Tag: Halloween

Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

One dark night by Hannah Richell: a gripping thriller full of secrets

Mandy Webster

What starts as a Halloween dare in the woods spirals into tragedy in Hannah Richell’s One Dark Night, a novel that blends small-town secrets, teenage vulnerability, and the long shadow of trauma into an atmospheric thriller you’ll race through. The story unfolds after a student is found dead near the notorious Sally in the Wood—a place steeped in eerie folklore and whispered warnings.

Get your copy of One Dark Night from my independent online bookstore today!

At the heart of the novel are Rachel, a guidance counselor struggling to connect with her daughter Ellie, and Ben, her detective ex-husband who’s investigating the case while facing personal turmoil. As the community reels, Ellie hides dangerous secrets of her own, and the past refuses to stay buried. Told through multiple perspectives, Richell keeps the tension taut, weaving in folklore, atmosphere, and a growing sense that danger lurks where you least expect it.

Continue reading “One dark night by Hannah Richell: a gripping thriller full of secrets” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Spooktober Book Review: So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

Mandy Webster

Rachel Harrison’s vampire novel So Thirsty is by far my most favorite horror(ish) read this #Spooktober! It is a thrilling exploration of female empowerment, friendship, and the darker sides of human nature, wrapped in a vampire tale that is both bloody and thought-provoking. The story centers around Sloane Parker, a woman dissatisfied with her life, including her failing marriage and stagnant sense of self. When a birthday getaway with her impulsive best friend Naomi takes a wild turn, the two women are transformed—literally and metaphorically—into vampires. This transformation forces them to confront their dissatisfaction with life, their friendship, and their buried desires.

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison is so far my favorite #Spooktober read of 2024!
Continue reading “Spooktober Book Review: So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison” →
Conventions & Conferences, Events

Meet the author at Nightmare on 2nd Street in Chillicothe, IL!

Mandy Webster

Join me this Saturday, October 26th for Nightmare on Second Street at Chillicothe City Park (Chillicothe, IL) in support of brain tumor awareness. I’ll be selling and signing my books along with lots of other bookish and spooky gifts at my vendor booth.

The 2024 Nightmare on Second Street takes place this Saturday, October 26, at Chillicothe City Park.
Continue reading “Meet the author at Nightmare on 2nd Street in Chillicothe, IL!” →
Halloween, Holidays, NaNoWriMo

Happy Smashing Pumpkins Day! (Oh yeah, and NaNoWriMO!)

Mandy Webster

Pretty pumkins, pre carving
These are the pumpkins we will be smashing today. Of course, they have since been gutted and carved, their rotting faces now caved in.

A few years ago, my sons and I started a new family tradition that they look forward to almost as much as Trick-or-Treating. We like to call it Smashing Pumpkins Day.

This day falls on November 1st, the day after Halloween, when the boys officially gain permission to take our now-rotting jack o’ lanterns out to the marsh behind our apartment complex and smash them to BITS! They love it.

What could be more fun than smashing pumpkins? Of course, if you smash someone else’s pumpkins, you’re a jerk. But there’s no harm in smashing your own pumpkins once their poor faces have sunken in. So today, as soon as my kids get home from school, they will gather up our jack o’ lanterns first thing and drag them out to the marsh. Each year, the boys come up with new and creative ways to pulverize their pumpkins. Let’s just say, we like to get our money’s worth. Continue reading “Happy Smashing Pumpkins Day! (Oh yeah, and NaNoWriMO!)” →

Halloween, Writing Prompts

Writing prompt: Tell me a Halloween tale

Mandy Webster

Photograph of the headquarters building at Hic...
I worked in this building around the year 2000. It is probably the most haunted place I have ever been. | Photograph of the headquarters building at Hickam Field in 2005, still showing bullet and shrapnel damage to a wall. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Halloween is coming. Spooky tales abound as the veil between this world and the next one thins. In my mom’s family, visiting ghosts are a yearlong occurrence. Several relatives insist my late aunt still hangs around my grandmother’s house. Although she has never made her presence known to me, I have been warned not to mention the ugly bathroom tiles she picked out before departing for the other side. Apparently, that’s still a sore spot with her.

In the early days of my ex-marriage, I lived in an apartment in Hawaii that I am pretty sure is haunted. It was just the two of us, with baby #1 on the way. We slept in the master bedroom and cluttered the second bedroom with junk. For some reason, that second bedroom gave us the creeps. If I needed the vacuum cleaner while my husband was out, I would run into the spare room as fast as I could, grab the vacuum cleaner, and fly back out, slamming the door behind me. It never occurred to us to start setting the room up for the baby, because our sixth senses told us we didn’t want our baby sleeping in there. Continue reading “Writing prompt: Tell me a Halloween tale” →

Poetry, Poetry by Mandy Webster

The writer’s life on Poetry Friday

Mandy Webster

William Blake's "The Tyger," publish...
Image via Wikipedia

9:47 a.m.

This is this writer’s life today on this beautiful Poetry Friday:

  • Kids dressed and fed and off to wherever it is they need to be today: Check
  • Morning walk and shower: Check
  • Breakfast and coffee: Check
  • E-mail reviewed and inbox somewhat emptied: Check
  • Facebook caught up on for the moment: Check (BTW, go check out my Facebook Fan Page and like me.)
  • Morning pages written: Check
It’s already almost 10:00. So much yet To-D0:
Halloween, Holidays, Poetry by Mandy Webster

Hiding from the Creeps

Mandy Webster

This semester, I’ve been taking a course on writing poetry for children and young adults. I’ve never really thought of myself as much of a poet, but I thought it would be good to push myself out of my comfort zone and give it a shot.

Ghost

As it turns out, I’ve learned quite a bit about language and words that will probably help me in my other writing. I would recommend at least one poetry class for every aspiring author, poet or non.

And as long as I have to write a poem every week, I thought it might be fun to share my poems with you. So here’s a Halloween poem for you, inspired by my childhood fear of catching a glimpse of my own reflection in the window at night: Continue reading “Hiding from the Creeps” →