In the Summer of 2020, I was left with a lot more time on my hands than I ever expected. Like the rest of you, I was dealt a shit hand by the Covid-19 outbreak. I can remember watching the death toll rise and talking with my older brother about it. He downplayed it, whereas I tried to strike a middle-ground, citing my worst fears of what may happen. Every time though, without fail, the pandemic outdid my worst expectations. I watched stores close down in city which was already on the brink, and my nearest theater shut its doors for good. All while that was occurring, I had my own set of struggles with social anxiety and depression.
In what first started out as a joke made on Facebook (a zombie magazine called “Readers Digested”), I created a website that would offer me an outlet when I needed it most.
I made shots-in-the-dark, emailing film directors like Josh Stifter, Stephen Cognetti, Gregory Plotkin, Lowell Dean, and others, who were kind enough to offer me the time of day even though they could’ve redirected my inquiries to the dreaded spam folder. I even corresponding with a childhood hero of mine when I interviewed fear, himself Robert Englund.I have always been a dedicated horror and cinema fan in general. But, I’ll admit, over the years, life has taken its toll. Not all of it bad. Some of it very good. And some of it simply necessary. In high school, I used to keep a count of the total films I watched every year. The highest I’d ever gotten was reaching 280 films every year for two years in a row. For a while after, I wasn’t even able to crack one-hundred. I have a house now, I am a wife, and I have a fulltime job and other responsibilities to concern myself with. Unless I become a rich man, the days of 280 films a year is most likely over with, but I feel very thankful to have the enthusiasm and energy for it again. Readers Digested and all who’ve supported it helped replenish that. Thank you for that.
In a year’s time, Readers Digested has also published a trio of novelettes, two I’ve written, and one by my older brother Scott Moore, with several more still in-production.
Readers Digested will remain the name for our brand of horror stories! A parody of Readers Digest, the name has all the quirky, absurdism of its creator, and I have a lot of love for it. That said, – from now on, Readers Digested, as a website, will now be known as the Nightmare Shift. This is not the end. All of the reviews written by myself, Clarke, Youngblood, and any other author who has committed to Readers Digested will be retained. Likewise, all of the interviews we’ve conducted and other content we’ve created will be brought over as well. This is not the end, but is, instead, a natural progression and evolution.This is not a simple, superficial name change, however. This won’t be Readers Digested (dot) com with a new logo and color scheme thrown on. It will be more than that. Much more than that.
How much more? A lot of things will stay the same, for certain. As prefaced, the reviews and content will be retained and continued, but, from now on, we’re challenging you – the horror fan – to clock in and accompany us in a direct way. The Nightmare Shift is a social media website with an edge (a sharp edge, … a blade or claws, even), offering a platform for discussion for all things horror and of a dark subject-matter. From humble beginning, we begin to build the Nightmare Shift, starting with a handful of key “forums” / “departments”, and starting to build them up.
Consider the month of May the live “Beta” test of the Nightmare Shift. We hope you will embrace it and help us create something very cool and special together. Thank you, and hey, what’re you waiting for. Clock in today!