Happy All Hallows'

Be kind to all the ghosts, witches and goblins you meet along the road tonight!

Rest Easy....Mr. Poe

"Once Upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore"

- The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe 

I happened across Edgar Allan Poe in my pre-teen years; and my love for his work has remained. Like most of us, I was introduced to him by way of the poem The Raven. I have made a tradition of reading is short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" every Halloween. Poe is close to my heart for several reasons. Chief among them is that Poe always came across to me as a lost and lonely soul; and I guess on some level that spoke to me. Because of Poe (and Stephen King) I became very interested in writing within the horror, thriller and mystery genre.

Here are some of my favorite quotes by Edgar Allan Poe:

It's not to late....

To say Merry All Hallow's Eve....

The Bookbabe Reads for October 2014

Here are the books I am reading this month!!!

Before Amen by Max Lucado

We all pray . . . some.

We pray to stay sober, centered, or solvent. When the lump is deemed malignant. When the money runs out before the month does. When the marriage is falling apart. We pray.

But wouldn’t we like to pray more? Better? Stronger? With more fire, faith, and fervency?

Yet we have kids to feed, bills to pay, deadlines to meet. The calendar pounces on our good intentions like a tiger on a rabbit. And what about our checkered history with prayer? Uncertain words. Unmet expectations. Unanswered requests.

We aren’t the first to struggle with prayer. The first followers of Jesus needed prayer guidance too. In fact, prayer is the only tutorial they ever requested.

And Jesus gave them a prayer. Not a lecture on prayer. Not the doctrine of prayer. He gave them a quotable, repeatable, portable prayer. Couldn’t we use the same?

In Before Amen best-selling author Max Lucado joins readers on a journey to the very heart of biblical prayer, offering hope for doubts and confidence even for prayer wimps. Distilling prayers in the Bible down to one pocket-sized prayer, Max reminds readers that prayer is not a privilege for the pious nor the art of a chosen few. Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and his child. Let the conversation begin.

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.

The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper 

Professor David Ullman is among the world’s leading authorities on demonic literature, with special expertise in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Not that David is a believer—he sees what he teaches as a branch of the imagination and nothing more. So when the mysterious Thin Woman arrives at his office and invites him to travel to Venice and witness a “phenomenon,” he turns her down. She leaves plane tickets and an address on his desk, advising David that her employer is not often disappointed. 

That evening, David’s wife announces she is leaving him. With his life suddenly in shambles, he impulsively whisks his beloved twelve-year-old daughter, Tess, off to Venice after all. The girl has recently been stricken by the same melancholy moods David knows so well, and he hopes to cheer her up and distract them both from the troubles at home. 

But what happens in Venice will change everything. 

First, in a tiny attic room at the address provided by the Thin Woman, David sees a man restrained in a chair, muttering, clearly insane… but could he truly be possessed? Then the man speaks clearly, in the voice of David’s dead father, repeating the last words he ever spoke to his son. Words that have left scars—and a mystery—behind. 

When David rushes back to the hotel, he discovers Tess perched on the roof’s edge, high above the waters of the Grand Canal. Before she falls, she manages to utter a final plea: Find me. 

What follows is an unimaginable journey for David Ullman from skeptic to true believer. In a terrifying quest guided by symbols and riddles from the pages of Paradise Lost, David must track the demon that has captured his daughter and discover its name. If he fails, he will lose Tess forever.

Six Spooktacular Short Stories for All Hallows Eve

Soon it will be halloween and many of us (well me mostly) get so caught up in the books we are reading that we can not take time to commit to a full on horror novel. So I suggest short stories. They will allow you to get the scare you need and can even leave you thirsting for more. So here are just a few of my favorite short stories that are sure to cause a good fright.

