Check out this new collection from Loren Rhoads. A few weeks ago, I got to ask her questions about her stories. Read the interview below!
Alondra DeCourval travels from San Francisco to Prague to Olso, encountering magical creatures and searching for the limits she will go to for love.
So, how long have you been writing your Alondra stories.
I've been a fan forever.
Loren Rhoads: I wrote the very first story in high
school. Thank god it's still unpublished. The first story that was published
appeared in Not One of Us in 2008. That story -- about a fox spirit in Tokyo --
made the long list for the British Fantasy Award that year.
I remember that! It's a beautiful story. Alondra is such
a great character, and you've been carrying her with you for a long time. Where
did she come from?
Loren Rhoads: To be honest, I wanted to write a
story about a red-haired witch. I had the hubris to think I could spin the
trope and add something new to it. Actually, she's one of my favorite
characters to write for.
The magic in her stories is so great too. I always learn
something that I didn't know about magic.
Loren Rhoads: Wow, that is the nicest thing anyone's said
to me all day!
I’m glad. It's true. What are your favorite monsters?
What are Alondra's?
Loren Rhoads: Alondra has a thing for older men, so she's
not sensible when it comes to the tragic backstory. She keeps getting tangled
up with vampires and other immortals.
I mean, I like tragic. Also it keeps your commitment
down.
Loren Rhoads: This is true.
I also like that the stories take place all over the
world. You're very good at setting the scene. Where do these three stories take
place?
Loren Rhoads: The three in this book are set in
Golden Gate Park, Prague -- including a visit to Franz Kafka's grave, and Olso.
Olso is the one I haven't been to, so it took a lot of research
Which I know you love. I can't wait to read them. Do you see a more collections in Alondra's future?
Loren Rhoads: Thank you so much for asking that. I will
have another collection of stories out sometime in April. It will be called Alondra’s
Adventures.
Aha! I'm so glad to hear this. Something to look forward
to. I'm so envious of everyone who gets to read these stories for the first time!
The Alondra stories have appeared in Best New Horror #27, Strange California, Sins of the Sirens, Fright Mare: Women Write Horror, The Haunted Mansion Project: Year One, The Ghostbreakers: New Horrors and more.
Loren Rhoads is the author of 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die and Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel. She blogs about graveyards as travel destinations at CemeteryTravel.com.
Loren is also the author of The Dangerous Type, Kill By Numbers, and No More Heroes, a space opera trilogy set after a galactic war has wiped out much of humanity.
She is the co-author (with Brian Thomas) of the novel Lost Angels about a succubus who sets her sights on an angel and ends up possessed by a mortal girl's soul.
Loren likes long walks in the moonlight and old graveyards. She remembers when men walked on the moon.
Loren is also the author of The Dangerous Type, Kill By Numbers, and No More Heroes, a space opera trilogy set after a galactic war has wiped out much of humanity.
She is the co-author (with Brian Thomas) of the novel Lost Angels about a succubus who sets her sights on an angel and ends up possessed by a mortal girl's soul.
Loren likes long walks in the moonlight and old graveyards. She remembers when men walked on the moon.
