Dracula in a Comedy Vein by Charles E. Butler/Final Day of Halloween Giveaways

Okay guys and ghouls!  The big day is finally here.  I want to thank all those who have stopped by to support the authors and enter the giveaways!  If you haven't entered, you have to 11 p.m. EST. Links are at the end of the post!  

Dracula - In a Comedy Vein!

By Charles E. Butler

First, I would like to thank Denise for asking me to write something for her blog. As my fanaticism is very limited, I find it harder to actually think what more to write about the canny Count? I thought that I would concentrate here on the movies that lean towards humour as opposed to the regular blood-letting. Nosferatu (1921) is a movie that is very, very dark. There are only a few shots of the monster, Graf Orlok, that survived the match that destroyed the original negatives way back in 1929. Played today, they take up around all of fifteen minutes. Although the film is my favourite vampire movie, it is creaky today and does send itself up for unintentional laughter. I would love an aspiring film maker to blend those snippets of film to happy music in the way Walt Disney did in the forties and fifties on his celebrated wildlife shorts. Max Schreck, bopping with his coffin under his arm, dancing to the strains of ‘grab your partners’,  is a surreal image that I just have to see…one day!

Now, more serious work.

Dracula was first parodied internationally in the  ground-breaking movie, Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein (1948), directed by Charles Barton for Universal. Fans queued around the block in England to see the new dynamic duo, advertised as A&C meet the Ghosts! The film itself had been assembled as straight horror with the title, The Brain of Frankenstein, but the studio’s new discovery had to be unleashed. As Lugosi pats Costello on the head - ‘What we need today, is young blood…and brains!’, his comic turn literally brought the house down. It is perhaps the last time that Lugosi was taken seriously in a movie. He would continue in comedy both intentional and unintentional, in such fare as Old Mother Riley meets The Vampire (1952) and Spooks Run Wild! Not forgetting of course, the very dire contributions of Edward D Wood Jr.

Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein had touched an impressive nerve and Lugosi gives his best performance as Dracula in Clown white make up and satin cape. The perfect straight-man foil for the bungling boys from burlesque. The comedy set a standard that would be repeated often in films like Fright Night (1985) and The Monster Squad (1987), in which Duncan Regehr’s very serious Count is laid out with garlic pizza! At the end of this scale is the bullseye from Stan Dragoti. Love At First bite (1979), is a wacky metaphor on urban life in Los Angeles, as the Count is ejected from his ancestral home by jack-booted authoritarians who want to turn the Castle into a training facility for the Country’s gymnastic prospects. When Dracula romances a hopeless nymphomaniac, he easily drags us into his broken world better than any of the serious ‘lost love’ movies that would follow, whilst still keeping his power and his dignity. Christopher Lee stressed that, ‘You may laugh at things in the film, but you never laugh at Dracula!’ All the above movies adhere to this quote.

“Oy, vey! Have you got the wrong Vampire!?” Alfie Bass shirks the crucifix with this quote in the biggest cult vampire movie, The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). Directed by Roman Polanski, this schizoid addition to the myth hangs on a knife thread as many set pieces leave us wondering whether to be horrified, or to laugh out loud! He makes many nods to Stoker and previous vampire classics, and I got the impression that, although the film was heartfelt, he wasn’t totally at ease with the material and had his name taken from the credits when producer, Martin Ransohoff, re cut and re-edited his opus. It was Polanski’s version - titled, Dance of the Vampires - that gave the picture the adulation that it holds amongst fans today. A more notable movie of this period is the excellent Harvey Kurtzman brainchild, Mad Monster Party (1967), that has Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Creature From the black lagoon, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Invisble Man and Baron Boris Von Frankenstein on its roster of famous fright figures. Topping it all off with a guest spot by It, a sculpted Claymation mannekin of King Kong!

