The Whisperer in Darkness

For today's (first?) countdown to Halloween post, a reading suggestion. For horror fans like myself, it can never be fully Halloween without a dose of H.P. Lovecraft. I haven't read his whole work as of yet (too many horror writers to discover and rediscover), but do consider myself a fan and I enjoy a lot of them. Lovecraft helped me make my enjoyment of Halloween reach adulthood, when I got too old for trick or treat, but still loved the dark and scary atmosphere of the holiday. Reading him became a classic. I have a few favourite Lovecratian stories, including The Whisperer in Darkness, which I recommend today. It is a story between science-fiction and supernatural, like many Lovecraft stories. I generally prefer "pure" supernatural horror, but this one stands out merely for the perfectly paranoid atmosphere. On a cold, dark October night, it is a perfect read. Heck, the title alone should give you shivers. If you haven't read it yet, you can do it online here, among other places. Enjoy. If you have read it, please leave a comment telling me what you thought of it.

Une citrouille...

En fouillant dans mes vieilles photos d'Halloween, j'en ai retrouvé une qui date de l'an dernier et que je n'avais pas encore partagée: une citrouille creusée par mon père. Je la partage maintenant juste pour vous montrer qu'on a un talent de creuseurs de citrouilles dans la famille et pour vous mettre dans l'ambiance.

More than 50 years of the Great Pumpkin

For today's countdown to Halloween post, another reading suggestion: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I mean the book adaptation (novelization?) for its 50th anniversary (which was in 2016, if you'd like to know). Okay so it's basically the beloved children's classic in book form. It's funny, witty, sweet, atmospheric, with just a hint of sadness. I bought it to Wolfie because in this country, it's hard to actually watch the original on the telly. he did it only once, last year, and he loved it. So this book allows us to enjoy the Great Pumpkin every year.

Première citrouille

J'ai acheté notre première citrouille pour l'Halloween.J'aurais pu en acheter une plus grosse, mais celle-ci avec le reste de l'épierie était déjà lourde à charrier, alors j'achèterai une plus imposante la prochaine fois. Ce n'est qu'un début.

Ingolstadt

For today's third(!) countdown to Halloween post, I am revisiting another horror classic, or rather one of its setting. We all know of Transylvania and at least one of its eerie castles, but there is another horror classic which settings have been far less featured and celebrated. I am talking of the German city of Ingolstadt. Never heard of it? You probably did, or the name must ring bells. In Mary Shelley's  Frankenstein, it is where the titular character goes to study medicine, makes his famous discovery and creates the monster. So it should be on every horror afficionado on their list holiday destinations. Or macabre pilgrimage. You can find its tourist webpage here. In any case, when people think of old Gothic horror stories, they should remember that they're not all in castle ruins, they also take places in the students' laboratories in old Germanic cities. So Ingolstadt, birthplace of the Creature, this is my homage to you.

Les santons des sorcières

Photo trouvée sur la page Facebook sur les Santons de Charlevoix. Une superbe photo de sorcières bien traditionnelles avec des chats noirs et des citrouilles pour faire bonne mesure. Il me faut des santons pour l'Halloween prochain. Je partage rien que pour le plaisir, mais aussi parce que j'ai eu mon atelier de création littéraire aujourd'hui et que j'ai présenté une histoire d'horreur avec une sorcière justement. Elle a eu un franc succès, ce qui m'a bien fait plaisir.

