Happy October! It’s my very favorite month, so I’ll be doing some seasonal things here on the blog to celebrate, including a giveaway (details below)! I plan to share some of my own horror with you guys, including my Halloween story “Jack and the Bad Man” that will be podcasted (audio) at Pseudopod near the end of the month. I might share a poem as well, or some other goody, and I like to wrap up October with a links roundup of all my favorite seasonal/topical posts I find around the web. So if you read anything great, feel free to send it my way!
I’m also trying something new on Twitter. Lately I’ve been irresistibly in the mood for my very favorite author: Edgar Allan Poe. Luckily I have three different copies of his collected work to choose from. 😉 So as I re-read his poems and stories throughout the month, I’ll be tweeting one of my favorite quotes each day under the hashtag #AMonthOfPoe. (I might throw in a few quotes from other authors about Poe, too.) I think it’ll be fun, so make sure you’re following me @AnnieNeugebauer, and by all means feel free to join in with some of your own favorite Poe lines. Be sure to add the hashtag to your tweet so I see it!
“For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee.” — Edgar Allan Poe (What a beautiful use of anapests!)
— Annie Neugebauer (@AnnieNeugebauer) September 25, 2014
Also around teh interwebs this month: the Horror Writers Association (HWA) has launched the “Horror Selfies” campaign in an effort to highlight the exceptional work produced within the horror genre. Horror creators and fans can get involved by submitting a selfie with their own message to help promote the genre. The campaign has already received selfies from the likes of Peter Straub, Aaron Sterns, and Ramsey Campbell. And, yep, you guessed it; yours truly has already sent hers in. You can see my horror selfie here! (I adore the fact that one of my tags is “monster.”)
Last but not least, I’ll be doing a giveaway to celebrate All Hallow’s Read!
What better way to get others into the spirit than by gifting the books that scare me the most? I’ll be giving away one copy each of the collected works of Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King’s The Shining. Are they terribly original picks? No, but they’re classics for a reason; they’re damn scary! And I’m always surprised by how many people haven’t read these. As a bonus, if I get over fifty comments this month (not including my own), I’ll also give away a copy of Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves! It’s a big, beautiful book that changed me, and I would absolutely love to spread the terror. 😉
The Rules
You must comment on one of my blog posts during the month of October to be entered to win. You can be entered once per post (including this one), so if you comment on every post this month you’ll have the best chance to win. To be valid, comments must be made before Halloween day: 11:59pm 10/30/2014 CST. Winners will be selected through a random drawing generator and announced on Halloween. Winners will be able to choose between Poe and King. (If you already own both, don’t worry; we can talk, and I’ll send you one of my other recommendations.) To receive your book, you’ll need to email me your address for shipping. I’m reserving the right to only ship within the US just in case shipping to Timbuktu costs $200, but I’ll ship anywhere that I can within reason. [UPDATE: If you’re too far away to ship to, I will gladly gift you an ebook version if you win.] That’s it! Pretty simple; I just want to share the joy of spooky books.
[Note: If you would like to comment but don’t want to be entered in the giveaway, just drop me a note and I’ll take you out of the drawing.]
By the way, be sure to stop by All Hallow’s Read to watch Neil Gaiman’s silly video and to browse through stars’ scary book recommendations! It’s great fun.
In the meantime, you can get your feet wet by splashing through the Halloween category of all my old blogs. ‘Tis the season!
Happy, happy hauntings to you all. Love,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Mistress of the Macabre ♥
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Such a cool “All Hallow’s Read” graphic! Love your horror selfie (although I must tell you that not looking at least lets me pretend monsters aren’t there…)! Happy favorite month, Annie!!
I love that graphic too! It looks like they have several every year, so that’s fun. And thank you. I know, I know; you like to pretend the monsters aren’t there. I still like you. 😉 Happy non-scary October to you, Julia!
Great horror selfie. Too True!
Thanks, Regina!
Love the selfie! I’m also enjoying the Poe quotes on Twitter. I’ve been thinking of doing a Halloween craft project in which I use a Poe quote within a set of three picture frames linked together (and of course decorated appropriately); any recommendations for the quote?
Thanks Missy! I’m happy to hear it. And oh, what a fun question. 😀 I’m sure I have lots of recommendations, but first can you tell me what type of quote you’re looking for? Spooky, pretty, etc.? I’ll do my best to give you a suggestion!
Definitely something eerie and subtle.
Hmmmm. Well, here’s a few I love, of different lengths:
“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
“And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.”
“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.”
“From childhood’s hour I have not been / As others were—I have not seen / As others saw—I could not bring / My passions from a common spring— / From the same source I have not taken / My sorrow—I could not awaken / My heart to joy at the same tone— /
And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone.”
I hope one of those might work! Good luck; sounds like a fun project.
I had considered the ‘dream within a dream’ when the project first came to my mind. I think I like “Deep into that darkness…” better though. Thanks for your recommendations!
My pleasure! If it turns out well you should send me a picture! 🙂
I’m having trouble finding the right frames – but I still have a couple of weeks. Will send a pic if it isn’t an epic fail. 🙂
Love the selfie, Annie: you look like a Rafael that’s about to sprout fangs.
Haha! Thanks. =)~
Oh my gosh! I just got more and more excited as I read this post. I *LOVE* your horror selfie. I’m going to have to submit one too. And I’m super psyched to be eligible for your giveaway because I’ve never read The Shining. (gasp!)