Christopher Lee himself, although he hated making many of his Dracula movies, has never laughed at his most famous creation. In 1959, he did a comedy titled Tempi Duri Per I VampireUncle Was A Vampire/Hard Times For A Vampire. In this Italian production, Lee was Baron Rodrigo who returns from the grave to bite his aristocratic cousin, Renato Rascel. Rascel begins imitating Bela Lugosi with fangs and indulging in some serious slapstick comedy. Lee’s next comedy vampire movie is the fabled Dracula, pere et fils/Dracula, Father and Son (1977), in which, despite the title, he is actually called Le Prince Des Tenebrae, a peri-wigged throwback of French Aristocracy.  Directed by La Cage Aux Folles Edouard Molinaro, it is the deplorably dubbed USA cut that announces Count Dracula as the real villain. The French release is a very amusing whimsical fantasy with Les Prince letting nagging brides walk into the sunlight without warning them first.

Throughout the 70s - who can forget David Niven as Dracula in the terrible Vampira/Old Dracula? Or Ferdy Mayne losing his trousers in The Vampire Happening?- and 80s, many movies touched on the vampire as straight comedy material such as Saturday the 14^th , with husband and wife team Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss living in a house over-run by ghosts and vampires. Teen Vamp and Once bitten were very dire teen nerd comedies of the worst order. It is also hard to believe that Nicolas Cage was playing it straight in the oddball, Vampire’s Kiss. When Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula held a thousand unintentional laughs, it is no wonder that Mel Brooks found it a hard movie to send up. Winning the day as Van Helsing in the acting stakes, Brooks peppered his screenplay with some great one-liners, “Yes, we have Nosferatu! We have Nosferatu today!” Leslie Nielsen’s fatherly approach to everyone’s favourite Count wins simply because Nielsen is always amusing and watchable. The film itself finds very few things to laugh at.

As my typing commences, the cinema is opening its doors for the eagerly awaited Hotel Transylvania starring irritable slapstick comedian Adam Sandler as the voice of Count Dracula. As the film is lovingly animated in the The Incredibles mold, I can see a sure fire winner at the box office!

Charles E. Butler resides in the UK and is the author of The Romance of Dracula.  You can follow Charles and chat about the Count at this Facebook page: Count Dracula

Okay, kiddos!  Here are the links to all the Halloween Goodies!  It's easy as pumpkin pie to enter.  You just need to leave comments at the various posts or enter the Rafflecopters (for my Bitten By Books Giveaway and B.K. Walker's Halloween Basket. (These are run separately and have different rules so please check).  Leave a comment here for Charles and you'll be entered to win one of the five copies of Annals of the Immortyls I'm giving away!

Good Luck!

Halloween Giveaway Links

Paperback, The Hallowed Ones Laura Bickle 

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/laura-bickle-on-fear-of-unseenhalloween.html

Paperback book from Katrina Michaels and ebook of Annals of the Immortyls: http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/spotlight-on-tainted-blood-by-katrina.html

Paperback book from Lee Taylor: http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/lee-taylor-on-halloweenpaperback.html

Ebooks by Vanessa Morgan: 

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/vanessa-morgan-talks-about-scary.html

Ebook from Katie Salidas:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/sexy-cedric-interviews-fallon-from.html

Ebook from Roy Hudson:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/roy-hudson.html

Two Paperbacks from A. J. Scudiere:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/author-j-scudiere-on-darkside.html

B. K. Walker Halloween Gift Basket Rafflecopter:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/b-k-walker-halloween-gift-basket.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Halloween Giveaways Galore!/Review of Tainted Blood by Katrina Michaels

Welcome!  We are just two days away from Halloween and all the giveaway drawings! If you haven't yet entered, at the end of this post will be links.  All you need do is comment on the posts, or enter the Rafflecopters.

Tonight, I'll be live at Edin Road Radio Halloween Spooktacular, talking about Annals of the Immortyls and Servant of the Goddess and doing a short reading.

Tomorrow, I have the author of The Romance of Dracula, Charles E. Butler, who will blog on the Comic Side of the Count.

