Halloween is only a week away, so we thought it appropriate to give away something nice a spooky . . . actually, three things nice and spooky.
I was introduced to Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s Beautiful Creatures series about a year ago, when I was taking a road trip to South Carolina and wanted an audiobook for the drive. The Gothic story about a sleepy Southern town, young love and good and evil was perfect for the ride.
Last week, Beautiful Chaos—book three in the Beautiful Creatures series—came out. BookPage interviewed Garcia and Stohl about superstitions, Halloween and their writing process. Here’s a preview, on their favorite things about Halloween:
Margaret: The costumes. And the general suspension of belief—like everyone is willing to believe in anything, just for one night.
Kami: The eerie atmosphere is my favorite part, and the mythology that Halloween is the night when the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest.
This week, we’re giving away the first three books in Garcia and Stohl’s series. Here’s how you can win them:
TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the name of your favorite Halloween tradition. Do you like busting out your Anne Rice collection? Dressing up? Eating a pound of candy? We want to hear about it.
CONTEST DETAILS: One winner will be chosen by random.org from among entries received by 6 pm CST on October 28. The winner will receive copies of Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness and Beautiful Chaos. This prize must be shipped to a North American address.
ETA: Congratulations to our winner, Sharon! Her favorite Halloween tradition is taking her kids trick-or-treating.
Thank you to all who entered! Contest is now closed.
Starting a new tradition this year by participating in All Hallow’s Read. Check it out at http://www.allhallowsread.com/
Since I can laugh like a witch and yes,I need make-up to help look like one,but my sister is even better than I,but we sure have fun scaring everyone,giving out goodies and looking at the grown ups dressed up as much as kids,yes ,we are a normal neighborhood…boo!who knows what normal is…Boo!!!!! beware
Horror movies are often on during this time and I get caught up in those very easily. I guess that’s my tradition.
I think my Steven King collections will have to be borrowed back from a friend(good excuse to get back)and watch scary movies…hay,witch above,don’t put spells on us
Watching the movie Halloween and the season of the Witch.
In Iowa the kids all tell you a joke when they trick or treat. I always thought that was sort of weird, but now that I live in Arkansas I admit I miss that tradition.
Dressing up….I spend months, literally almost have a year planning my costumes for Halloween (yes you read that right, costumes as in multiple). This year it’s Edwardian, Steampunk, 80′s, and Katniss from Hunger Games!
My eldest is 25, youngest 13. Tradition has always been that when out trick or treating, GET SNICKERS! All snickers go to Mommy! lol.
We also bust out the scary movies, Gremlins is a traditional one the kids love, and often have a bonfire on Trick or Treat night, inviting all the kids friends and our neighbors. Entrance fee is one bag of candy, which is then put out in big pots and bowls for everyone to help themselves.
My favorite Halloween tradition is dressing up the kids, then sending them out w/daddy so I can see all the cuties that come to the door.
My favorite tradition used to be hosting a fantastic Halloween party for friends and co-workers. Everyone would dress up and we always had such a great time!
Times have changed for a lot of us over the past few years. Jobs and families have changed some priorities. My favorite tradition now is taking my little niece to our town’s downtown celebration. She dresses up in her costume (Olivia this year), they have games, inflatable slides, food and drinks. She always has such a fun time and doesn’t know where to begin. I love being the aunt that can take her to fun events.
Love to take my kids trick or treating
My favourite tradition is watching the live episode of a Ghost Hunters investigation. Love watching the TAPS team at work!
Love the All Hallow’s Read “tradition”. But I love the good old Halloween traditions too, like eating candy corn & carving pumpkins!
My favorite tradition is attending our annual Adult Halloween Costume Party! You must be dressed in a costume to attend and the costumes are outrageous! It’s a great time with great friends and oh so frightening!
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love getting dressed up. I love horror movies. It’s all awesome.
I break out the scary books!! I’m also a witch and I work spells.
