Book Spooks: Thank You

In one minute, it will be November. Halloween will be over. Book Spooks will be, too.

The winners of the giveaways will be announced soon!

However, I just wanted to give a shout out to all of these AMAZING people for donating books and swag to giveaway and working with me on making Book Spooks awesome. I feel like sometimes people do events and people who helped don't get the credit they deserve. I don't want that to happen to Book Spooks.

So here it is.

Thank you to Allison, Alex, JP, Enna, Harmony, Nyxen, Erica, Carol, Candace, Michelle and Leslie for helping me with some of the events, particularly the treasure hunt and Author Halloween Love!

A special thank you to Lesley, who not only helped me host both of those events, but came up with the idea for the treasure hunt - and many of the riddles as well!

Thank you to Pam from Bookalicio.us, who wrote a fantastic guest post!

Thank you to all of the authors who participated in Author Halloween Love or did and interview with me or wrote a guest post or offered their picture for Costume Madness: Tonya Hurley, Andrea Cremer, Dianne Salerni, Sherri Browning Erwin, Hilary Wagner, Tricia Rayburn, Shari Maurer, L.M. Preston, Laura Preble, Siobhan Vivian, Melissa Walker, Lisa Mantchev, Heidi R. Kling, Gail Carriger, Christine Johnson, Inara Scott, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Artist Arthur, Kate Kaynak, Shannon Delany, Lynn Messina, Ben Winters, Mara Purnhagen, and Michaela MacColl.

Thank you to the authors who donated their own books or swag: Hilary Wagner, Christine Johnson, Kate Kaynak, Shannon Delany, Lynn Messina, Ben Winters, and Wayne Josephson.

Thanks to the following publicists & publishers for donating books and swag: Phenix & Phenix's Megan Renart, Blue Slip Media's Barbara Fisch and Sarah Shealy, Big Honcho Media's Chelsy Hall, Penguin's Sara Zick, Meryl L. Moss Media Relations's Erin McNichols, Simon & Schuster's Venessa Williams and Colin Riley, HarlequinTeen's Natashya Wilson, and the lovely people of HarperTeen's Twitter account.

Thanks to Lara Starr for not only donating books and swag to giveaway, but for giving us a peek into Chronicle's Halloween time fun!


And most of all, thanks to everybody who participated and made it a SUCCESS!

Would you like to see this again next year?

Costume Madness

The best part of Halloween isn't the handing out of candy, or the spiritual connotations, or the scary stories. No. The best part is, without a doubt, dressing up.

This year, a group of my friends are going as Sweeney Todd characters - I'm going as Crazy Lucy! But what about authors, hmm? Do THEY enjoy dressing up?

Here's some authors who love dressing up - and some pictures to go with it. Hope everybody has a happy Halloween, and don't forget to enter the half dozen giveaways that end today! Feel free to post pics of you in your costume in the comments.

Gail Carriger
Author of the Parasol Protectorate series

I love dressing up for Halloween so much, I decided one year never to stop. Sadly, I seem to have applied the same policy to my candy consumption.

Heidi R. Kling
Author of Sea

My favorite part of Halloween is the costumes! I used to work at a costume shop and directed theatre for years. Halloween is huge in our family. Did you see the picture I posted on my blog of my Mummy Queen costume? This year I'm going to be Sue Sylvester from Glee. Work out suit with pearls. Oh yeah, babeee!

Lisa Mantchev
Author of the Theatre Illuminata series

Most kids are going for the candy, but Halloween always was and always will be about the costumes!

I started thinking/dreaming/planning out my costume months in advance. It usually started with a trip to the local fabric store and a long, leisurely browse through the pattern books. (Ask my husband... I can spend as much time looking at sewing patterns--despite NOT KNOWING HOW TO SEW--as I can at browsing through a bookstore!) Then came the excitement of choosing fabric and lace and ribbons and buttons. Accessories. Make-up. The entire package.

Now that I'm an "adult," Halloween is still about dressing up, and the best part is getting to pass along my excitement to my own daughter. I see the same glow in her face when she goes through the dress-up trunk, when she starts to ponder the possibilities. Now we're expecting her little brother, and her plans for Halloween are to be "a princess, and he can be the Fwog (sic.)"

