[Feature] - Meet the Dead Heads: Ellen

Welcome to the second installment of our new feature, Meet the Dead Heads. For those who aren't aware, Ellen puts a lot of work into Dead Head Reviews, working as admin as well as putting together the site as you see it now. She also heads up the social media aspect of Dead Head Reviews. But she can tell you more about that, along with an absolutely terrifying experience she had when she was younger.

• How did you come to join Dead Head Reviews?

To be quite frank, I'm not sure how Pat and I first "internet met" (and neither is he, HA), but I recall we did in any case, and I messaged him asking about how the blog accepted reviewers. After some casual conversation, I submitted one or two things and it sort of just spiralled from there. I volunteered to update the blog's current visual appearance, add graphics, a new homepage, etc. I then made some graphics to help us promote WIHM and just kind of fell into it all with happy enthusiasm!  I'm not sure that I can even pinpoint an exact *origin* really, but more that my mind goes a mile-a-minute, and Pat and Elle readily accepted all my wacky hijinks and ideas!

• What’s your role at Dead Head Reviews? Can you tell us a bit about it?

Currently I'm a Reviewer, Designer, Social Media/Marketing person, and Admin! :)  I make all those shiny graphics you guys love to share, heart, and RT. I update the website's themes and visual appearance (layouts, graphics, etc) and help maintain the Twitter and Instagram accounts as well.  I create the promotional materials for themed weeks like WIHM, PIHM, "Roo Week", etc. I also do the editing on videos like the promo we had running with "Bad Australian Accent Readings" etc.

• What do you look for in a book? What bumps a book from ‘good’ to ‘great’ for you?

Ugh, Elle, this question is so unfair because I am the moodiest of readers and every time I pick up a book it's for a completely different need or reason! Hahaha! I suppose though, for me, reading is mostly an escape from reality. It takes me out of my anxious life and puts me into another place and time, and gives me a chance to "be someone else" for a little while.  I want something that really sucks me in, holds me captive until the very last word on the very last page, makes me forget my own reality for a time.  I want rich, fully-fledged characters or for the environment itself to become a "character" (if that makes sense?) if the characters themselves are a little less developed.  I love mystery, tension, and intrigue. In general, I stay away from the fluffy stuff; even my choice in "Romance" novels have a dark intensity to them.  And you know what, a bit of humor also never hurts in a book; I like nihilistic, sardonic wit.

Defining what exactly bumps a book from "good" to "great" is a hard question to answer, but I'll do my best. The more you read and review books, the more you can tell right away where something is a project of Ego versus a project of Heart. It's a lot like cooking, really. You can tell when a person is cooking for survival and meeting basic needs, versus someone who is very passionate about the ingredients and the process.   The more you read, the more you can taste that passion.

• What’s your favourite horror sub-genre?

You know what, every time someone asks me to pick a "favorite something" I want to throttle them. (No harm meant, Elle. You know I do love you! HAHA! It's a "metaphorical throttle!")

Do you know how hard it is to make decisions?! It's agonizing to choose one thing over another, but if I must...

I suppose I'll choose "Feminist Horror" and "Survival Horror" and "Witches" and "Folk Horror" if I must do.

Shit, but I also love haunted houses and cults and.... Ohhhh damn it all to hell I tried!

It's much easier to describe what I don't like. I can tell you that I *do not* enjoy the "Torture Porn" genre such as books which feature sexual assault or sexual violence as heavy themes, or things with senseless graphic violence.  If you want me to read your torture or sexual violence, it had best have a damn point to it all, and I don't mean "assault transformed this woman she so strong now!!11!1!1"

Also not interested in "Brett Easton Ellis" style themes, you know the kind I mean.  

• Outside of reading/reviewing, what are your passions?

I'm very interested in the culinary arts, indoor/outdoor gardening, traveling whenever I am able (which is minimal, but always enjoyed!)

• What about hobbies?

See above!  I am constantly cooking, tending to indoor plants, consuming movies one after the other, taking photos of things, painting, etc. My passions, income streams, and hobbies are all the same!

• Favourite horror film?