Gasp, indeed! Well I hope you’re one of the winners, then, because you absolutely need to read that one!! And thank you. I had fun with it. 🙂
Me too *neither?*! And sadly, though I have read much of Poe–certainly not all–I do not own a collected works. 🙁
Well we definitely need to fix that!
I love that this is your favorite time of the year; you manage to get me – a non-spooky and ‘blah during Halloween’ girl – all riled up! Your giveaways sound fabulous. I had to laugh at the ” I would absolutely love to spread the terror” line. So truly Annie! Your selfie is beautiful! Look at your cute self! (Am I correct that you put Jack and The Bad Man online earlier? I recall reading – and loving – it)! So cool that it will be in audio! Happy October!
Getting a non-spook all riled up? Well that’s just the best compliment a girl can hear. 😉 And thank you! I did used to have it; you can still view it in the magazine for free online in a slightly earlier version — with illustrations! http://issuu.com/underneaththejunipertree/docs/octoberissue And I got a sneak peek of the audio reading. Let me tell you, they’ve done a fabulous job! I can hardly wait!!
October is indeed the perfect month for Poe. Your selfie’s lovely, and the comment made me smile – I can just picture a kid in bed with the covers pulled over his head. OK, maybe the kid is ME! lol What an awesome giveaway, but don’t enter me as I live at the end of the world… 😉
Thanks, Lexa! I think we’ve all been that kid before. 🙂 I hate to not enter you! I wonder how much it would be. If you’d like to privately message me your address, I’ll punch it in to see how much it would cost. I get free shipping to lots of places, so you never know!
You’re such a sweetie! But it’s not just the money – Egyptian postal workers can’t resist a package from outside the country. I ordered books from Amazon 2 years ago…and I’m still waiting. Some greedy guy grabbed the package, probably hoping for an iPhone or a tablet he could sell for big bucks. I bet he was mighty disappointed when it turned out to be just books! No foreigners here have things sent to them. They wait till friends are coming from Europe and ask them to bring things. That’s the price of living in a 3rd world country. (I’m not whining. There are plenty of good points too.)
Dang it. Well what about a digital version? Do you have an ereader I could gift it to you on?
Yes, ebooks are welcome! 🙂
Yay! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that sooner. I’m going to update the guidelines in this post to make that an option for people outside the US.
Sounds cool. My mom raves about King every other ten minutes (less, if she’s just finished a book), so I’ve been thinking about picking up a copy of one of his particularly creepy books. (On her recommendation, of course.) In the spirit of the season. 🙂
And I’ve been told the writing style is beautiful, and I’ve been looking for some research (aka good books) for my own writing.
“Less if she’s just finished a book” seriously cracked me up. 🙂 You’re a hoot, Katy! I think everyone should read at least one of King’s classics, if nothing else then just to form their own opinion on one of the most popular authors of our time. Maybe you’ll be drawn. Good luck!
Great Halloween fun! Love your selfie & the Poe graphic!! Your delight in being tagged as “monster” is a teeny bit disturbing:)
Thank you! And yes, I have been known to be a teeny bit disturbing. 😉
First of all, I love love LOVE your Halloween reads shelf! So adorable. And I love the idea of #AMonthofPoe. I will so be participating in that, maybe even submit my own horror selfie. Your’s is awesome. And I can’t wait to HEAR “Jack and the Bad Man”. It is certainly the type of story that should be heard, like most of Poe’s work.
Thank you, thank you! 🙂 You should definitely send in a horror selfie! A lot of people are doing “I’m going to World Horror Con” ones now. Also, if you send it in before Halloween you’re automatically entered to win a whole big bundle of horror novels! And feel free to jump in on #AMonthOfPoe, too. I’d love to see people start using the hashtag!
Oooh! This sounds fun! Count me in. Thanks for the Neil link!
Yay! Check. 🙂
Tis the season indeed. I get to go pick up my copy of The Woman in Black from the library later today. 🙂 The Shining is absolutely the most terrifying book ever written, but The Haunting of Hill House is a close second (for me).
Wow, you just named my two scariest books ever!
Awesome! I can’t wait to hear what you think of that one, Lura! I hope I haven’t led you astray. I agree; The Shining is my #1 scary book of all time. I loved The Haunting of Hill House, but for me that one was less scary and more… I don’t know… just good, I guess. Captivating and well-written and unsettling, but it didn’t push my buttons in quite the same way.
Quality horror selfie, I got a Mona Lisa vibe with the eyes from it. XD We just read the Tell Tale Heart in school and it got me in the Halloween mood, I can’t wait for it!!
Haha, thank you! I absolutely *adore* The Tell-Tale Heart; it’s one of my all-time favorite short stories. 🙂 It sounds like if you win you’ll want a collection of Poe! Happy Halloween!
Love this time of year as well, can’t wait to see what else you post
Yay! Thank you!
Thanks for putting me on to the All Hallow’s Read. I’ve got the perfect book in mind to wrap up in some very scary paper!
My pleasure! I’m happy to spread the word about it. 🙂
I love your selfie! (And spending October in your little corner of teh interwebs.)
Thanks! I’m happy to have you here. Don’t mind the fake cobwebs. 😉
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