Meghan: What is the creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone?
Davide: While I was sleeping in a teepee tent in the monument valley I kept hearing someone thumping at the tent from outside. Every time I went checking outside there was no one. No prints in the sand, nothing. I’m pretty sure it was an unfriendly native American spirit.
Meghan: Which unsolved mystery fascinates you the most?
Davide: The assassination of JFK is probably at the top of the list.
Meghan: What is the spookiest ghost story that you have ever heard?
Meghan: In a zombie apocalypse, what is your weapon of choice?
Davide: Shotgun.
Meghan: Let’s have some fun… Would you rather get bitten by a vampire or a werewolf?
Davide: Vampire
Meghan: Would you rather fight a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion?
Davide: Zombie apocalypse
Meghan: Would you rather drink zombie juice or eat dead bodies from the graveyard?
Davide: Jeez. I’m going to have to go with zombie juice, whatever that is.
Meghan: Would you rather stay at the Poltergeist house or the Amityville house for a week?
Davide: Amityville
Meghan: Would you rather chew on a bitter melon with chilies or maggot-infested cheese?
Davide: Melon.
Meghan: Would you rather drink from a witch’s cauldron or lick cotton candy made of spider webs?
Davide: Drink from the witch’s cauldron.
Boo-graphy: Davide Tarsitano is an author of novels and short stories.
He was born in Italy in 1989. He was raised in Cosenza, a small town in the south, and educated in its public schools. He eventually found his way to University of Calabria and to University of Modena and Reggio Emilia where he graduated, respectively, in Mechanical Engineering and Automotive Engineering. He currently works in the race car industry in North America.
By the time he was fourteen, he had written short stories and a full screenplay of a horror movie, never produced. In the following years his interest broadened towards cosmic horror, science fiction, and dystopian fiction.
He met his wife in 2016 and married her in 2019.
In 2018 he started to write his first horror novel, The Tooth Fairy, which represents his debut as an author.
Johnny Hawk is a successful entrepreneur in the tech field, escaping from his former life after an utter breakdown. During his trip across the country, his route crosses with Wendy Jag, a beautiful woman who works as a dentist in New Mexico.
As the attraction between the two lost souls escalates furiously, they engage in a passionate and daring physical affair. For the first time in a while Johnny finds some peace and hope for the future.
But he cannot imagine that behind those innocent and deep eyes Wendy is a profoundly disturbed woman, tormented by the demons of her past: a childhood made of abuses, losses and nightmares filled with darkness. As Wendy’s feelings for Johnny grow stronger, the fight inside Wendy’s chaotic subconscious begins.
The Tooth Fairy, a dormant and malevolent side of her personality is reawakening, silently awaiting…to take over.
NOTE FROM AUTHOR: “This is a relatively clean section from last year’s Halloween story. Despite the title, it is rather juvenile and has the teenage boy appeal. If I had print copies, I wouldn’t sell to anyone below 15, possibly 13 with parent permission. The full version is available here. It is somewhat based on Cinderella. In this case, Cinderella is a lad named Trevor and the two step sisters are ugly and mean stepbrothers. And the prince is the don’s daughter. The Ball is a 1980s themed Halloween Ball.”
THE MIDNIGHT PUMPKIN FUCKER By Dani “The Queen of Filth” Brown
He counted the stairs on the way down. There was a light but he didn’t trust it not to shine out of the square in the floor and alert his stepbrothers if they came stumbling home early. Another door waited at the bottom of the stairs. Once inside he pushed dirty linen against the crack at the bottom and pulled down an old blanket he kept hanging over the entire doorframe before he switched on the lights.
He was lucky. The root cellar was equipped with a dimmer switch as if someone foresaw that Trevor would only find peace down here when the house was hooked up to the mains.
He learned to move silently through the secret passageways and servant quarters over the years. His hearing was sharp to pick up any changes within the house. If he stood in the passage running along side his stepmother’s bedroom he’d be able to tell when she entered a deep sleep from the drunken stupor by the rhythm of her snores.
The distant relations that set up this root cellar thought of a lot of things beyond a dimmer switch. It was like they could see into the future and knew.
The familiar ritual tools were set up just how he left them (and how the generations before him left them, Trevor always made sure he put them back in the same place). His ancestors must have used a crystal ball but he found no evidence of one in the passages. The pentagram carved into the floor more indicated a direct line to Satan himself, but Trevor never considered this.
