I don't know about you, but we here at the wastelands LOVE Halloween!
So muich so that we wait all year long for Zompacolypse to come around so we can whip out our zombies. We are sad to say that it's almost time to lock thosae zombies back in the basement, but before we do what better way to go out with a bang than a rocking Trick Or Treat Hop?!
NONE, none I tell ya. There is nothing better than a chain of awesome giveaways. But before we get to that we just wanted to say a special thanks to all the authors and bloggers that have helped make Zompacolypse 2012 possible.
And from our zombie butler here at the wastelands mansion...
Isn't he such an awesome artist?!
Now for the giveaway!!! Here on our stop we will be hosting two giveaways. Please feel free to enter BOTH. The first Rafflcopter form is for a HUGE box of YA books:
*Darkfallen and Greta open the mansion door to stop the pounding coming from the other side.*
DF: What do you want?
Greta: We don’t want any.
Annie: I was taking a stroll around the neighborhood when I noticed a retched smell coming from your mansion. *Annie wrinkles nose as a bang and groan sounds from the zombie hidden in the mansion basement.* What’s that noise?
DF: Never mind that. What’s that? In your hand? *DF points to Annie’s hand.*
Annie: Well, I have a zombie. You see? *Annie pulls the chain in her hand, and a compliant zombie stumbles into the mansion foyer.*
*Greta and DF gasp*
Greta whispers to DF: You called the zombie whisperer!
*DF elbows Greta to be quiet.*
DF: How do you get him to do that? *DF gestures to the zombie, who is standing still, watching them eerily.*
*Annie appraises Greta and DF with raised eyebrows, and smiles.*
Annie: Well, I feed him!
Greta: You feed him? What?
Annie: Zombie food. What else would I feed him? *More banging comes from the basement as DF and Greta become more anxious.*
DF: Where can we get some of this zombie food? Hypothetically speaking.
Annie:*Annie shrugs* Where ever you can find some brains.
Greta: Well, how do you keep him so clean? *Everyone looks at the zombie, noting the laundered state.*
Annie: Spray him down with the hose, soap him up, and spray him down again to rinse him off, like a shower. Need to feed him first though. A full zombie is a happy zombie. *Moans and groans become louder and more persistent. DF and Greta shoot each other worried glances*
Annie: Does that noise have anything to do with the smell?
Greta: It’s a zombie!
DF: Yes, and we need to train him. I think you can help us. You know, being a zombie whisperer and all.
Annie: Zombie whisperer?
*Annie shakes with uncontrolled laughter*
Greta: What’s so funny?
*DF scowls at Annie*
Annie: Oh, well, I’m not a zombie whisperer.
DF: You’re not?
Greta: But that zombie is trained! You know what to feed him.
DF: And bathe him...
Greta: And walk him.
DF: He’s not trying to eat us!
*Annie pulls chain again.*
Annie: All that stuff seems obvious, don’t you think?
DF: You should help us train our zombie. *More banging from basement.*
Annie: I would, if I ever trained a zombie, but I haven’t.
Greta: What about your zombie? *Greta points to zombie*
Annie: He’s not my zombie. I just found him on my walk. Pretty cool, huh?
*DF and Greta blink*
DF: Then what are you doing here?!?!
Annie: If you would have let me explain in the first place... from the smell of your mansion, I thought he lived here. You guys seem a little desperate... couldn’t resist teasing you.
DF: What a waste of my time!
Greta: So, where is the real zombie whisperer?
Annie: Just a guess, but maybe this zombie had the whisperer for breakfast. Maybe zombie’s don’t want to be trained.
*Everyone looks at the zombie, who now has a smile on his face.*
Annie Walls is giving a chance to one lucky U.S. Wastelander to win a copy of her e-book - Taking on the Dead - plus some fabulous Zompacolypse goodies! What are those goodies? Only the winner will find out!!
Nothing makes the heart pound like the thought of being chased, be it through thorny wood or up winding staircases, through tangle of night or breaking dawn, with the dead hot on your heels. (Or should I say cold at your feet?) I certainly have had one-too-many dreams about being chased by zombies, no doubt a result of watching one-too-many horror movies.