A very big thanks to all those who came over to Bitten By Books yesterday, and welcome to those who just joined me from that event!  You can still enter and read the interview with Cedric.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tainted Blood by Katrina Michaels 

Review

Tainted blood is the third in the Preternatural Investigation Agency series by Katrina Michaels.  The story finds Tom Duncan and his agents, preparing to celebrate Lilith’s Day, a day of celebration among vampires.  Holiday plans are upset by a slew of grisly, mysterious deaths, and the PIA is drawn into the investigation.  Finding a clear motive for what appears to be murder by poisoning is difficult, and a possible connection between vampire blood products and these deaths ignites conflict between humans and vampires. Meanwhile, a dangerous psychopath is on the loose and the stakes are rising.

Tainted Blood is a quick and enjoyable read for those who enjoy paranormal mysteries.  The old gang is back and there are lots of thrills, chills and surprises.  If you’re looking for a fun read for Halloween, with mystery, a colorful cast of supernatural characters and a healthy dose of mayhem, you should check out Tainted Blood.

The first two books in the series are Midnight Reflections and Dead Awakening.

You can enter to win a paperback copy of Tainted blood, by following the link below.  Don't forget to enter all nine giveaways!

Halloween Giveaway Links

Paperback, The Hallowed Ones Laura Bickle 

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/laura-bickle-on-fear-of-unseenhalloween.html

Paperback book from Katrina Michaels and ebook of Annals of the Immortyls: http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/spotlight-on-tainted-blood-by-katrina.html

Paperback book from Lee Taylor: http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/lee-taylor-on-halloweenpaperback.html

Ebooks by Vanessa Morgan: 

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/vanessa-morgan-talks-about-scary.html

Ebook from Katie Salidas:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/sexy-cedric-interviews-fallon-from.html

Ebook from Roy Hudson:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/roy-hudson.html

Two Paperbacks from A. J. Scudiere:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/author-j-scudiere-on-darkside.html

B. K. Walker Halloween Gift Basket Rafflecopter:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/b-k-walker-halloween-gift-basket.html

Spotlight on Tainted Blood by Katrina Michaels and 8 Super Halloween Giveaways!

Today, the spotlight is on a new vampire novel by Katrina Michaels!  I will be posting my review on 10/30/12.  

Giveaways: At the end of the post there are links for 6 active Halloween Giveaways.  Leave a comment here and be entered to win a paperback copy (USA residents only) or one of five e-copies of Annals of the Immortyls (Open to any commenter).

Here is a little about Tainted Blood:

Tainted Blood by Katrina Michaels

Lilith's Day is a time of celebration and remembrance among vampires.  As the holiday looms, a series of horrific deaths shocks the vampire community of Riverside and gathers the attention of Tom Duncan and his agents at the Preternatural Investigation Agency.   The vampires’ blood products had never been considered vulnerable to tampering, so when the cause of death points to poisoning, everyone is shocked.  Finding the culprit amidst unknown motives, numerous suspects, and rising tension between vampires and humans proves to be complicated.

At the same time, Agent Max Boyd finds herself having to face her past when a dangerous thief makes his presence known in Riverside.  Reliving mistakes you tried to put behind you is never easy, as Max well knows, but when the thief puts her friend's life in danger, that is exactly what she must do.

Excerpt: Marco Delant broke away from chatting with some of his regulars and continued making the rounds of his club.  It was a Friday night and the after work crowd was piling into Tombstone looking for colorful drinks and meaningless conversation.  He passed by the bar and nodded to his newest bartender.  Lucas returned the favor before turning his attention back to the ladies placing their orders.  He smiled wide, allowing his fangs to show, and smirked as the ladies giggled predictably.

It had come as no surprise to Marco that Tombstone’s patrons had become accustomed to having a vampire behind the bar.  When Tara quit, it was mentioned frequently by his customers.  Being able to take some not so subtle hints, he began searching for a new preternatural bartender, but found it harder than he thought it would be.  His first two hires didn’t work out very well.  The first told him that Tombstone’s music was too loud and distasteful and the second preferred to glare at anyone within two feet rather than serve them.  However, Lucas was fitting in nicely so maybe his luck was changing.