He placed the jar of Marmite on the black alter. The same skull that was always there grinned beneath the thin layer of dust. He used to clean down here but no longer had the energy, as his stepfamily became more demanding. Either Satan himself would come and claim it or Trevor could scoop it out with his fingers later and enjoy pure Marmite without his stepbrother’s spunk for once. After his expired chocolate feast, Trevor wasn’t hungry.
Tickle Me Elmo stared from the corner. His mother gave it to him. No matter how much he meditated on what his father told him of the moment, he didn’t remember. Trevor memories of Tickle Me Elmo stretch to the doll always being by his side, until Frances moved in with her rotten sons.
His stepbrothers found it amusing to take it from him one day for circuit bending. Frances slapped Trevor in front of his father for telling her that they took away his Tickle Me Elmo. She was his mother now and he needed to share. Poor Nigel and Tom never had nice things.
Social media loved Tickle Me Elmo’s surgery. Nigel sat on his lap while Tom held his eyes open to make him watch the video. Trevor was forced to read them the comments.
After a few days, the batteries died and they grew bored. Trevor rescued Tickle Me Elmo and brought the toy into his refuge. He didn’t dare try to fix the wiring and restore it to its former glory.
The damn thing sounded possessed now. If his stepbrothers were smarter they would have taken off the head, sealed up the stitching and forced it to rotate on a metal rod. Trevor lit the black candles on each point of the pentagram. As he bent down the ad for the Fairytale Halloween Ball poked him in the balls. He took it out of his underwear and looked at it.
The ad said everyone within a fifty-mile radius must attend. He re-read the same line dozens of times. There was no way he couldn’t attend. The mafia knew of Trevor’s existence. His father had dealings with them. Pleasant dealings as far as Trevor remembers.
Everyone knew the mafia owned the nightclub and every other nightclub and bar. They owned over half the restaurants too.
You don’t disobey the mafia. Not even Frances was dumb enough to disobey direct orders from the mob. She knew better. Even her sons knew better. They skated the boundaries and struggled to understand where those boundaries lie but once the goons took notice of their bum pinching, they knew to back off and go home. It was one of the few times the police didn’t bring them home.
He had better find something suitable to wear. Showing up in rags would be just as disrespectful as not attending.
He left the ad on the alter, propped up against the smiling skull. He had a feeling that face belonged to a real human once. It wasn’t his parents. They were both still alive when he first found the root cellar.
He saved some of his father’s old things, but they were in a different secret passage. His father was a much smaller man than he was. Frances still put up a front of appearing normal with a normal diet before his father disappeared. She cooked three meals per day and all of them were healthy. Pudding only happened on a Sunday.
Besides, the Halloween Ball had an 80s fancy dress theme. His father may have lived through the 80s but his fashion sense was much better than that. Trevor recalled a time before Frances weaselled her way into their lives watching TV with his father and his father wanted nothing more than to cut off all the mullets.
A tunnel connected the old root cellar to the rest of the passages and hidden rooms. The candles blew out when he left. Tickle Me Elmo’s eyes started to glow. His stepbrothers never did fit the toy with a rod to turn its head, but Elmo’s head turned to watch Trevor.
He looked back over his shoulder. In all his years of devil worship, that never happened. The candles stayed lit and Elmo never moved. He more lit them out of habit than worship.
He didn’t have the faintest clue of what he was doing. He never found any books on Witchcraft, Satanic or otherwise, in the passageways to explain things. A lot of the estate remained unexplored. Trevor was aware of loose floorboards, both down here and throughout the lived-in part of the house. Sometimes he found strange items underneath them. Like that time he found a doll covered in dusty leather. Her eyes had been stuffed with straw and a linen gagged rotted over her mouth. He left her where he found her.
The passages were long and winding, circling around every room in the giant house. Cold and warm drafts met around sharp corners. Lights flickered but the only switch he ever used was the dimmer in the root cellar. He was surprised his stepmother never noticed the missing two feet between each wall or how hollow they were when she stumbled against them in a drunken stupor.
When he reached his stepmother’s suite he heard the computer blaring. Some televangelist-cum-internet conspiracy theorist was bellowing on about something. He sucked in his gut and pushed his ear against the wall to her bedroom. He had no reason to pull in his stomach but did so as a matter of habit.