Our small community holds a party for all the children….games,goodies,a cake walk etc. For me,the best part is seeing all the little ones dressed in costumes!
Love this time of year and taking my youngest son trick-or-treating. Watching the Charlie Brown Halloween special is a favorite tradition.
Watching Charlie Brown & The Great Pumpkin
My favorite time is, after the trick-or-treaters have finished ringing the bell, turning off all the lights, lighting spooky candles, and enjoying the leftover candy while we watch scary movies. I try new movies each year and this year the list is long!!!
Love this time of year! I love the creepy tales, decorating, and costumes. Less Halloween-specific and more fall in general, I love the cooler weather, cozy sweaters, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, curling up in front of a fire to read…. favorite time of year!
Sounds like my kind of series! I will have to check the library if I don’t win.
My favourite Halloween tradition is doing the corn maze at our local pumpkin patch with my son… we have been doing it for 4 years running now and the maze gets bigger and bigger each year…. so fun!
Watching scary movies and handing out candy.
Reread Dracula!
Having fun with seeing people dressed up. And having fun!
I like to read scary books leading up to Halloween. This year I’ve been reading It by Stephen King and it is really creepy!
I love going to pick out a costume with my son and eating candy of course!
I enjoy decorating for Halloween and handing candy out to the trick-or-treaters. Haven’t found a good Halloween read yet. I will give this series a try.
my husband and pull the curtains, turn out the lights and pretend like we’re not home
Love gettng TOO much candy to give out so without guilt, I can eat candy bars while watching Halloween movies on TV!
I try to make Holloween as memorable for Kids as possible. I enjoy the candy, our office decorations are always awesome.
My aunt and uncle always have a big Halloween party at their farm every year with stew, a bonfire, smores and a hayride. It’s a great tradition!
I lov dressing up my dogs. They may not like it but nothing is cuter than a beagle dressed as a vampire, & a terrier in a pink dress. My husban & teenage dont like it but thats cause the dogs are so much cuter then them.
I like to watch horror movies during this holiday season and I also enjoy seeing my daughter dressed up.
Halloween is the best time to dress up, have some creepy party with friends and families or trick or treet and trade candies with siblings when it’s all over… it’s like being a kid all over again
Watching my creative daughters choose a design for their pumpkin carving(last year my husband had to break out his sawzall because the pumpkin was so thick). Watching the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and this year sending Halloween care packages to our college freshman twins!
I have to watch all the Halloween movies!, and read Stephen King.
Watching all the halloween movies and eating a bunch of candy.
Every year without fail, I don my witches hat and put a little white grease paint on as I meet the children at the door…as they walk away from the door I give them a witch cackle which usually sends them squeeling into the night. Much fun!
My favorite tradition has always been whipping up costumes for my four children: one Superman costume went through three generations, a ladybug, a smurf, a singing cowboy were just a few that had to be handmade (at the last minute, of course).
Participating in the annual Great Pumpkin Massacre (pumpkin carving), catching a scary movie or two, and eating too many Tootsie rolls.
i have to watch hocus pocus and practical magic or it doesn’t feel like Halloween
I love to read old ghost stories or classics such as Frankenstein, Dracula. Then all month long I love to have old horror movies on, the OLD ones not the gory, modern trash! Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Werewolf, etc. Lots of fun!!! Oh, I do like Halloween and Friday the 13th, the originals but those are considered “old” now from the ’70s!
Carving pumpkins with my children then roasting the seeds and eating them with cider
A bowl of popcorn and watching “The Great Pumpkin” are a must!! Plus, I really love the “Paranormal” movies..shivers galore!
My favorite tradition is taking my kids trick or treating with my sister and her kids. Ever since they were old enough to go, we have all gone together as a group in my mom’s neighborhood. I love watching the kids getting excited and giggling with each other!
It has to be the candy. I think in 2001, when we had almost no kids come to our door trick-or-treating, I gained a couple pounds from eating all the leftover candy.