Melissa Walker
Author of the Violet series

My favorite part of Halloween is being able to look fabulous in a weird way... a way that would draw the wrong kind of stares on any other night. Case in point: A costume I wore a few years ago that I called "distraught prom queen." I streaked my mascara, painted on bright red lips, tilted a tiara and borrowed a crazy yellow prom dress from the magazine I was working for (just for the night!) and people kept asking me if it was couture. It wasn't. But I felt amazing.

Pamela Keyes
Author of The Jumbee

Halloween has always been my favorite time of the year. One of my best friends owns a local shop in Tucson called Creative Costumes, and I’ve spent countless hours over the years helping her with photo shoots while trying to find the perfect disguise. (See me below as a glamour girl, a flapper, a sexy witch, a purple-haired wizard, a fifties hair model, and a tavern wench.)

So, of course, when I saw the Phantom of the Opera a few years ago, I immediately fell in love with the main character – the spookiest, yet most sympathetic phantom I have ever met. Shortly after that, I was lucky enough to move to the Caribbean. The moment I heard my first legend of a jumbee (a West Indian ghost who wants to steal your soul), I knew what I had to do. What better combination than a jumbee teamed with the most famous phantom in the world? When writing my young adult romantic thriller THE JUMBEE, I tried to create a spooky fusion of West Indian legends and Shakespeare, told through the classic plot of Phantom of the Opera. Laced with eerie mystery and the seductive scenery of the West lndies, this new Phantom is perfect for readers who like their love stories served with spine-tingling suspense.

What are YOU dressing up as?

Happy Halloween, all. Once the winners are announced, Book Spooks 2010 will be over. What did you think?

Spellapalooza

We see many of these on Halloween - little girls running around in bubbly Glinda-esque dresses and tiaras, boys with scars drawn on their forehead and a wand in their hand, and teens with witch hats plopped onto their head.

Witches and wizards are as much a part of Halloween as the vampires and werewolves and other paranormal creatures, if not more so. They come from a background steeped in hangings and hunts (Salem Witch Trials, anybody?) and have been embraced in the book community as a steady source of very well written books.

Don't believe me? I mean, LOOK at this list.

Harry Potter series
J.K. Rowling

For it's at Hogwarts that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him... if Harry can survive the encounter.

These are the books that really had us - or, at least, me - fall in love with magic. I mean, you can't beat them - or the multitude of Halloween costumes they offer. (I'm THIS close to going as Luna Lovegood this year. Or Draco Malfoy from A Very Potter Musical. It's fifty-fifty.)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Frank L. Baum

Dorothy, together with her companions the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and the cowardly Lion, makes her journey along the Yellow Brick Road in search of the wonderful wizard.

"I'll get you, my pretty - and your little dog, too!" It's the classic book that inspired the movie we all know and love. How many people do you see dressed as Glinda and Dorothy and the Wicked Witch around Halloween? A LOT, that's how many.

Wicked: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch of the West
Gregory Maguire

And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

I'm Team Elphaba - you have the Wizard of Oz and the other half, Wicked, which is just as freaking awesome. And if you're a Broadway fan, you never see The Wicked Witch when you see the little green skinned girls running around, asking for candy. You see Elphaba.

The Warrior Heir
Cinda Williams Chima

At the head of this magical society sit the feuding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, whose power is determined by playing The Game - a magical tournament in which each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the death.

My co-reviewer Liz LOVED this book, and from the summary, I can see why. It sounds like a magical version of The Hunger Games, set in an alternate universe - and we all know how kick ass that can be. Plus, this combines two fantastic parts of Halloween - magic and warriors.

The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis

Four adventurers step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia - a land enslaved by the power of the White Witch.

It's a classic fantasy that has the best book-to-movie adaption ever, in my humble opinion. It's got feisty magical creatures, feisty humans, and a feisty Lion. Oh, and one helluva evil witch. What's not to love?



And there are so many other books with fantastic witches and wizards. I mean, just LOOK at this list! (Clicking will bring you to the Goodreads page to read more.)



What's YOUR favorite magic book? Do you have a favorite witch?

