Loren Rhoads's Blog

The interesting times that we live in continue to escalate, but maybe you’d like to take an hour off to have someone read you a story?

This Wednesday, January 28, at 7 PM PST: I’ll be reading live on Youtube for Story Hour!

Click on the cover to buy a copy of the book.

I’ll read “Black as Shadow, Red as Night, White as Bone” from last year’s anthology Black Cat Tales. In this story, Alondra DeCourval is called to a municipal zoo after something terrible occurred. Some hauntings leave no ghosts. What do you do when the horror has seeped into the very rocks and trees?

I’ll share the hour with Rhiannon Rasmussen, whose work I’m discovering for the first time.

The event is free!

Tomorrow (Thursday, January 15 at 5 PM PST): I’m returning to Strong Women Strange Worlds! I’m going to read one of my favorite spooky short stories from my collection, Unsafe Words. Guaranteed to raise a shiver.

The online reading will include short pieces by L. Briar, S.J. Lee, Diana Morgan, Melissa Olthoff, and Kathleen Palm.

There will be giveaways of free books and other goodies, available exclusively for attendees of this live event.

Come prepared to cheer on the authors. The audience is  encouraged to interact with the authors and audience via the chat function in Zoom. In addition, the authors will stick around after the reading to answer questions.

The event is free, but you need to register in advance on Eventbrite.

See you there!

In the late 90s/early 00s, I published a magazine called Morbid Curiosity. It showcased true confessional stories from writers around the world, telling their deepest, darkest secrets. It was so much fun to assemble! I never knew what I would get in the mail.

Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the final issue. That seems like a good thing to celebrate — and how better to celebrate than to create one more issue?

Got something to get off your chest?

Morbid Curiosity magazine is looking for TRUE 1st-person stories about your encounters with the unsavory, unwise, unorthodox, and unusual. All the dark elements that make life truly worth living!

Bizarre magazine described Morbid Curiosity as “fascinating frontline journalism.” We invite you to be a part of it.

True stories under 2000 words preferred. Reprints are welcome. No POETRY or FICTION.

Morbid Curiosity issue #11 will be funded on Kickstarter in Q1 2026, for publication in October 2026.

Deadline for submissions: December 31, 2025

Here’s a bit more information about Morbid Curiosity magazine.

Issue #10 is the only volume still in print. You can order a copy from me here.

Next weekend (October 25/26) I’ve got two more spooky events planned.

On October 25, I’m joining members of my local chapter of the Horror Writers Association to present an event called “This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Horror” at this year’s Lit Crawl. If you haven’t been before, more than 300 authors perform in three waves on one night. It’s amazing.

We’ll be at Silver Sprocket at 1018 Valencia Street at 8 PM PDT. Participants include Laura Blackwell (“The First Mrs. Edward Rochester Would Like a Word”), Jonathan Fortin (Bloody Caleb), Francesca Maria (They Hide: Stories to Tell in the Dark), Ben Monroe (The Seething), and Fred Wiehe (Stories that Haunt the Mind and Soul).

I’m going to read my story “Protection Spell” from Star Crossed: New Tales of Strange Love, Weird Romance, Polymorphic Passion, and Feverish Fabulism.

The whole Lit Crawl schedule is here.

On Sunday, October 26 at 1 PM PDT, I’m joining the editors and contributors of Black Cat Tales for a book signing at the Barnes & Noble at the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo (CA).

Participants include editors Francesca Maria and Mark Causey, along with contributors Ken Hueler, Sumiko Saulson, and Gregg Stewart.

I’ll be there in support of the anthology, which contains an Alondra story called “Black as Shadow, Red as Blood, White as Bone” that I’m really proud of. However, if you’d like to pick up a copy of 222 Cemeteries to See Before You Die at Barnes & Noble, I’d be glad to sign that for you. too.

Get a copy of the Black Cat Tales book and more details here!

Hosted by Horror Addicts hostess Emerian Rich, local authors read from (and sell!) their horror works. Among those coming are Jonathan Fortin (author of Bloody Caleb), R. L. Merrill (author of For the Witches), J. Malcolm Stewart (author of the Look Back in Horror series), Jay Hartlove (author of The Insane God), Sheryl Hayes (author of Chaos Kin), Valerie Frankel (author of books exploring every fandom), and more.

I’ll be reading from Lost Angels, Unsafe Words, and Still Wish You Were Here. I’ll have fun things to giveaway and books to sell.

Hope to see you in the Oak Room at the San Mateo Main Public Library, 55 W. 3rd Avenue in San Mateo, California, from 2-6 PM.

Here’s the official link. This event is intended for adults. You’ve been warned!

My first event of the season is tonight (October 7), but the fun continues through the rest of the month. (If the graphic doesn’t display correctly for you, you can see my whole schedule with more details on my home page at https://lorenrhoads.com/.

All the events are free, unless you buy books at the Spooky Book Fair or at Barnes & Noble.

Tomorrow, September 17 at 6-7:30 pm PDT Come join the live-streamed launch party for The Fabulist’s new “weird romance” anthology, Star Crossed Vol. 1: New Tales of Strange Love, Weird Romance, Polymorphous Passions & Feverish Fabulism. 

I’ll be reading my story “Protection Spell.” This little ghost story was inspired by author Jenny Bitner, who treated herself to a writing retreat in a lovely old hotel in the Gold Country a couple of years ago. Jenny is also reading her piece from Star Crossed.

I’ve been writing stories about Alondra DeCourval pretty much my entire life. I’ve written almost 30 stories about her as she travels the world meeting supernatural creatures. “Protection Spell” is the first story I’ve written from the point of view of Alondra’s girlfriend Stella.

