Monday, October 27, 2008

Guest Blogger: Traci Hall

Hi everyone – I am Traci Hall, author of Love’s Magic for adults and Her Wiccan, Wiccan Ways for Young Adults. I want to dish on Halloween and things that go bump in the night! Get your minds out of the gutter, people – I am talking ghosts, poltergeists and angry spirits who want revenge on the living. Doesn’t that give you a delicious shiver?

In my medieval paranormal novels, I write about legends and myths and family curses. It is a ton of fun, and the research takes forever, just because I go off on a tangent for about four hours following a lead on something haunted. In my young adult novels, there are ghosts, curses, family legends AND the Wiccan experience, all viewed from a fourteen year old girl’s perspective. Again, the research is amazing.

There are documented instances of real people suddenly bursting into flame – for no reason. Astral travel, especially between a recently deceased person and a sleeping person, is common. The Medium, Ghost Hunters and many other television shows have made the paranormal genre super, super hot.

But what is Halloween really about? Celebrating the dead? It comes from the Celtic tradition of Samhain – a celebration of the harvest. No Snickers or Twizzlers to be found, folks. And Halloween, the name, comes from All Hallows Eve – which was literally the night before All Hallows Day, or rather, All Saints Day.

In contemporary times, Halloween means dressing up as your favorite character and roaming the neighborhood for the house that gives out the best treats. For grown ups, its about the cider and bobbing for apples before heading back to the punch bowl.

The only scary thing about that is drinking so much you forget your good judgment and go home with someone you thought was a Prince Charming, but once the mask is off, he’s more of a toad.

My favorite thing about Halloween is the cheesy B horror movies on all month long. Halloween, Day of the Dead, Friday the 13th, Dawn of the Dead, Dead and Breakfast, the Dead Rising – and my husband just bought a sure-fire classic, Zombie Strippers.

On the night of the 31st we make popcorn and caramel apples and curl up on the couch for the Hall family favorites – Lost Boys, The Omen, and Amityville Horror.

What are your favorite movies? For everyone who gives me a title of a Classic Horror movie, I will send you a bookmark and put you into a drawing for a free copy of Love’s Magic! Don’t give me Frankenstein or Dracula, either – give me something GOOD JJ

Traci
traciella@aol.com
www.tracihall.com
www.traciehall.com

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