From the sounds of the frantic screaming coming from the computer speakers she dived deep looking for hidden meanings in music videos. She just needed someone with a loud and brass accent to point out all the Illuminati symbolism. Of course her and her fellow Tin Foil Hat Society posted everything they found on each other’s social media accounts.
Boo-graphy: Suitably labelled “The Queen of Filth”, extremist author Dani Brown’s style of dark and twisted writing and deeply disturbing stories has amassed a worrying sized cult following featuring horrifying tales such as Ghetto Super Skank, Becoming, 56 Seconds, Sparky the Spunky Robot, and the hugely popular Ketamine Addicted Pandas. Merging eroticism with horror, torture and other areas that most authors wouldn’t dare, each of Dani’s titles will crawl under your skin, burrow inside you, and make you question why you are coming back for more.
Jo-Jo needs attention from online lovers. Her baby cries from the box room. Her baby is sick. The online lovers shower her with sympathy and their bank account details. Old Woman Mabel downstairs doesn’t like the sound of the baby crying. She bangs on her ceiling with her broom handle. Comforting the baby takes Jo-Jo away from her computer screen.
Meghan: Hey Dani… or should I say Queenie? Welcome to Meghan’s HAUNTED House of Books. I’ve honestly never had a Queen on the blog yet… especially a Queen of Filth. Thanks for joining in this year’s frivolities. What is your favorite part of Halloween?
Dani: Halloween in the United States and Halloween in the UK are two very different things. I lived in America from about the age of 3 until I was 16. I did have a last Halloween in America when I was 16. I went trick or treating with my friends. Americans go all out for Halloween with the decorations. I was too young for the American parties unless it involved a keg in the woods. When I was growing up, I was looking forward to the parties and nightclubs I was too young to attend. But the parties never happened and I’ve been to one club on Halloween (it wasn’t that exciting).
I know there’s parties about and clubs put on a theme night, but before having my son my mother wouldn’t let me leave the house or do anything a functional person might wish to do (society over here, instead of telling someone who had a traumatic experience, like my mother’s entire time spent living in the USA that it is over now and offering help to move past it, instead encourages people who have experienced trauma to never heal, so any time I went for help for her, it was always, ‘your mother had a rough time blah blah blah’ and of course, society likes to write off the children of these people regardless of whether we ended up traumatised by our experiences).
Then I had my son. I was sick after having him so I don’t think I dressed him up and took him trick or treating until his third Halloween. I don’t even think I had the energy for pumpkin carving before then (unknown post natal infection, lots of tests, lots of anti-biotics, virals and fungals but no diagnosis, I eventually mostly recovered). Children over here go as something scary instead of the latest Disney Princess or whatever comic book character. I would dress him up and take him trick or treating, but not as many homes hand out sweets as they do in America. I did find a cute pumpkin costume for him one year though. And a lot of British children aren’t allowed to ‘go begging at people’s door steps’ as some parents say. My son is too old for Halloween now. And unfortunately, he doesn’t really like it apart from the bucket of sweets and chocolates I buy for him (in one of those plastic pumpkin buckets).
These days, I usually carve a pumpkin and hand out sweets. I don’t really do much in terms of decorations, but that’s more to do with lacking in the time and energy. If I had the energy levels required, I would love to go to a themed night at a club now that some legal changes over here mean I’m away from miserable people. And a haunted hayride (I think we have those over here).
Meghan: Do you get scared easily?
Dani: I’m squeamish, but I don’t scare easily. I’m not keen on jump scares but that’s more to do with the people mentioned above who don’t want you to move on from your bad experiences (they’re more vocal than ever in using something bad that happened to you once, happened through no fault of your own and using that experience to define who you are) giving me a pretty nasty case of PTSD (please note, the PTSD is literally from dealing with people who decided to create every obstacle imaginable because all their books and websites said someone who went through what I did should be traumatised, it wasn’t the traumatic experiences of my childhood and very early adulthood, when my mother’s mental health took a worse turn, but the people claiming they were ‘helping’ who gave me the PTSD). I had to watch The Haunting of Hill House with the lights on and in short segments despite really enjoying it because the jump scares were pushing my physical responses to the point my body wouldn’t be able to handle it. But that applied to one of the Harry Potter films as well so it isn’t restricted to things traditionally seen as horror.
