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!

It’s so fun to be here to kick off Cynthia’s Halloween Blog Party!

I am a huge fan of October – the trees are changing, leaves are falling, weather’s cooling and I have an excuse to break out the jeans, sweaters and snazzy boots I’ve been missing since winter.  And then, of course…there’s Halloween! Who doesn’t love Halloween?  The costumes, the candy, the trick-or-treating fun. I even like a good monster now and then. Oh, I’m not one of those people (like Cynthia!!) who likes to be scared senseless, but I do love a good creepy monster.

There’s something about a scary monster on the big screen that stays with you long after a movie is over. Some of my favs include:

Jaba the Hut from Star Wars – Okay, yeah. He looked like a big giant turd, but he was twisted and that made him memorable.
The orcs from The Lord of the Rings – Nasty looking creatures with really bad teeth. For some reason I couldn’t look away from the teeth.
The bug from Men in Black – Especially when it turned into the giant cockroach at the end and ate Tommy Lee Jones. Ew.
The Kraken from Clash of the Titans – Thank God that thing isn’t real or I’d never set foot on a boat.
Tyrannosaurus Rex in Jurassic Park – I nearly came out of my seat when he flashed on screen.
King Kong – A classic that just can’t be ignored.
The aliens in Independence Day – Creepy ESP abilities.
The alien in Alien – No one but Sigourney Weaver could have fought this thing.
The genetically twisted human monsters in I Am Legend – This movie gave me nightmares for a week. I vowed to stop avoiding the doctor and get every immunization I needed.

How about you? Who are some of your favorite monsters from movies or books? In honor of Cynthia’s Halloween bash I’ve got a book to give away today! Since I write about my own twisted monsters from the Underworld, I’ll give one commenter their choice – either a copy of MARKED, book one in my Eternal Guardians Series or ENTWINED, which just released in August.

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A previous junior-high science teacher, Elisabeth Naughton now writes sexy romantic adventure and paranormal novels full time from her home in western Oregon where she lives with her husband and three children. Her debut release, Stolen Fury, heralded by Publisher’s Weekly as “A rock-solid debut,” was recently nominated for two prestigious RITA® awards by Romance Writers of America in the Best First Book category and the Best Romantic Suspense category. When not writing, Elisabeth can be found running, hanging out at the ball park or dreaming up new and exciting adventures. Visit the author’s website at www.elisabethnaughton.com.