What makes you hide under the covers or sleep with the light on? Perhaps it’s the common fear of being buried alive. The taste of dirt in you mouth, fingernails torn to shreds as you desperately try to claw your way out. Out of the coffin, out of the grave, out into the free air.
Lurid stories from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were spread in the popular press about premature burial. Some of these tales were spread by well-meaning doctors; for example, postmortem reports described corpses with their fingers chewed off—a sign, some doctors said, that the corpse awoke and was panicked and hungry enough to chew its own extremities. In reality, most or all of the cases were actually the result of rodent infestation. However, there was good reason for people to be terrified of being buried alive. Not all medical professionals were particularly skilled at telling the difference between dead and unconscious, and burials happened so fast (due to the heat in some places and the absence of preserving chemicals) that it was not unheard of for a person to wake up underground.
John Bateson was an inventor with paranoia about this very situation, and so he came up with the Bateson Revival Device—a small church bell attached to the lid of the coffin and connected to a cord strapped to the deceased’s hand. The idea was if you woke up in a coffin, you could ring the bell until somebody rescued you. Because his fears were shared by hundreds of people, Bateson was made wealthy with the device.
Egbert Viele was buried in a replica of an Egyptian pyramid at West PointCemetery in New York. He was so afraid of being buried alive that he added a finishing touch to the memorial--a buzzer connected to the caretaker’s house was installed close to Viele’s body. It never rang.
One of my favorite stories I’ve read over the years came from the book Scottish Bodysnatchers: True Accounts. Author Norman Adams paints several gruesome tales of premature burial and inadvertent rescue. Among them is the account of Maggie Dickson, who was hung in 1724 in Inveresk, presumably for a self-induced abortion that she had attempted to conceal. Maggie was hung in the town square, and it is said that the hangman pulled and swung on her legs once the noose was tightened and the ladder was kicked out, just for good measure. She was cut down, apparently dead, and her body was put in a cart by her relatives to be taken home for burial. Along the way, the family and friends of the deceased Maggie stopped for a drink. While the mourners were inside the alehouse, Maggie regained consciousness. Her weak cries attracted help, and a local surgeon revived her. Later, she was granted her freedom and went on to live many years, being widely known as “Half-Hangit” Maggie.
A similar tale is one from Aberdeenshire, where Merjorie Elphinstone was buried alive and rousted from her premature eternal slumber by a grave robber who was trying to steal the rings from her fingers. And there is the story of the minister’s wife, Margaret Halcrow. She was saved from an untimely fate when a sexton attempted to rob her grave and found her alive. Her husband was quite shocked to find her knocking on the door one evening.
And if being buried alive isn’t your greatest fear, perhaps it is the idea that something will reach out from its own earthly deathbed and come after you?
The origin of the tombstone lies in the fear of the dead, it seems. Lest the restless spirit, zombie, or other ghastly incarnation of the formerly living try to escape from its well-nailed coffin and six feet of earthly barrier, a large heavy stone was added to the grave to ensure it was sealed. Later, the tombstone was used more formally as a place on which to engrave epitaphs and depict angels, doves, and similar symbols of heavenly ascension.
So when you are out there, cemetery gazing or watching zombie flicks, don’t forget to listen for the sound of a bell. Consider it a warning.
Varla Ventura is giving one lucky Us/Canadian Wastelander the chance to win a signed copy of her book TheBook of the Bizarre plus Halloween and zombie swag!
Halloween
is one of my favorite holidays because it’s all about letting your imagination
run free and frolic in the leaves.
The new
chill in the air, goblins and princesses, fairies and firefighters roaming the
neighborhood at dusk and dark, dancing skeletons and cackling witches welcoming
you to suburban homes, the spooky music…oh yes, the freedom of Halloween fires
my imagination.
Not too
surprising since I write genie romance. Genies – formally called djinn or jinn –
are supernatural beings (from ancient Middle Eastern and South Asian mythology)
who can melt into shadows, travel between parallel dimensions and grant your deepest,
darkest wishes.
It’s easy
to imagine a djinn –a tall, dark, gorgeous specimen – watching from the
shadows. Easy to hear all kinds of dire whispers floating in the wind. And, so
very easy to dream up sexy adventures.