“Lilith’s Day is approaching and the moon is shining bright,” Jackson intoned after sidling silently up next to Marco.  “It may seem quiet, but it won’t last.”

“Then I guess I’ll appreciate the quiet for as long I can,” Marco smiled, humoring the eccentric vampire, sometimes also called a Bela, as they preferred to emulate the old-fashioned movie vampire stereotype.

Jackson took a delicate sip of the blood from his wine glass as he considered Marco’s words.  “Very true,” he agreed.  “But I prefer chaos to quiet.  Silence can easily be destroyed by a mere whisper, but nothing can end chaos.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Please do.  Oh, my compliments.  It is a lovely vintage tonight,” the vampire smiled, rolling the blood in the glass.  He took another long swallow before turning back into the crowd as his black cape fluttered dramatically with each stride.

Out of all the types of vampires Marco had met, Belas were certainly some of the oddest.  At least they were taking inspiration from Bela Lugosi and not the actual Vlad the Impaler and so were mostly harmless. 

Marco dismissed Jackson’s words as mere theatrics and continued to survey the crowd.  Satisfied that everyone was happy and that everything was operating smoothly, he disappeared into his office to catch up on paperwork.  He hadn’t been sitting at his desk for more than a half an hour, though, before the screams started.

The first one caught him by surprise and he knocked his glass of water to the floor.  The shattering glass stole his attention briefly, but more voices joined in the high-pitched clamor emanating from the club.  Marco ran out of his office and tried to pinpoint the source of the disturbance.  People were scrambling away from a darkened corner of the club, but others were pointing behind the bar in horror. 

“Spencer!  What’s going on?” Marco shouted to a nearby bouncer. 

“I think Lucas is sick,” the bouncer replied nervously.  Everyone knew that vampires didn’t get sick.

“What?  Okay, check to see what’s happening over there and I’ll see to Lucas.  And try to keep people calm,” Marco ordered and pointed to the other focus of the ruckus.

Marco hurried over to the bar, pushing people out of the way gently until he could see his bartender.  The vampire was on his knees vomiting blood onto the floor.  “Lucas!” Marco cried and jumped over the bar.  “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t know,” he gasped in between heaves.  “Hurts!”

“What hurts?” Marco asked and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and dialed 911.  He quickly gave the operator Tombstone’s address and let her know that the emergency involved a vampire.  “Lucas, what hurts?” he asked again after he disconnected.

“Throat.  Blood’s burning,” Lucas rasped and managed to look up at Marco who swallowed hard.  The vampire’s lips were turning black and cracked.  He had never seen anything like it. 

Lucas heaved and blackened blood erupted from his mouth onto the floor.  As he coughed out more blood, Marco could see open oozing blisters in his mouth.  The vampire started to scream as black lines began spreading out across his face and down his neck.  It took Marco a second to realize that the lines were actually veins.

“Marco!” Spencer yelled.  “It’s one of the customers.  A vampire.  He’s throwing up blood.  He looks real bad!”

“Oh my God!  Help!  He’s dying!” a woman screamed from the other corner where Marco could see that another crowd had gathered.

“What the hell is going on?” Marco breathed and looked around the club, seeking some sort of answer, and saw Jackson sitting quietly in one of the chairs near the back.  The vampire noticed his gaze and raised his glass in a mock salute to the sudden chaos.

Don't forget to leave a comment at this post to be entered into the drawing for Tainted Blood (USA) and Annals of the Immortyls (Anyone).  

Here are the 6 other active giveaways.  Just leave a comment after the posts to enter, except on 
B. K. Walker's post, where there is a Rafflecopter. 