Spookworthy Places (& Book Excerpt)

Random Magic is a book that's both dark and light - there's a lot of comedy and fun and sunshine, and a vast amount of silliness - but there are quite a few encounters with creepy things, people and places. It's Halloween, a celebration of all things eerie.

Don't believe me? Read this excerpt from Random Magic. Perhaps you've been invited to a lovely house party in a wonderful stately home - and perhaps this is what happened...next:

There couldn't possibly exist a more pleasant spot in the entire world. Not possibly. Watercolor painting in the garden? But of course. The lady of the house is in ecstasies over the proposal. So charming. Yes, it will be arranged at once, for tomorrow afternoon, when the light is best...

All, one decides in satisfaction, is well with the world. London and all her annoyances seem a million miles away, and that's all to the good.

Then night falls.

And one begins to realize that the confining stone walls of Castle Marlybone contain somewhat more than immediately meets the eye: All those attics. Gloomy hallways. Secret doors and unexpected dungeons. Moats, crypts, and spectral visits from irritating fellows popping through walls.

As the late midsummer evening winds along towards midnight, the goings-on in the castle become admittedly...strange.

Doomed nuns rise from musty oubliettes to walk the shadow-limned porticos with the waning moon, preceded by the rustle of invisible skirts. There are black dogs on the moors, big as bears, eyes like plates, that big around, and fellow dinner guests who vanish with the foie gras.

There are whispering teacups on the sideboard, unseen hands snuffling up the best hors d'oeuvres, and the appalling laughter in one's bedchamber of dissolute firstborns who've invariably snuffed it under 'mysterious circumstances.'

The crammed-in houseful of unwary guests are treated to ghastly shrieks at midnight and faces in mirrors which don't, alas, belong to them, levitating books, and amorphous balls of light flitting through the shrubbery...

Doors slam in deserted wings...and drowsy sleepers are forced to listen for hours on end to irksome commentary from feckless nincompoops who died for love...

Through it all, grey ladies whom everyone likes to pretend aren't really there pop up and down the stairs at odd hours, vanishing at inconvenient moments, so that one doesn't know at all where one is.

Every last bit of it is patently endured, in the name of keeping up appearances...until one is joined unexpectedly in the bathtub by a skeleton wearing nothing but a smile and a top hat.

The violet-scented guest soap is abandoned mid-lather. The luggage is left behind, to be sent for next season, if ever...One flees back to the embrace of ordinary, overcrowded London, sends for the family doctor and takes to bed for a month, sleeps with the lights on and jumps at every sound...

And, so, now you know what to expect when Lord and Lady Mucklewater invite you 'round for crumpets and tea at Castle Greylaudanum. Things are nearly never what they seem to be, and often a great deal worse.

Alas, Witherspoon Manse wasn't that sort of castle. It was rather more mundane than all that. Which made it all the more shocking, in the end.

Creepy castles are just some of the places visited in Random Magic. Here's the book trailer, if you'd like to know about other stops that Henry and heroine Winnie make on their journey:







Spookworthy Places: They're Out There
There's an enduring fascination with haunted places, in nearly every culture. It's hard to explain just why people are fascinated by legendary haunted mansions, towers and hotels, but if you're fascinated by creepy places, here are three famous - or infamous - haunts:

The Tower of London (London, UK)
The Tower of London is one of the most well-known historical buildings in the world. It's also, reputedly, one of the most haunted.

One of the Tower's most famous resident ghosts is the unfortunate Anne Boleyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII - he had her beheaded in 1536, on a scaffold near the Tower. Spooky sightings of Anne were reported for years afterwards, and she was generally recognized because of a unique feature - she was often seen carrying her head around, tucked away neatly under her arm.

Berry Pomeroy Castle (Berry Pomeroy, near Totnes, UK)
This Tudor mansion has two resident ghosts: the White Lady and the Blue Lady.

The White Lady is allegedly the spirit of Lady Margaret Pomeroy. She's usually spotted at St. Margaret’s Tower, dressed from head to toe in white. Visitors who've encountered the apparition reported feelings of great sadness, rather than fear.

The Blue Lady roams the entire castle and tries to trick unwary visitors to follow her into the darker, more ruined or disused parts of the castle. It would probably be a bad idea for anyone to follow this mischievous tour guide.

