Something wicked this way comes
Check it out on Audible now!
Baby’s first horror audiobook has hit the digital shelves! Enter if you dare… 1377 Rikoppe Lane: A Haunting in Gig Harbor, Book 1 (that’s right - more to come!) by Sufani Weisman-Garza is a delightful romp into the paranormal. It’s full of frisson, jump scares, and a heck ton of readin’ by yours truly!
I would never have called myself a fan of horror, and I still don’t if I’m honest. I have issues with gore and violence and things that make me go “ick.” But have I recently dipped my toes into True Crime after a lifetime eschewing it? You betcha. Did I go down a bit of a Mia Goth rabbit hole after popping “X” on the TV? Then “Pearl”… then “Infinity Pool”… darn tootin’ I did. (I still don’t know what’s going on with her Horror Princess situation but I’m not not here for it.)
There’s something innately unifying about a terrifying (or even just unsettling) experience. Especially if we know deep down that we are not actually in any danger ourselves. To quote someone who is quoting someone, Leslie Jamison states “In his theory of the sublime, eighteenth-century philosopher Edmund Burke proposes the notion of ‘negative pain’: the idea that a feeling of fear - paired with a sense of safety, and the ability to look away - can produce a feeling of delight. One woman can sit on her couch with a glass of Chardonnay and watch another woman drink away her life. The TV is a portal that brings the horror close, and a screen that keeps it at bay - revising Burke’s sublime into a sublime voyeurism, no longer awe at the terrors of nature but fascination at the depths of human frailty.”
I once used this theory-upon-theory in a performance art piece where I listed off my greatest fears while sitting atop a teetering ladder directly above a visibly distraught audience of my peers laying about its feet. (Heights are, unquestionably, not among my fears.)
So my interest in the nature of fear has always been there, largely unexplored, but appreciated from a distance. I do not thrill-seek. Largely, I strive to contentment-seek.
But working with Sufi on her horror series has been extremely fun, challenging (in the good good way), and a refreshing dive back into the world of audiobooking. I also took on the sound design for the book, which is pretty new ground for me!
Book 1 is out on Audible now, Book 2 is already in production! So stay tuned, horror fans (or sublime negative pain fans!), for Sufi and I have more tricks up our sleeve.
