Halloween Haunts: Introducing New Readers to Horror by Adrian Ludens

Let me be clear: horror is NOT just for Halloween! I believe this with heart and soul, and yet, I’m guilty of perpetuating that stereotype. Think about the average reader: the stay-at-home parent seeking diversion during a few quiet minutes; the businessman or businesswoman reading during their commute on the subway; the person who turns up their nose at everything that isn’t “literature;” the person who only reads non-fiction; the person who read one horror author once and gave up on the genre. This list could go on. Horror is often marginalized, much to my frustration. Here are a couple…

Halloween Haunts: A Peak Through the Leper Window–Finding Unholy Inspiration in Holy Places by Frazer Lee

When the Season of Mists comes, and Halloween with it, I enjoy nothing better than sitting beside the fire with a book – often in search of inspiration for my next story. A couple of Halloweens ago I was leafing through an old history book, Ecclesiastical Curiosities (ed. William Andrews, 1899) – if you must know – and chanced upon the term 'leper window'. My imagination began to run wild with the revelation that these 'low windows' (also known as hagioscopes or squints) were incorporated into church buildings so that lepers could watch services without upsetting other members of the…
Halloween Haunts: The Last Winter of Newgate by Freedom Chevalier

Halloween Haunts: The Last Winter of Newgate by Freedom Chevalier

It crawled toward midnight, outside the Old Bailey in the echo of Sepulchre’s bells The moon wrapped himself in a blanket of clouds the winds screeched a bone-chilling yell I turned up my collar to stave off the night a stranger I walked on alone Feeling the cold, arthritic fingers of death start to ferry me home   The old road stretched on, bloodless and pale in the flare of the snickering moon Baring its moss-covered, black, rotting teeth with gobs of putrid, slick drool Something blurred the horizon, I unsheathed my sword with a clink from its talisman chain A leftover trinket from gods who abandoned mankind on the night of the rain  …
Halloween Haunts: Technology and Fear by Poppy Dennison, DSP Publications

Halloween Haunts: Technology and Fear by Poppy Dennison, DSP Publications

Fear is one of those deeply personal things. I, for one, am absolutely terrified of clowns. There’s no good reason for this fear, and my mother assures me she never abandoned me at a circus during my childhood. I’m not sure I believe her, but there you have it. I remember back in the day finding certain horror movies the most terrifying thing in existence (other than clowns, of course.) Take A Nightmare on Elm Street, for example. Freddy Krueger was scary with a capital S. That was then, though, and this is now. I recently attempted to scare my…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween Doldrums by David B. Riley

Halloween Haunts: Halloween Doldrums by David B. Riley

My first few Halloweens when I was young were simply awesome–just a pinch of scariness coupled with an adventure with my friends. The trick or treating was almost secondary to the costumes and comradery of what excitement awaited us–almost. I was particularly fond of my skeleton costume for reasons I can no longer remember. As I grew older, I also became aware of a darker side of the holiday–vandalism. The first time I encountered it someone went along the street and took people's Jack-O-lanterns and smashed them to bits. That made little sense to my young mind. I'd carved that…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween October Fest by Ian Welke

Halloween Haunts: Halloween October Fest by Ian Welke

It’s that time of year again. October is upon us once more and with it come the same sets of expectations and disappointments that come every year for those of us that still hold that ideal Halloween in our memories, whether we ever truly experienced it or not. When I was growing up, Halloween was my favorite time of the year hands down. In school I started drawing cemeteries, bats, and haunted houses well before the teacher instructed us to, and I often kept drawing them well after I was supposed to. Who wants to draw a turkey anyway? Even…
Halloween Haunts: 9 Novels for the Novice Writer by Richard Evans

Halloween Haunts: 9 Novels for the Novice Writer by Richard Evans

Interested in writing horror but don't know where to begin? Here is a list of the 9 essential horror novels you need to read to get you started. In no particular order. No one can tell you what the greatest horror novels ever written are, nor would I tell a new writer to read the best of the best, it can only make your job harder knowing what you are up against. What you need to do is build the skills to tell your own stories by evaluating how others have done it, regardless of whether the book is critically…
Halloween Haunts: Bloody Mary by James Chambers

