'Tis the witching week! Perfect timing to talk about the three short stories we featured this month by GA authors, Gee Whillickers, Cynus, and Bill W. Did you make time to read them? They're only about 5k each, so if you haven't, check out the announcement blog post with links to each one. If you did, now's the time to add your comments and reviews! First, of course, I have a great interview with each author to share.

Cynus:

What’s your favorite Halloween memory or tradition?

This memory starts off really sad, but it has a happy ending. My first boyfriend, and my best friend, died in the spring. He was killed in a motorcycle accident when we were sixteen. Over the next few months, I lost nearly all of my friendships because of the resulting depression. I simply couldn't be around people, and the kids I knew just didn't understand. I did have one friend who stood by me, and as we entered fall he started inviting me over to his house. I was still so entrenched in my depression that I didn't take his invite, but a week before Halloween we were walking home together, and he suddenly grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward his house at the point where we normally said goodbye to each other. I resisted, but he kept pulling, and so I pulled back harder. He eventually gave up and went his way, but I could tell he was hurt by how I was acting. Over the next week, I kept thinking about what had happened. I knew he was going out trick-or-treating with his younger brother on Halloween, and I decided I was going to ambush him and then follow him back to his house, surprising him for Halloween. It worked, and I ended up spending the night at his house. Our friendship grew from there, and we're still best friends today, and have been roommates for almost seven years now. I credit that night with the beginning of the friendship which saved my life, and it happened on Halloween.

The spooky season often inspires new twists based on old tales. Did that come into play with your story?

Can't say that it did. If I did pull from some other story I knew, then I definitely don't remember which story it was. I've always been fond of scarecrows, and martial artists, and pagan gods, and cute kids with mohawks... I just threw them all together. Oh, there is this one episode of Supernatural which influenced it a bit, so I suppose there's a connection there.

Why did you pick your particular creepy critter? A love of ghosts? A desire to tell your own vampire schtick? A fascination with the living dead?

There's something about scarecrows which I've always found fascinating. I don't really know why, other than perhaps the thought of a guardian over the harvest sparks my pagan brain moving in awesome directions. Which is probably why I chose to make Jack a god as well.

Do you have a favorite part of the story? A character or scene?

The big reveal, when Jack jumps off his pole and advances toward Jordan. Don't know how well I conveyed it in the writing, but that part played like a movie in my head over and over again. Jack's monstrous and magical appearance, and the look of horror on Jordan's face... I loved every moment of fear the bully experienced.

Do you have other Halloween/horroresque story that you want to share with readers? It can be your own or one you really enjoy. (include links if you want, and I’ll add those)

Halloween is actually what started me writing online. My first story I ever released was part of a Halloween collection at Awesomedude.com, but it's also hosted here now. The Drawbacks of Being a Monster is one of my favorites, and you can read it here: http://www.gayauthor...ofbeingamonster. I also have a new story which will be released for this Halloween. I don't plan on releasing it until Monday, as it's entered into a blind contest on another website where people are to vote without knowing who the authors are, but I'll surely advertise it once it posts.

One of my favorite authors at AwesomeDude, Lil' Octopus, released this little gem last year, and I found it as exhilarating as most of his work. It's title is "Lost in the Woods", and you can find it here: http://awesomedude.c...n-the-woods.htm

Gee Whillickers:

What’s your favorite Halloween memory or tradition?

Halloween movie marathons. When I was a teen a couple of friends and myself would rent two three Halloween themed movies, the cornier the better, and on the weekend nearest to Halloween we'd get together and watch these until all hours. Afterwards, we'd get into these weird half serious, half ridiculous existential discussions about the 'deeper meaning' of the movies. Eventually this always got sillier and stupider until we were imagining all kinds of things from hidden messages about alien invasions to political critiques on the organization and design of suburban neighbourhoods.

Yeah, we were a weird bunch. But I remember those nights, and the fun we had.

The spooky season often inspires new twists based on old tales. Did that come into play with your story?

Absolutely! The story was a pretty generic teen boy-meets-boy tale, but the boys' zombie costumes gave me a way to have some fun with the too-often used tropes of these kinds of stories. One of the things Halloween stories in our genre can often do is play with the idea of hiding, wearing costumes, playing a role, something that strikes a chord with many of us depending on the challenges we faced growing up and often still face when we become adults.

Why did you pick your particular creepy critter? A love of ghosts? A desire to tell your own vampire schtick? A fascination with the living dead?

There's something about zombies that I find fun. Even before the current zombie craze with The Walking Dead and World War Z and the like. You can do so much with the idea, it's not quite as limited as the rule set around Dracula, or Werewolves, and they seem to strike a real deep primal fear in us when its done right.

Do you have a favorite part of the story? A character or scene?

Absolutely. The climax, when Val and Danny end up kissing with their friends all yelling about zombie rights. The whole 'they can't help being undead' and 'if they're eating each other's brains then they won't go after yours' stuff was just a blast to play around with.

Do you have other Halloween/horroresque story that you want to share with readers? It can be your own or one you really enjoy.

There's so many good ones. 'The Halloween from Hell' by Cole Parker is great, if a bit dark.

http://awesomedude.c...n-from-hell.htm

One of mine from a few years ago that I had a lot of fun with is 'The Costume'

http://awesomedude.c...whillickers.htm

I'm also writing a new Halloween story that I hope to have finished and edited within a short period of time. Look for it!

Bill W:
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What’s your favorite Halloween memory or tradition?

I grew up in the country, so I couldn't go trick-or-treating by yourself until I was a teenager. Out of all of the neighbors' houses I'd be taken too, I remember one place most of all. It was an elderly woman who lived alone and made some extra money by making cookies and selling them at her little roadside stand throughout the year. At Halloween, she'd give us one of those cookies when we stopped by. They were as large as a bread plate and the most delicious cookies I think I've even eaten. We had the choice of a sugar, chocolate chip, peanut butter or molasses cookie, but she always let me take two.

I also remember some of the pranks I was part of as a teen, although I'll skip going into detail about those, in case there was no statute of limitations on our activities. lol

The spooky season often inspires new twists based on old tales. Did that come into play with your story?

Actually, mine started out being based on a news report I'd once heard, where the coroner started to perform an autopsy on a man and discovered he wasn't dead after all. Adding that to my fear of what it must be like being trapped in your body and not being able to communicate, the story just grew from there.

Why did you pick your particular creepy critter? A love of ghosts? A desire to tell your own vampire schtick? A fascination with the living dead?

Although this story isn't quite the same, I think it grew out of my morbid fascination throughout my youth about the stories of people who'd been buried alive. Again, being trapped in their own bodies, although I'm not sure if any of them ever realized what was happening at the time, especially when they were being buried.

Do you have a favorite part of the story? A character or scene?

I like the part where you can hear his thoughts about what he wants to do, but he's unable to put them into action or communicate with anyone that he's not really dead. I also like the very end, when he finally figures out what actually saved him.

Bill didn't want to toot his own horn, but I will say he has several other Halloween stories to choose from, such as A Halloween Nightmare, From Beyond the Grave, Role Reversal... and more! You can find them here.