No list would be complete without the original master of horror Edgar Allan Poe. Of all of his stories his shorts are some of the best; and the ones I always come back to when I really want a good, mind blowing read. The first of these is The Tale Tell Heart; which was originally published in 1843. The story follows an unknown narrator who kills a man with the "vulture eye". During the story the man is clearly trying to convince us of his sanity.  However, it becomes every clear that the man is deeply unstable. The best thing about the story is that its creepy. Every time I read it I imagine the victim in the story looking like Igor from the old black and white Frankstein movie. Another of Poe's stories that will give you a good mystery is The Murders in the Rue Morgue. I first read Rue Morgue my junior year of college in a lit class. What made the story so interesting is that it is considered the first modern detective story; it was published in 1841. The story follows Detective Dupin as he investigates the murder of Madame L'Espanaye and he daughter in the Rue Morgue. I will admit that the story gets a little predictable but; it is an amazing good read. I can't really give you to much information because it would contain lots and lots of spoilers. Another one of my favorites is The Cask Of Amontillado, which was first published in 1846. This one story really inspired me to write horror; I originally encountered it my senior year of high school. What creeps me out about this story is that the narrator, Montresor leads an unknown man into the catacombs under the disguise of a jester. Montresor is seeking revenge for an insult that was suffered at his hand by the victim. I really loved this story because it has a lesson to it. Which is never to get drunk and follow a jester into catacombs because your likely hood of coming out is extremely slim. 

The beauty of reading Edgar Allan Poe today is that a majority of his major works; including these popular shorts are available for download free of charge. You can find these stories at http://www.poemuseum.org/works.php . 

Another master of the short story is Stephen King; who we all know has written some crazy long novels (like Under the Dome; which is a whooping 1074 pages long). Well I suggest going to the library and picking up a copy of Everythings Eventual (it can be purchased on amazon for as little as 7.99$). This book holds one of the scariest stories I have ever read. Which is The Man in the Black Suit. In the story we encounter a kid that falls asleep in the woods while fishing. When he wakes he encounters the Man in the Black suit. The man is described as having claws and burning eyes and smelling of smoke and match heads. Gary believes that he has encountered the devil. What makes this story so creepy is that the kid is scared to death. He really believes that this is the devil and the fear that he encountered follows him into adulthood. I thought this story was scary because its also very realistic. The child is in what he believes to be a safe environment so he falls asleep. Only to find a stranger watching him. Who would not be scared of that? This story gave me nightmares for a few days and its less than 30 pages long. Another story from the same book is Autospy Room Four; the main character in this story is Howard Cottrell, while playing a routine round of golf he ends up being beaten by a snake. The poison actually lowers his heart rate and his breathing and he is assumed to be dead. He only slowly begins to wake up from his paralysed state right before he about to be cut into. If it would not be for a hilarious turn of events Howard would have had an autopsy performed on him while we was still alive. I can't really say the story was creepy but it was hilarious; its just to bad that I can't tell you way because that is a BIG SPOILER. 

Of course the most Classic Ghost story of them all is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; written by Washington Irving and published in 1820. In the past year The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has gotten a lot of attention due to the television show Sleepy Hollow (which Airs on fox). We are all pretty familiar with the story but what makes the story so interesting is that all the happenings in the small glen of Sleepy Hollow; seem to happen to regular old ordinary people. What I find most interesting now is that this story has become such a pop culture phenomenon; sometimes I really wonder what he would think about his story being retold (with some interesting additions) on 21st century television.  You can find a copy of the story online at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41/41-h/41-h.htm .

I really hope that my little list was helpful and that you take some time to track down a few of these stories and read them over the weeks to come. 

Hey ya'll I just got this ARC as an eBook and I will be reading this fall....

New book discovery and just perfect for fall...it's all about a witch ! 

Here is the synopsis:

A sweeping historical romance about a witch who foresees her own murder--and the one boy who can help change her future.

Sixteen-year-old Avery Roe wants only to take her rightful place as the witch of Prince Island, making the charms that keep the island's whalers safe at sea, but her mother has forced her into a magic-free world of proper manners and respectability. When Avery dreams she's to be murdered, she knows time is running out to unlock her magic and save herself.

Avery finds an unexpected ally in a tattooed harpoon boy named Tane--a sailor with magic of his own, who moves Avery in ways she never expected. Becoming a witch might stop her murder and save her island from ruin, but Avery discovers her magic requires a sacrifice she never prepared for.

Happy halloween <3