Paperback book from Lee Taylor:http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/lee-taylor-on-halloweenpaperback.html

Ebooks by Vanessa Morgan:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/vanessa-morgan-talks-about-scary.html

Ebook from Katie Salidas:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/sexy-cedric-interviews-fallon-from.html

Ebook from Roy Hudson:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/roy-hudson.html

Two Paperbacks from A. J. Scudiere:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/author-j-scudiere-on-darkside.html

B. K. Walker Halloween Gift Basket:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/b-k-walker-halloween-gift-basket.html

A Druid's Perspective on Halloween: Donald Kirby on The Wild Hunt/ Seven Super Giveaways

Welcome back to all! Today, I'm pleased to welcome a fellow writer from my critique group, the North Columbus Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers, Donald Kirby.  I asked him to share some of his wealth of knowledge and tell us about the origins of Halloween. 

Giveaways: At the end of the post I've included links to all 7 active giveaways!  In addition, anyone who comments on this post will be entered to win one of five copies of Annals of the Immortyls in ebook. Check back later this week to enter some more!

The Wild Hunt

A different perspective

by 

Donald Kirby

First, I am writing this on the fly, so forgive my brevity. The original article I wrote was ruined by a rather nasty virus on my computer. Second, I have no degree in history nor anthropology so I am not including foot-notes (it would take to darn long to find my books, the pages etc. I am a writer with a full time-plus job, and thus have other deadlines).  But these matters do rise in my own faith, my being a modern Druid. As we joke amongst ourselves, “Druidry is a religion with homework”.

The Wild Hunt. Speak those words to a reader of fantasy, and images of a dark, vast horde ridding skeletal steeds across plains of lightning in the sky may well fill his or her mind. Ask them to describe it and they might tell you blood-thirsty beings swooping down with the screams of the damned to pursue the unwary people who travelled during Halloween –Samhain to the Celts and Wintersnight to the Germanic Tribes. It began on Halloween when the Veil between the living and the dead was at its thinnest, and ended on May first when the earth returned to wakefulness.

But the Wild Hunt was so much more than a Christian embodiment of evil, especially to the Germanic people.

To the ancient Celts the Wild Hunt was a vast army of Slaugh. These were a type of Fairy-Folk who were particularly malevolent. WY Evans-Wentz wrote in his book Fairy faith in Celtic countries (around 1910) accounts of children and animals being abducted during All Hallows Eve by the Wild Hunt and their spirits taken, while the bodies were found miles away from home. Many of these instances the bodies seemed to have been dropped from a great height.

The Scottish legend of Tam Lin is version of the Wild Hunt. Depending on the version you read or hear, the un-Seelie Court must either pay tribute to Hell with a mortal, or take a mortal to replenish their numbers. We may never know the original story, as Church persecution and suppression of Pagan knowledge was particularly brutal in Scotland.

Many of these stories changed, even though the core remained the same well into the 11th and 12th centuries AD. However, we must take these accounts with a grain of salt. In their zeal to destroy the old ways of the Pagans, monks demonized the old Gods. One leader of the Hunt was Frau Holle (or Hulda), who in Germanic lore kept the spirits of those children who died young and mothers who died in childbirth. She would feed them the first berries of summer, and come Wintersnight, she and her consort Wodan would ride across the skies; she would seek those special spirits still wandering -not to punish, but care for them. Wodan would gather those warriors who belonged with him, and those who tried to escape the Afterlife for proper judgment. It also gave his army of dead warriors something to do in during the dark-times of the year.

To look upon the Hunt would bring ill-luck as the deceased mothers and warriors would curse any of the living who saw them. To look upon a departing soul kept it earth-bound and starving for another year. Or the wails of those who could not leave would drive Holle and Wodan into such a rage that the Gods would turn on the transgressor. Sometimes a person or animal or wayward spirit would simply be caught up the wake of the Hunt, never to seen again.

But if left in peace, it was said that any field the Hunt passed over unseen would bear twice the bounty of the previous year. As time passed and those who held to the old Gods were tortured into compliance with with the edicts of the converted kings and the Church, Frau Holle became the embodiment of evil in woman’s clothes. She was transformed into one who stole or killed children, and Wodan became the Hunter of those damned and going to Hell.