Again with these "favorite" things and making me choose!  I LOVE ALL OF MY CHILDREN EQUALLY, but I suppose I can highlight some of my childhood/teenage faves like "Alien"/"Aliens," "Gremlins," "Wicker Man" to name a few. 

• Favourite recent read?

At the time of this interview, I've been really interested in reading some "Feminist Lit" in the Horror and Dark Fantasy genres.

"I Am Not Your Final Girl" by Claire Holland, "She is a Beast" by Christina Rosso, "You Can't Pick Your Genre" by Emily O'Neil, and "Final Girl" by Lauren Milici

• Favourite non-horror book/movie/show/podcast etc.?

Someone should take away my "Millennial" badge, because I could not name a favorite podcast if I tried.  The only ones that I really partake in are whatever random episodes my friends send me of their current faves.

As for non-horror anything else, I'm very much in love with the entire universe of Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" series.  The books and television series are a great segue for discussing real life mental health issues and set in an acceptable, easy-to-digest fantasy setting. It combines the best bits of Narnia, Hogwarts, and Middle Earth in YA-style packaging but aimed directly at adults.  The humor is spot-on perfect, the characters well-developed and interesting, and the world building is outstanding. Although the television series differs from the books in many ways, I view it as an "alternate timeline" and additional adventures for my favorite fictional friends.  I can't get enough of it, truly. It's just really where it's at for me in combining all the best bits of my favorote childhood reads with dark scary bits of adult literature.

• What are you currently reading?

Ha! What am I not reading?! At the time of answering this interview I'm currently reading 10 books. I've got a few poetry collections, short story anthologies, novellas, and two books about Art as a business.

• Anything spooky/paranormal that’s happened to you that you’d like to share?

I suppose I could talk about my experience with paranormal while dog sitting for a neighbor.  I'll preface this with I later learned that my neighbor used to live in a haunted plantation in the South before moving to NJ, and he suggested he believed me that there could be something in his house. Who knows! Anyway, I was dog sitting for our neighbors who had the sweetest old-man-dog who was partially deaf and going blind.  Sometimes he'd just walk to the end of the hallway where the bedrooms were and stop about 2 feet from the doorways and just do a guttural growl.  Having seen blind/deaf dogs exhibit strange unprovoked behavior before, I initially brushed it off as nothing.  It started to get worse as the week went on, though.  This toy-obsessed dog often hesitated going to get his toys if I chucked them to that area at the end of the hall.  Would approach them softly and carefully, with a mild vibrating growl each time.  It was a little unnerving, to be sure, but I'd also been watching a lot of scary movies alone (yay pay-per-view paid by the neighbors haha!) and figured it was just my frazzled nerves.

Anyway, so a few days after this "growling at the end of the hall" started, I was in the guest room while waiting for friends to login on AOL Chatroom (ahahahaha lord I'm old.)  It was late, and friends were taking their time sneak-logging in after their parents went to bed.  I decided to rest my eyes on the guest bed for a little while; that bed was very cold since it was in direct path of the AC vents, but I was just too damn lazy to get up and retrieve my own blanket from the living room.  I tried to nap, but the shivering was preventing me from full-REM, which was mildly annoying.  Then suddenly I was enveloped in warmth as a blanket was tossed onto me with a "here you go!"  Just as I was gratefully snuggling in, the dog came in doing the same guttural growling, low and steady, and my eyeballs shot wide the eff open.

