Ghoulway

 There was a persistent magpie knocking at my balcony window and then at the kitchen window yesterday morning. Usually there's a pair. Maybe she was asking if I'd seen her mate. He was probably down the pub.

 Lame, but this was the full extent of my costuming! I didn't have any parties to go to, so I didn't feel obliged to come up with something fantastic. Yes, I am hanging my head in shame.

But I did go out to dinner with Michael and Leslie at the Kings Head; while ambling down Quay Street afterward we saw this sign and it made us chuckle. There were lots of folks in costumes and a few kids out guising, but no one came to my door so I have oodles of chocolate left. Fortunately, I only bought candy I like...

We stopped by the Salt Hill Pub down on the Claddagh side of the Corrib. As I'm off to Scotland on Thursday, I had a Brew Dog which was quite good.

Happy Halloween!

A gloriously spooky day to you all! I know I have been remiss in my Halloween cards for the last couple years; I have as an excuse the general madness of my life lately -- this year in particular. I suspect next year will either be incredibly dull and boring, or else more mad than ever.

I will not be taking bets on that. Let's not tempt fate, eh?

My sympathies for all my east coast friends who got a lot of snow dumped on them this weekend. I won't regale you with what a surprisingly warm day it was in Galway, how I walked out along the Claddagh and out the causeway to Mutton Island... oh, wait. I am doing that. Sorry! A freak October snowstorm. I'm sure it will be smooth sailing for the rest of the season...

All right, no more teasing. I remember well the painful jaws of the Great Grey Beast of February. Let this be the most snow you see until the thaws begin!


In lieu of an actual card, here's an old chestnut that I hope you're not tired of yet:

Devil's Night

It was called Devil's Night in the town where I lived
That veiled night before Halloween,
When goblins came out and devils ran wild
And some said that witches were seen.
We kids stayed inside, safe in our beds
And whispered of what there might be—
But one year we intended to see for ourselves,
My sister, my black cat and me.

The sun had long set and the darkness had come
To wrap all the houses in black,
When we crawled out the window and crept ‘cross the lawn
And none of us even looked back.
Though the wind tapped our shoulders and played with our hair
And ran through the leaves with mad glee,
We were stalwart and true like the heroes we knew,
My sister, my black cat and me.

We had never quite said, but each knew in our heads
The goal of our late night foray;
There was only one house whose black shutters and spires
Cast long inky shadows by day.
The house of nightmares was the subject of dares
For children much older than we,
But we knew we must try to sneak in and spy,
My sister, my black cat and me.

As we walked on our own down the mist-shrouded lane
The goblin cries rang through the night.
My sister told me, with an air of disdain,
That I should not take any fright.
'It's only some kids wrapped in sheets that they hid,
That they took from their mothers laundry.'
And we continued along with much knocking of knees
By my sister, my black cat and me.

The house loomed ahead with its turrets like spikes
Aimed at a portentous sky
The old shutters rattled and the chimney howled doom
But the wind smelled like pumpkin pie.
'An old witch lives here and she eats little kids,'
My sister heard from Katie Lee
And we were likely to die if we drew too near by
My sister, my black cat and me.

'I'll go up on the porch and ring her doorbell
then run—like the wind—quick away.
You go ‘round the back and give a sharp rat-a-tat,
Before she can come out this way.'
Her plans carefully laid, my sister then stayed
As I walked toward the back door slowly,
I'll admit I was scared and I felt ill- prepared,
No sister, just black cat and me.

As I prowled through the gloom I saw a bright room
And an old woman dressed all in black.
'It must be the witch,' I said to my cat
And shivered and shook in my tracks.
I wanted to run but I heard the doorbell
And I knew that my sister's safety
Was all in my hands, so we gathered our breaths,
Poor little black cat and me.

I made a small fist and raised up my arm
To deliver the thunderous tap
But I froze to the spot when I saw a dark shape
That opened the door with a snap.
'I know what you want!' I heard the witch say
But my feet would not move to flee
And she swept us inside the warm kitchen's light,
Poor little black cat and me.

My tears trickled down and I begged for my life
And the life of my little kitty.
The old witch just smiled and patted my head
And said to me, 'Don't be silly.
I've got oodles of pie and candy and fudge
And a gingerbread house so pretty,
And I wish you would share all the food I've prepared—
It's too much for my big cat and me!'

I looked all around and my fear dissipated
The kitchen was cheerful and clean
And the huge oaken table was filled ‘til it groaned
With more treats than I'd ever seen—
Pies of all kinds and cookies with chips
And a big steaming pot of green tea,
And in front of the fire a great big cat yawned
At my ravenous black cat and me.