The Dracula Game Coda

For today's countdown to Halloween, another trip down Memory Lane featuring one of horror's greatest villains. I am talking of course of Count Dracula. Twelve years ago, I wrote about the Dracula Game. It was a make-belief game my brothers and I invented with a brand new friend we'd made. We freely used  J.H. Brennan's gamebook Dracula's Castle as inspiration, as we had not read the original novel then. It was basically a hack and slash, shoot em'up dungeons crawl, where we played vampire hunters fighting various critters (zombies, ghouls, devils, lesser vampires) in Castle Dracula and it's surroundings, trying to destroy the Count himself. Anyway, you can learn more about the game in this post. I said in the original post that we only played once, but this is not quite true. A few weeks later, while our friend was away in his parents' cottage, we convince our neighours, twin brothers who werenot really into horror, and their friend, who was, to play Dracula as well. It was for me a continuation of our initial game, but for some reason it didn't work as well. Not at all in fact. Even though it was October, the air was way crisper and it felt far more autumnal. The atmosphere was borderline perfect, it felt like a good day for a horror game. Maybe because we did not have the visual aid of the gamebook, but I think mostly because our friend was not there. To fully appreciate certain games, you need to be in the company of a kindred spirit, who understands the appeal of spooky things and the macabre. Like I said, the twins were not really into horror and view gamebooks like this one with suspicion. Their friend was enthusiastic, but he saw the Count as a glorified Big Bad Wolf, or something like that. Not really an invader who wanted to conquer the world, starting with London. Our characters had true motivationsand purpose. Dracula too. So the Dracula Game never had a proper finale, it first ended abruptly in one afternoon, then it ended in a whimper in a second episode that truly wasn't one. Maybe I can convince Wolfie to play it with me one day. Who knows.

Bouquins: ratio 5 pour 1

Une amie sur Facebook a partagé ce meme il y a quelques temps. Je n'ai pas pu résister, il me fallait le partager ici. C'est pas mal mon ratio livre lu/livres achetés. Et donc ça m'a bien fait rire. Dites-moi si vous êtes comme ça aussi.

Odin for Friday the 13th (and Halloween)

For today's countdown to Halloween post, given that it is Friday the 13th, I propose a trip down memory lane: ten years ago, I had a black cat named Odin. he was named because of his right eye that was white due to a cataract. We loved him very much. My wife found an old picture of him recently, taken round this time if year. destiny was calling. I had to share it today, because you need a black cat for Friday the 13th and for Halloween.

La bière à la citrouille

Petit rappel pour ceux qui vivent à Montréal et ailleurs au Québec et qui veulent boire une boisson d'automne et parfaite pour l'Halloween. Trouvez-vous la St-Ambroise à la citrouille de McAuslan. Ce n'est pas leur meilleure, en fait comme toute bière à la citrouille elle ne goûte pas vraiment la citrouille, mais elle est de saison et c'est une incontournable quand je suis au Québec en automne. Ce qui ne m'arrivera pas de sitôt. Et sinon la cannette est cool et fait très Halloween. Cette photo date de 2021. Maintenant ils l'appellent "la Grande Bière à la Citrouille", ça fait plus dramatique.

Drawing Halloween

For today's countdown to Halloween post, a book I found on my last trip to the local bookshop. So yeah, I went to the bookshop earlier this month and I behaved, almost to my surprise. But I wanted to buy something for Wolfie, a Halloween book that was not too scary but that he could enjoy in part for its spookiness. And I found Draw with Rob at Halloween. The Rob is Rob Biddulph and he has a YouTube channel, apparently. It has lots of games and activities and a lot of time involve drawing all sorts of Halloween critters. Wolfie loves it and so do I. A lot of our preparation for Halloween when my brothers and I were children involved exactly what this book encourages: drawing scary things and letting our imagination wander. So yes, this is not the first Halloween activity book I bought him, but this might be the best yet.

Bouquet et mariage d'automne

Je partage une photo envoyée par mon père il y a quelques semaines, des marguerites (gerberas?) aux couleurs de l'automne. Petite nouvelle qui n'a pas rapport, mais peut-être que si: mon frère Andrew va se marier bientôt, avec sa blonde et la mère de ses enfants, dans une petite cérémonie toute simple et sans grands sparages. Ce sera un mariage d'automne, je soulgine avec un bouquet d'automne, comme de raison. Et je trouve que souligner cette nouvelle avec des fleurs aux couleurs de l'automne, c'est une bonne idée.

A Halloween Tea Advent Calendar?

 For today's countdown to Halloween post, I will blog about tea. You know that the Spiced Pumpkin Pie Tea from Bird & Blend is now my go-to tea for autumn, especially Halloween. Well, they also do a special Halloween Advent Calendar. I'm not sure about the name: surely Advent is a Christmas thing. But I love the idea. One different tea a day until Halloween, from their autumn collection. I'd be sure to have enough until the end of the month. And the haunted house design is just brilliant. I didn't buy it, maybe I should have had, but we are a bit late in the month now. I might do it next year, if only to show it during the countdown.

