Update: The winner is…Kate N. (Yzhabella)! Congrats!

Thanks so much to Cynthia for inviting me to her Halloween blog party.

What does October symbolize to you? I was thinking about that the other day because I have a brand new release and it’s . . . can you guess? A Christmas anthology – The Naughty List. Okay, I love this because I’m in a book with Cynthia Eden and Donna Kauffman! But, hmm, Christmas stories, coming out at the beginning of October? That’s just a little too early for me (actually, it’s about 2 months too early for me!)

For me, October means a lot of things, and Christmas isn’t one of them. LOL. It’s the month when I can no longer fool myself that it’s still summer. The red and gold autumn leaves and the chill in the air won’t let me forget it’s autumn. I’m Canadian, so it’s also the month of Thanksgiving. (We Canadians are so much more sensible about that. We get a long weekend in October, and we get to eat turkey in October then again in December, rather than twice right in a row.)

Of course October is also the month that ends with Halloween. When I was a kid I so looked forward to that special evening. I’m not so much a spooks and goblins girl, but I did love planning a costume and, for one evening of the year, transforming myself into someone else. (Cowgirl was one of my favorites.) It was so much fun joining up with another family for fireworks – and yes, I’m old enough that we had fireworks and even firecrackers. I wasn’t so keen on the things that went bang, but I loved sparklers. Fairy wands!! And of course it was so terrific to be out after dark, trick-or-treating around the neighborhood and collecting sacks of candy.

But for me, the very best part was what happened after those bags were full. I always trick-or-treated with my best friend Anne, and afterwards we’d lug all our loot to the kitchen of one of our houses and empty our bags on the table. Then we’d share. Because, you know, sometimes different things go into each bag and neither of us wanted to come out better than the other. Aw, isn’t that sweet? I can’t believe what nice little girls we were. And then, of course, she liked some treats better than I did, and vice versa, so we’d swap those off. (I still, to this day, don’t understand the point of milk chocolate. I’m sorry, but if you want chocolate, eat the real stuff – the rich, super-dark, exotic, orgasmic . . . Oops, off on a tangent there. Excuse me a minute while I go grab a slice of a Terry’s dark chocolate orange . . .)

So, anyhow, after childhood experiences like those, is it any wonder that, when I began to write fiction, friendship was one of the themes I just had to write about?

What’s your favorite memory of Halloween – be it spooky or sweet? I’ll do a random draw and one person who comments will win a copy of The Naughty List, with a bookplate autographed by Cynthia, Donna, and me. (And, if you’re like me and have trouble thinking about Xmas before Halloween, then don’t even open the package when it arrives, just save it to put under your Xmas tree.)

Susan Lyons/Susan Fox  http://www.susanlyons.ca

A ghoul flies by at sunset in Santa Fe

Cindy and I share a love of Halloween decorations.

In fact, I might have to steal some of the ideas she posted over the weekend. Brainz cupcakes for the win!

Halloween is a special time for all of us who are drawn to the dark and seductive. We’re harvesting the fruits of the summer, storing up and settling in for the winter. The winds change, bringing a chill with them. Sometimes we think we hear the wild yelps of The Great Hunt riding on the currents. The veil between worlds thins and we catch glimpses of things poking their heads in to look around.

It’s an unsettling time of delicious thrills.

Petals and Thorns - a naughty retelling of Beauty and the Beast

So many of our images of Halloween, of All Hallows, of All Saints or Day of the Dead, come from old stories. As a kid I reveled in the most gruesome fairy tales I could find. I loved the old version of The Goose Girl, with the severed horse’s head giving advice. Somehow the Disney versions of the stories just never worked for me after I found out how dark and seductive the old versions were. But I always wanted to know what happened when those massive castle doors boomed closed. After Cinderella married the Prince, what then? As I grew older, I began to spin fantasies about it. Not always about Prince, either. Sure, he’s a great date for the ball and charming goes a long way.

It was the monsters that grabbed my attention.

Like in Beauty and the Beast, with his ferocity and passion. What did he do to his young bride during those long nights, I wondered? Finally I had to write the story for myself. It turns out he was quite beastly – and she loved every moment of it.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who wanted to see past the closed doors. What fairy tales got you spinning fantasies?

Best fantasy gets a free copy of Petals & Thorns! (ebook only)

Hi, everyone! Today I thought I’d share some of my fave how-to videos for Halloween decorations. I like watching videos because then I can usually pull off the project (after 2-3 views, anyway).

First up…brooms and ghosties.  🙂

Next…let’s glow, baby.

And how about some Halloween party decorations?

I recently held a newsletter contest to win two ARCs (What? You don’t get my newsletter? You should so sign up!), and the winners are…

Marci Carson (ARC of Deadly Heat)
Shirley Sego (ARC of Eternal Flame)

Thanks to everyone who entered my contest!

Update: The winner is…Jillian! Congrats, Jillian!

One of the fun things about Halloween (to me, anyway!) is the spooky food.  During the rest of the year, folks strive to make food pretty. Not so with Halloween. At Halloween, it’s the yuckier (and scarier), the better.

A few of my favorites?

1. Mummy dogs–this one is so easy.  It’s like a big version of pigs-in-a-blanket.  You wrap hot dogs (franks) in crescent rolls (this is my method, but others have different tips).  Wrap the rolls around the dogs as if you were wrapping up a mummy. Put the wrapped treats in the oven and bake as per the directions on the roll package. Then, bam–your own mummy dogs.

2. Dirt cake is another favorite at my house.  Get a great chocolate cake mix. Bake. When it’s all done, use a thick, chocolate icing and cover that baby with gummy worms. Your result? Super tasty dirt cake.

3. Rebecca Zanetti told me about these very interesting brain cupcakes. They’re so cute–I’d almost hate to eat them. (Hmmm…maybe cute isn’t the right word!)

4. Want to make some yummy, edible eyeballs? Check out this video to see all the fun details.  Cause you know you want to go and munch on some eyeballs today.

5. And, of course, what Halloween celebration would be complete without some punch? I like to pour kool-aid inside a clear, plastic glove and then let that glove freeze overnight.  The next morning, I cut away the glove, and I have the perfect shape of a bloody hand (or, as I like to think of it, a flesh-free hand).  I put that hand right in the middle of my punch, and the hand slowly melts during the party. Awesome.

Have I mentioned how much I love Halloween?  🙂  If you’ve got a favorite recipe, please share!  I’ll pick one random commenter to win a Cynthia Eden book of her/his choice!