Days of the Dead: My Perfect Halloween

My Perfect Halloween by Gail Z. Martin

I really love Halloween. Guess that’s not a surprise since I write about necromancers and dark magic, ghosts, monsters and things that go bump in the night. Halloween is my second favorite holiday, after Christmas. Always has been, still is.

As far as the ‘perfect’ Halloween goes, I’ve had several different types over the years. When I was a kid, I loved looking forward to getting my costume and going around the neighborhood. I always tried to fancy-up my boxed costume with individual touches. Everyone always knew it was me, anyhow. Where I’m from, it’s cold in late October, so the costume had to work over top of a winter coat, which definitely cut down the options.

When my kids were little, the neighborhood we lived in did Halloween in a big way. It was just three streets, and everyone knew each other, so taking the kids around was a social events for the grown-ups. We all caught up on the news with each other while the kids rang doorbells. One of the dads came out in a headless horseman costume after we were all making our way around and snuck up on us. Got a few screams on that one!

Once my kids were pre-teens, taking them to the Halloween fest at the big local amusement park was fun. I was just the driver, but I loved the elaborate sets, the creepy fog, and the eerie music. I didn’t expect to get dragged through the dark mazes and funhouses as their bodyguard! I learned one thing—never jump out at the quiet girl. She acted on instinct and had a great right hook, decking one of the costumed characters!

Now my kids just raid the candy before the doorbell rings and go back to playing video games, or they’re off at college (where Halloween is a whole different kind of party) or busy adulting. I have my special Halloween sweater, socks and t-shirt that I wear when I give out candy, we still decorate the house rather elaborately inside and out, and I get a kick out of seeing the neighbor kids’ costumes. Some years, we’ve even played Midnight Syndicate’s uber-scary soundtracks through external speakers. Yeah, we’re ‘those’ neighbors. Then I’m happy to sit down with a glass of wine and either a spooky movie or TV show or book, just to stay in the spirit of things!

My Days of the Dead blog tour runs through October 31 with brand new excerpts from upcoming books and recent short stories, interviews, guest blog posts, giveaways and more! Plus, I’ll be including extra excerpt links for my stories and for books by author friends of mine. You’ve got to visit the participating sites to get the goodies, just like Trick or Treat! 

Details here:  http://bit.ly/2eC2pxP

Let me give a shout-out for #HoldOnToTheLight--100+ Sci-Fi/Fantasy authors blogging about their personal struggles with depression, PTSD, anxiety, suicide and self-harm, candid posts by some of your favorite authors on how mental health issues have impacted their lives and books. Read the stories, share the stories, change a life. Find out more at www.HoldOnToTheLight.com

Book swag is the new Trick-or-Treat! All of my guest blog posts have links to free excerpts—grab them all!

Trick or Treat! Excerpt from my urban fantasy novel Vendetta set in my Deadly Curiosities world here http://bit.ly/1ZXCPVS

Steampunk Treats! Enjoy an excerpt from Iron & Blood here http://bit.ly/1GAvGOc

Bonus Treats! Excerpts from two haunted novellas on Wattpad—my Deadly Curiosities tale The Final Death http://w.tt/1jsKqLL & our Steampunk story Grave Voices http://w.tt/1kapSrn set in the world of Iron & Blood

Halloween Loot! An excerpt from Jennifer Estep http://www.jenniferestep.com/short-stories/short-stories/

Spooky Good Treats! Read an excerpt from Faith Hunter’s Blood of the Earth http://www.faithhunter.net/wp/2015/10/05/snippet-from-blood-of-the-earth/

About the Author

Gail Z. Martin is the author of Vendetta: A Deadly Curiosities Novel in her urban fantasy series set in Charleston, SC (Solaris Books); Shadow and Flame the fourth and final book in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books); The Shadowed Path (Solaris Books) and Iron and Blood a new Steampunk series (Solaris Books) co-authored with Larry N. Martin. A brand new epic fantasy series debuts from Solaris Books in 2017.

She is also author of Ice Forged, Reign of Ash and War of Shadows in The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, The Chronicles of The Necromancer series (The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven, Dark Lady’s Chosen); The Fallen Kings Cycle (The Sworn, The Dread) and the urban fantasy novel Deadly Curiosities.  Gail writes three ebook series: The Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures, The Deadly Curiosities Adventures and The Blaine McFadden Adventures. The Storm and Fury Adventures, steampunk stories set in the Iron & Blood world, are co-authored with Larry N. Martin.

Find her at www.GailZMartin.com, on Twitter @GailZMartin, on Facebook.com/WinterKingdoms, at DisquietingVisions.com blog and GhostInTheMachinePodcast.com, on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/GailZMartin and  free excerpts on Wattpad http://wattpad.com/GailZMartin.