THE PAST & FUTURE OF DHR
THE PAST & FUTURE OF DHR
-A Message from Elle Turpitt
In the summer of 2019, I was considering starting a horror blog. But it felt like it would be a lot to keep up with. I loved Horror, but my own blog’s focus leaned more towards Fantasy, and I felt adding in Horror and all things I wanted to say about the genre would shift the focus away a little too much. As I was contemplating whether I wanted to start a new blog, Garrett Witt – under the name ‘Dead Head Reviews’ – asked if anyone would be interested in contributing to a new Horror Review Book Blog.
So I DM’d him, and soon had a load of ebooks loaded onto my very old Kindle, ready for me to dive into. This was my introduction to Indie Horror, and I absolutely fell in love. I increased the time I spent reading, and devoured the books that came my way. Soon, I almost had too many to keep up with (keeping organised mainly with Excel). Then, in early 2020, I was approached about editing content. I agreed, and it wasn’t much long after that I was asked if I wanted to become ‘Head Editor’ of sorts. With this came a request to pay for a third of the website, along with the two others who would become the site admins.
And so, I was introduced to Ellen Avigliano. A great friendship was born, and as the months progressed, we took on more and more duties, and ended up running the Dead Head Reviews website.
With recent circumstances, we know we need an overhaul. Dead Head Reviews, created by Garrett, has become something bigger than we could have imagined, faster than we could have predicted, and it shows no signs of stopping. So, before it grows too big, we decided we wanted to create something that truly reflects our goals, our personalities, and the fantastic team we have.
As such, this month (November) will see a few things happen. The website will be rebranded, with a new name and look. Our team has had a sneak-peek at our future aesthetic and ideas, and they’re just as excited as we are.
We want to provide a home for reviewers to rave about the things they love, and freely criticise what they don’t. But we also want publishers and authors to be excited about working with us. To have the chance to experience what we did this year with Roo Week for Alan Baxter, Devil’s Creek Week for Todd Keisling, and All That’s Fair Week for S.H. Cooper. Some of the best things for those weeks – the humour in Roo Week, the book trailer for Devil’s Creek – came from Ellen, so we absolutely are able to still offer these.
We want to make it clear – going forward, the website will be run by me (Elle) and Ellen. We absolutely adore our team, and we have the privilege of working with some great people who feel the same as us about championing underrepresented voices in Horror and Horror-adjacent genres. None of this would be possible without them and their support.
We would also like to thank the platforms which have welcomed us into this community, and be there for us during difficult times, providing advice when we have needed it the most, or support for our little platform as it grows.
These include, but are not limited to, Ginger Nuts of Horror, Ladies of Horror Fiction, Sci-Fi and Scary, Ink Heist, and Kendall Reviews.
Part of our role as Admins is also to protect our reviewers. We will not tolerate harassment and abuse of our team. All of us are doing this for free, and authors should always keep in mind that a reviewer’s opinions are their own and absolutely allowed to be expressed on the platform they are a part of. If reviews unnecessarily attack authors, we take steps to prevent that. But we also expect authors will not read the reviews we post unless they have been tagged or the reviewer sends it directly to them. We feel negative reviews keep us honest, ensure people trust our positive reviews, and also have their own ability to sell books. What we dislike, after all, might mean the book is right up someone else’s street.
We request Trigger Warnings for all media submitted to us. We do this to help both reviewers and creators.
We are very excited for what the future holds for DHR and for the Horror Community. The face of Horror feels like it is changing, and we hope you join us on this journey.
-Elle
@ElleTurpitt
www.elleturpitt.com