Meghan: What is the scariest movie you’ve ever seen and why?
Dani: This is easy to answer, The Wizard of Oz. My American grandmother put it on one Thanksgiving as a treat and I’ve had nightmares about it since. I didn’t like that pink dress worn by the ‘Good Witch’. All of Munchkin Land was like what I would later describe as a bad trip. Even before Dorothy crash-landed her house on whatever Wicked Witch, her neighbour was horrible. I haven’t watched that horrible film since. But I did watch it in its entirety when I was a child, and the entire thing was unpleasant. I haven’t read the books and I think I’m going to have to give Wicked a miss. I have not put on the film for my son. I still can’t decide if I’m more frightened of the Good Witch, the Lion or the Flying Monkeys.
Meghan: Which horror movie murder did you find the most disturbing?
Dani: I’m not too sure. They kinda blurred together years ago, especially with the extreme stuff. Murder in itself is disturbing, so I guess they’re all pretty disturbing but you aren’t watching horror films for a happy ending or no bloodshed.
Meghan: Is there a horror movie you refused to watch because the commercials scared you too much?
Dani: I’ve refused to watch Human Centipede. I’m too squeamish for that one, although I don’t think I’ve seen any advertising for that or any of the squeals. It obviously sunk into popular culture rather well. It seems everyone has seen it, except for me and I will keep it that way.
Meghan: If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?
Dani: I would go with Scream. I had this horrible boyfriend in my late teens and early twenties who would call films like Scream ‘mainstream Hollywood slashers’ in the most derogatory way imaginable (but of course, the very violent Japanese films were apparently works of art). But Scream for me, was the horror franchise of my youth. I think I was 12, maybe 13 when the first one came out, so prime age for the beginning of a horror franchise. I saw the first few at the cinema. It is just one of those special things from childhood. Plus, Ghostface isn’t the brightest of killers, so I think I would make it out alive.
Meghan: If you were stuck as the protagonist in any horror movie, which would you choose?
Dani: I’m not really sure. After getting away from my mother, I had to deal with people similar to her and then a society that did not want me to move on with my life, so I would say my life has played out like a horror movie until some legal changes took place in this country (and post pandemic, people that way inclined have shown that they want things to return to when there was a ‘pecking order’ and get back to bullying people who experienced adverse events that were beyond their control). Life in the United States is still that same horror movie for me though. Unfortunately, you can’t dissociate real life in the same way you can a film when the end credits roll and you are getting up from your seat.
Meghan: What is your all-time favorite scary monster or creature of the night?
Dani: I’ve never really thought about this. Does El Chupacabras count? It is more of a cryptozoology thing, but ever since I first heard the legend, I found them fascinating.
Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween tradition?
Dani: Probably more of a harvest thing than a Halloween thing, but I like what the American’s call ‘candy apples’ or what we call ‘toffee apples’. They’re available over here for the entire month of October. Unfortunately my expensive dental work doesn’t like them as much so I try to ration myself.
Meghan: What is your favorite horror or Halloween-themed song?
Dani: This is a tricky one. When you listen to Skinny Puppy, it is impossible to answer unless you move away from Skinny Puppy (this is really like asking what is your favourite Skinny Puppy song and you just can’t decide). So I guess, let’s pretend Skinny Puppy don’t exist and hop on over to a dark sci-fi theme and go with Gary Numan’s Down in the Park. I can pick a Gary Numan song that stands above the rest, but I can’t do it with Skinny Puppy. And obviously, there’s a lot of songs out there with darker and horror themes.
Meghan: Which horror novel unsettled you the most?
Dani: This honour goes to Adam Neville with No One Gets Out Alive. This influenced my own writing as well. But it was very unsettling to read. The sheer length of it ensured it took about a week so I was with that book for a week and it became creepier and weirder. I imagine him sitting there laughing when he came up with Black Maggie but I found her terrifying.
A close second goes to Clive Barker and his hybrid filmstar-exotic animal creatures in Coldheart Canyon. The creatures weren’t created in a lab but through sex. That was a bit unsettling. In fact, the way Barker takes the outright disgusting and distasteful and turns it into something weird and beautiful is unsettling and it is something he has done repeatedly through his career.
And these are my two most favourite books.
