31 Days of Horror-- Day 3: Others on a Similar Journey

I am not the only one out there trying to cram horror related posts down your throats this month.

Two of my favorite sites that put on fantastic October blog-a-thons worth your time are the subject of today's post.

First, the Horror Writers Association's annual Halloween Haunts.  Here is their official press release:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Horror Writers Association Announces Its

Fourth Annual HALLOWEEN HAUNTS Online Blog Event

Spend Halloween with the Horror Writers!

The Horror Writers Association is proud to present its Fourth Annual Halloween Haunts blog event featuring blog posts and excerpts from some of today’s best horror writers. In celebration of Halloween and horror writing, the HWA will post at least one new blog entry by a horror writer every day—and two posts on most days—from October 1 to October 31. Many posts will feature exclusive excerpts from new stories and novels as well as book and e-book giveaways.

HWA members will be blogging about their favorite Halloween traditions, their treasured (or terrifying!) Halloween experiences, what life is like as a horror writer, or even their experience as a member of the HWA. No one knows Halloween better than horror writers, and there’s no better time of year than October to dig into some horror writing!

Halloween Haunts will help connect horror writers with readers, share some Halloween fun (and a few good chills), and showcase the benefits of HWA membership.

Halloween Haunts will take place on the Dark Whispers blog (http://horror.org/category/blog/), the official blog of the HWA. Giveaways and prizes will be announced daily, and all giveaways are provided by individual members of the HWA. 

Past Halloween Haunts events are archived online: http://horror.org/category/halloween/.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Peter Straub

The Horror Writers Association has also launched a campaign to help promote the fun of reading horror.  It’s call Horror Selfies.  It is a lot of fun and you or your patrons can be featured. Click through for more details. I included a sneak peek here to the right though.

Second, is the annual rite of passage taken on by author, Booklist Editor, and past 31 Days of Horror contributor Daniel Kraus as he tries to watch 31 horror films each October.

Click here for his full post on the challenge, it's rules, and to follow his journey.

And all jokes aside [although Kraus makes many], you should note #6 on his list in that post:

6. How is this helping the world?!I’m glad you asked! (Though, frankly, surprised.) Our good f(r)iends over at The Blog Is Coming From the House are continuing to gather data about gender and race in horror films. In fact, last year our collective work with #31HorrorFilms31Days helped spawned this Salon.com comic. So CLICK HERE to help the cause. Do something for someone else for once, you miserable ghoul!

So I 'm not crazy....right? We are all doing our part to help make the world a little less frightening.

If you have a horror binge activity planned for this month, share it in the comments. 

31 Days of Horror-- Day 2: This Resource

Every year I run this monthly marathon of horror posts. And one of my favorite things to do during this blog-a-thon is to highlight some of the better resources out there; resources you can use all year long to help you to help your horror patrons.  However, as I was preparing this month’s schedule, I realized that I always forget one very important resource to remind you about...

THIS ONE.

So today, we are going to talk about what I have to offer to you, the library worker, who is helping horror loving readers.

Of course I have posts, but unlike my main blog, RA for All, this blog is not about posting all of the time.  It is a more traditional resource.  There is the book, and then there is this blog which serves as an update and addition to the book.

I hope that people come here to RA for All: Horror first when they are trying to help a horror patron OR are actively trying to improve their horror genre knowledge and RA skills.

To help you to use this resource more efficiently, here is a little primer on how I have organize things.

1. The blog component: You can simply see the posts I have written most recently on the main screen, or use the labels on the bottom right to access posts about specific topics. But, I have also created pages with more general information that are constantly updated, even when I am not blogging regularly. I will be highlighting these and their content next
2. Features Archive: Anytime I run a post under certain categories such as Not Quite Horror or Backlist Not to Miss, I collect them on this page.  But this is also where you can go to see past 31 Days of Horror too. There is one click access to the entire month for each year.
3. Horror Review Index: This is what it says it is.  Here you can have easy access to my reviews of titles I think are a good choice for public library patrons. They are alphabetical by author and I have the year in which the book was published listed too.
4. The next 3 pages: Horror Resources, Horror Publishers, and Horror Awards are all curated lists of places you can look to for more help and info. I try to update them and check for bad links about 2x a year.
5. Becky’s Original Horror Lists is a place where I try to keep some of my more formal lists from over the years all in one place.
6. Whole Collection Reading Options is a page of not quite horror lists, links, and ideas. For the horror fans who want to branch out.

So, what not start out this month of horror posts by poking around into the dark corners of this blog and see what you can find. Who knows, you may find the perfect reading suggestion for a patron.

31 Days of Horror-- Day 1.5: RA for All has a Review of Doctor Sleep

Normally, I will keep all of the horror stuff here, but to celebrate the start of 31 Days of Horror, I thought I would let the more general [and more popular] blog work as a marketing tool.  So head on over there to see my review of Doctor Sleep.

31 Days of Horror-- Day 1: The Terror Begins With A Great Movie!

Welcome to my personal horror, filling 31 days in a row with useful, entertaining, and interesting horror content for you, the librarian. [Cue the blood curdling scream]

I have no idea why I do this to myself every single year. I guess I love the punishment.

