As I was a huge fan of his last book, Malevolent Nevers, I was honored to be asked to help participate in the launch celebration of Tom’s most recent release, Odious Ghouls. Since contest reading and well, life itself, has been getting in the way, I haven’t had a good opportunity to start in on it just yet, though I can hear it whispering to me from across the room. I’d say that’s a good sign that it’s time is about to come. In the meantime, I asked Tom to write a bit about why he was drawn to horror and why he writes in the genre. Enjoy his beautifully demented response below!
Book Information:
Odious Ghouls by Tom Rimer
Series: N/A (not part of a series)
Genre: Horror
Intended Age Group: Adult
Pages: 194
Published: February 26, 2023
Publisher: Shadow Spark Publishing
Blurb:
We mustn’t tempt it. We mustn’t tempt them.
Tabby Fowle knows the legend. Hell, everyone does. As a child, she—the last of the Fowle bloodline—was warned to stay far, far away from Foul Meadow. She was warned of what would happen if she ever stepped foot into that place of rot again. She promised her grandmother to never go there and had no intention of ever breaking that vow.
UNTIL NOW.
As the traveling lamp lights, so must the three hearths, and the Blood of the Fowle will summon the ancestral ghouls from their centuries-old graves.
With her film crew in tow, Tabby returns to Foul Meadow. She sees dollar signs and, with her family name attached to the project, she thinks—no, she knows—this’ll be just the ticket she needs to fame and fortune. At the very least, it’s what she’s managed to convince herself and her team of.
Unfortunately, video cameras are no match for a demon’s thirst for vengeance. After nearly two hundred years of waiting, the Odious Ghouls have finally been summoned and will—once again—‘gild the land ‘i their crimson plague.’
From the author of Malevolent Nevers and The Glowing Trilogy comes this campy, monster-fest, deriving inspiration from both 80’s era creature-flicks & the contemporary found footage sub-genre.
Book Links:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KDQzEo
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122998202-odious-ghouls
Why I Do Horror
I’m not sure why horror is the genre I’ve ended up writing in most frequently. I think at least a little piece of me enjoys taking my own nightmares and creating reading material for others. But, I do often think about why we—creators and imbibers of spooky things—so crave the scare. Being scared. Scaring others. What is it about the bluish flicker of a tv screen as we’re watching a slasher flick with all the lights in the house turned off? What makes us look at that terrifying monster on the book’s cover and say, “Hell, yes I want that living on my shelf forever”?
Like most forms of escapism, I think people who are constantly seeking out new ways of terrifying themselves are—at least, in part—looking to feel better and temporarily forget about the never-ending madness of the rest of the world. So much that is barreling toward us in this day in age is really hard to get out of the way of. On a daily basis, we are bombarded—we face an onslaught of news that frankly can be downright depressing. And, sure, horror is best suited as a distraction—one that’ll allow us to vanish or withdraw for a short time—but, doesn’t it also help the rest of the actual, real-life, scary stuff seem… a little less scary? I think so.
And what about for the author? Why do we write all of this? What is it about the genre that pulls us in, over and over again? Is it the same reason behind us wanting to don our jack-o-lantern bowties in February or our plastic vampire teeth in July? Is it that we just want to freak other people out? My feeling is that it’s the same as another person watching a movie or reading a book. When I’m writing, I’m somewhere else. I’m typing out a scene that’s existed only in my brain. Maybe it’s one I’ve experienced as a night terror or a recurring dream. But, once that nightmare is out on paper—existing in the real world—I find I’m often able to move on to a new dream. A new horror that’ll plague my nights for the foreseeable future. It’s almost as if the only way to cure myself, to make space in my brain for a new dreamscape, is to rid myself of the old one.
By turning it into a book.
And so, I think horror serves multiple purposes. It’s an escape. It gives perspective. It’s an antidote to a lingering nightmare that poisons restful sleep.
But, that’s just me.
Why do YOU do horror?
Tom’s most recent nightmare ODIOUS GHOULS is out now. You can get it on Amazon for kindle and in paperback.
About the Author
Tom Rimer lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two children. He is the author of The Glowing (an epic sci-fi/horror trilogy), Malevolent Nevers, and his newest release Odious Ghouls. His short story “Clown” was published in 2015 as part of the horror anthology, 13 Tales to Give You Night Terrors. He is also co-host of the YouTube series, Found Footage Fridays.
Right now, he’s probably lost in an old bookshop. You can find him on Twitter, musing about what he finds funny and talking about all bookish things @RimerTom.
Author Website: www.tomrimerauthor.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RimerTom
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