Thursday, October 31, 2019

Halloween Reads

This time of year is by far my favourite! I get to carve pumpkins, dress up and scare kids, and hand out lolly bags. Yep, it's the fun part of the year.

It's also fun to get in and read some good horror too; and as a lot of you know, I'm a big Sai King fan. I love 'Christine' and 'Salem's Lot' as well as 'The Stand' and 'The Talisman' and 'Black House'. There's also Sai King's 'Dark Tower Series' - which I'm still up to book 4 of; if I can find it around the house! I did have it around here somewhere. Yes, it's in a safe place. And you know what happens with safe places, they turn into a wormhole; a bit like where the Tardis vanishes into every now and then.

But it's the way Sai King writes his works which pulls me in. I always feel as though we're sitting by a camp fire - or having a cup of coffee in a local cafe - and he's telling us a tall tale while we're all leaning inwards waiting with bated breath at what what will happen next!

Then, bang!

He says (writes) something which makes sure when you go to bed that night, you turn to switch off the bedside lamp, and well, you hesitate and wish you didn't have to. King's words whisper in the back of your mind and you wish you hadn't read that book - or that part of the book - this afternoon. But then, he's your favourite writer. 

Well, he's mine. And he's why I enjoy his work so much. His work has influenced how I work my own work, my own writing, as well. And you know, it's not easy to pull in an audience, to scare them, to make them feel something with just the words you write. This takes effort, emotion and letting people into your deepest thoughts and feelings - and that's harder than you'll ever think possible. 

And so my favourite Halloween reads have to do with how a book is written. I do enjoy the books I mentioned above, truly, and I've reread them a few times as well as watched the movies. However, the books are always better. And even though I have an extensive Stephen King collection, I haven't read all of them, it's just the status of owning them all which makes me want more of his written work. 

So, how about you? Who is your favourite horror author and how do they keep you coming back for more? Do you write because of them or do you just enjoy reading their work because it takes you places and scares you really good? Until my next post, happy reading and Happy Halloween.

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