Fellow Jerseyites, Philadelphians, and…people who live in Delaware: you should come visit the Collingswood Book Festival this Saturday, 10/11, from 10-4. I will be there selling copies of The End of Summer, as well as The House on Creep Street, the new book I co-authored with my writing partner and fellow chum, Chris Evangelista. If you’re lucky, I’ll let you touch my pumpkin. (Wait till you see it – it rules.) Check out the festival website to learn more about it. According to the Weather Channel, there’s a big fat rain cloud icon scheduled for that day, but here’s hoping the gods of autumn smile upon us all just long enough for the festival to remain outdoors where it belongs.

Join us on Saturday, October 11, 2014, when festival-goers will have an opportunity to stroll more than six blocks of Haddon Avenue [in Collingswood, NJ] filled with nationally recognized authors/speakers for adults and children, as well as booksellers, storytellers, poetry readings, workshops, exhibitors, kid-friendly activities, and entertainment for all ages. This award-winning festival is the longest-running, largest literary event in the Delaware Valley. Remember, all events are free!

Those maniacs over at Fangoria Magazine are running a giveaway on their website for several copies of The End of Summer. If you have yet to nab yourself a copy (Do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry?), now’s your chance to enter and see if you are victorious. The contest ends next Monday, October 13, so don’t miss your chance! Or you could just buy a damn copy. I will sing you more Culture Club.

The wonderful cinephiles over at CutPrintFilm have invited me to start writing film-related columns for them. Given the month, I felt it appropriate that my first contribution be a defense of 1982’s Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, directed by Tommy Lee Wallace and produced by demi-god John Carpenter. Head on over to CutPrintFilm to check it out, and bookmark the site while you’re there – there’s a lot of great film talk going on. I hope to be writing more October-themed columns, so keep an eye out. That and I’ll be plugging them here, anyway, because why not? What else am I doing?

Very excited to announce something quite different coming soon from yours truly and my co-author, Chris Evangelista: The House on Creep Street, an old-school spooky haunted house adventure for young readers that will be available by the end of the month! Click here to read all about it.

Thanks to I Remember Halloween for the very kind and fair review!

A pretty decent portion of The End of Summer: Thirteen Tales of Halloween is available for free sampling via Smashwords, the world’s largest distributor of indie ebooks. And here I thought I was being all cavalier by giving away the first ten pages of “Stingy Jack.” If you’ve been curious about the book but have yet to pull the trigger on it, take advantage of the excerpt that Smashwords has made available and give it a try. We’re rapidly approaching the fall season (said with a grin on my face), so it’s a perfect time to familiarize yourself with all the nightmares, nostalgia, and romance (gross!) that awaits you in The End of Summer.

Southwest Fright and I have partnered for a “Halloween in July” contest, where folks can enter to win a copy of The End of Summer: Thirteen Tales of Halloween. Go here for your chance to enter and win! There are literally thirteen different ways to enter and they’re all ridiculously easy. (And there’s nothing sayin’ you can’t enter thirteen times!) Contest ends 7/31, so get crackin’.

Found this in an old folder of much older writing. Wrote this when I was 12 or so; I’d been reading a lot of EC Comics at that time, so, don’t judge me. Copied/pasted here verbatim, warts and all. Spoiler: It’s terrible. Hope I’ve improved!

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THE PROMISE

“Please put down the gun, please! I’ll give you a divorce, you can have my money, but please, let me-.” A shot fired. Another. Muriel slumped forward and died. I put my gun in my pocket and went to work. I picked up her body and put her in the drivers seat in her car. I had driven her out to the woods to “talk.” I really came out here to get rid of Muriel’s body.

I released the brake and went to the back of the car. I pushed it and I watched it tumble down into the ravine. It was falling for a couple seconds, then it exploded when it hit the ground.

I climbed back in my car and drove back into town. To Beth. To my happy life.

(Read the rest…if you dare.)

The South Jersey Times recently reached out to interview me about The End of Summer. Naturally I was happy to, as it’s always fun to discuss the day of Halloween right smack in the middle of the summer, and it helps that the reporter was a Halloween enthusiast herself. (We’re out there in droves, people – you never know when/where/why one of us might pop up.) You can check out a teaser of the article in the Press Room, or you can read the entire South Jersey Times article here.