Halloween Haunts 2013: Halloween Treats by Charles Day

Halloween Haunts 2013: Halloween Treats by Charles Day

Halloween. This is one of my favorite times of the year. In fact, the whole month of October is such a wonderful time for me. Aside from the noticeable changes in the sultry, hot and sweaty summer, of which I totally despise, to the cool crisp northerly breezes I simply love, I seem to come alive again. Not sure if there’s something in this air that passes through my open windows, or perhaps the stars in my astrological whatever you call it, align around this time, but I do. As Halloween approaches, the smell of Pumpkin pie and the hunt…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Equine Anatomy by Kenneth W. Cain

Halloween Haunts 2013: Equine Anatomy by Kenneth W. Cain

Last year, I described what fear was for me. It has never been that which I see, the visceral and horrid depictions on a TV screen, but always in those moments of reflection that follow. Often, when we are all alone, is when fear strikes. What if some monster waits for me around that corner? What if I don’t make it home from my friend’s house alive? What if, indeed? There will always be “What if’s” to threaten our thoughts. What I wanted to share with you this year, and mostly because a few early readers of my latest collection…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Specialty Press Award Spotlight Interview with Jerad Walters and Centipede Press

Halloween Haunts 2013: Specialty Press Award Spotlight Interview with Jerad Walters and Centipede Press

Jerad Walters and Centipede Press received the 2012 Specialty Press of the Year Award. 1. How would you describe Centipede Press? A small press dedicated to quality publishing, with superior design, in a variety of genres. 2. Tell us about what inspired you to become a publisher. This is all I have ever wanted to do. A long time ago, back in grade school, I thought I wanted to be a writer. But I never wrote. What I did was put together packages of writings and present them in a nice way. 3. What most attracts you to dark fiction? More than anything else,…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Traditions by Marge Simon

Halloween Haunts 2013: Traditions by Marge Simon

Originally published in Raven Elektrik's Jack O' Spec, 2011. It was time for another Family Gathering. I can always tell because Auntie Blue gets fidgety and insists we wash all the curtains twice. Cousin Anne makes a night sky for the occasion, with clouds and a full moon. You’d think this would bother the neighbors because the sky stays that way for a week or two. It’s not an easy matter to change days back to day, and nights to night in the proper order. But the folks on our street don't seem to mind. In a day or two,…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Halloween is Every Day by Johnny Worthen

Halloween Haunts 2013: Halloween is Every Day by Johnny Worthen

well I let their teeny minds think that they're dealing with someone who is over the brink and I dress this way just to keep them at bay cos halloween is everyday it's everyday Ministry, “Every Day is Halloween” What is it that makes Halloween unique among the other holidays? Well for one, it’s the last unrepentant pagan holiday still observed. But it’s also an affirmation, if not a celebration, of the unseen world and its effects on us. Cynical modern western culture allows itself this one day to imagine a universe of devils and demons, ghosts, angels and spirits.…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Reclaiming Horror by Annie Neugebauer

Halloween Haunts 2013: Reclaiming Horror by Annie Neugebauer

For years now, I’ve been hoping for The Horror Revolution. A resurgence. A return to the good old days of the eighties (before I was born!) when horror was not only successful, but thriving. In some ways, on some days, I feel like we’re almost there. I read exceptional horror novels and short stories (many from HWA members) all the time. I feel that the industry is teetering on the brink of Big Change, and that one little push could bring about the boom that will pull us out of the bust. On other days I feel seriously frustrated with…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Sunglasses at Night by Julie Campbell

Halloween Haunts 2013: Sunglasses at Night by Julie Campbell

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, the other favorite being Thanksgiving. I’ve always enjoyed dressing up and I’ve had some great costumes courtesy of my mom and her willingness to sew. I had a dog costume that was probably one of my favorites and I recall wearing it year after year until I outgrew it. Mom made me a horse rider costume that I also remember vividly. Basically my top was the rider and my legs were horse legs and I wore a horse body. Not really the most practical costume for school, but I wore it.…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Stoker Spotlight Interview with Greg Chapman

