Coffin Hop! and Trick or Treat for e-books

Come check out the awesome horror writers who are giving away AMAZING PRIZES this week at the COFFIN HOP! The prize for Bat Country is...

A signed copy of Dark Corners, Bloody Window Clings, and an Edgar Allen Poe Memory Box

Just leave a COMMENT with your EMAIL ADDRESS and your FAVORITE HORROR MOVIE to enter. Good luck! Also, don't miss the other awesome blogs in this hop or the second giveaway listed at the bottom of this post.


You're never too old for trick-or-treating! Roam the virtual neighborhood in another fantastic event, TRICK OR TREAT FOR EBOOKSs. You never know what amazing books you might find. For your trick-or-treat stop here, pick up DARK CORNERS for FREE just this week on Smashwords with the coupon code YB28R!

Ghosties and Ghoulies or Allergies Run Amok?

Last week I was on a fall themed vacation. We went to see covered bridges, apple orchards, a large fall festival, and a reindeer ranch. On the way home we stopped in Illinois to tour an old house. There was nothing upsetting about the house. It was a dreary, cold day outside, but the house looked nice and inviting, as if beckoning us to take a closer look.

The tour started and the moment I stepped foot in the house I became hot, stifling so. The tour guide complained about how cold she was and kept her coat on the entire tour as did the other guests. A moment later if felt like my lungs were closing then waves of nausea washed over me, I was certain I would either faint or pass out. By the time we made it upstairs, the pressure in my head behind my right eye made me want to cover my eye so it wouldn’t come out.

As the tour dragged on and on I only got worse. I eyed my escape with the good eye hoping it would be soon, but the tour guide kept blathering on and on unaware of the torture I was going through. Finally, she released us from the house, and I contemplated skipping the second part of the tour to go back to the car, but as soon as the cold air outside hit my face and lungs, everything evaporated. I was no longer hot, dizzy, or nauseous. The pounding head ache and irrational thoughts of escape drifted away as well. Within seconds, I was perfectly fine again.

Allergies? Maybe. Ghost? You never can tell.

Happy Halloween!

#Halloween

Halloween is so close I can taste it...literally, I have candy wrappers all around me. So Halloween better hurry up before I become diabetic.

I can't wait to watch Halloween (78), dress up, and pass out...Halloween candy (there is no passing out for me, I have to work the next day. *shakes fist at growing old).

Now the question is, what to be for Halloween?

I could be inspired by the Strangers and go for something like this,

Or I could go with something more children friendly,

Or perhaps embraced my aging self,

Or channel my inner Saw,

Or I could scary everyone's pants off,

Which would you choose?

Why we carve Jack-o'-lanterns

There is a long tradition of carving lanterns from vegetables throughout
 Ireland and Britain, but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin.
Turnips were carved into lanterns in Ireland as a way of remembering
the souls in purgatory. They were left on the doorsteps on All’s Hallows Eve along with a
treat of some sort to ward off evil spirits.

They became known as Jack-o’-lanterns based on the legend of an Irishman
 named Stingy Jack. Apparently, Jack tricked the devil (the manner in which he tricked him varies,
 sometimes Jack has the devil hanging from an apple tree in others he is a thief)
and made a bargain with him that he would never take his soul. 

As time moved on ol’ Jack died, as all living things do, but he was too sinful to go to Heaven.
The devil however upheld his end of the deal and didn’t claim Jack either.
So Jack was left to wander the earth.

Jack had no where to go and no light to guide him. The devil gave him an ember from hell
 that would burn eternally and Jack placed it in a hallowed out turnip
and endless wonders the earth looking for a place to rest.