Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues!

BACK FROM THE DEAD AND READY TO PARTY

 

Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues: True Stories of the Unsavory, Unwise, Unorthodox, and Unusual collects 40 stories from the cult nonfiction magazine, Morbid Curiosity.  These are the editor’s favorites about growing up Mormon in the bathtub of the dead, assisting a friend’s suicide, attending a Black Mass, and much more.  The book includes stories from all ten issues of the magazine, leaning heavily toward the early out-of-print issues. See what you’ve missed! 

 

http://charnel.com/morbidcuriosity or http://books.simonandschuster.com/9781439124666

 

MORBID CURIOSITY IN PICTURES AND MUSIC

 

You can get a taste of the book through the Morbid Curiosity book trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2euCWtVxFA

 

IN THE FLESH

 

There are a slew of book release events planned, from radio interviews to an enormous party at Borderlands to a crossover event between the Thrillpeddlers and the most scandalous contributors to Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues.  There will even be side trips to Half Moon Bay, Berkeley, and Seattle.  All the tour information is up at http://booktour.com/author/loren_rhoads.

 

NEXT WEEKEND

 

Friday, October 2 – 8 p.m. reception, 8:30 reading.

Stories Books and Café in LA hosts the first Morbid Curiosity event.  Editor Loren Rhoads will discuss and read from the new book.  Please join her for complimentary beer and wine. Stories Books and Café, 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.  More information at 213.413.3733 or http://www.storiesla.com/

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Saturday, October 3 – 6-9 p.m. Opening Reception & Book Signing

To celebrate the publication of Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues, Loren gathered prints, photographs, and original artwork to showcase her favorite images from the book and magazine.  Featured artists will be Hugues Leblanc, Dorian Katz, M. Parfitt, Suzanne Dechnik, Erik Quarry, Mike Hunter, R. Samuel Klatchko, Chris Schnapp, and Timothy Renner.

Chaos Gallery at the Museum of Death, 6301 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 323.466.8011

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/2298/MC-Art-Flyer-4×6-w-trim.jpg

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Sunday, October 4 – 11:50-2:00

West Hollywood Book Fair panel and signing, hosted by Del Howison of Dark Delicacies, featuring Loren Rhoads, Michael Hemmingson, Dana Fredsti (me!), and a special guest.

West Hollywood Park • 647 N. San Vicente Blvd • West Hollywood • MAP.  Venue information: http://www.westhollywoodbookfair.org/

And if you’ll notice on the ginchy poster, we are having the book release party on October 20th at the Hypnodrome Theater in San Francisco!  If you’re a Bay Area local and love the unusual, please come to the party!

 

ONLINE BOOK CLUBS

If you are a member of any online book clubs, you can rate the book and help us by drawing attention to it:

http://www.amazon.com/Morbid-Curiosity-Cures-Blues-Unorthodox/dp/1439124663/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253039375&sr=8-1

 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6355365-morbid-curiosity-cures-the-blues-true-stories-of-the-unsavory-unwise

 

http://weread.com/search/book/morbid%20curiosity%20cures%20the%20blues

 

http://www.librarything.com/work/8983569

 

I’m very excited to see this book in print and not just because one of my essays is included! Check out the table of contents!  My personal fave, btw, is Souvenir of Hell by Brian Thomas.   

 

Contents

 

Editor’s Introduction
Morbid Curiosity Changed My Life by Loren Rhoads

Childhood’s End: Growing Up Morbid
Why by M. Parfitt
You Lock it Behind You by Lee Smith
The Barbie Wrecking Yard by Michael Hemmingson
The Fruit of All Evil by John A. Domeier
Gilding the Afterlife: My Pubescence in the Bathtub of the Dead by Dean Estes
This is a Very Old Scar by Dorian Katz
The Road of Life by Simon Wood

Far From Home: Morbid Curiosity on the Road
Souvenir of Hell by Brian Thomas
Happy Trails in Southeast Asia by Jessica Eisner
Museum Pieces by Julia Solis
Amsterdam by Christine Sulewski
Dragon’s Teeth by Claudius Reich
Holiday in Genoa by Daniel McQuillan
Tracking the Zodiac by Darren Mckeeman

Gainful Employment: Morbid Things People Do for Money
Hell on Heels by Dana Fredsti
Blood Gags by Frank Burch
The Jumper and the Crabs by Kalifer Deil
A Night in the House of Dr. Moreau by R. N. Taylor
Brain Salad Surgery by Seth Flagsberg
Another Day, Another Dead Guy by Kim Poeppey-Del Rio
Halloween Hell by Mary Ann Stein

 

