Let’s talk about Halloween, shall we? Because, yeah, it’s coming upon us, all dripping with gore and guts and sweet things, and I am—despite having not been much of a ghoul the last few rounds—super excited about this year. Normally, I just watch a horror movie with friends, but this time I’ll get more into the “spirit” of things (ha-ha, I’m so original with my humor). Though I am too old and on too strict a diet to go out for candy, I realize that the holiday has something to offer to everyone.

So, I wanted to talk about the biggest part of this event that appeals to me. The main draw of the frightful night.

And it’s a tad personal, I guess. Some say the pull of Halloween is that we get to cast off the shackles of modern society and embrace—in small ways—aspects of ourselves we must keep hidden for whatever reason. It’s why we go for the sexually provocative, or gory, or deeply weird types of costumes. Because on one night of the year, we get to be something we are not—but perhaps wish we were in the dark recesses of our souls.

And while I agree with that sentiment, at least in reasonable cases, it’s not the exact bullet point of what is so appealing to me about the holiday. Sure, allowing myself to play-act as a villain for a little while, instead of writing them, is an attractive option—and I plan to have a bit of that fun. But, it’s different for me, the main draw. I like Halloween, because, for once, my love of the esthetic and concepts of horror and the dark are not only acceptable but kind of expected.

Let me be a little clearer. If you have been around this blog awhile and read some of the fiction I put out, then you know I can be on the violent and dark spectrum when it comes to my characters. I do bad stuff to fictional people. And, normally, the number of readers who would accept those kinds of stories, or accept my interest in making them, or telling them, is small. And I’m not saying on Halloween no one will find it weird, but it is the one time of the year where I can openly converse about odd biology facts, monster’s cultural meanings, and the strange and dark places I’ve explored in other people’s fictional worlds, and get to say: “Hey, it’s the season for it.”

Hell, I know it’s weird. But, on Halloween, weird is normal. And everyone gets to slip on a new skin, even If I’ve been wearing mine in secret the whole time.

Oh, and come Saturday’s fiction, I’m going full horror and seeing how twisted I can be. Looking forward to it.

(Cue evil laughter fading into the night.) 

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Special thanks to: Bob Gerkin, Collin Pearman, Dylan Alexander, Jerry Banfield, and Michael The Comic Nerd. 

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