Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his new literary horror story, "Housekeeping for the Dead." Set during the night shift at the Starlight Motel, this story follows a housekeeper who cleans seven rooms while five stay locked, encountering different versions of the same dying woman in each one. Blending grief with supernatural repetition and the mundane details of motel housekeeping, the story explores complicated mourning and what happens when someone can't stop trying to care for a person they've already lost. Content warning: this story deals honestly with terminal illness, death, and watching someone fade slowly.

You can find the written version of "Housekeeping for the Dead" right here.

About the Author

Jon Negroni is a Puerto Rican author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His published books include The Pixar Theory (Slimbooks, 2015), a pop culture nonfiction, and his debut novel Killerjoy (5050 Press, 2017). His recent short fiction includes "Men Who Are Strong" (IHRAM Press) and "Upon a Dream," an original fable published in The Fairy Tale Magazine. His upcoming anthology appearances include a cryptid horror tale, a speculative fiction piece for Neon Hemlock, and a superhero story for Oddity Prodigies. He's also the co-founder of the entertainment website, InBetweenDrafts.

Listen toward the end of the show for Jon’s full author’s notes on the making of this story.

• Read "Housekeeping for the Dead" with original artwork.
• Explore our full archive of stories and poetry.
• Submit your own story to be featured on Cetera.

About Cetera Magazine

We publish original short fiction every Thursday. Our stories span literary fiction, speculative tales, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and weird fiction. All written without AI assistance and curated by editor Natalia Emmons.

Credits

• Host & Author: Jon Negroni
• Editor: Natalia Emmons
• Artwork: Jon Negroni
• Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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