Memories of Hallowe’ens Past

October 14, 2011

MEMORIES OF HALLOWE’ENS PAST

The Beginnings

We all have memories of Halloween when we were kids. Mine date back more years than I care to think about, and they are also fond ones.

My formative years began in the 1960′s (No, I wasn’t a hippy. I’m not that old!). I was ten in 1967 and by then I was an old hand at this Halloween thing.

Perhaps it was about the costumes, staying up late, fireworks, or going door-to-door like all your friends and neighbors? These are all fun things about Halloween, but sorry to disappoint, it was really all about the free candy!

My memories of Halloween also include those cold fall nights running around my neighborhood with my younger brother in tow wearing a sheet with two holes cut in it. We nearly tripped so many times I wonder how we survived being kids. What fun!

Boy, was it cold some years! Not as cold as other places I’m sure, but I grew up (and still live) in a temperate rainforest so the temperature would definitely drop. Some years it would show it’s rain forest roots (yes, pun intended) and pelt us with cold rain.

Do you think a little adverse weather would stop us? Much to mom and dad’s horror I’m sure, not on your life!

Another fond memory was the beef stew my mom made every year. It had a pastry crust on top and the gravy was rich and thick. Now this may sound good to us carnivores, but the stew was awful. Mom put in a ton of turnips so everything tasted like turnips. To this day I still loath the taste of turnips.

Mom always said she could barely boil water. This stew proved it. But I know mom loved us and wanted a hot meal in us before we went trick or treating in all that cold and wet.

This may sound like an odd memory, but it causes me to miss my mom and dad every year. After all they planted the seeds of story in me and they are why I’m a writer today.

The Birth of Story

Of course like many writers I also grew to love stories during these years.

Magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland, Eerie, and Creepy joined my reading line up in these years. Novels came later, including the classics such as Frankenstein and Dracula.

Anyone who knows me knows I love movies. I have a large collection of DVD’s in various genres. My tastes cross all genres much as my writing continues to do.

My basic philosophy is if the story is good and entertains me (and I don’t necessarily mean humor or happy endings) then I love it. A movie can have a tragic ending, but if the story is good, and the acting is solid, then I like it.

This means some movies others may think are stinkers I like, and vice versa. Since this blog is based on my taste I offer you some of my favorites. If you haven’t seen some of these films you may wish to. They are awesome.

My favorite Halloween movies:

The Universal Monster cycle
Frankenstein
The Bride of Frankenstein
The Mummy
The House of Dracula
The House of Frankenstein
Frankenstein vs. the Woifman

The Hammer Studios cycle
Horror of Dracula (the best Dracula film ever)
The Curse of Frankenstein
Dracula Prince of Darkness
The Brides of Dracula
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave

The modern era (To me 1973 was the re-birth of horror. A loose interpretation of the modern era to be sure but…) Jaws
Aliens
Carrie
The Exorcist
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1973) (The scariest film ever made)
Halloween (1978)
Friday the 13th (1980)
The Mummy and The Mummy Returns (the Brendan Fraser versions)
Army of Darkness
Poltergeist
The Silence of the Lambs
Blade
Dawn of the Dead
The Walking Dead (TV but movie quality. My blog. My rules. )

And of course books also had a huge influence on me. Here are a few of my Halloween favorites.

Books
The Stand
Frankenstein
Dracula
The Walking Dead graphic novels
I am Legend
Carrie
Lord of The Flies
Jaws
The Silence of the Lambs (Beyond scary book)
Life Expectancy
Frankenstein Series by Dean Kootnz

These are the stories that have inspired me to become a storyteller.

My Books

I have a few of my own books published you may find entertaining:

Children of the Monster involves the children of Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker on the hunt for (you guessed it) the children of Baron Frankenstein and his bride.

Hungry For Your Love is an anthology of zombie romance published by St. Martins Press. My story is entitled: My Partner The Zombie. The heroine of this story is Aloha Armstrong (aka The Woman from L.I.P.S.)

Aloha is a character I enjoy writing about.

She has also appeared in Big Hairy Deal, and Bachelorette Zombie Edition.

Aloha will soon have two new adventures, first in my upcoming short story Bloody Betty Queen of the Pirates in the Sapphire Blue Publishing anthology Buccaneer Women series (scheduled for release on Nov 21st), and in the new original novel, Zomopolis which will be out before the end of 2011.

You can win a prize!

To celebrate the impending release of Zomoplis, the new short story, and to introduce you to Aloha, I’m offering a prize of a copy of the St. Martins anthology, Hungry For Your Love An Anthology of Zombie Romance to whomever answers a skill testing question correctly.

To win you must pick a number between 1 and 100 million. The number closest to the number I picked before I wrote this blog is the winner. (Hint: it’s an amalgamation of my dad’s year, month, and day of birth. For example, if he was born on August 4, 1807 the answer would be 18,070,804. That’s not the answer by the way…I’m not that old!)

If you would like to share some fond memories of your own about Halloween please feel free to add them to your comments. I know I’d enjoy reading them.

Send me your answer using the contact page on the website with your guess. I will contact the winner after Halloween. Good luck.

Books you will also enjoy

Below are covers for books written by authors whose work I respect. I encourage you to buy these books and read these writers. Many of these books are going to be the classics for future generations so you better get on board now.

Try clicking on each cover. This will take you to a link where you may buy the book, or where the author is having additional contests for free books and other prizes. As a pirate might say, there be hidden treasure, matey.

Try them all, happy reading and have a fun and safe Halloween.