[Feature] - Meet The Dead Heads: Elle
Welcome to a new feature on the website - Meet the Dead Heads. We have a fantastic team at Dead Head Reviews, and we thought it was about time to shine the spotlight on them. This will be a weekly feature, until we have covered everyone on the team, starting today with Head Copy Editor & Contributor, Elle Turpitt.
- How did you come to join Dead Head Reviews?
When Garrett was setting things up, he put a call out on Twitter for anyone who was interested in writing reviews for the site. I contacted him, and sent him my review for the last horror book I’d read – Joe Hill’s NOS4R2 (yes, the British title is very slightly different). He liked the review, and next thing I knew I had an inbox full of horror e-books to read and review.
- What’s your role at Dead Head Reviews? Can you tell us a bit about it?
I am Head Copy Editor and Contributor. So alongside writing reviews for the site, I edit reviews and get them scheduled to post, as well as working with Pat and Ellen to come up with ideas for the site, help plan events, find ways to make things run more smoothly for ourselves and the rest of the team, etc. I also recently started working to get more Features on the site, running the e-mail for that and dealing with pitches and articles that aren’t interviews and reviews.
- What do you look for in a book? What bumps a book from ‘good’ to ‘great’ for you?
Relationships. The way different characters interact with one another. Not just romantic, but family and platonic relationships too. Seeing how people act with loved ones versus people they’re forced into proximity with, who they don’t get along with – I think that all tells you a lot about the character, and when that is handled well, it really gives a book an extra sparkle.
- What’s your favourite horror sub-genre?
I set these questions and I am now regretting asking this one. I’ve always been a big fan of post-apocalyptic, and if there are zombies involved, all the better. Especially when the writer does something different with them. I’m also a huge fan of haunted houses/places, and anything to do with cults. In a broader sense, anthologies. Absolutely huge fan of short stories.
- Outside of reading/reviewing, what are your passions?
Firstly, writing. I’ve been writing since I was a kid and I entertained my friends and teacher with stories about me and my friends going into the Pokémon world. I studied Creative Writing at university, but it’s only the last few years I’ve seriously started submitting and being published.
Secondly, I discovered over the last year I absolutely love helping other authors. I set up a Fiverr gig for beta reading, and have now expanded that into editing. It’s something I truly enjoy, and has helped me develop lifelong friendships with some writers.
- What about hobbies?
Video games. I love them, with favourites being BioShock, Fallout, Skyrim, Planet Coaster & Planet Zoo. Are podcasts classed as hobbies? I’m always listening to them and love finding new ones to enjoy. And currently, devouring everything on Disney+ - I’m a huge Disney fangirl, so honestly that streaming service is absolutely perfect for me.
- Favourite horror film?
So, I don’t really have a favourite horror film. There are horror films I really like – The Conjuring, IT, Mama, The Cabin in the Woods – and one of my favourite TV series is American Horror Story, but when it comes to films I’m still diving into the classics. I was scared of everything as a kid, and I’m still catching up on the sort of films people watched as kids. I still haven’t seen Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, or Candyman, for example.
- Favourite recent read?
Bone Harvest, by James Brogden. It’s pretty obvious from my review, but I really liked that book. And The Fourth Whore by E.V. Knight. A really powerful book.
- Favourite non-horror book/movie/show/podcast etc.?
Right now, a series that still sticks in my mind a year after reading has to be V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic. Movie would probably be anything by Disney, and a vast number of musicals.
- What are you currently reading?
I usually have multiple books on the go at once. So on Kindle, I’m reading Seven Endless Forests. Paperback, it’s Dark Ends, a dark fantasy anthology. And on Audible, I’m listening to Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds.
- Anything spooky/paranormal that’s happened to you that you’d like to share?
Not paranormal, but one of the scariest experiences of my life was due to sleep paralysis. I experienced it a few times as a teenager, but late teens/early 20s, I, half-awake, felt a body beside mine, pressed against my back. As soon as I realised I was in my room, at home, therefore there couldn’t be anyone else there, it felt like a hand clamped over my mouth with someone’s arm pressing against my neck. For me, the worst thing about sleep paralysis is lack of control – the brain is extremely powerful, and I couldn’t breathe. Once I realised what was actually happening, I tried to relax. The hand and weight on the bed disappeared and I gasped, sitting up as if I had just been held down. Who needs ghosts when your own brain does shit like that.
- Is there anywhere else people can find out more about you?
I’m on Twitter (@elleturpitt), and I have my own blog at elleturpitt.com. People can contact me about editing work via my website elleturpittediting.com or my beta reading and editing services can also be found on Fiverr, fiverr.com/ellegrace89.