Halloween Haunts: Bloody Mary by James Chambers

As far as I know, no student ever saw inside the room with the yellow, rippled glass window. The only one on the second floor of St. James School not part of a classroom row, the window glared down like an angry eye at the parking lot where we played every day during recess. I never found the room it belonged to before I left there for another school, because where it fell between classrooms, no door or other feature existed to explain it. That alone inspired plenty of speculation amongst my third grade class, but the faded red stains…
Halloween Haunts Coming on October 1!

Halloween Haunts Coming on October 1!

Beginning on October 1st and running through the entire month, HWA will once again present its annual Halloween Haunts blog series, with posts about history and Halloween from HWA's members, book excerpts, and lots of great giveaways you won't want to miss!
Halloween Haunts: The Masque of the Red Horde by Gene O’Neill

Halloween Haunts: The Masque of the Red Horde by Gene O’Neill

Dim light spilling through a red-stained Gothic window cast a ghastly pall over a heavily shadowed long hall. At the center of the room, bathed in the bloody illumination, a naked woman lay down on a black velvet covered dais, her ritual complete except for the final oral incantation. As she finished murmuring the last of the ancient spell, a phantasm suddenly appeared from the shadows. The tall, gaunt figure, cloaked in a black shroud, features hidden by a corpse-like mask, moved effortlessly to her side, accompanied by a chilling draft. Without a word, the masked specter bent over the…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween Night by Keith Deininger

Halloween Haunts: Halloween Night by Keith Deininger

I grew up in a relatively safe neighborhood in Colorado Springs, which was why, when I went trick-or-treating in fourth grade, I was allowed to go with a small group of friends and no adult supervision, and how I ended up alone at the mouth of a dark tunnel, my friends no longer answering my pleas. I was a shy kid and didn’t like going up to people’s houses, even for candy, so as the night wore on and several of my friends went home and I was left with only my good friends Sam and Brad, I suggested we…
Halloween Haunts: The Phases of Halloween by Peter Adam Salomon

Halloween Haunts: The Phases of Halloween by Peter Adam Salomon

‘Baby’s First Halloween’ This entails adorable costumes, miniaturized, and usually pumpkin shaped. While there’s no need for candy, there’s an intense desire on the part of parents to show their little bundle of joy off. This particular phase is more pronounced with an only child. A second child will be shoved into the same pumpkin, a couple obligatory photos will be taken, and then the younger child will be buckled in a stroller while their older sibling collects all the candy. ‘Baby’s Second Halloween’ Baby no longer quite fits in the adorable pumpkin costume, plus it says ‘Baby’s First Halloween’…
Halloween Haunts: I’m Old Now and Halloween was Better Once… Really by John F.D. Taff

Halloween Haunts: I’m Old Now and Halloween was Better Once… Really by John F.D. Taff

Ok, you know, it's true what they say about growing old. Yes, about the aches and pains.  OK, yes, about the fossilfication of your music choices.  And, sigh, yes, also about the general jadedness about life and jaundiced viewpoints about…well, let's not stray too far, here, shall we? Also part of growing old is a distressing tendency to digress… No, what I'm talking about here is how those of us who are older—and at 50 years old I count myself amongst them—have a tendency to view our past as some sort of privileged golden age that was there only for…
Halloween Haunts: Tamlane and Alison Gross: Halloween Ballads by Lisa Morton

Halloween Haunts: Tamlane and Alison Gross: Halloween Ballads by Lisa Morton

Although magazines and books like to tell us that Halloween is an ancient festival with pagan roots, the truth is the holiday as we know it is really only a few centuries old, especially in terms of being a night that incorporates dark enchantments and spooky tales. Combining the Celtic Samhain with the Christian All Saints Day and All Souls Day (the latter wasn’t instituted in the Catholic Church until 998 A.D.), references to the holiday are basically nonexistent prior to the 16th century, and those few scarce mentions hardly sound at all like the holiday we love. For example,…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween in Rockhampton by Greg Chapman