Meghan: What is the creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone?
Dani: One of my childhood friends lived in a real life haunted house and sometimes in our teens, I’d stay with him overnight (needed a break from the family). I’ve seen some strange shit in that house when everyone else was asleep. His mother said they had exorcisms on it, but they obviously weren’t very effective. They eventually sold it when I was in my early 20s. But before it was sold, every night something would happen and sometimes I would be alone, sometimes not. I suppose you just became used to it, ‘oh that’s just the spirits’.
Meghan: Which unsolved mystery fascinates you the most?
Dani: This isn’t something that has been on my mind since I was very little. I guess I used to like the Bermuda Triangle. I don’t know if science ever explained that. When you grow and get saddled with a bunch of responsibilities at too young of an age, you don’t really have time for unsolved mysteries.
Meghan: What is the spookiest ghost story that you have ever heard?
Dani: I spent my formative years in New England. Those aren’t stories. It really is like that and everything is haunted. When I went back to my homeland, I thought it would be more haunted here, because you hear about the English stories growing up in America, but it was nothing like living in New England. I’ve heard so many it is hard to pick a favourite and at some point they all blur together. And when they aren’t really stories because everything and everywhere where you spent your formative years is haunted, I think I’ll go with something real life.
I suppose the spookiest experience I ever had was checking the travel reports before a day trip into London (this was when I lived down south, London is a bit difficult, although can be done on a day trip from Liverpool). I swear I saw that there were numerous problems on the Underground and decided against travelling to London on that particular day. We went to Oxford instead (this was when my mother would let me out every now and again, before her mental health really declined – I was allowed a boyfriend, but not allowed friends, minus letters sent back and forth to my childhood friends – this day trip was planned with the awful boyfriend mentioned above). A few hours later, I had a phone call from my mother asking where I was and I told her ‘Oxford’. And she replied, ‘there’s been some explosions reported on the Underground’. Turns out it was the 07/07 bombings. There also weren’t any reported problems on the Underground that morning. I imagined there were, or maybe it was foresight. It took a few weeks for how spooky that was to really sink in. I still swear it was reported on the BBC 24 hours news channel that morning that there were problems on the Underground. We didn’t go to London that day because of me watching the travel reports, which apparently didn’t exist in the way I saw them.
Meghan: In a zombie apocalypse, what is your weapon of choice?
Dani: I would probably improvise and pick whatever is closest to me, it is the English way.
Meghan: Let’s have some fun… Would you rather get bitten by a vampire or a werewolf?
Dani: I like sleeping in the day, but also really like undercooked meat. I think I’d probably go with vampire, they have some table manners and are a bit more refined than a werewolf. I just wish there was some meaty texture to all that blood, like a blue or raw steak.
Meghan: Would you rather fight a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion?
Dani: I’m going with zombie apocalypse. Their brains have decayed a bit, plus you know what you are up against so have a better chance than fighting the unknown. Not to mention, the aliens would need advanced technology to make it to an outside arm of the galaxy regardless of where they’re coming from, so they would obviously be much smarter than us.
Meghan: Would you rather drink zombie juice or eat dead bodies from the graveyard?
Dani: This is absolutely disgusting, not to mention that embalming fluid is pretty toxic for consumption and if the body is fresh enough to be eaten, there’s still going to be a lot of embalming fluid in it, so I’m going with the zombie juice. Besides, I’m sure someone somewhere has invented something with a high alcohol content and dry ice and called it zombie juice.
Meghan: Would you rather stay at the Poltergeist house or the Amityville house for a week?
Dani: I don’t recall watching either of these films, although I probably have seen both at some point, so I can’t pick. They’re probably as bad as each other, and possibly as bad as the house my friend lived in growing up.
Meghan: Would you rather chew on a bitter melon with chilies or maggot-infested cheese?
Dani: I know some people like maggots jumping out of their cheese, but ewww that is disgusting. I’m going to have to pick bitter melon with chilies. I like chilies. A strong enough chili will override the bitterness of the melon and please note, I drink absinthe and regular gin – neither are known for their sweetness.
Meghan: Would you rather drink from a witch’s cauldron or lick cotton candy made of spider webs?
