Well it's getting close to one of my favorite nights of the year.  Fall leaf colors--crimsons, golds, oranges--are peaking.  Darkness is falling earlier while daylight delays longer.  There's a nip in the air.  Spectral decorations have started to appear.  And the countdown is on.

     You may be planning to wrangle costumed youngsters through your neighborhood or a decked out mall, chaperone a children's party, attend a more adult affair, or do a number of things, hopefully ones that won't draw the attention of the police.  It isn't about what you do, how you dress, or whom you're with.  Catching the true spirit of Halloween involves the perception that for one night the veil between the material and spirit worlds vanishes.

     If you're planning on staying in and curling up with a spooky book you may find your options limited.  On one hand you have the dreadfully formulaic.  On the other hand you have the terribly unsubtle blood and gore fests.  Luckily there are a few notable exceptions.  One of them is HorrorScope Volume 3, edited by H. Everend.  It's an anthology of short stories and poems organized around the signs of the zodiac.  Each writer creates a vivid and tangible world that will draw you in and hold you in its spell.  It's the literary equivalent of a box of exquisite wrapped candies, each different and divine.

     It's hot off the press so it may not have hit a library or bookstore near you.  If not demand that they acquire it... 

     ...you wouldn't want to miss out.

Jules Hathaway