Halloween Haunts 2013: Stoker Spotlight Interview with Greg Chapman

Greg Chapman is the artist of Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times, written by Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton, recipients of the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel. 1. How would you describe Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times? To me Witch Hunts is a chronicle of one of the darkest periods of history. It’s non-fiction in the sense that we are putting real-life events in graphic format. The people depicted in the graphic novel, being persecuted and tortured, were real people. 2. Tell us about what inspired you to draw Witch…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Opening the Vein by John Palisano

Halloween Haunts 2013: Opening the Vein by John Palisano

We've heard for years how to write. We've learned three-act structure, possibly subconsciously, through countless hours of movies, television shows, and novels. We've read articles about sentence structure, grammar, what kind of dialogue tags to use, point of view, how to format the best of our best for submission. You name it. But there's something else that I feel is equally as important as all the above. That's opening the vein. Ripping open your heart. Spilling your guts on the page. Making the emotional connection. But what will make the difference? How does one connect to other people? How do…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Trick or Treat by Kristina Stancil

Halloween Haunts 2013: Trick or Treat by Kristina Stancil

Should Halloween not be a case where the parent is the boss of what their child does without it being considered evil? Hypocrite or actual devout Christian can find some way to make sure their children are not ostracized this Halloween by their classmates because peer pressure among adults is one thing. For the most part we as adults can handle the snide comments concerning how we choose to celebrate Halloween but why punish our children? Halloween and Christmas, while in a base sense reflect two different religious views, are paramount to young children.  They view them on almost the…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Stoker Spotlight Interview with Lisa Morton

Halloween Haunts 2013: Stoker Spotlight Interview with Lisa Morton

Lisa Morton is the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel for Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times co-written with Rocky Wood and drawn by Greg Chapman as well as the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a Nonfiction for Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween. 1. How would you describe Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween and Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times? Trick or Treat is both a comprehensive history of Halloween and an overview of the way the festival is celebrated…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Five Films You Should Be Watching This Halloween Season by Brad C. Hodson

Halloween Haunts 2013: Five Films You Should Be Watching This Halloween Season by Brad C. Hodson

If you’re anything like me, your interest in the horror genre explodes every October. You set aside the Michael Chabon or Nick Hornby you’ve been reading for Stephen King or Peter Straub. The indie or classic rock of summer that’s been playing from your speakers is slowly replaced by Phillip Glass or The Dead Can Dance. And your movie viewing returns to the old standbys: The Shining. The Exorcist. The Amityville Horror. And why not return to those films? There’s a reason that the classics are the classics, after all. But even the most diehard Halloween horror movie viewer can…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween—What First Comes to Your Mind at the Thought? by John G. Rees

Halloween Haunts: Halloween—What First Comes to Your Mind at the Thought? by John G. Rees

Summer’s bright days are still upon us: the joys and laughter stronger, louder, as if the earth’s bounties now ready for harvest rail us with delight. As the days begin to grow shorter, summer screams one last time in a desperate display of color so powerful, it seems as if life would spring forth from the natural palette of yellows, gold and orange. But in our hearts we know the hues to be that of decay. Not only the decay of the natural cycle, but also of men’s minds; when they turn from the business of day to the fallen…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Halloween as a Kid by Michael J. McCann

Halloween Haunts 2013: Halloween as a Kid by Michael J. McCann

When I was a kid, the excitement leading up to Halloween night was second only to that of Christmas Eve. The leaves had fallen and made a wonderful noise when you tramped through them; summer was a memory but hockey season had begun; and it was cold out there with just a costume, but somehow as a kid I never noticed. The really rich kids had store-bought costumes, but I had more fun dreaming up my own. My mom and dad were always great sports: helping me out and proclaiming that this year's costume was even scarier than last year's.…
Halloween Haunts: Stoker Spotlight Interview with Rocky Wood