Dani: You don’t really know what it is that witch’s cauldron, but the spiders are known. However, I check my bananas to ensure there’s no spiders or cocaine in them, or worse, coked-up spiders and I’m pretty sure someone has invented a highly alcoholic drink also with dry ice like the zombie juice, shoved it into a plastic cauldron and called it ‘the witch’s cauldron’ so it’ll be witch’s cauldron.
Boo-graphy: Suitably labelled “The Queen of Filth”, extremist author Dani Brown’s style of dark and twisted writing and deeply disturbing stories has amassed a worrying sized cult following featuring horrifying tales such as Ghetto Super Skank, Becoming, 56 Seconds, Sparky the Spunky Robot, and the hugely popular Ketamine Addicted Pandas. Merging eroticism with horror, torture and other areas that most authors wouldn’t dare, each of Dani’s titles will crawl under your skin, burrow inside you, and make you question why you are coming back for more.
Jo-Jo needs attention from online lovers. Her baby cries from the box room. Her baby is sick. The online lovers shower her with sympathy and their bank account details. Old Woman Mabel downstairs doesn’t like the sound of the baby crying. She bangs on her ceiling with her broom handle. Comforting the baby takes Jo-Jo away from her computer screen.
Four children learn the origins of Halloween customs while trying to save the life of their friend.
Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays.
These days I love decorating, getting dressed up and giving out sweets to the small monsters that come to my door.
When I was little, I loved going Trick-or-Treating, but I also loved making my own costumes, reading scary books (Goosebumps were a favorite) and watching spooky films.
My absolute favorite of these was The Halloween Tree, and it’s this film that I want to talk to you about today.
Beware spoilers below.
The Halloween Tree was released in 1993 on ABC before being released on VHS and making its way across the pond to the UK where I found it on the shelf of my local rental store. It is based on the 1972 book of the same name by Ray Bradbury and while there are some changes, mostly the animated film stays true to the book.
Ray Bradbury voices the narrator and the film even boasts voice talents of Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Moundshroud.
Plot Summary The film opens with the narrator describing a small towns Halloween preparation and we meet our main characters, Jenny, Ralph, Wally and Tom. The small group plan to meet their friend Joe (known as Pip). But when they go to meet him at his house, they see him being loaded into an ambulance, the poor lad has appendicitis.
They decide to visit him at the hospital and take a shortcut through the woods but they see a ghost-like vision of Pip running away from them and are convinced this whole thing is a hoax. They follow Pip all the way into a spooky mansion.
Inside the mansion they meet Mr. Moundshroud who is saddened by the fact that none of the children understand the deeper meaning behind their respective costumes, mummy, witch, monster and skeleton. He also reveals that Pip has pinched a pumpkin with his face carved into it from Mr. Moundshroud’s tree of jack-o-lanterns and Mr. Moundshroud is now pursuing him.
Tom begs for the group to be allowed to go with Mr. Moundshroud to retrieve Pip’s ghost. They are initially refused but eventually the old man relents and the group is challenged to retrieve the pumpkin and learn about their costumes in order to get Pip back.
The group goes on marvelous adventures to ancient Egypt, Stonehenge, Notre Dame Cathedral and lastly, Mexico to witness Día De Los Muertos. During these adventures the group comes within a hair’s breath of catching Pip but he always escapes until Tom finds him in Mexico and apologizes. Tom had wished for something bad to happen to Pip so he could be in charge of the group for once, Pip forgives him but crumbles to dust.
Mr. Moundshroud announces the children failed and Pip now belongs to him. But each of the children offer up a year of their lives to Mr. Moundshroud in exchange for Pip, Mr. Moundshroud agrees and they seal the contract with candy. The children are returned home and see Pip has come home from the hospital.
The film ends with Mr. Moundshroud and the jack-o-lantern tree turning to smoke, all except Pip’s pumpkin which his friends rescued with their sacrifice.
My Thoughts This was a favorite of mine when I was young and even as an adult, I enjoy watching it. I feel films like this paved the way for other stories such as Over the Garden Wall which is wonderfully creepy.
This is a classic horror story, with very real stakes and very real consequences for our characters. But it also has real heart, and shows a strength of friendship and love that resonates with us even as adults. All of Pip’s friends care about him so deeply that they are willing to exchange their own mortal time to keep him alive and safe.
It is also delightfully informative without feeling like you’re being lectured at. It exposed my young and infinitely curious mind to a whole host of cultures, history and information I would have otherwise been ignorant to.
