A while ago I teased a bit about an upcoming acceptance of mine, and now I'm able to be more detailed about it. An essay of mine, "Blood Lines," will be a part of the eleventh issue of Morbid Curiosity. Morbid Curiosity is published and edited by Loren Rhoads. Whose name should be familiar to my readers, since she was also the publisher and editor of 2022's "Death's Garden Revisited," the book that explores all aspects of cemeteries. (And I had an essay in that one, too.) Additionally, I did an interview with Loren on this blog back on April 9th, 2022. The tentative publication date for Morbid Curiosity #11 is October of this year, and a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign is planned for the near future. Obviously I'll include more information about this upcoming magazine issue in the coming weeks and months, including the cover art, synopses, and the list of contributors.
Now I'd like to explore Morbid Curiosity in more depth. Because I have quite a history with this publication. I was fortunate enough to have stories included in Issues 7, 8 and 9. These were some of my earlier publishing credits, so they're special memories. But, first off, what was, and now is, Morbid Curiosity about? It lived up to its title, as it featured confessional, first person, non-fiction essays which explored, "The unsavory, unwise, unorthodox, and unusual: All the dark elements that make life truly worth living." Through most of its run, Morbid Curiosity mainly focused on survivor narratives. These described folks' experiences with "sexuality, birth, modern healthcare, illicit substances, natural disasters, UFO encounters, humanity's inclination toward violence, as well as homicide, serial killers, and ghosts." Morbid Curiosity was an annual magazine, and was published between 1997-2006. All told 310 survivor narratives were featured. Some of the more famous contributors were, in alphabetical order:
Michael Amzen, Maurice Broaddus, M. Christian, Alan M. Clark, Aaron Comethus John Everson, Ray Garton, Rain Graves, T.M. Gray, Michael Hemmingson, Brian Hodge, Charlee Jacob, Brian Keene, Nancy Kilpatrick, Jasmine Sailing, Julia Solis, Jill Tracy, V. Vale, Don Webb, and David Niall Wilson.
Morbid Curiosity attracted a fair bit of attention, too. Two museums featured it as part of a display. A copy of an issue can be seen on Mulder's desk in an episode of "The X-Files." It's been cited in at least four books-- "Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can't Look Away" by Eric G. Wilson, "Death: An Oral History" by Casey Jarman, "Encyclopedia Gothica" by Lisa Ladouceur, and "The Goth Bible" by Nancy Kilpatrick. Finally, when it closed in 2006, Peter Carlson of The Washington Post wrote a long, passionate obituary for it. (Which can still be found online.)
Loren Rhoads ceased Morbid Curiosity to focus on her writing career. Which has been prolific--she's penned short stories, nonfiction books, and novels. Included in this output is the "As Above, So Below" set ("Lost Angels" and "Angelus Rose"), the "In the Wake of the Templars" trilogy ("The Dangerous Type," "Kill By Numbers," and "No More Heroes"), and the nonfiction "199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die," and its later companion, "222 Cemeteries to See Before You Die." Also both the book I mentioned previously, "Death's Garden Revisited," and its predecessor, "Death's Garden." She later condensed the highlights of Morbid Curiosity into the book, "Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues."
However, it's back from the dead. Presumably the zombie form of Morbid Curiosity will be even more disturbing, fascinating, alarming, and interesting than it was before, if that's possible. I hope this post has whetted your appetite for Issue #11. It can't come soon enough! Much more to follow.
