Michael Subjack's Blog - Posts Tagged "halloween"
October (A new story every week)
Happy October!
In honor of the greatest holiday of the year, I'll be publishing a new story on Amazon at the beginning of each week for the entire month.
I'm kicking things off with Lucifer's Folly, a story about a deal with the Devil gone horribly wrong.
Enjoy!
Lucifer's Folly
In honor of the greatest holiday of the year, I'll be publishing a new story on Amazon at the beginning of each week for the entire month.
I'm kicking things off with Lucifer's Folly, a story about a deal with the Devil gone horribly wrong.
Enjoy!
Lucifer's Folly
Lost and Found: A Stone Canyon Story
For my second story this month, I've selected Lost and Found: A Stone Canyon Story.
Lost and Found acts as something of a prequel to Stone Canyon, a story I wrote about a year and a half ago. It deals with three friends who go on a camping trip in search of the elusive creature known as Bigfoot. Well, they find him and...
You can probably guess where it goes from there.
This story wasn't originally intended as a prequel. I've been fascinated with Bigfoot since my childhood but I think the idea of people encountering a big ape in the woods is fairly limited from a narrative standpoint. I had already told the story once and didn't see the need to recycle the concept again.
This story started out as The Creature of Gray Oaks and the basic idea was more or less the same. Two children are abducted and taken to a forest that's supposedly inhabited by a large lizard-like animal. The children have heard stories about it for their entire lives but don't know what to believe. When they arrive, it looks like all is lost but then the creature appears and eviscerates the children's abductor before disappearing back into the forest.
The story sounded a little thin and anemic to me. I considered abandoning it altogether before deciding it would actually work as a Stone Canyon story and feel fairly fresh to boot. I set in the early 90s to give the story a nostalgic feel while also adding to the mythology of Stone Canyon.
And I'm quite pleased with the results. See you next week for a robbery gone terribly wrong (complete with demon dogs and crazy old men).
Lost and Found: A Stone Canyon Story
Lost and Found acts as something of a prequel to Stone Canyon, a story I wrote about a year and a half ago. It deals with three friends who go on a camping trip in search of the elusive creature known as Bigfoot. Well, they find him and...
You can probably guess where it goes from there.
This story wasn't originally intended as a prequel. I've been fascinated with Bigfoot since my childhood but I think the idea of people encountering a big ape in the woods is fairly limited from a narrative standpoint. I had already told the story once and didn't see the need to recycle the concept again.
This story started out as The Creature of Gray Oaks and the basic idea was more or less the same. Two children are abducted and taken to a forest that's supposedly inhabited by a large lizard-like animal. The children have heard stories about it for their entire lives but don't know what to believe. When they arrive, it looks like all is lost but then the creature appears and eviscerates the children's abductor before disappearing back into the forest.
The story sounded a little thin and anemic to me. I considered abandoning it altogether before deciding it would actually work as a Stone Canyon story and feel fairly fresh to boot. I set in the early 90s to give the story a nostalgic feel while also adding to the mythology of Stone Canyon.
And I'm quite pleased with the results. See you next week for a robbery gone terribly wrong (complete with demon dogs and crazy old men).
Lost and Found: A Stone Canyon Story
Halloween Ninety-Five
For my fourth story this month, I've decided to go with Halloween Ninety-Five. Like Lost and Found, it leans heavily on 90s nostalgia. I generally find nostalgia to be a cheap ploy to invoke an emotional response from your audience but it fits rather well with Halloween (and most other holidays), so it feels right here.
I was slightly older than the kids in the story, so my trick or treating days were behind me in 1995. However, I was still young enough to have that youthful sense of joy and wonder that the holiday brought for so many of us.
Now that I'm older, it's still my favorite holiday but it has a decidedly different feel. It isn't better or worse but it is different. And while we can't relive those glorious Halloween nights as adults, we still have our memories and stories like this to keep that spirit alive forever.
I hope you enjoy it. And may you always steer clear of hungry witches.
Halloween Ninety-Five
I was slightly older than the kids in the story, so my trick or treating days were behind me in 1995. However, I was still young enough to have that youthful sense of joy and wonder that the holiday brought for so many of us.
Now that I'm older, it's still my favorite holiday but it has a decidedly different feel. It isn't better or worse but it is different. And while we can't relive those glorious Halloween nights as adults, we still have our memories and stories like this to keep that spirit alive forever.
I hope you enjoy it. And may you always steer clear of hungry witches.
Halloween Ninety-Five
Drained
For my final story this glorious Halloween season, I've published Drained.
Like Stone Canyon and its prequel Lost and Found, Drained deals with a cryptid. This particular cryptid is known as the chupacabra ("goat sucker"), a lizard-like creature that primarily feeds on livestock. While it's been mainly sighted in South America, Central America, and the southwest portion of the United States, it's also been spotted as far north as Maine.
While I'm not quite as fascinated with the chupacabra as I am with Bigfoot, I thought its elusive and nocturnal nature would make for a fittingly tense and spooky story.
