Hello Lorin, can you start by telling a little about yourself?
My name is Lorin Morgan-Richards. I'm known for my Weird West series The Goodbye Family. I've written over thirteen short stories and novels, and ten plus comic collections featuring the Goodbyes. In the past, I've worked in theater producing my musicals, co-directed and curated Welsh festivals, co-curated and co-hosted a Native American film series, and was a publisher for Celtic Family Magazine, among other Indigenous titles.
Where are you from?
I'm from a historic unincorporated town called Beebetown, Ohio. I grew up in the town's one-room schoolhouse that had a well for water.
What do you do?
I'm an author, poet, and illustrator.
You were an early supporter of The Gentleman Psychic, even before the Patreon Page was released. How did you come across it?
Richard-Lael is a spiritualist, and I am a spiritualist. He and I share a love for the Victorian and Edwardian era. We began communicating about spirit, especially that in dreams, and I let him know I would be most interested in supporting any endeavors that relate to his Mediumship practice.
Have you had any paranormal experiences yourself?
Now I can say it is all quite normal, since opening my third eye and finding others that are of like-mindedness. For the benefit of those that do not know, I must give some history. It can be very lonely and confusing when one doesn't commit to proclaiming spirit exists; it is not a phenomenon; they are part of the earth and have been since time immemorial. I studied ghostlore at University along with Native American studies, and these two subjects intertwined for me. I've written many unpublished papers about the cultural significance of spirit, published Celtic articles that reinforce this belief, and just about every world-Indigenous view I've read confirms what I have witnessed. Christianity and other hierarchical religious sects confuse or denigrate these traditional beliefs to control their subjects. Being present in spirit was and is an Indigenous fact - the world over.
I have many experiences with spirit since childhood. My earliest memories are being on a train going through a tunnel and being held in my grandfather's arms as he descended a staircase. I could see small gnomes hammering and working away in a mine. I must have been floating to be able to see this. My mother validated, I was only a few months old when my family visited Tennessee, where the gnomes were made of stone and were part of a tourist attraction, and that we passed through a tunnel on a train. Interestingly, before I was born, my grandmother Yoder, had a dream to name me Lorin, and my mother has talked about seeing me before birth.
In childhood, seeing faces in mirrors and on walls, having vivid dreams and visions was commonplace. I tried to draw these visions, and it was, in a way, one foundation of my artistic style. After deaths in my family, I would witness the energy.
Today, spirit speak to me in dreams and sometimes I see them quite clearly in an awake state.
We know you have a new book published, can you tell us a bit about that?
The Goodbye Family and the Great Mountain, is the second Weird West book in the Great Mountain series, following the lives of eccentric undertakers who go looking for answers as to why there are no people to bury. They reveal a twisted plot by Zenwick Aldrich, a warlock that has made a ruin of the underworld by pumping its life essence oil to make those above chemically dependent - to do his bidding.
My first novel, Me' ma and the Great Mountain, also had an underlying environmental message. Me' ma, an Indigenous child, was able to communicate with the spirit world and using her traditional knowledge to fight a mining tycoon that is wreaking havoc on the land.
Me' ma used traditional knowledge; the Goodbye Family uses foolery and disorder.
I was very happy when Richard-Lael accepted to do the foreword for The Goodbye Family and the Great Mountain.
Were you a big reader when you were younger?
I struggled with dyslexia growing up, and I relied on illustrating my thoughts. With tutoring in my early teens, I found creative authors like Lewis Carroll and L. Frank Baum that sucked me into their imaginative worlds, showing reading could be fun.
Who were some of your favorite writers?
Outside of the two mentioned above, I also like Edward Lear for his nonsense prose. Astrid Lindgren, Roald Dahl, Edward Gorey, and Charles Addams for his illustrations, to name a few.
Do you draw a lot of inspiration from your life and your family?
Yes, my input is always on. I carry my journal with me and draw from ideas and sometimes conversations that are floating around. Also, many time, a spirit in my dreams bring to light something funny, and there is nothing like relieving stress with humor. The Goodbye Family is loosely based on my immediate family, although I conceptualized the characters (including Orphie) while in Paris, three years before my daughter was even born. Kepla is a lesser-known character who is quite mysterious around the Goodbye residence. He is a much older brother to Orphie. In fact, older than the Goodbyes. Kepla is in honor of an old friend whom my wife and I joked was like a son. Sadly, we lost him a few years back, but akin to his character, he still "haunts" us.
Are there plans for more books in the future?
Yes, a visit to Cloudhome will be in the next novel, and it currently has a working title of Hollis Sorrow and the Great Mountain. Considering the previous novels took nearly ten years each, it may take that, but since I've already begun, it's probably only two years to complete. For this year or next, I am also working on the following titles: a short story collection called Sixty Witches of Salem and Other Untimely Demise, and Why are you staring? An illustrated work of fiction about Vampira.
Any other upcoming projects?
The big project I'm working on this year is The Goodbye Family: The Animated Series. We had just finished recording the audio tracks for the show, and next step is the animation. Ideally, I'm shooting for an October release with the first episode called The Seance.
What do you want the readers to know about you?
Readers can find my work at www.lorinrichards.com
If you had to pick any role model outside of the literary would, who would it be?
Will Rogers. A Cherokee-American, who was the hit of vaudeville with his rope tricks and wit and wisdom. As I get older, I find myself becoming more-and-more in tune with this humble but great man.
Do you own any dead things?
We have more dead flowers and plants than anything.
In the Goodbye Family Otis has a fabulous curly mustache, when are you going to grow your own?
I'm afraid my hair is too fair for anything so dandy.
Thank you so much Lorin for taking the time to talk to us, you are a delight.
Until next month,
The Gentleman's House