The Stanley Hotel (Estes Park, Colorado, U.S.)
Author Stephen King was staying at the 138-room hotel for Halloween (Oct. 31), in 1974. The hotel was about to close for the off-season, and King and his wife Tabitha were the only guests in the hotel. They ate dinner alone, in an immense - and totally empty dining room.

'Except for our table, all the chairs were up on the tables,' King later recounted. 'So...music is echoing down the hall, and, I mean, it was like God had put me there to hear that and see those things. And by the time I went to bed that night, I had the whole book in my mind.'

The book he mentions is The Shining, set on the grounds of, yes, a big, creepy hotel during the off-season. The room that Stephen King and his wife checked into was Room 217, which was reportedly haunted.

The trouble with the Stanley Hotel is that it's not just one room that's haunted - it's the entire place! Hotel staff have overheard huge parties going on in the ballroom, only to check it out and find it empty. Hotel guests have reported hearing music coming from a piano in the ballroom - with no piano player to be found.

The U.S. Syfy channel sent a team to the hotel, to film for their program, 'Ghost Hunters.' So, did they scare away all the ghosts by finding likely explanations for all the spooky events at the hotel? Well, yes. And no.

The team of paranormal investigators assigned to the case were able to find rational reasons for some sounds - the echoes of the wind, or faulty plumbing. Unfortunately, they weren't able to explain the sounds of ghostly children running and laughing, a cupboard that opened by itself, or a table that suddenly leapt two feet into the air while they were standing nearby.

And the ballroom? They actually couldn't find a rational explanation for the music or the parties, either. Party on, departed hotel guests. Party on...

Can't get enough classic haunts? Here are some more spooky places:

Real Haunted Places
Six Creepy Castles
The World's Most Haunted Places (video)

Final Fridays - Tony Hurley

How could I possibly pick one Halloween worthy author for the Final Fridays interview, especially since we've had so many awesome authors contributing over the past few days?

Easy - just pick the one that reminds you of Halloween as soon as you look at the book!

Tonya Hurley is the author of the amazing ghostgirl series. If you haven't checked it out, read the summary for the first book and check out the trailer (spoiler free!) for the third one in the series.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake.

Charlotte Usher feels practically invisible at school, and then one day she really is invisible. Even worse: she's dead. And all because she choked on a gummy bear. But being dead doesn't stop Charlotte from wanting to be popular; it just makes her more creative about achieving her goal.

If you thought high school was a matter of life or death, wait till you see just how true that is. In this satirical, yet heartfelt novel, Hurley explores the invisibility we all feel at some times and the lengths we'll go to be seen.

And you know the drill - click Read More to get the full, Halloween inspired, ghost filled interview!

Coffins 'n Things ('n Giveaway)

This giveaway is over.



Welcome to Coffins 'n Things, the store for all your vampire needs. May I take your order?

There are PLENTY of reasons vampires tie into Halloween. I mean, one of the first classic horror tales was a vampire novel - Dracula! And it's inspired so many others, from the glittery ones that shall not be named to my absolute favorite, Vampire Academy, and more.

And there are plenty of reasons vampires are so popular these days. Take what Regina Jeffers has to say, for example. She's the author of The Scandal of Lady Eleanor and the vampire mashup Vampire Darcy's Desire.

For the popular teenage market, vampirism fills the hole left in the fantasy fiction of the Harry Potter series. Our recent vampires are less of a monster than those of previous generations. They exhibit self-control and compassion, and they are more sympathetic to humans. Vampire literature is popular for our young people because vampires retain youth and beauty forever, because they are the eternal "bad" boys, and because contemporary vampires are about desire. They are the only compelling modern day romance because there are no longer impediments to marriage such as we saw in the 1800s.

I wouldn't go quite as far to say they're the only compelling modern day romance, but they do make a great story!

Check out a few vampire books here, and then enter to win Crusade by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie as well as two other paranormal novels as well! After all - we all need something to read, and the more fangs, the better!

Vampire Academy
by Richelle Mead

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them.

Why: It's my favorite, that's why! Oh, and it's got some kick ass heroines and some really sexy men.

Blue Bloods
by Melissa de la Cruz

Schuyler is a loner...and happy that way. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a popular girl from her school is found dead...

