Halloween is the eve of All Saints Day followed by All Souls Day. In some traditions, Halloween is viewed as a “thin space” where souls slip back and forth between this world and beyond.
Listen to these amazing authors Andrew Allen Smith, Craig Brockman, Matthew Hellman, Robert Williams, and ghost author Stacey Rourke on For the Love of Books Podcast with host Emma Palova.
Psychic Liotta from Rourke’s ‘Corpse Queen’ sees the beast in the crystal ball as she leads the way into the darkness.
Copyright (c) 2022. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
The special episode, Panel of Fear with horror authors Andrew Smith, Matthew Hellman, Craig Brockman, Bob Williams, and ghost author Stacey Rourke will air this week on For the Love of Books Podcast just in time to get spooked before Halloween.
Asylums, roller coasters, haunted houses, psychics, Zombie walks through the night forests, a man hangs himself during a Halloween scare in the closeby woods, nature at its worst, we drive out to the piers….why do we seek out fear? Or does fear seek us out? Is it natural or supernatural? Normal or paranormal? Do ghosts exist? Is the Tower Farm haunted?
“It definitely is,” said its former resident Addie Abel.
We sneak into attics and basements to find what? When was the last time you were scared? And why? What profound experience has influenced your actions?
We all have a dark side, and not all of us manage it well, according to Dr. Kathryn Den Houter, author of the psychological thriller ‘Prison Shadows.’
This year, Halloween expenditures are projected to reach a record high of $11 billion, according to Statista.
Author Kathryn Den Houter on fear
Dr. Kathryn Den Houter, author and retired psychologist.
“The reason why people seek out fear is that humans feel the most alive when we are in the state of mixed emotions: When we have fear yet are on the alert for excitement we are titillated. Our brain and emotions are working at full capacity. We yearn for the peak experiences that let us know we are “truly alive,” said Dr. Kathryn Den Houter.
Den Houter is a retired psychologist, the author of five books, and a fan of Alfred Hitchcock.
So let’s take a look at our panelists:
Author Craig Brockman
Author Craig Brockman currently lives with his wife Sally in Tecumseh, Michigan. In 2020 he published the ghost novel “Dead of November: A Novel of Lake Superior”, in 2007 the middle grade “Marty and the Far Woodchuck”, and in 2022 “Curve of the Earth”, and has been published in anthologies
Dead of November
Ghosts of those drowned and never recovered are swarming from Lake Superior. But they are not there to haunt the living. They are fleeing something far more sinister.
Author Matthew Hellman
Author Matthew Hellman earned his BS in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University calls Michigan’s U.P. home. He has been writing since 2013. His published works include the novel “Solomon’s Seal”, the novel “The Biting Cold”, the novella “The Hawthorne Blow”, and a short story in “Six Guns Straight from Hell”. “The Biting Cold” and “The Hawthorne Blow” both take place in the upper peninsula of Michigan.
The Biting Cold
The residents of a small Michigan town fight to survive in a brutal winter storm. But their fight isn’t against the storm, it’s against what the storm has awakened.
Author Stacey Rourke, Corpse Queen
Author Andrew Allen Smith
Smith is a prolific author of Masterson Files, poetry, and most recently two short story anthologies ‘Slice of Fear’ and ‘Another Slice of Fear.”
Another Slice of Fear
Are you ready to see how deep the rabbit hole can go? Another Slice of Fear contains 16 original short stories from the mind of Andrew Allen Smith that may help you get there.
WordCamp comes to Northeast, brings technology evolution
Lowell, MI- Since one of my goals for 2016 was to stay up to date with technology, I would like to go to the WordCamp in Philly from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4.
First of all, the camp is close to home and I’ve never been to Philly or to a WordPress Camp. That in itself is very exciting for me.
I have recently completed a large Podcast Website project for Americas Community Voices Network (ACVN) based in Tampa, FL with founders Ronald & Donald Brookins. It was a very interesting project on the cutting edge of British developers changing under continuous development.