In Scandinavia the Hunt was led by Odin (the Norse version of Wodan) or Freya, who was Queen of the Valkyries. Again, the Hunt was changed from a rite of passage for the seasons and the dead to a thing vilified during the onslaught of the new, imported faith.

One way to hide from the hunt was…do you know? Yup, costumes. Jack-o-Lanterns got their start in Scotland as a way to fool those spirits (human and otherwise) seeking to hide in a house from the Hunt. By carving faces in turnips and gourds, as well as straw dolls, it was to tell theose beings that the house was already full. The German custom of souling was begging for food before the start of winter (October 31rst) to leave for the dead or the Hunt. If someone did not give the poor child something to offer Holle or the Ancestors, mischievous pranks were played on the scrooge, so real spirits would not bother the innocent of the household. This became the foundation for our own Trick-or-Treat.

There is no doubt the ancient peoples rightly feared the Wild Hunt. No one wanted to be bound up in its fury and power. For it held death, life, and magic that humans could not comprehend.

There is so much more to tell, and I do have the time for it all. But as readers and writers, I pray this sparks a little curiosity in you. As we write and read, we create. I tell you these old tales in hopes that an author published or not, can find a twist to some old tales; so that a reader can make the written word take a deeper life in his or her imagination. “What if” are not dangerous words, but the two of the most wonderful.

As Wintersnight approaches, keep a candle lit for those who have gone, and listen for the sounds of hooves and battle cries across the sky.

A very big thanks to Donald for being my guest today!  

Now here are those links for the 7 giveaways!  All of them end on Halloween night, so enter now before it's too late!  All you need to do is comment, except for B. K. Walker's giveaway, which is a Rafflecopter you can enter within the post.  Don't forget to leave Donald a comment or question to be entered to win Annals of the Immortyls!

Paperback book from Lee Taylor: http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/lee-taylor-on-halloweenpaperback.html

Ebooks by Vanessa Morgan: 

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/vanessa-morgan-talks-about-scary.html

Ebook from Katie Salidas:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/sexy-cedric-interviews-fallon-from.html

Ebook from Roy Hudson:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/roy-hudson.html

Two Paperbacks from A. J. Scudiere:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/author-j-scudiere-on-darkside.html

B. K. Walker Halloween Gift Basket:

http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/2012/10/b-k-walker-halloween-gift-basket.html

Lee Taylor on Halloween/Paperback Giveaway

We're a little over halfway to Halloween!  Today, Lee Taylor is going to share some thoughts on the holiday.  

Contest:  Lee is giving away a paperback copy of his book, Bound, to one lucky commenter.Please leave a comment and contact email to enter.  Deadline is 11:00 p.m. EST on 10/31/12.  Winner will be chosen by random drawing.

Don't forget to check earlier posts and enter all the drawings from the 1st of October onward!  All drawings will end on 10/31/12.

Halloween 

I love the idea of Halloween, I kind of romanticize about it, more than I should.  When I was a kid in Montreal, and Edmonton, I think of what an awesome time I had trick or treating. All the kids, and parents out and about, ushering kids too and forth, smiling, trying not to kick over the odd overhanging pumpkin… Even the crisp scent of the evenings breeze brought with it, not only the feint smell of rotting vegetation, but also the tiniest of hints of hot cider, candy, and lashings of make –up. Now, as an adult in the UK with kids, I want to make them excited about it. I want them to go all goofy over what they can wear. I want them to have choices, walking up and down countless isles, with the smell of rubber rich and sweet, almost like the taste of white chocolate assaulting their sinuses.