I said, 'Thank you ma'am!' and plopped down in a chair
And she set a blue plate before me
And I piled it up high with some warm pumpkin pie
And a big taste of each sweet dainty.
I was feeding my face and telling the witch of our chase
When my sister's gaze fell upon me.
But it took little time before we brought her inside
To eat with my black cat and me.

So when you see a witch and your knees start to shake
And you're tempted to run to the hills,
Just remember the night that we wandered quite late
Seeking out Devil's Night thrills.
Some witches are good, and some witches are bad
But they all make amazing candy!
If you're sweet and not rude, they might share their food
With your sister, your black cat and thee.

Happy Halloween! Samhain maith! Wear iron and don't talk to pookahs. Let us remember those who have gone and whom we miss and share the bright memories with those near us now. Be well.

Happy Halloween!

Busy weekend, busy autumn: I never got around to my traditional Halloween card, so here's a blast from the past which has come to mind several times this week, so clearly she wants to make an appearance:

Devil’s Night

It was called Devil’s Night in the town where I lived

That veiled night before Halloween,

When goblins came out and devils ran wild

And some said that witches were seen.

We kids stayed inside, safe in our beds

And whispered of what there might be—

But one year we intended to see for ourselves,

My sister, my black cat and me.

The sun had long set and the darkness had come

To wrap all the houses in black,

When we crawled out the window and crept ‘cross the lawn

And none of us even looked back.

Though the wind tapped our shoulders and played with our hair

And ran through the leaves with mad glee,

We were stalwart and true like the heroes we knew,

My sister, my black cat and me.

We had never quite said, but each knew in our heads

The goal of our late night foray;

There was only one house whose black shutters and spires

Cast long inky shadows by day.

The house of nightmares was the subject of dares

For children much older than we,

But we knew we must try to sneak in and spy,

My sister, my black cat and me.

As we walked on our own down the mist-shrouded lane

The goblin cries rang through the night.

My sister told me, with an air of disdain,

That I should not take any fright.

“It’s only some kids wrapped in sheets that they hid,

That they took from their mother’s laundry.”

And we continued along with much knocking of knees

By my sister, my black cat and me.

The house loomed ahead with its turrets like spikes

Aimed at a portentous sky

The old shutters rattled and the chimney howled doom

But the wind smelled like pumpkin pie.

“An old witch lives here and she eats little kids,”

My sister heard from Katie Lee

And we were likely to die if we drew too near by

My sister, my black cat and me.

“I’ll go up on the porch and ring her doorbell

then run—like the wind—quick away.

You go ‘round the back and give a sharp ratatat,

Before she can come out this way.”

Her plans carefully laid, my sister then stayed

As I walked toward the back door slowly,

I’ll admit I was scared and I felt ill- prepared,

No sister, just black cat and me.

As I prowled through the gloom I saw a bright room

And an old woman dressed all in black.

“It must be the witch,” I said to my cat

And shivered and shook in my tracks.

I wanted to run but I heard the doorbell

And I knew that my sister’s safety

Was all in my hands, so we gathered our breaths,

Poor little black cat and me.

I made a small fist and raised up my arm

To deliver the thunderous tap

But I froze to the spot when I saw a dark shape

That opened the door with a snap.

“I know what you want!” I hear the witch say

But my feet would not move to flee

And she swept us inside the warm kitchen’s light,

Poor little black cat and me.

My tears trickled down and I begged for my life

And the life of my little kitty.

The old witch just smiled and patted my head

And said to me, “Don’t be silly.

I’ve got oodles of pie and candy and fudge

And a gingerbread house so pretty,

And I wish you would share all the food I’ve prepared—

It’s too much for my big cat and me!”

I looked all around and my fear dissipated

The kitchen was cheerful and clean

And the huge oaken table was filled ‘til it groaned

With more treats than I’d ever seen—

Pies of all kinds and cookies with chips

And a big steaming pot of green tea,

And in front of the fire a great big cat yawned

At my ravenous black cat and me.

I said “Thank you ma’am!” and plopped down in a chair

And she set a blue plate before me

And I piled it up high with some warm pumpkin pie

And a big taste of each sweet dainty.

I was feeding my face and telling the witch of our chase

When my sister’s gaze fell upon me.

But it took little time before we brought her inside

To eat with my black cat and me.

So when you see a witch and your knees start to shake

And you’re tempted to run to the hills,

Just remember the night that we wandered quite late

Seeking out Devil’s Night thrills.

Some witches are good, and some witches are bad

But they all make amazing candy!

If you’re sweet and not rude, they might share their food

With your sister, your black cat and thee.

Halloween, Poe & Pals

I was going to entitle this "John Crowley Owes Me $5" but I only just met him this week and I'm not sure I can feel comfortable joshing about money with him; of course it does make for a funny story. My adventures for the weekend started with the kick off of the Poe Conference at UMass Amherst on Thursday night. My pal, the fabulous Liz Hand, was the primary draw, but as I ended up sitting next to Crowley at dinner, I had a chance to get to know him a bit more.

