The Halloween Edition
Boo! Arghhh! OooOooo, spooky
‘Tis the season of frights and scary movies. I love fall and I love Halloween. It’s probably why I gravitate to urban fantasy. (Exclusive story just for you at the end!)
I grew up in a rural area—a cow grazed in the pasture next door and the neighbors chickens often opted to lay their eggs in our yard. We all knew each other. Trick-or-treating might include a house giving out warm apple cider or home-baked treats.
My elementary school had an annual pumpkin decorating contest. The cafeteria tables and benches were covered in pumpkins decked out with everything imaginable. It was magical. Everyone participated. Everyone received a ribbon.
I still look forward to seeing jack-o-lanterns and children—and dogs—in costumes, but now I make up a batch of hot chocolate and sit down with a scary story or movie (or two).
Halloween Night Movies
These are seven of my favorite flicks, in no particular order.
Let the Right One In
The Time of Their Lives
Lady in White
Zombieland
Practical Magic
The Thing
What We Do in the Shadows
Tell me yours! I’ve started a post on Twitter, which you can add to, or you can reply to this newsletter.
Spooky Stories
Nothing is quite as satisfying as a good scary story. Here’s seven of my favorites!
The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Grave Witch by Kalayna Price
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Touch the Dark by Karen Change
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
I want to know yours! I’ve started a post on Twitter, which you can add to, or you can reply to this newsletter.
And a shout out to my friend Denise Covey, she has a spooky read out for the season:
FAST AND FURIOUS SHORT FICTION : HALLOWEEN — www.amazon.com
6 Spine-chilling stories - Kindle edition - Trick or Treat, Death Comes to Town, The Strange House in the Snow, Monsters are Real, Wired, Murder Most Foul, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Meet me at Union Station, I Remember – Bonus story, and The Hungry Ghost – Bonus story
Art Plug
A plug for my art. I’ve recently uploaded several Halloween-type pieces for sale at Zazzle and Redbubble.
And now an exclusive flash fiction piece for you written by me.Â
Dead Monkey
by H. R. Sinclair
The monkey hung by its tail, its body swaying gently in the breeze. No one approached. Maybe it was just playing possum, or maybe it had one of those lab viruses that turned everyone into zombies. Maybe it was a zombie!
We needed to cut off its head. Big pruning shears would do the trick, but there are no garden sheds in the jungle. We did, however, have machetes and duct tape. We could jerry-rig our own.
Someone must do the cutting; no one volunteered. We drew sticks. Of course, I drew the short one.
I took the machete scissors and poked the monkey--just to be sure it was dead. Its eyes opened. It screeched, grabbed me, and clamped its teeth into my skin.
"Vampire monkey!"
…or was it.