This year
though I wanted to write a ghost story for Halloween. And, I ended up with DEAD,
a multicultural ghost story dealing with an often invisible aspect of the
immigrant experience. Nasreen, the Indian-American protagonist, grapples with
her life and death in desolate West Texas.
So what’s
your favorite Halloween read and why? Share and you could be one of two lucky,
randomly chosen, people to win a KINDLE copy of DEAD: A Ghost Story.
Mina Khan
is a Texas-based writer and food enthusiast. She grew up in
Bangladesh
on stories of djinns (pronounced "gins"), ghosts and monsters.
These
childhood fancies now color her fiction. She daydreams of hunky
paranormal
heroes, magic, mayhem and mischief and writes them down as tales of romance and
adventure.
Her first
published work, The Djinn's Dilemma, won the novella category of the 2012
Romance Through The Ages (published) contest.
Fifty
percent of the proceeds from her second novella, A Tale of Two Djinns, is
donated to UNICEF for education. Two Djinns is a Romeo & Juliet tale with
genies, feminists and a happy ending.
On a scorching hot summer day in Elkwood, Alabama, Claire Lambert staggers naked, wounded, and half-blind away from the scene of an atrocity. She is the sole survivor of a nightmare that claimed her friends, and even as she prays for rescue, the killers — a family of cannibalistic lunatics — are closing in. A soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder returns from Iraq to the news that his brother is among the murdered in Elkwood. In snowbound Detroit, a waitress trapped in an abusive relationship gets an unexpected visit that will lead to bloodshed and send her back on the road to a past she has spent years trying to outrun. And Claire, the only survivor of the Elkwood Massacre, haunted by her dead friends, dreams of vengeance... a dream which will be realized as grief and rage turn good people into cold-blooded murderers and force alliances among strangers. It's time to return to Elkwood. In the spirit of such iconic horror classics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverance, Kin begins at the end and studies the possible aftermath for the survivors of such traumas upon their return to the real world — the guilt, the grief, the thirst for revenge — and sets them on an unthinkable journey... back into the heart of darkness.
I love books like this!!
They're real, they're raw, and I'm guessing they might taste like chicken ;)
This is a book about a survivor, a soldier, and a family who eats PEOPLE!
That's right... PEOPLE!!
But they don't eat people because there isn't a Publix nearby. No, they eat people because they are trying to rid the world of the Men of the World. You know... just trying to help God out. He totally wants them to do that. Well, they're pretty sure. Actually, if you dispute them.... well, if you try to dispute them... then you'll probably become the main course. Nom nom nom!!
As twisted as it sounds I found the cannibal family's story to be the most awesome. It was full of color and misunderstandings. I mean, once you learn why they are eating the people then it just makes sense. Why wouldn't you eat people?!!
But fear not citizens! I'm not going to go munching on people. I just think it was super rad to get inside their heads.
In the story we follow Claire, who is limping away from a nasty time with the cannibals. She got some piggies missing and a couple of digits and oh yeah... an eyeball. She gets picked up on the side of the road by a local and then taken to get stitched up.
This is where the fun starts!!
Claire can't stay in town!! If the cannibals find out where she is then it's curtains!! Or should I say... flesh curtains!!!
It's a most awesome story!! I mean.... the twists and turns are freaking unreal! This would have made the most awesome X-Files episode evah!!!
If you are into thrillers then this book is for you!! You won't regret it!! The characters are super imaginative, the gore is magnificent, and the story is out of this world!
Darkfallen: Greta!! I told you not to feed that damn turtle!
Greta: But he’s my baby!!
Darkfallen: You’re baby, my ass!! I’m about to call an expert.
*Greta pets the giant turtle that is soaking in the Wastelands swimming pool while sucking on the last author’s leg.
*clicking her cell phone shut
Darkfallen: He’ll be here in a minute.
Greta: Who?
Kealan: This is not my beautiful house.
Greta: No no no!! You did not call him!
Darkfallen: Thank Zombie Bob that you’re here!! We have a problem.
Greta: No we don’t!! Little Dude is part of the family now! I can’t help it that he got into some non-organic veggies and started craving human flesh. He doesn’t know any better.
