October Takeover

  • October Takeover: Halloween Traditions

    ~posted by Selby Tonight is THE night for the dead to crawl out of the underworld and roam the streets. Where are the best places to celebrate both in the US and around the world? In the USA Sleepy Hollow, New York. As home of Washington Irving’s chilling tale about a headless horseman who terrorizes… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Trick-or-Treat Mysteries

    ~posted by Lori T.           With cauldrons bubbling, ghost shrieking and the things that go bump in the night, the mystery side of Halloween comes to life.  A person cannot be too careful on All Hallows Eve for the bump in the night could be a dead body falling from great… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Werewolf Fiction

    ~ Posted by Lindsay S. It was discovered on the eighth day of our October Takeover that we didn’t have any posts planned about werewolves. I declared this deficiency a travesty and a crime against Halloween, and promised to rectify the mishap immediately. The truth is, I don’t know all that much about werewolves, but… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Terrible, Terrible Movies

    ~posted by Carrie M.  There are some people who live for a good blockbuster horror film. You know, A-list actors, huge budgets, and tons of high-end special effects, that sort of thing. Sure, those kinds of horror movies are all but guaranteed to give you thrills and chills, but where are the laughs? For a… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Treats, Not Tricks

    ~posted by Kara F.  Baked Occasions by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito While not overly spooky, these two recipes, the milk chocolate malted brownies with chocolate ganache and chocolate cinnamon chipotle sugar cookies, were decadent and divine! I had to give it a shot. Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Vampire Fiction

    ~ Posted by Lindsay S. Vampires and Halloween go together like candy corn and garbage cans–they just makes sense. I’ve been a big fan of vampires for many, many years (I even wrote some posts about them awhile back), and so I feel very comfortable telling you that nothing says autumn, pumpkins, and trick-or-treating like… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Fall Foods!

    ~posted by Selby G. One of the best things about the fall is eating. It is the harvest season but the cold weather also makes us want warm comforting food. Hot soups, filling casseroles and baked goods galore are what the fall is all about. Here are some cookbooks to help you eat your way… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Ghostly Reads

    ~ posted by Andrea G. October is a haunting month. There’s Halloween, of course, with its ghosts and ghouls and spooky stories. But there’s also a nostalgia for the passing of summer as dying leaves accumulate on the ground, and in the Northwest there’s the slow encroachment of rainy darkness. If you want to revel… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Advice for when you become a Zombie

    ~posted by Carrie M. I don’t want to be the one to say I told you so, but I TOLD YOU SO! The zombie apocalypse started and you ignored my previous post, thus getting yourself bitten by a stinking, shambling corpse. Now you find yourself roaming night and day on your decaying legs in a… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Literature in Horror Films – from Book to Scream

    ~posted by The Spoiler October is synonymous with horror movies, but horror is a tricky label to apply to literature. Often relegated as less legitimate, horror injects itself seamlessly into many genres – literary fiction, sci-fi, erotica or paranormal. In honor of the scariest month of the year and a genre that refuses to be narrowed down, here are… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Graphic Novel Classics

    ~ posted by Becky B. “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read” — Mark Twain Does the idea of reading a work of classic literature give you the shivers? Do you approach Victorian prose with a sense of fear and dread? You’re not alone; the classics strike… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Books About Bodies

    ~posted by Selby G. “It is difficult to put words to the smell of decomposing human. It is dense and cloying, sweet but not flower-sweet. Halfway between rotting fruit and rotting meat.” ― Mary Roach, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers With a description like that it is not difficult to understand why most living… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: How to Avoid Becoming a Zombie

    ~Posted by Carrie M. Of all the potential “what-if” tragedies that could completely change our lives forever, the most popular by far is the much anticipated zombie apocalypse. With so much “zombie culture” surrounding us today, many people may go into the event feeling overconfident. Sure, you’ve seen The Walking Dead and Z Nation, and… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Dracula Part Two

    ~ posted by Lindsay S. Picture it: Transylvania 1431; a child is born that will inexorably change the course of history. Okay, that might be a flagrant exaggeration, but not if you live in Hungary or are a superfan of vampires and vampire fiction, especially the latter. The child I’m referring to is, of course,… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Dracula Part One

    ~ posted by Lindsay S. When people hear the word ‘vampire,’ often the first thing that comes to mind is Dracula. In fact, for some people ‘Dracula’ and ‘vampire’ mean the very same thing (at least they do if you’re Deadpool). But where did this obsession begin, and what’s it all about? Over the next… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: European Horror – Vampires, Black-Gloved Killers and the Devil

    ~posted by David H. If you’re looking for the birthplace of the horror film, then the place you should be looking is Europe. From German silent films to Hammer’s Technicolor horrors and on to the black-gloved killers of Italian giallo, Europe has been a prime breeding ground for horror. For viewers willing to try something… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Harry Potter Nostalgia

    ~posted by Selby G. Nothing screams fall for me like Harry Potter. The music, characters, scenery, the entire vibe of the books and movies epitomize what I think Halloween, and Fall, should be like. For the last couple of years my husband and I have the tradition to watch the Harry Potter movies again when… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Scary Music

    ~ posted by Daniel S. Only two holidays have an entire genre of music associated with them. For instance, can you even name a Thanksgiving song? Christmas, of course, hogs all the glory, but Halloween truly excels by its inclusiveness. All Hallows’ Eve music doesn’t have to name drop anyone or anything in particular in… Continue reading