Le hérisson de l'Halloween

J'ai trouvé dans nos affaires des serviettes de table de Morrisons, achetées il y a quatre ans environ, quand je travaillais pas loin d'un Morrisons. Un hérisson de l'Halloween. J'ai acheté les serviettes de table parce que je trouvais que c'était une façon pas effrayante de faire aimer l'Halloween à petit loup. Il y avait aussi un cahier d'activités avec des créatures plus associées à l'Halloween, comme les chauves-souris que vous voyez voler sur l'image. J'espère qu'ils en font encore des comme ça cette année, j'aimerais bien me restocker.

A Werewolf Game

 For today's countdown to Halloween post, a finding and maybe a call for help from my readers. I was at the Windsor's Waterstones a few weeks ago when I saw this game on sales: One Night Ultimate Werewolf. I did not buy it, although I was very tempted. But it looked a tad too much like a rip off from another werewolf game. But hey, maybe the more the merrier. I always thought werewolves were the most neglected critters of horror fiction. My opinion on the matter in this 2022 post and this one from 2018. I think there is a lot to do with a werewolf as a horror character, both protagonist and antagonist. What do you think? And if any of you played that game, what did you think of it? Is it any good?

Une Hobgoblin pour PJ

C'est la fête de mon frère PJ aujourd'hui et comme c'est une tradition sur ce blogue je la souligne avec la photo d'une bière. Vous avez identifié la Hobgoblin de Wychwood Brewery. Une photo qui date de 2017, je crois que je la partage ici pour la première fois. Dans le temps qu'ils avaient leurs étiquettes spéciales de l'Halloween. Je suis désespéré depuis qu'ils ont des trucs bien plus ordinaires et aucune version pour l'Halloween. Mais enfin bref, je partage cette photo pour trois raisons: 1)c'est la première bière (en version blonde) qu'a bu PJ lors de sa visite ici en 2017, 2)j'associe sa fête à l'Halloween, puisqu'il est né en octobre, 3)la Hobgoblin clame être la bière officieuse de l'Halloween. Enfin bref bonne fête petit frère et j'en boirai une à ta santé.

To see Count Magnus

For today's countdown to Halloween's post, I am going to dwell into a horror story classic by M.R. James. You know how much I love M.R. James and I cannot have my spooky season without at least some of his ghost stories, either by rereading them or by watching some of his many adaptations. One of my favourite of his is Count Magnus, a ghost (or maybe a vampire) story set in Sweden and which is perfect for the weeks leading to Halloween. I plugged it back in 2015. Recently, I found on BBC iplayer an adaptation of the short story done in 2022 for Christmas. I don't know why I skipped my attention then, but in any case, I find James' stories more suitable for Halloween. So I watched it. And I must say I quite enjoyed it. I was worried as it was adapted by Mark Gatiss, who made a massacre and a joke of Dracula. He obviously has more respect for James than Stoker. Okay, so the story was flawed and Gatiss made a few questionable creative decisions, but overall pretty faithful and it had a few genuinely scary moments. If you wish to read the original, you can find it online here. Fair warning: it is a scary read.

Hommage à l'Action de grâce

Pour les chanceux qui vivent au Québec et au Canada aujourd'hui, c'est jour férié, parce que c'est l'Action de grâce canadzienne. Je n'ai jamais vraiment célébré l'Action de grâce elle-même très fort, mais c'est un lundi férié en octobre et c'est assez pour vraiment envier ceux qui sont aujourd'hui en congé, en octobre, avant l'Halloween et tout et tout. Comme c'est la tradition sur Vraie Fiction, je partage la chanson Merci pour les raisins de La fin du monde est à 7 heures. Un classique instantané.

Autumn, Halloween, Harvest, etc.

 Quick third(!) countdown to Halloween post for today, just because I forget to plug it: I suggest that you listen to episode 129 of the English Heritage podcast. Which is about autumn, its rituals and its celebrations, including of course Halloween. I found it quite interesting and even if you know a lot of it already (as Halloween fanatics often do), I think you should nevertheless learn a new thing or two. If you are inthe middle of something, like washing up or laundry, have the podcast in the background, it's a nice way to get through your chore.

Question existentielle (384)

 Une question existentielle nostalgique, parce que c'est l'Action de grâce demain au Canada:

-Quels sont vos souvenirs de l'Action de grâce?