Happy Thursday and Happy November! Yes, it’s that time again. Here we go with some strange November holidays.

November 2nd – Look for Circles Day and Plan Your Epitaph Day

November 6th – Marooned Without A Compass Day

November 8th – Dunce Day

November 9th – Chaos Never Dies Day

November 14th – Loosen Up Lighten Up Day

November 15th – Clean Your Refrigerator Day and I Love To Write Day

November 16th – Have A Party With Your Bear Day

November 18th – Married To A Scorpio Support Day

November 19th – Have a Bad Day Day

November 20th – Name Your PC Day

November 23rd – You’re Welcome Day and Buy Nothing Day

November 28th – Make Your Own Head Day

November 30th – Stay At Home Because You Are Well Day

Congratulations to our Trick-Or-Treat Blog Tour winners! Thank you to EVERYONE who participated. We hope you enjoyed playing along as much as we did. Look for another tour coming soon! Happy Halloween!

First prize: Jewel
Banged Up – Jeanne St. James
Hearts Afire – 3E’s
Afterthought – Cat Kane
Love at First Stake – J. Morgan
No Recourse – Mari Carr

Second prize: Patsy Hagen
Bound by Deception – Christa Paige
Once Bitten – Trina M. Lee
The Challenge – Serena Shay

Third prize: Fallon Hadley
Cin – Ella Drake
Halo in her Pocket – Morgan Q. O’Reilly
Felicia’s Fling – Jolie Cain

Runner Up: Sherry
The Wicked Flame – Stephanie Adkins
Winners choice from Tielle St. Claire

Runner Up: Noelle
Intimate Strangers – Gem Sivad
For a Price – Olivia Brynn

Runner Up: s7anna
Iron – P.G. Forte
The Extremist – Juniper Bell

Runner Up: SusiSunshine
Battered not Broken – Ceilia Kyle
Wyoming Solace – Alanna Coca

Hello everyone! Welcome to the LSB Trick-or-Treat blog tour! If you just came from Olivia Brynn’s blog, then you’re on the right track.

You know, it was a really tough job having to search through dozens of pictures of half-naked men for this post. (Yeah right!) I hope you enjoy the eye candy below. They’re less fattening and easier on the hips than chocolate, but still ohhhh so satisfying. *wink* Happy Halloween!

Now … on to LSB author Paige Tyler’s blog! Have fun!

(P.S. Anytime you want to start from the beginning of the trail, just hop on over to Gem Sivad’s blog. I know how it is when once isn’t enough. Heehee …)

Happy Thursday everyone! Okay, I have a confession to make. I’m a scaredy cat when it comes to horror movies. I’ve never seen Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare On Elm Street … you name it. I can’t even watch scary movie trailers without having nightmares. LOL

So, needless to say, I’ve never seen any of the movies listed below, but according to Boston.com, these are the top thirteen horror movies of all time. To find out more, click here. Have a spooktacular Halloween!

1. The Thing (1982)
2. Ju-On (2000)
3. Rec (2007)
4. The Ring (2002)
5. Alien (1979)
6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
7. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
8. Evil Dead II (1987)
9. Halloween (1978)
10. Audition (1999)
11. The Shining (1980)
12. Cloverfield (2008)
13. Quatermass and the Pit (1968)

What: Liquid Silver Books Trick-Or-Treat Blog Tour

When: October 30th

Where: The tour will start with LSB author Gem Sivad. Twenty-one LSB authors will be participating (including yours truly).

Time: Tour starts at 8AM and will last all day long!

Goodies: Everyone who leaves a comment on each author’s blog will be entered for a chance to win a prize from our trick-or-treat basket loaded with ebooks!

Come join us for some spooky fun! (And the eye candy won’t be so bad either. *wink*)

Happy Thursday everyone! Today’s list is about Halloween traditions in other countries. Did you know that …

1. In Austria, some people leave bread, water, and a lighted lamp on the table when they go to bed. The reason why it is done is that it was believed by doing so it would welcome the dead souls back to earth for this particular night was a night of strong cosmic energies.

2. In England, they had the tradition of ’souling’ or ‘Soul Caking’. The idea was for children to go from door to door asking for money to give to the poor and a soul cake to have for themselves. Every cake they would receive, the children would say a prayer for the souls of the dead. Soul cakes were called many different names throughout England such as Saumas or soul mass cakes which were dark fruitcakes, another cake was covered in caraway seeds and made into a bun.

3. In Ireland, children would cut scary faces into hollowed-out turnips, large rutabagas, or potatoes. Then place and candle inside them.

4. In China, the Halloween festival is known as Teng Chieh in which food and water are placed in front of photographs of relatives of people. Bonfires and lanterns are lit to light the spirits path back to earth.

5. In Germany, people put their knives away. This is done as they do not want to risk hurting the returning spirits.

6. In Southern Italy, families prepared a special feast for the souls of the departed on All Souls’ Day. The families would set the table with a bountiful meal. Then they would all go to church to pray for the souls of the deceased. They stayed there all day, leaving their home open so that the spirits could enter and enjoy the feast. When the family came home to find that their offerings hadn’t been consumed it meant that the spirits disapproved of their home and would work evil against them during the coming year.

7. In Mexico, they have picnic lunches on the graves of their relatives, as this is a day of remembrance, happiness and celebration. They bake bread and make candy in the shape of skull and crossbones, a casket, or a skeleton. People light bonfires, set off firecrackers, and hang lanterns on trees to guide the souls of the dead home.

8. In Poland, doors and windows are left open to welcome the spirits or the visiting souls.

9. In Portugal, they have feasts of wine and chestnuts at the cemetery. They also bake special sugar cakes with cinnamon and herb flavoring.

10. In Spain, November 1 has become a public holiday. On All Saints’ Day Catholics attend church services in honor of the saints, the martyrs and those who have died for the Catholic faith. People may also visit their family’s graves to beautify them with wreaths and small lanterns. Sometimes a mass is said at the gravesite and the grave sprinkled with holy water.

11. In Canada, people welcome trick-or-treators by placing pumpkins called jack-o’-lanterns in their windows.

12. In Hong Kong, there is a festival similar to Hallowe’en. During the Hungry Ghosts Festival or Yue Lan, ghosts and spirits roam the world for 24 hours. Some people burn pictures of fruit or money. This was believed to reach the spirit world and comfort the ghosts on this day.

13. In Czechoslovakia, chairs are placed by the fireside. There is a chair for each family member and one for each family member’s spirit.

(Article courtesy of Jack O’Lanterns.net)

I’m SO happy to announce that my novella, Between Heaven and Hell, will be released November 16th from Liquid Silver Books. All of my stories are special to me, but this one holds an extra special place in my heart. I’m anxiously waiting it’s release.

I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank everyone who voted in the Children’s Network Gameroom Giveaway over the past couple of weeks. I’m so excited to announce that my nephew’s hospital placed in the top three so they WILL be receiving a gameroom from the makers of XBox. Your votes made a difference and I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to vote. May God bless you all.

Happy Thursday everyone! I love Halloween. It’s eerie … it’s unpredictable … it’s freaky … it’s all the things I love in a holiday. So, in celebration of Halloween, I give you thirteen spooky masks. Come on … you know you want to buy one. *wink*

How far would you go to set a tortured spirit free? While preparing a haunted house for their town’s annual Halloween fundraiser competition, lovers Corey, Keith, and Landon stumble upon the ghost of Civil War Union soldier, Major Joseph Harland. When the Major mistakes Corey for the woman who murdered him during the war, he sets out to seek his redemption in ways they never dreamed possible.

Click HERE to buy from Cobblestone Press.