But instead, all we get on the shelves are battered bin liners that are supposed to be vampire capes. Plastic masks that look like cheaper knock offs from the plastic masks made for back in the late eighties,  odd glow in the dark finger tips… which I am not sure have ever fit anyone… and teeth, that if you put in your mouth, will make your gums bleed faster than a bacterial mouth infection… And as for the trick or treating… well… if you are lucky enough to have a trick or treater. You will get a parent wrapped up in a winter coat, holding their child, asking for sugar, in an eastern European accent… well… balls to that I say! I think it’s time, I let my laid back Canadian part of my brain take over.

So, this year, my family are going to make our own costumes, do each-others make up, and scare up some candy. (Fortunately being 6ft 5inches tall, and built like a bulldozer has its benefits, if I ask people for candy, they tend to produce the stuff in record time)

There are more signs saying “No trick or treaters here” than there are jack o lanterns… which must be fantastic for jolly old jack, as less of his brethren go to waste… but that is not even the case. Thousands of the pumpkins will just rot to pulp in bins… (note this is not one of those sad ads to save the snow leopards) So, this Halloween, I am going to dickens myself up, and dress like the ghost of Halloween past, present, and future!

So this coming Halloween, and all those in the future, make sure to have fun, parade your kids around as fairies, or dress them as hell spawn, just make sure they have a blast! Don’t have kids? Then dress your dog as a cat, or your cat as a mouse.

If in the off chance that you don’t like Halloween, and see it as a gimmick, then all I have to say is for shame. Halloween is the one night in the year, where it’s okay to get gussied up and terrorize the neighbors  So why not have some fun?

Bio:

Lee was born in Canada and lived there till he moved to the UK when he was three years old, where he resided in Bristol with his parents, and sister and lived there for fifteen years until he met his girlfriend and moved to Dorset.
Lee is now happily married to his wife and has four beautiful children. 
At 25 years old, Lee has a very long and promising writing career in-front of him. 
Writing has been Lee’s passion from a very young age and his first book was released last November, with his second book Hellbound, due for release, this fall.

Blurb:
Ursine Edwards was a normal, well-adjusted teenager prior to summer vacation.

Now he has unintentionally married a demon, fallen into line with a wolf pack, and is being hunted  by witches as well as the government.

Summer is anything but a vacation.

Bound Excerpt:
"Ah, I have found you. You know for a big guy, you‘re hard to track down." The feminine voice startled me, immediately stopping me from transforming any further. My skin‘s chrysalis-like shell dissolved into sweat, and I found myself scrambling to put on my clothes, tripping on an exposed root and crashing into a heap on the floor.

"Nice scenery around here, isn‘t there?" The woman chimed. I was well and truly mortified.

I gazed in wonder at the figure. She was tall and slender wearing black trousers that were snug to her figure, steel toe framed boots and a charcoal coloured top that suited her completely. She also didn't seem to have on tons of make-up like most the girls my age do, dolled up to look older, making them look like a kid who just found their mom‘s makeup and dove into it feet first.Her skin seemed almost pearly in its complexion. My jaw was nearly hanging open as I looked on at her. A glimpse of a tattoo on her partly exposed stomach drew my attention. From what I could see, it looked like a crescent-shape or something.

She was standing on the verge, looking at me with a perplexed look on her face. Slowly tilting her head to one side, she rolled her eyes and hopped down from the edge. I was completely captivated with her gorgeous appearance.

With great haste I hunted for my clothes, rummaging around on the floor. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Her eyes were hard

to make out; I could swear that they were almost violet in the evenings glow. They seemed to radiate, and I felt my body tingle as I tried to force my jeans on without looking. She shook her head and stared at me with some sort of bemused intensity. I was beginning to feel paranoid; a mental thought went through my head while I tried to figure out what she was looking at. I still hadn't spoken. I had forgotten how. I am pretty sure that she was growing uncomfortable with the silence... or possibly my reaction to her question. To her, I probably looked like a Luddite who just had his ball and string switched for a home entertainment system.