Halloween Haunts: Halloween in Rockhampton by Greg Chapman

Halloween is spreading like the branches of an ancient bay tree across my hometown of Rockhampton, Australia. Last year was the first time I decided to put up a Halloween display outside my house, because, much to my amazement, the fun of the season was finally starting to rear its (decapitated) head. People really came to my house – in costume! It was truly something I never thought possible in Australia. As my friend Lisa Morton will tell you, Australia is the only English-speaking nation that hasn’t completely embraced Halloween traditions. Well, Lisa, I’m happy to report that the times,…

Halloween Haunts: Trick-or-Treating of the Dead, A True Account by T. Fox Dunham

Few of you know that I am a real zombie. It’s true. I hide it. Now, I don’t eat brains or human flesh though. I generally dress well, though my suit jacket is a bit tattered and ruined; my Allison plans to fix all that. I do stumble when I walk at times without my cane, and I still get a glazed look in my eye now and again, mostly from medications or Long Islands. Oh. And I’ve been legally dead a few times and come back, not in a messiah-way but more in a—my-heart-didn’t-know-when-to-quit-to-kind-of-way. I feel nothing as a…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween – Derivations and Diversions by David Sakmyster

Halloween Haunts: Halloween – Derivations and Diversions by David Sakmyster

I have fond memories of my formative years playing Dungeons and Dragons and romping through some spooky forest only to come across that dreaded Will-o'-the-wisp—whatever that was. The Dungeon Master would go into the description of a bobbing spectral light, sometimes in which you could see a man’s face. Apart from these nasty critters being resistant to normal weapons and damn hard to kill, it just didn’t sound all that glamorous to say you leveled up by slaughtering some Will-o-something. But I went with it. We all did, little realizing that not only does the Will-o’-the-wisp have its origins rooted…
Halloween Haunts: It Takes A Writer: The Legacy of CJ Henderson by Patrick Thomas

Halloween Haunts: It Takes A Writer: The Legacy of CJ Henderson by Patrick Thomas

Halloween is a holiday steeped in tradition. The HWA is an organization with many traditions of its own. Arguably one of the most important is that writers should help other writers and that those with more experience should be able to help mentor writers who are just starting out or even those who are simply starting to aspire to one day be writers. No writer is born knowing everything about their craft. Each of us has to learn through trial and error what works, what doesn’t and most importantly – at least in order to continue writing – how to…
Halloween Haunts: Blood and Coffee by Alp Beck

Halloween Haunts: Blood and Coffee by Alp Beck

The dimness of the cave made it hard for the old man to see the thing’s details.  The small gelatinous mass was of indeterminate color and shape.  He squinted and poked it lightly with his cane.  Nothing happened.  He poked it again, a bit more vigorously.  Unexpectedly, the mass sprung up the length of the cane and wrapped itself around his hand, sealing it completely within its bulk as the man fell back and screamed. If that scene seems oddly familiar, it’s because it’s from the film, The Blob, the 1958 cult classic starring a teenage, Steve McQueen in his…
Halloween Haunts: What Your Costume Choices Say About You by Jennifer Brinkmeyer

Halloween Haunts: What Your Costume Choices Say About You by Jennifer Brinkmeyer

I don't know how many adults have a costume chest, but I have two. When spring cleaning rolls around, no clothes leave my house that have the potential to make a great costume someday. This is the only area in which I am a complete pack rat. Today I'll wave my freak flag, and analyze some typical costume choices through my past looks. 1. Traditional I have been a witch at least four times--for Halloween, that is (ha ha!). Choices like witch, skeleton, or vampire are traditional for a reason. What would Halloween in America be without these archetypes? People…