Overall, this is a classic movie with well-established stakes, highly motivated and compelling characters, told with heart and style. A must see for small and big kids alike.
Boo-graphy: Katie Marie is a horror enthusiast and writer from Norfolk, England.
She has been published in several anthologies and magazines, and her Novella, A Man in Winter, was recently released by Brigids Gate Press.
Katie started writing while studying at Aberystwyth University in the early 2000’s and several years later she has received a Masters Degree and published many short stories, a novel and novella.
Arthur, whose life was devastated by the brutal murder of his wife, must come to terms with his diagnosis of dementia. He moves into a new home at a retirement community, and shortly after, has his life turned upside down again when his wife’s ghost visits him and sends him on a quest to find her killer so her spirit can move on. With his family and his doctor concerned that his dementia is advancing, will he be able to solve the murder before his independence is permanently restricted?
A Man in Winter examines the horrors of isolation, dementia, loss, and the ghosts that come back to haunt us.
Meghan: Hey, Katie! Welcome to Meghan’s HAUNTED House of Books. It is so nice to have you here today. What is YOUR favorite part of Halloween?
Katie: I love Halloween, it’s really difficult to pick a favorite part! I love so much about the holiday, I love decorating the house, I love the events around Halloween, especially the rise (at least in the UK) of live action events with actors, etc. I love the excuse to eat too much sugar and to dress up.
But if I had to pick a favorite thing, it would be the coziness. I love spending Halloween night curled up on the sofa in some kind of cozy costume (I was a shark last year) with my partner, the lights down low, lots of tasty snacks, the cats curled up dozing and something blood curdling on the TV. The only interruption being the doorbell every so often as we’re invaded by tiny monsters come to partake of our snacks.
Meghan: Do you get scared easily?
Katie: This entirely depends.
I’m unbothered by hyper violence, I very much enjoy a good psychological horror but rarely find them overly frightening but when it comes to certain types of horror, I’m a bit of a wimp. I suppose supernatural horror is most likely to scare me.
So, if you show me people being scary, I’m less likely to be bothered, show me something inhuman and I scare easily.
Meghan: What is the scariest movie you’ve ever seen and why?
Katie: I found the movie Paranormal Activity (the first one) terrifying. The idea of something threatening being in the house but you couldn’t perceive it. You couldn’t see, smell or touch it but it could touch you and had malicious intent. Burrrr. The level of vulnerability I felt for the characters really got under my skin.
Meghan: Which horror movie murder did you find the most disturbing?
Katie: The ending of Eden Lake. I was cheering for Jenny and when she got away from the woods and you thought she was out of danger only for that to happen to her… ugh, makes my skin want to crawl off and hide.
Meghan: Is there a horror movie you refused to watch because the commercials scared you too much?
Katie: Can’t say there ever was, the more freaked out I am by a trailer the more likely I’m going to want to see the film.
Meghan: If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?
Katie: It’s not a movie but I’d choose the Netflix Haunting of Hill House Series. I’d totally fix up a super Haunted House that eats people.
Meghan: If you were stuck as the protagonist in any horror movie, which would you choose?
Katie: I’d be Tree Gelbman from Happy Death Day, hunting a murderer in a ground hog day like scenario. Each day full of new opportunities to kick the villains head in.
Meghan: What is your all-time favorite scary monster or creature of the night?
Katie: Probably a ghost.
I love the mystery element behind most ghost stories, I also feel most afraid when I can’t see or touch the threat but I can see or touch me. Most of my favorite horror films are ghost stories. Ever since I was young and watched the Lady in White a 1988 horror film about the murder of a young girl.
Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween tradition?
Katie: Decorating the house with all the spooky decorations. I put my decorations up probably a week earlier than I should and even then, it’s only through epic self-control that keeps me waiting that long. I love making my house look like somewhere Winifred, Sarah, and Mary from Hocus Pocus would feel at home.
Meghan: What is your favorite horror or Halloween-themed song?
Meghan: Which horror novel unsettled you the most?
Katie: When I was young my mum used to read to me before I went to bed. Sometimes she would make up stories, sometimes she’d read children books and fairytales to me. Then one day she came into my bedroom with a copy of The Thief of Always by Clive Barker.
