Nathaniel A. Giles

This new ænorex release is outstanding.  All six tracks are detailed compositions driven by shifting moods and complex arrangements that, while they remain distinctly goth metal, have an orchestral or epic feel to them.  If you’re the type of person who needs a comparison, I’d say it’s something like  One Second -era Paradise Lost crossed with  Eclipse -era Amorphis.  The opener, title track “ocahaen,” is a pensive piece with a lot of space in it, that starts with a sedate, ride-heavy drum pattern that is almost like John Densmore’s work on “The End” or “When the Music’s Over.”  It develops a simple piano riff and shows off each facet of the riff by changing the music that underlies it, and precedes and succeeds it – and the changes are legion so even though it clocks in at 8:45 it is not too long.  “contemplations (on the many benefits of cosmic nonexistence)” is probably my favorite track here, and maybe my favorite ænorex tr...

When I talk to people about my book , or listen to them talk to me, there are certain issues that come up again and again.  Sometimes they are more obvious, like Why did you choose such a peculiar title? or Why isn’t there a ghost in the titular story? or What exactly is a ghost story for the depressed?   Those are reasonable questions, but I think it’s more interesting to discuss some of the even more questionable choices I’ve made, especially as it relates to influence – where some of these questionable choices came from.     The story that I’m closest to in this collection is the story that’s been around the longest, “Goodbye, Ghost of Columbus.”  I wrote the very earliest version of this story in the summer and fall of 2007.  I had just spent two years reading ghost stories on-and-off and thought I would write a satire that would send them all up.  It’s a pompous idea and I’m justifiably ashamed of it.  Tho...