Contributors reading tomorrow include Alethea Eason, Angela Liu, Claire Anderson, Elizabeth Stix, Jenny Bitner, Jyotsna Sreenivasan, Loren Rhoads, Patricia Flaherty-Pagan, Veronica Montes, and more TBA.

The event is free, but you need to pre-register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/launch-party-star-crossed-vol-1-tales-of-strange-love-weird-romance-registration-1681679070369

Get yourself a copy of the book:

Ebook: https://fabulistmagazine.com/product/star-crossed-vol-1-new-tales-of-strange-love-weird-romance-polymorphous-passion-feverish-fabulism-2/

Print: https://fabulistmagazine.com/product/star-crossed-vol-1-new-tales-of-strange-love-weird-romance-polymorphous-passion-feverish-fabulism/

Whew! The Kickstarter for my new cemetery memoir, Still Wish You Were Here, ended successfully last Saturday. Sixty backers raised over $2100, which will help pay for the final publication details and promotion once the book is out. I am so grateful to them for their faith in the project and their help to get it done.

If you would like to preorder a copy of Still Wish You Were Here, the campaign will stay live on Kickstarter until the end of August. After that, I’ll close the campaign until the book goes on sale in October.

I learned a lot during my second Kickstarter. Three weeks is the right length of time for me. I was exhausted after that and don’t think I have the stamina to plow through another week while juggling the rest of my complicated life. I wish I’d done more advance work, so I’d had more people following the campaign from the start. I also didn’t do any podcasts or guest posts during the campaign this time. I don’t know if they would have helped, but I wished I’d done more work to arrange them.

Now, however, it’s time to finalize the book. I want to listen through the text one last time. I find it easier to hear typos than see them at this point, since my brain is so familiar with the text. I need to put together the index and add the list of backers to thank.

Loren speaking at the San Francisco Columbarium, October 2024. Photo by Mason Jones.

I’ve already started setting up release events for October. On October 16, I will be part of a live in-person book release event at the historic San Francisco Columbarium. I’ll join cemetery authors Amy Shea (Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins) and Beth Winegarner (San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History) for an evening of conversation about the subject we’re passionate about. If you can get to San Francisco, this will be quite a night.

The Kickstarter has entered its final phase. It ends at 9 AM Pacific on Saturday, August 9.

At the moment, it’s $201 short of reaching the next stretch goal, the one for which I will update the original book in the Cemetery Travel series. Everyone who’s purchased one book will get two for the price of one.

The past week has been very sweet. My cemetery peers have been hugely helpful in spreading the word about the Kickstarter. Shout out to everyone who has reposted one of my social media posts. I plan to thank you all by name in the book!

I wanted to quote some of the especially generous things people have said about this book and my work:

Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses, said: “Still Wish You Were Here is … a cemetery memoir unlike any other: part travelogue, part love letter to the world’s graveyards, and entirely full of Loren’s signature voice—humane, inspirational, and deeply touching. She takes readers on a journey from Michigan to Singapore, Paris to California, uncovering stories of the famous and forgotten and reflecting on grief, wonder, and the fragile beauty of memory.”

Sharon Pajka, whose brand-new book Haunted Virginia Cemeteries just came out, said, “Loren is truly the queen of cemetery travel. Her writing, her insight, and her fearless curiosity made me feel seen. She showed me that it’s okay, even beautiful, to explore cemeteries not just for research, but for recreation and reflection. Whether she’s tracking down the graves of cultural icons, getting wonderfully lost in foreign churchyards, or meditating on mortality, Loren’s stories are vivid, thoughtful, and deeply inspiring.”

Jennie Johnson of The Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast encouraged people to listen to our conversation from last March. I loved chatting with her and her cohost Dianne Hartshorn. She added, “Still Wish You Were Here is definitely a book you need to add to your collection of cemetery books!”

Carole Tyrrell of the Shadows Fly Away blog called me “an absolute doyenne in the taphophile world,” which made me blush.

Robin Simonton, contributor to Death’s Garden Revisited and executive director of Historic Oakwood Cemetery in North Carolina, reminded us that “Cemetery Friends are the best!”

You can still jump on the Kickstarter for the next 41 hours. Remember, if the campaign reaches its next stretch goal, any preorder of a book also gets you a copy of the updated ebook of Wish You Were Here. Here’s the link.

The Kickstarter for Still Wish You Were Here is in its final week. The book reached its funding goal in the first 12 hours.

The first stretch goal was a Reader’s Guide for the book. Designed to be used by individual readers or book clubs, Still Wish You Were Here: A Reader’s Guide peeks behind the adventures in the book to explore what cemeteries mean. It includes essays about what cemetery aficionados call themselves, why anyone would choose to spend her birthdays in cemeteries, a list of useful cemetery history books, cemetery questions for contemplation, a playlist of cemetery songs, and a game to introduce readers to cemetery symbolism.

The second goal is a Backers-only party on Zoom TOMORROW, August 3. We’ll play a game or two. We’ll talk about the cemeteries we’ve visited. I will offer personalized cemetery book recommendations from my extensive collection. It should be a very pleasant hour.

If you’re interested in joining us, please back the Kickstarter at any level. I’ve set up an Eventbrite to manage the Zoom. Details are available on the Kickstarter page under the Updates tab.

Here’s the Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lorenrhoads/still-wish-you-were-here-more-adventures-in-cemetery-travel

Get yourself a copy of my new cemetery book while you’re there!