Greetings darklings:

Mabon begins tomorrow. Mabon is my favourite time of year and the second harvest Sabbat of the three harvest Sabbats. The next turn in the Wheel of the Year is our beloved and darkly magical Samhain! Mabon is all about balance, the harvest and gratitude for the abundance we have. 

I love, love, LOVE this time of year! I am so happy it’s here and brings the rainy, cool days, autumn leaves and that creepy chill. I just finished reading Gothic by Philip Fracassi. Wow, what a novel. Gothic brims with nonstop dread, horror and characters that I really cared for.  The book shocked me over and over again, as a relentless and merciless horror stalks Tyson’s family. What price is Tyson willing to pay for great stardom as a horror author? You find out- and wish you didn’t. The whole novel feels like something you shouldn’t be reading, something feels wrong from the start and NEVER.LETS.GO. This book is not for the squeamish. If you are squeamish, you may not make it to the end. 

Now I know what to make my readers feel in my own upcoming horror novel. It is important to read widely in your chosen genre. I read what other authors have written because it helps me with my own writing. I would never copy or imitate then, but it does help me improve my own writing. 

I love the paranormal, supernatural horror. It calls me to like a siren song. Once the paranormal bug has bitten you and bites deeply, that’s it, you can’t resist it. It is like that for me. It is why it keeps creeping onto the pages I write, or the movies I watch. I have researched it thoroughly over the years. It tastes like fine red wine to me. I do love my red wine. Okay, anyway, I digress. I love supernatural horror. I am not much for slashers which seems like violence for violence’s sake to me. But some people can’t get enough of that. That’s okay if it works for them. I love supernatural. Now if it was a supernatural themed slasher, okay I might get interested. Including the fact that I am a Witch and able to see the dead. Those themes or ideas do turn up a lot in my writing. Haunted manors, monsters, witches, outsiders, ghosts, curses, demons, the supernatural, heroism, hope. I keep drawing on those ideas to plant in my stories. I created my own spooky oracle deck. The image above is the image on one of my oracle cards, a photo I took myself. That image is so eerie. I am so happy I took the photo. I  know I was never meant for anything normal or mundane. Nope. I hate romance novels with an all-consuming passion. But I did write a romance in the Cult of the Spider People, the relationship between Piper and Cory at the same time I was heartbroken over a guy. I wrote what came naturally and what served the story. You may surprise yourself at what you will create. It certainly surprised me. 

The novels Something Wicked this way Comes by Ray Bradbury and I am Legend by Richard Matheson are my favorites. That is the type of fiction I love to read, that I exist for to read. They are authors after my own heart. You can leave a comment below to tell me what your favorite genre is. I would love to find out!

I hope to achieve the same magic, the same dark magic that courses through Fracassi’s, Bradbury’s and Matheson’s own novels. 

Blessed Be, Spiderwitch )O(