Monthly Archives

October 2016

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Happy Halloween! + an All Hallow’s Read Giveaway!

I love Halloween. More than every other holiday, including my birthday. Last year at this time, I was touching down in a plane in San Francisco to attend my good friend’s magical wedding. That was one of the best Halloweens of my life because I was watching two amazing people celebrate their love in a magical science center filled with dinosaur bones and artifacts. I had drinks in a bird sanctuary, appetizers under an aquarium staring up at giant fish, and dinner in a safari room, all while touches of skeleton bones and macabre music and décor filled my ears[...]

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Poor Polidori: Granddad of the contemporary vampire

In the summer of 1816, a group of artists, poets, and friends gathered together at the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva in Swizerland. Sounds quaint enough. So here’s the dirt, and I’m paraphrasing liberally from a couple of different sources: Mary Shelly’s step-sister, Claire Clairmont, had the idea: she was hooking up with Lord Byron and even though he wasn’t really feeling it, she decided to “surprise” him in Swizerland though he never really invited her along for the trip. With her, Claire brought Mary and her main squeeze, Percy, along for kicks. Pe[...]

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The Subtle Art of Impaling

Hello, lovelies!!!   Happy Friday before Halloween! Past Jenna would be marinating skittles in vodka right now and piecing together a road map of debauchery. Present Jenna just picked out matching Halloween costumes for her husband and son and is already scoping out hiding spots for leftover candy. My, how things change. This past week has been all about Vampires! I love me some Vampires. Like many others, good old Twilight started me on my writing path, though I do prefer my vampires to be of the non-sparkling variety. So! What shall we talk about? Famous[...]

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Freebie: Midnight Society Letterhead (free download!)

I'm quite the ephemerist. I love old papers and documents. I collect them. It's a kind of sickness really, because every single paper good I find and love, I buy. If you've ever looked inside my writing desk that's filled to the brim, you know it's true. So I thought it would be fun to make my own stationary today and share it with all of you! Below is Midnight Society letterhead (US 8.5 X 11 inches) that you can print out and use for all of your otherworldly, nefarious, and undead business letters. You can download this for free below in two different colors, p[...]

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Welcome to Vampire Week!

As you know from Faith's October 1st post, we have a variety of themed weeks this October. Though October is nearing its end, the fun is just beginning! I love vampires so much and I'm so happy for vampire week. I tried to recall the first time I'd ever heard about vampires. I'm thinking Halloween-time. I was raised on horror and my dad loved to tell me scary stories. Oddly, when I was thinking about this post, I realized that I didn't read a lot of vampire fiction. I've read some, sure, but not enough to classify myself as an expert. What is your favorite[...]

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Folklore Week: Emily’s Bridge, Vermont

It’s sometime after ten and we’re standing in front of Old Yard holding an eighteenth-century lantern replica with a tin roof, holds slotted into it to let the heat escape. We’re dangling it over the wall that separates the parking lot from the cemetery. The candlelight reflects off a small slabbed tombstone — isolated from the rest of the graves without any real indication why. It could be a dissenter’s plot. I run over the number of reasons why someone might be buried as a dissenter in 19th century Stowe: usual reasons include not adhering to the popul[...]

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The Legend of The Midnight Society

It's folklore and legends week in our month long #SocietyScreams horror bash! So I offer a tale...a true tale. Although less well-known than The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, this story of ghosts and death will soon spread across the world.     The Legend of The Midnight Society   Three days after joining The Midnight Society, you die. Death comes in strange ways. Sometimes the form of your worst fear, other times when you are immersed in what you love. Reenacting a scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Don’t use a real stake. Your spirit animal,[...]

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Demon Week Recommended Read: Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker

It's Demon Week here at the Midnight Society, and I'm happy to recommend a book about a demon from my favorite modern horror author, Clive Barker. The book is called Mister B. Gone, and reading the book is a demonic encounter in an of itself. Mister B. Gone is the story of a demon named Jakabok Botch, a story that the demon himself narrates for the reader. Actually, he's not so much narrating as he is speaking directly to the reader, as if he's there with you, telling you his life story. He is constantly warning you that reading his story will not end well for yo[...]

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Demon Week: Come on in…

Hello, Kittens!   I hope you're all well. October makes me one happy little creature, so I'm bloody fantastic. I have some exciting news to share, even though you probably know it already if you follow me on twitter. *Ahem - @raddestgirlever* I signed with a literary agent last week..ish! I'm now represented by Gina Panettieri, President of Talcott Notch! Gina is a total rocks star and I'm so excited to be working with her. I signed for my middle grade horror (obvs) and am excited for what comes next :) Anyhoo! Enough about me. As you may have realized, it[...]

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Dolls in Horror

Dolls and clowns. That's what I find VERY scary. There's a fascinating history about the hows and whys dolls scare people. Some believe that because they look so human, that we can't balance this with fact. The fact is that dolls are plastic toys, originally made for little girls to practice their social niceties on. Not to mention the fact that dolls do NOT age well. While humans get better with age, dolls tend to get creepier and creepier looking--hair breaks and falls out, skin loses color, eyes stop working, etc. I've posted many times about my third grade ex[...]