Now might be a good time to remind the audience that I was alone in the house because my neighbors were all on vacation, in case that tidbit was forgotten.  I didn't want to turn around because the dog was now inside the room, and standing on point while growling behind me.  I looked up in front of me at the CRT Television in front of me to check for reflection.  On the pillow pile a few feet above my head, I noticed the silhouette of a little boy, perfect hair, neatly and smartly dressed in what one might call "Easter Finery" with a Germanic Twist (doesn't that sound like a lovely cocktail for a bar, eh? Hmm... but I digress). I refused to turn around. My entire body was filled with a sense of dread.  All semblance of comfort, serenity, and security the recent blanket addition had provided me had completely, utterly vanished. I could hardly manage to keep my eyes open, but as I did it sort of...smiled at me in the reflection?  I slammed my eyes closed and hissed at the dog to "Come. Come here!"  I covered myself with the blanket, and put my hands over my ears.  For some reason, even with all of that, I could still hear The Little Thing talking, but this time it was inside my head, not in my ear as a whisper.  It attempted to tell me that it "just wanted to play, no harm would be meant" or something akin to that sentiment. I figured that was as good a point as any to nope the eff outta there, harnessed all my courage and energy, and jumped off the bed as soon as the dog ran to my side. I yanked him by the collar, took only a second or two to smash keys in the chatroom like "g2g tonight not good will explain", bolted from the bedroom with my blanket cape tightly wrapped for "safety," and ran down to the living room, slamming the door behind me.

I spent several hours wrapped up like that in corner of the living room couch, clutching the dog who continued to do his low guttural growling noise. I popped on some inane late-night/early morning garbage television and infomercials as loud as I could.  We sat like that until the sun started to peek out from the darkness, washing the world in a hue of peach and pink, same as my flushed cheeks.  The dog finally started to calm down and I loosened my grip. He trotted down the hallway and approached the room with much trepidation, sniffing the edge of the door where the hallway carpet met the bedroom edge. He sniffed, listened intently, sniffed again, and then huffed. I honestly had no plans to move at all until his body movement began to relax, he wagged his tail, and did a happy little bark.  I cautiously opened the door and pushed the dog in first. You can go right ahead and say I'm awful but I'm sorry, he stood a better chance than I against anything weird, don't judge me because you'd do it too! Anyway, he did his happy little barks again and I figured the coast was clear, so I went in and opened my chatroom and explained my story from the night before to my very confused friends.  The rest of the dog sitting trip I spent sleeping on the couch instead of the guest room. At about 5PM every night I would go shut and lock that door and not go near it until the morning, dragging the dog over to sniff it first.

When my neighbors arrived home (to clean house and happy dog, of course!) I was chatting a little and asked the husband if he believed in ghosts. He told me as a former resident of the Southern US, he absolutely did and would be crazy not to.  He mentioned as a child, he long suspected that his historical plantation home was haunted. Had an old dirt root-cellar in the house, with a rotary phone on the wall, and whenever his parents left him alone in the afternoon/evening he could hear someone picking the phone off the hook and slamming it back down. Even said he confirmed once to see if someone had broken into the house by opening the door and yelling inside and someone started bashing the phone onto the receiver; he locked the door and noped right outta there.  He said he absolutely believed me and my suggestion and said he hoped it wasn't haunted but he'd keep an eye for it.  I never heard anything from him on the subject, though.  Still, for any future dog sitting gigs I performed the same 5PM guest room door locking ritual and slept on the couch with the dog.  Same for all future babysitting gigs once they had a kiddo, but I did notice that rather than put the baby in the upstairs room they used a downstairs one. At the time I thought it was strange not to put the baby across from you, but now I'm wondering if maybe they saw something, too, and just never confirmed??

Ahem. Well then that's a lot of words for a not very eventful story, but hopefully it's entertained some of you! And I promise you, I'm not pulling the wool over your eyes. I had several friends who also felt uncomfortable there when they hung out for pizza and dog sitting. One can never really know what's true and what's imagined at a certain point, eh?  All I know is, I'm most certainly still not interested in taking a closer look in dark electronic screens to test the theory of things lurking in the shadows, right behind me, just out of arms reach but always there. 

• Is there anywhere else people can find out more about you?

If you're interested in following me online, reading my ramblings, watching me draw and paint, or looking for something fun to experiment with in the kitchen (not THAT kind, ya pervs...) you can follow me on Twitter at @imaginariumcs, on Instagram at @imaginariumarts or @thejackalopes.warren, or you can visit my website at www.imaginariumarts.com (Honestly, the website is also one-stop-shopping for all my social media anyway and probably easier to remember?)

I'm available for commissions work on illustration, painting, sketching and things like that, too.  Feel free to ask me to make things for ya; I love the surprise subjects and content I end up making via commissions. Ta-ta for now!