Halloween Haunts: Stoker Spotlight Interview with Rocky Wood

Rocky Wood is the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel for Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times co-written with Lisa Morton and drawn by Greg Chapman. 1. How would you describe Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times? It's a warning about the dangers of ignorance and intolerance. We've taken the historical background of the witch-hunting era and put it in context for readers. They are entertained as they learn - the get to meet some of the nasty individuals who drove this evil period in history and…
Halloween Haunts 2013: A Feast of Fear by Frazer Lee

Halloween Haunts 2013: A Feast of Fear by Frazer Lee

Halloween is hungry, thirsty work. All those seasonal book signings and live readings can really take it out of you, not to mention the effort it requires to fish all of the bodies out of the moat in time for the traditional midnight game of “wake the dead.” It is an industrious time where family comes together to create costumes, to transform the house into a set from a horror movie—and to cook up a feast. Ah yes, the feasting; for an army of the undead cannot march on an empty stomach. In fact, October truly begins in my home…
Halloween Haunts 2013: ‘Tis the Season by Ed Erdelac

Halloween Haunts 2013: ‘Tis the Season by Ed Erdelac

  The Halloween season is upon us, when the trees shed their leaves like scraps of yellow-orange construction paper that shuffle beneath your feet, every pumpkin spreads a butter-yellow grin, and every porch light becomes an invitation to fill your bucket with candy. I must admit, at the risk of sending the gentle reader clicking off to some other corner of the web, Christmas is my favorite holiday, but Halloween is a close second. But I got to thinking, one of the things I always looked forward to on Christmas as a kid were the proliferation of holiday-themed animated specials…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Comment Ça? Rencontrez Dracula en Français pour (Dracula: Entre l’Amor et la Morte)—A Film Review by James Dorr

Halloween Haunts 2013: Comment Ça? Rencontrez Dracula en Français pour (Dracula: Entre l’Amor et la Morte)—A Film Review by James Dorr

Dracula in French?  And Canadian French to boot?  And with songs!  Yes, all that and more is available to those who enjoy a delightful shiver on seeing a bat’s silhouette against a full moon, as nights grow chill and days shorten to herald the coming of Halloween. And it’s on DVD, “inspiré du roman de Bram Stoker, le spectacle musical Dracula:  Entre L’Amour et La Mort.”  Yes, the musical version of Dracula -- in French. Actually produced in Quebec where it ran from January 13 to December 16 2006 (with the DVD version filmed in November that year according to…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Stoker Spotlight on Marge Simon

Halloween Haunts 2013: Stoker Spotlight on Marge Simon

Marge Simon is the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in Poetry for Vampires, Zombies, and Wanton Souls.  1. How would you describe Vampires, Zombies, and Wanton Souls? A concoction of poetic and artistic supernatural works that strikes terror even in the hearts of the staunchest horror fan. "In her eyes, an ephemeral light, and her stomach screamed for flesh" doesn't begin to share the dreadful fun. 2. Tell us about what inspired you to write Vampires, Zombies, and Wanton Souls. This collection was an extension of the first book, The Mad Hattery (a Stoker finalist).  Inspired…
Halloween Haunts 2013: Night Terrors by Heather L Reid

Halloween Haunts 2013: Night Terrors by Heather L Reid

Nightmares are the stuff of dreams­­-the subtle edge of darkness that creeps across the sleeping mind, evoking inner demons to dance macabre behind the shuttered windows of the soul. I don’t remember when they started, the dreams of faceless entities, of black figures standing by my bed whispering in the deep shadows of my childhood room. Sometimes I would wake from their dark grasp and find my six-year-old self standing at the end of my parent’s bed, or in the kitchen, or walking down the hallway. Other times I would suffer from sleep paralysis, trapped between dream and reality, a…