The $5 came about because we were all supposed to go out to dinner after the reading, courtesy of UMass and coordinator Chris Couch. I was driving Liz and Tristan, her son, but we didn't know where the restaurant was, so we were supposed to follow Crowley and his daughter Zoe who was a student there. However, they couldn't get out of the garage because he had no cash! So I gave him a fin and we were off. Good food was on offer and assessing the situation, Crowley ran out to get some wine ($5 investment paid in FULL!); since we had about a dozen folks there, Liz followed suit, so we had a good amount of beverage for the fine dinner (some yummy goat as well as rice and beans and plantains). Crowley and I ended up talking about all kinds of things like why he couldn't see the appeal of vampires (rotting corpses! think of the smell!), medieval revenants and even my film class about portrayals of writers, for which he had an additional suggestion I'd never heard of: "Youngblood Hawke" written by Herman Wouk and filmed in 1964.

Liz tried to convince me to stay in Amherst that night, but I'd brought no clothes or even a toothbrush ("You can use mine," she offered -- isn't she a sweetie?) but when dinner broke up around 11pm, I headed home. Too wired when I got home to go to sleep, I ended up pottering around until after 3am, so no way I was going back to Amherst in the morning. Sorry, Faye! I missed your panel, but heard about it afterward (and that it was enjoyed). Friday night I celebrated Samhaim with my pals and stuffed myself silly! Thought I might never eat again.

Sat dawned with an early rising to get to Amherst in time to see some of the presenters before my panel. My reading went well: I had fun talking about Poe's influence and then reading from "Palakainen" which seemed to go over well, too. Lunch offered an opportunity for chatting with folks, then Craig Shaw Gardner gave the keynote speech which -- of course! -- turned into a game show.

Then I jumped back in the car to head down to Willimantic and Miss Wendy's, where we had some tasty brisket, then prepped and headed down to New London to celebrate the day with the Queen and Johnny 10X, Marko and the Boojums (Cheryl is responsible for the photo above) at the Hygenic Park. I was dressed as Mater Tenebrarum (in case you can't tell) and we all had a lot of fun until it rained.

Some folks followed the bands to the Oasis (Marko told us later that we missed blood, 80 degree heat and a fight), some to the Bank Street (Flesh Hammer and D.O.T. were playing) and me, Miss Wendy, the Queen and Johnny 10X went to the Dutch, where we were fortunate to get a table from some friendly Phillies fans. I'm sure it looked odd enough to have Mater Tenebrarum, a Raven and the Scarecrow come in and sit down, but we got a chuckle when Batman came in and bellied up to the bar, sipping a cold one while he watched the game. We got home late and Miss Wendy and I sat up for a bit watching Halloweeny fare.

Even better, we had that extra hour from daylight savings and Miss Wendy made me breakfast -- eggs, bacon and bagels, yum! Why is breakfast always such a treat? I dunno, but it was delicious. Better yet, "I'm All Right, Jack" was playing on TCM so I had a lot of laughs with breakfast, too. Eventually I had to head home; it's such an easy drive with music playing and plenty of convenient places to stop if need be. Best thing today was being in the ladies room at one rest area and listening to a little girl sing "Lollipop" with her mom making the "pop" sound.

Home again to a happy Kipper, but no hot water! Maybe it's fixed now. Too busy catching up on things to check. Hope you all had fun this weekend!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween and Maith Samhain! I didn't get cards out this year, so this will have to do. Thanks to The joey Zone for passing along this lovely Levy-Dhurmer illo.

BitchBuzz: Exporting Halloween

The last of my Halloween-themed columns (probably!) deals with the fun of Halloween and veers off into Heyer-ville for no apparent reason. As I am re-thinking my costuming needs for the weekend, I feel absolutely devoid of imagination, so who knows what will happen. Heading off to the Poe conference tonight -- maybe I'll finally get a schedule of events. Back to UMass a couple more times and then down to Connecticut for Halloween itself. Let's hope I'll have made up my mind about my costume by then.

A disgruntled Guardian reader (is there really any other kind?) derided Halloween as a “ghastly American import” and moaned about the need to herd children around on their forays for candy. Considering the dire nature of most American imports (McDonald’s, baseball caps, L. Ron Hubbard), I think Halloween is a reason to celebrate.

Think of it: Pumpkins! Free candy! An excuse for parties! Dressing up!

Read the rest -- and a slew of interesting articles -- over at BitchBuzz HQ.

