. Characters from other stories appear in Brian Keene’s tale. There is a nice balance of sub-genres and styles, and the recurring music hall provides an even stronger unifying component than the average thematic anthology. One of my favorite stories is “The Southern Thing” by Adam Cesare. The ending took me somewhere completely contrary to my expectations, but was perfectly suited to a story set in San Francisco. I’ll stop there, lest I give it away.
White Man’s Grave by Richard Dooling. A venal lawyer searches for his son who is missing in West Africa, but runs up against non-Western forces stronger than him that challenge his perception of reality. At the same time, the son’s friend conducts his own search. Occult events intrude for both men. This wicked satire skewers American greed and bluster. One memorable passage features the friend, sick somewhere in the bush, having to use pages from popular novels as toilet paper. I’ve heard the book described as a supernatural thriller. But that misses its whole point, not to mention its dark humor. I appreciate a story that casts a skeptical eye on the things we assume without questioning and forces us to reconsider our attitudes. This is one such book.
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand. I enjoy stories that blend music and horror. An acid-folk band holes up one summer in an isolated English manor to record their final album. They don’t know it will be their last, or that lead singer Julian Blake will mysteriously disappear after channeling an ancient power to inspire their recording. Mysterious rooms and passageways, the appearance of a ghostly stranger, and an escalating dread power this novel, which won the Shirley Jackson Award. Hand tells the story via the Rashomon-like perspectives of various individuals who witness the strange developments. Instead of the devil, Hand suggests a more ancient source, and the terror becomes magnified by the uncertainty at the heart of the tale.
Album
The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams by Meshell Ndegeocello. Selecting just one album is a particularly difficult exercise, because it depends on my changing mood. So what better choice than an album that blends rock, jazz, punk, world music, sci-fi, soul, and hip-hop? When Ndegeocello initially previewed five of the tracks via an EP release, my first reaction was What the hell? It represented such a dramatic change from her previous music. Then I listened again and fell in love. These anti-pop songs flout pop formulas with kaleidoscopic shifts and right turns. The music continually offers something new to discover. And with a post-apocalyptic song about climate change, a song told from the perspective of a suicide bomber, and references to devils and aliens, there is just enough of a horror element to fit in with my book list.
Luxury
My luxury item would be a piano, so I can pass the lonely hours composing songs and playing favorite tunes. Music is such an integral part of my life, it would be hard to conceive of no access to an instrument. It’s almost like a companion, whose spirit fills the air once you hit that key. You can resurrect the spirit of compositions written three hundred years ago. Each song is a different companion you can spend a little time with. You can hear these companions, but you can’t see them or touch them. Ghosts, in a way—with memories of specific moments attached to each one. The song your grandmother loved. The song to which you first learned to dance. The song that captured an intense passion. Worlds await at your fingertips.
The Shatter Point
Jada Mercer is used to getting her way, and she loves danger. When she meets Asher Williams, a sensitive musician in a band, she pressures him to prove himself through the rigors of an extreme haunt known as Horror Place. At the same time, the haunt’s owners, Phil and Donna Woods, are locked in an escalating feud with neighbor Ruth Littleton. The terrifying consequences unfold step by step as the characters are pushed beyond the breaking point. Weaving layers of truth and fiction, the story challenges our sense of reality with unexpected twists and turns.
You can buy The Shatter Point from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Jon O’Bergh
Jon O’Bergh is an author and musician who appreciates a good scare. He is the author of four books, including the horror novel The Shatter Point, and has released over a dozen albums in a variety of styles. His short story “Collector of Ghosts” appears in the anthology Ghosts, Spirits and Specters. Another supernatural story will appear in the forthcoming anthology Dark Divinations. He enjoys writing about the intersection of horror literature and music. After many years living in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., he currently resides with his husband in Toronto.
Official Website: www.obergh.net
Shatter Point Website: www.shatterpointhorror.com
Twitter: @jon_obergh
Leave a Reply