Media Links;

Twitter -  https://twitter.com/#!/BigLeeT 

Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lee-Taylor/216870325009657 

Website -  http://leetauthor.weebly.com

Goodreads -  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12645010-bound 

To buy:
Kindle or Paperback

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A very big thanks to Lee for joining me today!  Don't forget to keep checking back for new posts and contests!

Vanessa Morgan Talks About Scary Monsters/Giveaway

Today, I welcome Vanessa Morgan to Immortyl Revolution!  She will tell us about the monsters that scare her the most!

Giveaway:  Vanessa is offering a giveaway of two supernatural thrillers. Leave her a comment at the end of the post about your favorite monsters and she will choose one lucky winner to receive ebooks of A Good Man and GPS With Benefits. Deadline to enter is 10/31/12 at 11 p.m. EST.  Winner will be chosen by random drawing. 

Make sure you go back and enter all the other giveaways from the beginning of October, because all drawings are active until the end of the month!

MONSTERS THAT SCARE ME THE MOST

Thank you for having me on the blog today. I'm truly honored to be here with all of you! With the day of the dead approaching fast, let's have a look at some of the scariest movie monsters ever.

DOPPELGÄNGERS

A doppelgänger is a person's physical double. Seeing one's own doppelgänger often heralds death or serious illness. Paranormal investigators believe that the doppelgänger is an individual's past or future self. In some traditions, the double has no shadow or reflection.

Here are two seriously creepy horror movies about doppelgängers...

The Broken (2009): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBbVSlVUiio

Dream Lover (1986): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMa9s-gYxyc

EVIL KIDS

There's something undeniably scary about children gone evil whether it's through vampirism ("Salem's Lot"), radioactivity ("The Children Of Ravensback"), aliens ("Village Of The Damned") or just plain insanity ("Devil Times Five", "We Need To Talk About Kevin”, "The Good Son").

The following are my favorite evil kids movies...

The Children Of Ravensback (1980): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8aJDLCFzo8

Bloody Birthday (1981): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpiELzyx-Xc

¿Quien puede matar a un niño? (aka Who Can Kill A Child?, aka Island Of The Damned)(1976): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-GQThxd3DE&feature=related

THE UNDEAD

As Jud Crandall says in Pet Sematary: « Sometimes dead is better. » Many close friends and family members have seen recently deceased people in their homes, but somehow these real-life encounters with the undead are never as scary as in the movies.

Ringu (1998): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbj-Ihy3ncQ

Let's Scare Jessica To Death (1971): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX4eZD3GiL0

The Shining (1980): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cb3ik6zP2I&feature=related

What are your favorite monsters?

***

About the author

Vanessa Morgan is known as the 'female version of Stephen King'. Her screenplays, A GOOD MAN and GPS WITH BENEFITS, are currently being turned into movies. She is also the author of the books DROWNED SORROW and THE STRANGERS OUTSIDE. If she's not working on her latest supernatural thriller, you can find her reading, watching horror movies, blogging, digging through flea markets or indulging in her unhealthy obsession to her cat. She writes in English, Dutch and French. You can cyberstalk her at http://vanessa-morgan.blogspot.com (blog) or https://www.amazon.com/author/vanessamorgan (Amazon).

About her latest releases:

A Good Man

Louis Caron is a good man: a vegetarian who feeds the homeless, takes care of animals and is concerned with the ecological future of the planet. But his altruism has a sinister edge – he's a vampire – and local detective Taglioni is becoming increasingly suspicious. Louis' attempt to escape the police will take him on a journey into his own private hell where he is not only forced to confront his worst fears, but also to destroy the lives of those he cares about most.

A GOOD MAN is out NOW at:

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/A-Good-Man-ebook/dp/B007U253J4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1350122277&sr=1-1&keywords=a+good+man+vanessa+morgan

Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Good-Man-ebook/dp/B007U253J4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1350122389&sr=1-1

GPS With Benefits

In GPS WITH BENEFITS  a womanizer purchases a new GPS device, not knowing it's one with a mind of 'her' own.

GPS WITH BENEFITS will be released November 1, 2012