It was my first experience of horror and I remember feeling super unsettled but also utterly captivated. I was gutted when the book finished and went on my own little crusade to find horror books that my mum would let me read.
Even now when I occasionally re-read this book, I feel the way I did when I was little.
Meghan: What is the creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone?
Katie: My partner and I were on our first holiday together. We went to Boscastle in Cornwall, an absolutely beautiful village in a glorious part of the country. We stayed in an old fisherman’s cottage down in the harbor. One evening I was upstairs, in the bedroom, faffing about while my partner was downstairs. I heard the tap in the bathroom turn on.
This tap was the kind where to turn the water on you lift a lever and to turn it off you push the lever down. So, it turning itself on was bloody odd. I went and turned it off. I went back into the bedroom and continued my faffing. The tap turned itself back on.
This happened multiple times during the holiday, I’d wake up during the night to the sound of water running. It got to the point where I just left it alone. If spooky ghosts want to wash their hands, who was I to stop them.
Meghan: Which unsolved mystery fascinates you the most?
Katie: Oh, this is an easy one, mass disappearances.
The Roman 9th Legion, Aztalan Indians, Moche Civilization, ghost ships, there’s too many to list. But cases where large numbers of people vanish up in smoke. Usually suddenly.
If you enjoy those kinds of mysteries as well, I would recommend the book and film Phantoms by Dean Koontz, the video game Man of Medan and the very recent film directed by Jordan Peele, Nope.
Meghan: What is the spookiest ghost story that you have ever heard?
Katie: I love Creepy Pasta for this kind of thing. It’s impossible to name just one, but the No Sleep Podcast and Reddit pages are an absolute goldmine for great ghost stories.
Meghan: In a zombie apocalypse, what is your weapon of choice?
Katie: I really struggle with this.
A shotgun would be great but bullets are not infinite. So, some kind of melee weapon, maybe an axe, something heavy and weighted because I’m not particularly strong so if I need something to give weight to my attacks.
The downside with a melee weapon is that I’m also pretty short and I don’t have much in the way of reach.
So, with that in mind, I’d probably go with my car. My car is big, heavy and I can squish things with it with very little effort on my part. If I had unlimited resources I’d trip my car out with window armor, big spikes and junk. I’d probably also have an axe and a shot gun on the passenger seat.
Meghan: Okay, let’s have some fun… Would you rather get bitten by a vampire or a werewolf? Katie: Vampire. I don’t need fleas on top of everything else. Also, I’m pale and have red hair so I’m used to avoiding the sun. Meghan: Would you rather fight a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion? Katie: Zombies, aliens would be smarter than me. Zombies I think I’d be on a more even keel with. Meghan: Would you rather drink zombie juice or eat dead bodies from the graveyard? Katie: Grim. I guess eat dead bodies, provided they’ve not been embalmed cause that’s toxic. Meghan: Would you rather stay at the Poltergeist house or the Amityville house for a week? Katie: Poltergeist house, it was a great film with a strong sequel. Though I’d get annoyed that the ghosties like moving my furniture. I’m particular about things being tidy. Meghan: Would you rather chew on a bitter melon with chilies or maggot-infested cheese? Katie: I’m intolerant of spicy food, it literally makes me sick. Whereas I like cheese, so I guess I’m eating maggots. Meghan: Would you rather drink from a witch’s cauldron or lick cotton candy made of spider webs? Katie: I’ll have the witches brew please, hopefully she’s put some kind of adult beverage in there.
Boo-graphy: Katie Marie is a horror enthusiast and writer from Norfolk, England.
She has been published in several anthologies and magazines, and her Novella, A Man in Winter, was recently released by Brigids Gate Press.
Katie started writing while studying for her Law Degree at Aberystwyth University in the early 2000’s and several years and stories later she received her Masters Degree and published her first novel.
Arthur, whose life was devastated by the brutal murder of his wife, must come to terms with his diagnosis of dementia. He moves into a new home at a retirement community, and shortly after, has his life turned upside down again when his wife’s ghost visits him and sends him on a quest to find her killer so her spirit can move on. With his family and his doctor concerned that his dementia is advancing, will he be able to solve the murder before his independence is permanently restricted?
A Man in Winter examines the horrors of isolation, dementia, loss, and the ghosts that come back to haunt us.
Meghan's House of Books 