Curious Behavior: the Morbid Catchall Category
Prelude and Fugue State for Roadkill (An Accident Report) by William Selby
Thanksgiving at Bel’s by Mehitobel Wilson
Feed by Katrina James
The Black Mass by Gravity Goldberg
The Pain of Art vs. the Art of Pain by Christopher R. Bales
Be Careful What You Ask For… by Vance Yount
The Bomoh by A. M. Muffaz

Medical Adventures: Morbid Medicine
Killing Max by JD
Slippery Little Devil by T. M. Gray
DIY Urology by Geoff Walker
Donating My Body to Science by Wm. Rage
Needles in the Spine by Dalton Graham
Man-o-gram: Guys Shouldn’t Give Milk by Maurice G. Broaddus

Beyond Death: Exploring Behind the Curtain
Finding Paul by George V. Neville-Neil
In Grandpa’s House by Trilby Plants
Going into Tombs by Hugues Leblanc
Love Among the Tombs: Adventures in Forensic Anthropology by Leilah Wendell
Grandmarama by Allegra Lundyworf
The Keeper of the Shop by Jill Tracy

Epitaph: the Final Word on Morbid Curiosity
The Mortician’s Gift by Loren Rhoads

 

Romantic Times Review for RIPPING THE BODICE


This pleasing story bears some resemblance to Northanger Abbey, with the heroine’s love of bodice rippers parallelling Austen’s heroine’s love of gothic literature. Telling the same story from two characters’ perspectives doesnt always work, but Cassandra’s daydreams are amusing and light, the characters are well drawn and the romance is familiar without becoming cliched.

 

Being compared to Jane Austen?  WOOT!!!!    Thank you, Michelle W.!  

Champagne – Cover Art and Release Date!

Champagne cover

My latest Ravenous Romance book is coming out next week, with a tentative release date of Tuesday, September 28th!   You’ve all heard (or read about) me grebbling for the last six months of how tough this one was to write.  Well, it’s done, it’s coming out, and I am very happy with the final result. We don’t have acknowledgment pages in the Ravenous books (something I hope will evolve!), so I’m going to do the thanking right here and now! 

Hats off to Jen Safrey, amazing copyeditor, and many thanks to Holly and Lori for their patience and willingness to extend my deadline.  

 Much love and thanks to the Lurking Novelists, Best Writing Group Evah! I owes ya all champagne!

Most of all, thank you, David Fitzgerald, for your enthusiam for this particular book,  your support, and your love through all of my writerly angst and depression.  I could NOT have written it without you.  This one’s for you, angel! 

 

 (REMINDER: Tomorrow is Ravenous Wednesday on Un:Bound!  Please stop by and visit Sephera Giron!  And while I’m at it, I want to give a special thanks to Adele/Hagelrat at Un:Bound for her energetic, enthusiastic support of me and the Ravenous gang.  Jack, you’re on my thank-you list too, for always being a part of our antics and being so supportive of ALL my writing!) 

Ravenous Romance on HSN!!!

Okay!  My book, Ripping the Bodice, is part of the Escape with Romance collection featured on HSN tomorrow.  Ravenous co-founder Holly Schmidt will be live on HSN at 8:35 AM and 4:35 PM on Monday, September 14th, and at 3:00 AM on Tuesday, September 15th, talking about the 4 collections (paranormal, historical, contemporary & sampler pack). These times are eastern standard time, btw!  And yes, I know they have my name wrong in the Contemporary list. I am NOT Keta Diablo. But my heroine IS reading her book, Land of the Falling Stars, on the cover of MY book.  So it’s kind of a funny mistake!

I’m delighted to be included in this  opportunity and a hearty congrats to my fellow RR authors, and to Holly, Lori and Allan!   Please go check out the link to see the other authors and titles featured!

From the HSN Web Site:
“Voyage to a distant land where fantasy and passion ignite. The Escape with Romance Exclusive 6-Book Collection is a fascinating compilation of stories filled with infatuation, excitement and of course, love. These tales will evoke the internal fires that burn deep within us all. Choose from the 3 collections; the romantically nostalgic Historical genre, the futuristic and supernatural of the Paranormal genre, or the modern-day heroines of the Contemporary genre. Plus, if you can’t decide choose the Sampler, which includes 2 books from every genre, so you can get a little bit of it all. Suddenly, reading just got a lot more interesting.

Just a quickee…

…I’m on a grueling (yet exhilarating) deadline and have been writing my butt off (yup, looks like it’s shrunk a bit!) all last week into my lovely long weekend.  Can’t say much more right now other than zombies are involved.  So you KNOW I’m having a blast!  The kitties have been a great help by keeping their rampaging down to a minimum, so I’m posting the picture below in their honor. 

See you all later, and definitely look for Ravenous Wednesday at Un:Bound this week!