Why: Because it's original, has a really sexy guy, and has a bunch of interesting twists.

Vampire Diaries
by L.J. Smith

Elena Gilbert is used to getting what she wants and she wants mysterious new boy, Stefan. But Stefan is hiding a deadly secret - a secret that will change Elena's life for ever

Why: It's the first YA vampire novel, at least that I know of, and it has some very smexy male vampires. (Sense a trend here? Yum.)

Evermore
by Alyson Noel

Damen is equal parts light and darkness, and he belongs to an enchanted new world where no one ever dies.

Why: It's a fantastically created world!



The Morganville Vampires
by Rachel Caine

Her new roommates don't show many signs of life, but they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood.

Why: It's freaking awesome. Just trust me. (Warning: The books end with cliffhangers. All of them. It's infuriating.)

Dead Until Dark
by Charlaine Harris

When she meets Bill, Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's the type of guy she's waited for all of her life, but he has a disability, too--he's a vampire with a bad reputation.

Why: It's a fantastic world, with fantastic characters, which has inspired a fantastic TV show. (True Blood, anybody!?)

Intertwined
by Gena Showalter

Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own and a vampire princess Aden can’t resist

Why: It's the only vampire book that my sister will read! And it hosts a whole bunch of characters, all of them interesting and entertaining.


And now onto the giveaway! You have the chance to win Intertwined in the treasure hunt, but if you are not so lucky, you have the chance to win three more books here! Check them out below.

Quick Recap:
[1] The Hollow by Jessica Verday
[1] The Fallen by Thomas Sniegowski
[1] Crusade by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
[1] winner in the U.S. only
ends on Halloween

How To Win:
[mandatory] fill out the form below

What is YOUR favorite vampire novel? Why?

Guest Post: Angels & Demons (& Giveaway)

This giveaway is over.




Without further ado to you, I present Pam from Bookalicio.us!

I am an avid reader of several genres. All around Girl Geek and blogger extraordinaire. I like to video blog and enjoy discussing books of any genre.

Angels and Demons By Me, Not Dan Brown (My Way Is Better)
Angels and demons populate YA bookshelves today. There are angels who want to be a little bad, demons who strive to be at least a little good. There are races of half angels who roam the biggest cities in search of demons to kill. We are apparently obsessed with the fantastical, the crude and the good. The proverbial bad and ugly. Let’s take a look at some books that combine all of our delicate obsessions but be warned, this list is not for the faint of heart and can be a tad bit spoilery.

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz combines angels and demons in a very unique way. You see Melissa’s vampires are both angels and demons. They have fallen from heaven during Lucifer’s hissy fit and are stuck reincarnating on earth for, well only god knows how many lifetimes. Somewhere around the Blue Blood’s 16th birthday they remember their true identity, which angel they really are and what past lives they have lived. When one girl is told she isn’t a reincarnating being and no one knows what she is, the product of her mother and a dalliance with a human and she may be the only thing that can stop the silver bloods the race to battle Lucifer and his blue blood drinking crews arses out of extinction is on! This has to be one of my very most favorite angel, & demon books.

Bartimaeus Trilogy: Calling forth a demon when you are a wizard is such a cliché and really, we have to think about the morals of said djinni caller. This trilogy will be hitting the theatres soon! Expect Brit government, Djinn’s gone bad, Golems and many more fantastical demons and angel beings around. For one I am glad that young Nathaniel is there to save the human world from these beasts.

How about a little book trailer action? What happens when loving an Angel creates hell on Earth?

Jennifer Laurens: Heavenly


Becca Fitzpatrick: Hush, Hush




Thanks for stopping by, Pam! And now, a GIVEAWAY. Oh, yes. You see, I have a copy of the very popular Hush, Hush up for giveaway, as well as it's sequel Crescendo!

Here's the deal. There's one winner in the U.S. or Canada only, to one of you super special book peeps, with a couple of different ways to get extra entries. And here... we... go.

Quick Recap:
[1] copy of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
[1] copy of Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
[1] winner in the U.S. & Canada only
ends October 31

How To Win:
[mandatory] fill out the form below
[+2] comment on this post with your favorite angel/demon book
[+2] follow Pam on Twitter (@bookaliciouspam)