What a perfect time of the year! The leaves add a colorful tapestry of reds, oranges, golds, and browns to the ever present green. The days are often clear with brilliant blue skies. The nights long, lighted by a fat orange-yellow moon. The air a bit nippy, but not yet downright cold. It is the perfect time to curl up with a good vampire book. Or get out our fangs and long dark cape for that one night when the real monsters can come out for an evening of fun among us mundane mortals and no one will look at them twice. May your Halloween be the spookiest.
I want to thank Paula Guran of DarkEcho for the links to some pretty neat Halloween adventures. DarkEcho focuses on horror, including reviews, articles, and a newsletter. In one form or another, DarkEcho has been online since 1996 and is currently undergoing a major site renovation. Her October newsletter was full of goodies, lots of treats, no tricks. Check out her site at http://www.darkecho.com
You will want to go knocking on Stealth Press' door. Paula has helped create a special free e-Book, ALL HALLOWS-E: Halloween Tales from seven Masters of Terror, with stories by Ray Bradbury, William F. Nolan, Al Sarrantonio, John Shirley, Peter Straub, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and F. Paul Wilson. But get it quick. November 1st, it's gone, tossed out with the moldy pumpkins. http://www.stealthpress.com/store/downlo...
While you are there be sure to check out their other free eBooks.
Stealth Press is also the place to find Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's St. Germain series, Hotel Transylvania, The Palace, and Tempting Fate. Unfortunately, only available in hardback and very expensive, but if you are looking for those formerly out-of-print books, it is good to know where to find them.
Paula introduced me to The Spook. The world’s first fully free downloadable consumer magazine in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format, featuring short fiction, celebrity profiles, and reviews. The September issue features stories by Dennis Etchinson, Damon Knight, John Shirley, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. http://www.thespook.com/index.html
When it comes to celebrating Halloween, you might want to check out http://www.vamphalloween.com/ for ideas on decorating, recipes, and costumes. Need a good recipe for blood? There are several. VampHalloween is from last year, sponsored by Pathways to Darkness, but Halloween ideas are never outdated.
Speaking of the Pathways to Darkness, after about a year of non-activity, Pathways to Darkness will be relaunched late 2001. Already there are new fiction stories, a start of a site redesign, and Pathways News has been reactivated. Since Pathways to Darkness was one of my favorite Vampire sites, I am glad to see, like Dracula, it has risen