Darkfallen: Do you think you can help, Kealan?
Kealan: How about electrical-taping him to a chair and forcing him to watch reruns of JerseyShore? That would kill anybody’s appetite.
Darkfallen: Yeah, we tried that but the dang turtle kept escaping from the chair.
Kealan: Industrial strength glue, and brainwashing him into believing that there are no people in the outside world, only starving bald eagles and ravenous coyotes.
Darkfallen: Well, that’s an idea. Do you have any of those with you?
Kealan: No, but you could convince him that dining on people is like admitting he’s racist.
Darkfallen: Do you know how to do that?
Kealan: No, not really. Have you tried draining the pool?
Darkfallen: Oh yeah!
*One hour later and one man-eating turtle stuck at the bottom of an empty pool, Greta hangs her feet over while Little Dude strains to jump and sink his beak into her flesh.
Greta: This sucks!! Little Dude is not pleased in this!!
Darkfallen: It’s better than the other alternative.
Greta: Which was?
Kealan and Darkfallen: Turtle soup!!
Greta: You guys suck!
Darkfallen: Thanks for visiting the Wastelands Kealan! You totally saved us from having a destructive man-eating turtle on our hands.
Kealan Patrick Burke is offering 5 Wastelanders a chance to win an e-copy of his latest thriller, "Kin". Enter into the world of backwoods cannibals and see if you can make it out alive!
Without
Kyle by my side, I now faced with heading into my Trig class too early. Nobody
blazed a trail to be the first one sitting around and waiting on the teacher.
Because of Kyle’s hormones, I faced looking super un-cool and nerdy. When you
put those words together, you never came away looking sexy.
Stepping
into the room, I immediately noticed that I was right. I headed straight for
the back row. I turned around and almost wet my pants.
The new
girl was sitting in a desk at the front of the room. She wore that same faraway
look they always have, these Walkers do. I gave them that nickname because
sometimes a ghostly film trailed behind them. It always reminded me of angel
wings. Otherwise, I guess they might be considered plain old ghosts. To label
them as spirits kind of took away from their magic. The mystery people were
always super gorgeous, like this chick: slick, dark hair that stopped just
below her shoulders, a long oval-shaped face, and nice skin. And they always
wore something dark: black jackets, jeans, and a tee shirt.
To
admit this girl made my skin crawl sounded sissy and weak. This wasn’t the time
to be a wuss. Manning up, I squared my shoulders before I sat down. The little
kid in me wanted to run away like a baby. But then she laughed. It was a
high-pitched giggle, a normal girl’s chuckle. It surprised me. That wasn’t
right. I couldn’t ever remember the Walkers laughing before.
“Go
ahead and run. I’ll just simply find you like I always do,” she said, her face
still turned toward the teacher’s wipe board.
Her
voice was smooth like a forgotten song, a hypnotic one. I could listen to it
all day long. But even super sexy voice didn’t change the fact that she pretty
much read my mind.
“Have
you decided whether you’ll run or not yet? I have an awful lot of things to
take care of.” She turned her head the slightest bit to the side
My
underarms prickled. I was glad that Mom forced me to start using the clinical
strength deodorant this morning; to say I was nervous wasn’t even close to how
I felt.
“Are
you an angel?” I asked, my voice squeaking on the last word. What a dork. She
didn’t frighten me too badly, but I wasn’t exactly ready to get her phone
number either. As a little kid, I remember talking to a few of the Walkers. As
soon as I hit my thirteenth birthday the ability to communicate with them
disappeared. This was the first time I’d spoken to one in years.
“I hate
to tell you this, but I’m not a ghost an angel or a zombie. Sorry.” She turned
around to face me, an amused expression on her ridiculously gorgeous face. I
inhaled sharply and held my breath. The word beautiful didn’t do this
Walker-girl any type of justice. Her strange, dark eyes with the specks of blue
and green inside the irises pierced into me.
I
swallowed hard and found my voice. “So then, what are you? You’re not the only
one I’ve seen or talked to. And why do I have the honor of being the stalked
one?”
She
made a light laugh and tilted her head. Her slick black hair flowed around her
face as if it were made of silky thread.