My favorite Halloween tradition is to have a ghost movie marathon. Not gory movies but downright, scary ones preferably based on true events. I don’t find many good modern ones but the oldies are definitely goodies.
Yay! I had just posted asking my friends to recommend a good book for halloween when this post showed up. Perfect timing.
I love to see the kids come to the library where I work, they love showing off their costumes and picking some treats AND books to take home!
Reading some scary books, watching halloween movies – I still love watching “Hocus Pocus”, carving pumpkins and handing out candy!
My fav. tradition is dressing up and going trick-or-treating
and how can i forget watching all the Halloween movies
Ooh these books are on my to be read list! I love decorating for halloween/fall. The spider webs and pumpkins are my favorite.
Hmm…my favorite Halloween tradition is giving out candy to the neighborhood children! It’s so fun and cute to see the kids in their costumes!
My husband and I have a Halloween tradition of watching horror movies as much as possible during the month of October. And, of course, trick-or-treating with the kids on Halloween night! It’s my favorite holiday and my favorite time of year. Boo!
I like carving pumpkins and cooking the seeds. I know you can buy pumpkin seeds but there’s nothing like the real thing
I can’t wait for the month of October to roll around so that I have an excuse to watch scary movies
My favorite Halloween tradition so far is just going trick or treating with my kids on Trick or Treat night. They love it every year, and I love getting to spend the quality time with them. They are getting older (8 and 10) so I don’t have many years of this left!
My new favorite tradition is sharing all the excitement and spookiness with my two-year-old daughter! She went to her first Halloween party at her preschool this year dressed as a fireman. I can’t wait till I can share with her my favorite traditions of reading scary stories, dressing up, trick-or-treating and eating candy!!
We have an awesome skull candy jar made by my mother that we use for trick-or-treaters. I love to unwrap it every year and fill it with delicious treats.
Our family’s favorite Halloween tradition is making caramel apples and popcorn balls to share with the neighborhood kids.
I enjoy dressing up and handing out treats. Then, after a while, we turn out all the lights so people will think we’re not home and stop ringing the doorbell, and we play hide-and-go-seek in the dark.
I like to start off by watching Charlie Brown’s Halloween (Great Pumpkin Patch). It sets the tone as the weather starts to drop and the fall leaves are turning. I LOVE fall!
your1chef at aol dot com
Definitely love Trick or Treat night! We have 4 boys and have followed the same route in the neighborhood for years so it’s become a family tradition!
I always make Carmel Apples, the old fashioned way, not those wrap kind
My brother is an artist so we always have him do our faces and we always make our costumes. I’ve been Poision Ivy ( from Batman movie) I’ve been a Zombie, Lepoard and a Vampire.my brother was a Nun one year and he looked awesome!
My favorite tradition is watching scary movies, like Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte on TCM and making caramel apples with my kids. Halloween is my favorite holiday.
My favorite Halloween traditions took place when we lived in the country… my husband and I would dress the kids up and take them to all the neighbors, which took most of the night since we didn’t live close together like the city people. Since we were going so few places, the neighbors would load the kids up with everything from caramel apples, to large bags of candy, to cans of pop! Needless to say, the kids were asleep by the time we got home, so we enjoyed the “sorting” of their candy… much of which went to us!
Living in the country has its benefits!
I forgot to mention that my mother made a cow costume for my daughter one year. It was a dairy cow, and the bag for the candy was an udder!
Adorable.
Watching our grand daughters trick or treating and paying more attention to the other kids in their costumes than the houses to get candy…
I love Halloween! We always have a pumpkin carving contest in my house! We make caramel apples and we watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown special on TV. So much fun!
I always volunteer on a suicide prevention hotmail, for some reason Halloween is a night where suicide attempts are high.
We do some minimal decorations, the big deal is a projector we set up outside and show a movie of witches flying across our house!
I love eating chocolate, and halloween is my favorite spooky excuse.
What’s better than gorging yourself on chocolate candy?
Halloween Party for the teens and enjoying seeing all the little ones out trick or treating.