No seriously, I take my position as libraryland's reigning horror maven very seriously. I know you are all out there trying to serve your patrons as best you can. I also know how hard it is to keep up with the overwhelming number of books in what has become an ever expanding world of genres.

I am in a unique place to help you all look brilliant as you respond to horror requests. Since this is when you get the most horror related inquiries, I try to ramp up my game to meet demand.

So let's get started....

Today I have a fun announcement of a horror movie that will be filming in Chicago.  I also think it sets a nice tone for the start of this month's marathon.


The movie is called Killer Pinata.  First a teaser...

The best places to go to learn all about Killer Pinata, it's filming schedule [Logan Square in Chicago, beginning in November] is on their IndieGoGo page, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

But I also asked writer/director Stephen Tramontana to share some thoughts with you here. 

Take it away Stephen:

"There were two events that lead to the creation of this cinematic gold. The first was that the four of us have watched almost every bad horror and Sci-Fi movie streaming on Netflix. I'm serious, we won't even look at it unless it's 1 or 2 stars. "

"The second was that we were going to get a pinata for Nick's 32nd birthday, and started discussing the horrible lives pinatas live. They're basically created to be destroyed. That gave way to what would if happen if a pinata had enough, and took revenge on behalf of his people. We looked to see if this movie existed, discovered it did not, and decided to make it ourselves. Because the world needs this kind of movie."

"We all have skill sets that assure this will be a great B-movie (that is not an oxymoron, ha). Jenn and Nick are very organized, coordinated, and crafty, so as producers they'll make sure the production has what it needs and finishes on time. Paul has a fantastic eye and is very technical to boot, so the movie will look good. And I just had a script final at the Austin Film Festival, and it's going into production this year with Brian Murphy producing and Jason Cox directing." [Click here for all of their impressive qualifications.]

"It'll be filmed entirely in Logan Square, so it won't look like a lot of other horror films. Our goal is to pay homage to the early Peter Jackson films, the Troma films, the direct-to-video early 90s films like Dolly Dearest and Pinocchio's  Revenge. Filming will begin the first week of November. "

Becky back here now.  I also wanted to let you know that they are currently in the midst of a giveaway to mark the end of their funding drive.  This would be fun information for you to pass on to your horror fans who might want to get involved.  Right now, as long as someone donates at least $10 to the campaign, they'll be entered into the drawing with a chance to win the new 15 disc Halloween Blu-Ray box set. The winner will be announced this Saturday. 

31 Days of Horror is Coming...

Are you ready? I am!

Starting in October 1st, I will begin the annual marathon of daily horror-library related posts.

I have saved many horror book reviews for this month and will be highlighting some of my favorite resources. Plus I have giveaways!

If you have something you would like to share with my audience on October, this is your last chance to get in touch with me-- zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com

Look here and on Twitter  [@RAforAll] for tons of chills and thrills all month long.

25 Best Horror Novels of the New Millennium and a Giveaway!

****This is the fourth in an occasional series of posts to help you get ready for Halloween.****

So I came across this list of the 25 Best Horror Novels of the New Millennium and boy is it a good list.

Not only have I read, enjoyed, and reviewed many of the books on the list, this is a list every library can use right now as they prepare for Halloween.

Often when I see or find lists of horror books, they are filled with books we would never carry in a library.  They are often too obscure or too out there for a general audience.  But not this list.  Without checking, I can say with confidence that my library owns at least 20 (if not more) of the books on the list.  And, they all have healthy circ stats.

Some like, The Ruins, the 2 Joe Hill entries, Ghost Road Blues, and Drood to name a few, are among my ALL TIME favorites. Click through to see more on each title.

And number 1 is a book that is annotated in my book, a book I personally own, and also happens to be a book I saw in a co-workers hand last week, to which I said to her, “That is one of the creepiest, most disorienting, and just straight out frightening books I have ever read.”  I guess I am not alone in that opinion.

Speaking of my book, in preparation for Halloween I have five copies of my book to give away.  Be one of the first 5 people to email me with your mailing address-- zombiegrl75@gmail.com-- and I will send it to you free of charge.  There is no better way to prepare for the Halloween rush at your public library then with my book.

Ghost Stories for Grownups

****This is the third in an occasional series of posts to help you get ready for Halloween.****

On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal ran this article on the stories of Robert Aickman.  I liked the title, "Ghost Stories for Grown Ups."

Now in terms of my series on getting you ready for Halloween, I think the article is a MUST READ. It gives you a great sense of Aickman, his writing, and why people love to read his stories.

I would love it if all of you, especially the Horror newbies, read one of his stories too, but I also know that it is NOT NECESSARY for you to have to read an Aickman story in order for you to be able to help a patron looking for a scary read come Halloween time. [Most libraries will have at least one collection with stories by Aickman if you do want to try one though; click here for our system's offerings.]

The key to all of this Halloween planning is for you to educate yourself as to what horror fans love about feeling the fear and being engulfed in a terrifying story.  This article on the work of Aickman is a quick and easy way to learn this without terrorizing yourself in the process.