I finished one phase of the project during a recent stay at my daughter Emma’s house in Fixin, FR. The Internet in my studio wasn’t working half of the time, so I had to use my son-in-law Adrien’s studio overlooking the wine village.
Church in Fixin, Burgundy.
Inside the bastid. A large living and dining room with French doors into the garden.
The view from the window of the vineyards or the “climats” of Burgundy was awesome and inspiring.
Even though, I arrived back at home in Grand Rapids on Sept. 6 with a smashed computer screen, I still feel inspired by the stay in France. Travel has always fueled my writing, design and photography. It doesn’t matter if I go three miles east from my home to take photos in Fallasburg, Lowell or 4,000 miles to Paris, or even to visit my brother Vas Up North in Paris, MI.
Paris from a rooftop restaurant with the view of the Eiffel Tower.
I keep my eyes open for new angles, new stories as everything changes in the flow of time. Whenever I look at the grandfather clock that says “Tempus Fugit,” I get scared. I am afraid of time. The clock was one of the first things I bought here in the USA in 1990.
Now, we don’t even need watches anymore because we have cell phones. Long before cell phones, I never had a watch. I didn’t want one. Not wearing a watch has sharpened my sense of time and dimensions.
I was comfortable using the clocks on church and cathedral towers. While hiking in Burgundy, I used the church steeples to orient myself in the “climats.”
This morning, I discovered the news about WordCamp on Facebook and I got a kick out of the fact that the after party “A Night at the Museum” will be at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
My husband Ludek and I organized “A Night at the Museum” Thanksgiving party at the Lowell Area Historical Museum in 2012. Ludek wanted to alleviate the stress on women during the holiday season.
What a great coincidence.
Last year in November, I participated in the 30 Day Content Challenge by Learn to Blog. On Day #3 I posted the following article:
“Thoughts on fear in the wake of Paris attacks.” And that was the end of my blog on Gateway Media. Some corporate brass didn’t like my thoughts.
While respecting both, my passion and fear of time, I love history. I always have. All the history, I don’t pick and choose. So, Philadelphia is the perfect location for an all time history lover and a technology user.
Lowell, MI- Experts say there are two great fears in this world. And they are interchangeable: the fear of dentists and the fear of public speaking. The fear of dentists translates to fear of pain, while the public speaking fear is about our image; how we look in front of others.
But, I know of a lot more. On top of the above mentioned fears, I have a fear of open heights and time. Not of aging, but of time when it’s displayed in front of me on a clock or on a calendar. That’s why I cannot wear watches or have alarm clocks.
I recently I found out that some people are afraid of technology.
I find that very interesting, that is the fear of technology. It should take us forward, but sometimes it seems like it’s taking us backwards like with the recent violence and evil in Paris.
Amaryllis
Now, the government wants access to our phones in the name of security.I am starting to feel like in Nazi Germany that I know from movies and stories.
How much more freedom will we have to give up in the name of security and safety? How safe can we get when everybody wants to know the location of our phones or you don’t get access to different Internet services? And the terrorists are running loose all over the world.
Some people on Facebook are suggesting that we arm ourselves with AK47s known as Kalashnikovs.
I can picture this now. All of us walking with Kalashnikovs into the theaters, operas, work, churches and stores. Wow, that’s like in the Middle East and people still get blown up in coffee shops.
We’ve taken a huge step backwards and lowered ourselves to the level of terrorists, to their tactics and way of life. Paris and NYC look like war zones.
And basically all this is over religion. When did any religion start preaching violence?
Big business likes to use scare tactics and security pretense to keep us consuming.
“Keep them scared and they will keep consuming,” goes the saying.
Modern societies have to reject violence in all its forms immediately. No one can thrive in fear and under constant threat of not enough security. That’s exactly what the terrorists want for us to be scared.
Copyright (c) 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
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