Blast from the Past: Wordgeryne

Just in time for the Halloween season, my dissertation and Cthulhu-inspired short story, "Wordgeryne" will be featured over at Unbound. The story originally appeared in Lovecraft's Weird Mysteries back in 2002. It's kind of a fun story (well, for horror, you know) because it combines a bunch of references that amuse me: of course, there's Cthulhu, but there's also a reference to my brother's favourite bad painting, "Brigitte" (she of the massive eyes), to Clive Barker's The Hellbound Heart (the novella that provided the script for Hellraiser), to The Bride of Frankenstein as well as a nod to my studies in Anglo-Saxon literature, culture and language in many details, including the title, a word not chosen at random but with special purpose. Enjoy!

“Take my hand!” I begged, but Brigitte’s wide eyes only stared back in mute terror. I inched further out the window, stepping gingerly onto the narrow ledge, trying to reach toward her hand. “Please!” There was an audible gulp, but no other response. She closed her eyes and lay her palms flat against the wall. Hope sprang up in my heart. Perhaps Brigitte had changed her mind. Her whole body suggested defeat, relinquishing. Give up this foolish plan, I urged silently, but aloud I repeated, “Please, take my hand.” Brigitte turned her head slowly and opened her eyes once more to meet my gaze. My tentative sense of hope disappeared at once and I could hear an increase of fearful whispering in the crowd below.

“I didn’t know,” my friend said softly, a single tear crawling down her cheek. “I didn’t believe…it. I’m sorry.” And before I could begin to puzzle the meaning of her words, Brigitte pushed herself away from the wall, the ledge and, arms wide, fell into the air... [read the rest at Unbound!]

BitchBuzz: Poe-tastic!

Yeah, it's that time again -- for both my weekly column and for the Poe-mania that October always brings, increased this year because it's the 200th anniversary of his birth. As I've mentioned, I'll be at the Poe conference that's going on at UMass Amherst the end of the month, but details are a bit vague at present.

October inevitably ends up being unofficial Poe month across the world as his dark tales get tied to the spooky Halloween season.

If he were still alive, Edgar would have turned 200 hundred in January, a nice round number for celebrations. I’m going to be part of a gathering at U-Mass Amherst focused on New England writers and artists and their relationship to the master of the macabre, but there are a wealth of possibilities out there...

As always, you can read the rest at BitchBuzz HQ as well as checking out all their other fascinating articles on tech, culture and fun.

Tonight I head down to Bard for a talk on Blake, then dinner with Robert. We're off to the city tomorrow to stop by the Cloisters and see Leonard Cohen at Madison Square Garden. Should be fun! (Ironically, Marko is playing "No Fun" right now, hee hee!)

BitchBuzz: Unique Halloween Costumes

Okay, most of the readers here won't need this particular column, but others will, so be kind -- and share! Yes, I know it's been a week since I last posted, but between Albacon and the Medievalism conference AND too many meetings and teaching all day yesterday, I'm still getting caught up.

So here's my [hastily written] column on interesting Halloween costumes (is the Victorian Squid not the ginchiest costume ever?!):

It's that time of year again: fancy dress calls for the spooktacular season. Forget about the tired old superhero route, pirates have been done to death and no, you can't go as a naughty nurse again. You have to try to be a little bit imaginative.

If you want to be like the hip kids, then steampunk is a must. Jump on this bandwagon before the rest of the world does, because the costumes are totally awesome. Like the recent exhibit at Oxford's Museum of the History of Science, steampunk paraphernalia rocks because it is both elegant and wicked cool.

As always, read the rest at BitchBuzz.

And YES, I am working on the posts about the cons, so coming very soon!

Who rules? Perilous Cheryl rules!

Why would anyone else even try? Oh yeah, because it's fun! See fabulous photos of Cheryl's prize-winning costume (and The joey zone's too) at her MySpace page.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Spooky Day, everybody! Hope you're all doing something fun today. We're heading off to see the brothers down in Kingston, mon. I got a card from my sweetie with some Hello Kitty devil mints, an Oliver Reed Curse of the Werewolf finger puppet (!) and Halloween crackers.

Last night was the Devil's Night Reading which went very well. The students did a terrific job of decorating and organizing the readings. I dressed as Death and read Parker's "Résumé" and Lewis Carroll's "Brother and Sister" and Langston Hughes' "Request for Requiems" from Shrieks at Midnight.

Devil's Night (almost!)

Two things: on Thursday, the actual Devil's Night, we'll be taking part in a reading on campus sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta. Many spooky stories and poems will be featured as well as costumes and general spookiness. If you're in the neighborhood drop by Standish Room 1 in the Student Activity Center around 7pm.

Also, my poem "Devil's Night" is among the submissions at the Guardian for Halloween poems. Feel free to stop by and recommend it (link on the right next to the poem): vote for me!

Podcast: Devil's Night

Hop on over to Radio Wombat for the latest podcast, "Devil's Night" -- a little Halloween-themed poetry.