Halloween Countdown: creepy reads for the Halloween season
Posted: September 13, 2014 Filed under: *Macabre Media, Books & Authors 10 Comments
Today, September 12th, is just 7 Fridays before Halloween.
Show your love of Halloween and drive your friends crazy by sharing the above image on your social media sites this week.
My son, who has been working at the coffee shop (his first job) for three weeks now, tells me that people have started to order pumpkin flavored everything. No matter where I go shopping, Halloween merchandise displays are going up. The weather here in Minnesota has turned cold, windy and damp. (That’s supposed to be temporary … please, oh, please let it be temporary.)
Halloween is undeniably on its way.
I don’t know about you guys, but it’s been a rough start to the season for me. I’ve been sick for over a week. (I am getting better, I think, and it was nothing serious.) When I haven’t been working at the hotel or sleeping, I’ve been dealing with a variety of scheduling challenges. What I have NOT been doing is enjoying the season.
That has to change.
To that end, I’ll be taking my own advice this weekend. Ogre and I are taking off tomorrow morning, armed with:
- 2014: Countdown-to-Halloween Ideas & Checklist
- 2014: The Paranormalist’s 1st Annual Halloween Photo Scavenger Hunt
and, by God, we’re going to check off some boxes.
The one thing I HAVE been doing to fulfill my need for seasonal inspirations and creepiness is reading. I’ve got so many books going right now that I’m in danger of getting the plots confused. (Not really.) In honor of the season, I’m listening to the Audible edition of Stephen King’s IT when I’m folding laundry at work. (Yep. All 44 hours and 57 minutes of it.) Next to my bed, I’ve got another favorite King going: Bag of Bones. In odd minutes, on my phone, I’m reading Jonathan Janz (who is featured in this week’s countdown post) and – for a little non-fiction – Winslow Eliot’s Writing Through the Year (The Four Seasons).
That’s the best segue I can come up with tonight.
To continue with the Halloween countdown, check out the freshly updated post:
Creepy reads for the Halloween season: good horror authors, old & new.
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To see my overall plans for the 2014 season, and to catch up with the countdown so far,
please visit The Halloween Countdown Homepage, which is also freshly updated.
To access the Halloween Countdown homepage / index of articles, click this image wherever you see it in the blog, or find the link in the header of the blog.
Renae Rude - The Paranormalist 
I read Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. EEP!
I had to look it up to see if I’d read it. I remembered the title, but no story was coming to me. After reading the synopsis, I think I haven’t … which is awesome, because now I can look forward to a “new” Simmons.
Great post update – hope you are feeling better. Speaking of reads, I’d love to hear your opinion on the horror story website Creepypasta and/or the 2 children who were in the news about their obsession with Slenderman (I have no promo interests in either..just a freaked out adult who can’t get over the phenomenon)!
Thanks, Ramona.
I’m almost afraid to admit that I don’t follow Creepypasta. It feels like something I should be involved with, but every time I’ve gone there, I’ve become confused and overwhelmed. I’m not sure I really GET it.
The Slenderman phenomena was actually started on another site, called Something Awful, but I know he is featured in a lot of Creepypasta stories.
Both sites are forum-style and I’ve never been good, or felt comfortable, with that kind of format.
I think Slenderman – as a concept – is interesting. I’m planning a PDOC post / card about it. There’s a great deal of buzz about this “new” boogie monster, but I think he’s just a variation on an old haunt.
On one hand, he was entirely created by one guy, Eric Knudsen (who actually has Slenderman trademarked) but I think Knudsen gets too much credit. Really, this is just a memorable name for a familiar urban legend.
Creepypasta in particular, and the internet in general, has simply exposed a very large segment of the total teen / young adult population to a pretty simple, well-named, idea … and they have run with it.
And that figures into to violence, I think. Certain kids, with certain psychological problems, will always look for a literary or legendary inspiration. They need some sort of role dark role model to emulate or a force to yield to. it doesn’t matter what the name of the monster-of-the-generation is. In recent decades, teens claimed to be devil worshipers and/or vampires. in the 1690s teens claimed to be tormented by witches.
I also think that adults like to latch on to a bad guy to explain aberrant behavior by youth. Is Slenderman the problem? No. Are there some seriously disturbed kids out there? Absolutely. The kids who get caught need to say SOMETHING, and the adults need to find a simple answer.
By the way, responding to this comment has helped me figure out what I want to say about Slenderman. I’ve still got some thinking to do, but I appreciate that you gave me this opportunity to start working through it. (Sorry for being disjointed.)
Renae! That was an AWESOME response! Thank you so much for taking the time to give me your critique. Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! I knew if I asked an expert her opinion, it would be an excellent one. You, my dear lady, are one great intellectual and terrific writer. Warm regards, Ramona
Thank you, Ramona. 🙂
I meant to get the Slenderman PDOC up this weekend, but life got in the way. I hope I get to it soon.
I totally understand how this season has been hard to be excited about. I’m glad you starting to feel better and are determined to do what you can. I’m sure many of us had plans that were sidelined – I’m included in that group. So everyone should understand. Glad to hear you’re enjoying a few audio books – with the Stephen King books – is he the reader or did they hire someone else to do the audio? He’s kinda funny in his own way – I would probably enjoy them even more so if he did the voice too.
If you’re struggling, I’d REALLY recommend going away for a weekend, if possible. Something about the change of environment worked absolute magic for me. I’m in a much better place now than I was in the early weeks of the season. (And where I was when I wrote this post.)
Since the weekend, I’ve tackled and changed some situations that were holding me down. I’m still emotionally digging out from some of that, but I’m starting to get excited about the near future. I’m regaining control over my schedule and allowing my personal priorities to guide my time and energy use.
I really needed to do that.
Funny you should ask about the narration. Since I’ve started listening to audio books, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for the art of reading aloud. I’m not sure I could take King himself for the length of IT. (But then I’m rabid in my fandom for this particular book.)
If I were to listen to King reading, I’d choose something shorter and lighter.
That’s a lot of reading to keep track of!
You’re right. Bag of Bones and IT are giving me some problems, despite the different formats. I may have to set one aside until I finish the other.