“Others
have come before me?” She seemed to have said it to herself rather than asking
me. One thing I did know for certain. I was probably going to be committed to
the loony ward after all of this. “I’m going to need your help soon, Caleb. So
be ready.”
“Be
ready for what?” I asked, crossing my arms and feeling just a tad flirtatious.
A desperate idiot. Kyle was chasing Erica the Stiff. And me, I got some sort of
angel girl sitting in front of me. A good man always knows when to aim for the
right goal.
She
glanced behind my head just before a sudden crash thundered behind me. My heart
leapt into my throat. I jumped up and spun around thinking it sounded like
gunshots. But I was being paranoid. It wasn’t a gun or anything at all
threatening. The classroom clock had fallen. Bits and pieces of it lay all over
the floor.
I
groaned. “Oh hell. They’ll think I did this.”
“What
in the world did you do, Caleb Wood?” a girl’s nasal voice asked me. I turned
around to find Jillian Bowman and her tortoise shell glasses grinning at me. She
was the last person I wanted to see. What, or rather who did I not find?—the
Walker girl. She’d vanished.
Something
hitched in my chest. I wanted to know more about her. I’d never gotten so
intimate with them before.
She
told me to be ready.
Exactly
what did I need to get ready for?
Hungry for more?
Then you've come to the right place because today is your lucky day.
Some promises are meant to be broken. Sarena Lengton knows what it's like to die -- two years ago her soul journeyed to the Underworld. Zakariah, the Lord of Judgement, has offered to spare her life in return for a promise. Sarena must convince his younger brother, Kesyl, to use his powers as a Sealer to open a portal to the Underworld. Then Zakariah can absorb Kesyl's soul and experience life on Earth. Now seventeen, Sarena has managed to avoid completing Zakariah's task. But when she witnesses a murder at Sterling High where nothing but a skeleton is left behind, Sarena knows she will need Kesyl's help to catch the killer. As they work together, she finds herself falling for the boy she promised to help destroy. Sarena doesn't want to know what Zakariah will do to her if she defies him. But if she keeps her end of the bargain, Kesyl will lose his soul. Can Sarena keep her life and her love? Or will both be torn from her forever?
Doesn't that look fabulous?
You can check out the prologue to "Sealer's Promise" on Kathy's websitehere.
Now that you've been teased in an extraordinary way, how about a giveaway? Kathy Coleman is hard at work putting the finishing touches on her novel "Sealer's Promise". But because she is a super awesome gal she wants to give you a chance to win a book of your choice from The Book Depository.
Undead
By Kristy McKay
Published September 1st 2012 by Scholastic Pick up your copy at Amazon,B&N, or your local indie today! Synopsis borrowed from Goodreads:
Out of sight, out of their minds: It's a school-trip splatter fest and completely not cool when the other kids in her class go all braindead on new girl Bobby.
The day of the ski trip, when the bus comes to a stop at a roadside restaurant, everyone gets off and heads in for lunch. Everyone, that is, except Bobby, the new girl, who stays behind with rebel-without-a-clue Smitty.
Then hours pass. Snow piles up. Sun goes down. Bobby and Smitty start to flirt. Start to stress. Till finally they see the other kids stumbling back.
But they've changed. And not in a good way. Straight up, they're zombies. So the wheels on the bus better go round and round freakin' fast, because that's the only thing keeping Bobby and Smitty from becoming their classmates' next meal. It's kill or be killed in these hunger games, heads are gonna roll, and homework is most definitely gonna be late.
Combining the chill of THE SHINING, the thrill ride of SPEED, the humor of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, and the angst of THE BREAKFAST CLUB, Kirsty McKay's UNDEAD is a bloody mad mash-up, a school-trip splatter-fest, a funny, gory, frighteningly good debut!
Darkfallen's thoughts:
OMG This was so HILARIOUSLY HORRORFYING!!
Poor Bobby has just been uprooted from the United States back to her homeland in the UK because of her mothers job. She is far from happy about it. SO to be stuck on a bus full of her new class mates that could care less if she was there isn't exactly how she wants to spend the weekend. To bad her mum insisted that a school skiing trip was a good idea. So when she finds herself stuck on a bus, in the middle of nowhere with three other classmates, while the rest of the class would rather munch on brains? Yea...things can't get much worse.
This book was perfect. I've read my fair share of zombie books: some serious, some comedy. This one fits the bill for both with enough action and cliffhangers at the end of every chapter that you find yourself gripping the pages. I simply couldn't put this book down, and I can't even count the time that i laughed out loud while my family stared at me like I lost my mind.
I absolutely LOVED Bobby and her snarky humor. Even in the face of a zombie apocalypse she lost her mind in the most funny of ways. Then you have Smitty who is just perfect for her. The whole group in fact just balanced each other out nicely, even if I did want to smack Alice around over and over again.
Overall this is a read that does the zombie YA crowd proud. Full of humor, action, suspense...and I probably won't ever take part in juice samples again. *cringes*
I like big brains
& I don’t know why....Party with Hippie Vampires, Ozzie Osbourne & Lady
Gaga to escape ZOMPACOLYPSE! But, beware the SHADOWS!! [party favors at the
end! - Laura A. H. Elliott]
Egads, in this pic it looks like we just noshed on brains,
er...necks!
My husband and I dressed up as Hippie Vampires to go to our
friend’s annual Halloween Party a few years ago. But the really funny part of
trying to be so terrifying? We weren’t. Everyone thought my husband was Ozzie
Osbourne. And ya know, after donning the round glasses and the black wig, he
really did look like Ozzie! Since the party was in LA, they didn’t just think
he was dressed up! He was a big hit and the go-to guy to pose with for
Halloween photos all night!
I love Halloween. I love dressing up and pretending. I guess
that’s why I like to write so much. Writing gives me a great way to dress up
all the time :D I think the best part about Halloween parties and dressing in
costumes is what I love about a good story. They’re full of surprises and
sometimes laughs and take you to unexpected places. Surely when we dressed as
Hippie Vampires we had no idea the real hit would be Ozzie. Or that later that
night, a club we went to would be overrun with cops, but...that’s another
story.
Here, I’m the jellyfish dancing with Lady Gaga.
I was all out of ideas this particular year. We’d just moved
and our new neighbors were having this massive party in this super-cool
Victorian house. I had no idea what to be. I was standing in line at Target and
randomly asked a girl in line about her Halloween costume. She said she didn’t
dress up, but if she was going to a party she’d go as a jellyfish. I’m like,
what? She said to google Martha Stewart
Jellyfish Costume and I’m like, okay. Well, I had the bubble umbrella and
the rest was a piece of cake! Anyhoo, my jellyfish costume reminds me of good
books. Most of the time I find out about them from friends, or people I run
into.
I always wanted to write a spooky series. The Shadow Series
is Halloween inspired. Shadows are a lot like zombies! Here’s a little bit
about The Shadow Series:
13 on Halloween (Shadow Series #1)When Roxie invites all the eighth grade
peacocks (code word : popular kids) to her first ever thirteenth birthday
party on Halloween, they all come and give her a gift that’s literally out of
this world. Roxie astral projects to Planet Popular where she becomes seventeen
instantly and gets everything she’s always wanted, but nothing is as it seems. FREE
ON AMAZON!
Shadow Slayer (Shadow Series #2) Shadows will do anything to become human. You see their influence
everyday. You say things you don’t mean or do things that aren’t like you. You
look, different. Friends you’ve known forever suddenly never call.Planet Popular was just part of a bigger world, the shadow world. When
the shadow invasion begins at Roxie’s high school, she’ll fight for her life
and the lives of her family and friends, when she discovers she’s the Shadow
Slayer, the one human who can save Earth from the shadow onslaught.
Anyone who
comments on this post about one of their Halloween costume memories (bonus points for
links to pics!) & tweets about this post (@laurawriting) will be entered for a chance
to win a Shadow Series swag pack including a Shadow Slayer USB drive [2 G]
filled with The Shadow Series! [open internationally] Giveaway open for three
days! Happy Halloween! Don't forget to leave your email!!
Party favors :
Follow @Laurawriting and DM her your address for signed Shadow Series bookmarks!
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