As always, my characters have problems beyond whatever evil forces they're fighting and poor, angry Jerry is no exception. Not everybody gets a happy ending in my stories but Jerry put himself on that path long before the events of Drained took place.
Enjoy the story and have a happy Halloween!
Drained
Like Stone Canyon and its prequel Lost and Found, Drained deals with a cryptid. This particular cryptid is known as the chupacabra ("goat sucker"), a lizard-like creature that primarily feeds on livestock. While it's been mainly sighted in South America, Central America, and the southwest portion of the United States, it's also been spotted as far north as Maine.
While I'm not quite as fascinated with the chupacabra as I am with Bigfoot, I thought its elusive and nocturnal nature would make for a fittingly tense and spooky story.
As always, my characters have problems beyond whatever evil forces they're fighting and poor, angry Jerry is no exception. Not everybody gets a happy ending in my stories but Jerry put himself on that path long before the events of Drained took place.
Enjoy the story and have a happy Halloween!
Drained
Hide and Seek (Kyanite Press)
My story Hide and Seek has been published in the Halloween issue of Kyanite Press. Check it out!
Kyanite Press: Halloween 2018
Kyanite Press: Halloween 2018
The Woman in the Woods
If you like the woods, monsters, the 1980s, and the Satanic Panic, you'll want to check out my new story:
The Woman in the Woods
Happy Halloween!
The Woman in the Woods
Happy Halloween!
Treats at the Witch House
Maddie looked at the hole in her green and black striped tights and wondered what she had done to deserve such a wretched Halloween. Not only was most of the candy crappy, but her bag had also ripped when she fell, causing most of it to spill on the sidewalk. The only good news was that she had yet to get her full-sized Snickers bar. When it came to Halloween, that’s all she wanted.
“Have a nice trip?”
Boorish laughter followed, and Maddie looked up to see Neil and Eric staring down at her with a mixture of amusement and contempt. Boys were gross in general, but these two were as bad as it got. And of course, she had fallen in front of them. But there was still a chance the evening could be salvaged. There was always…
“The witch house!”
Eric was pointing at a gloomy Victorian looming like an ominous giant against the starry purple sky, its front lawn peppered with a variety of creepy gray statues.
“Ring the doorbell!” Neil exclaimed excitedly. “I’ll give you half my candy if you ring the doorbell!”
“It doesn’t have a doorbell,” Maddie huffed, gathering up her crappy candy as best she could. She took one last look at the blood bubbling out of her knee before joining the two boys, both of which were glaring at her.
“Who asked you?”
“Just trying to help you out,” Maddie said with a shrug. “It does have one of those big knockers on the front door, though.”
Eric and Neil exchanged a mischievous glance as they crept over to the house. They hesitated when they reached the edge of the long, crooked walkway.
“Scared?” Maddie teased.
“Shut up!” Eric said. “Like you’re not scared.”
“I’m not,” she informed them. “Watch this.”
She strode confidently up the walkway, mindful of the cracks and overgrown weeds. When she reached the front door, she turned around and held her arms out.
“See?”
Eric and Neil stared at her in disbelief. She could almost smell their fear, but she also knew they didn’t want to look like cowards. They slowly made their way to the front door, pausing to take in the statues, which were even creepier up close.
“So go ahead,” she said, motioning to the large oval-shaped knocker.
Eric and Neil turned away from the statues and Maddie could see how eager they were for this to be over. As they approached the front door, she stepped back and waited. It wouldn’t be long now. She could barely contain her glee as they reached for the knocker when suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a towering woman who was somehow both ancient and ageless. The boys started to scream when a blast of green light emanated from her fingers, temporarily blinding Maddie as she almost stumbled and fell for the second time that evening.
Fortunately, she caught her balance just as the light disappeared. The woman was gone and her door was closed. The only things that were different were the two new statues she had in her front yard. And the full-sized Snickers resting at the bottom of Maddie’s tattered bag. With a bright, satisfied smile, Maddie skipped down the front walkway, stopping at the edge to give the house a friendly wave goodbye.
“Thanks, Grandma! Happy Halloween!”
And when Maddie bit into her Snickers later that night, she decided that it was indeed just that.
“Have a nice trip?”
Boorish laughter followed, and Maddie looked up to see Neil and Eric staring down at her with a mixture of amusement and contempt. Boys were gross in general, but these two were as bad as it got. And of course, she had fallen in front of them. But there was still a chance the evening could be salvaged. There was always…
“The witch house!”
Eric was pointing at a gloomy Victorian looming like an ominous giant against the starry purple sky, its front lawn peppered with a variety of creepy gray statues.
“Ring the doorbell!” Neil exclaimed excitedly. “I’ll give you half my candy if you ring the doorbell!”
“It doesn’t have a doorbell,” Maddie huffed, gathering up her crappy candy as best she could. She took one last look at the blood bubbling out of her knee before joining the two boys, both of which were glaring at her.
“Who asked you?”
“Just trying to help you out,” Maddie said with a shrug. “It does have one of those big knockers on the front door, though.”
Eric and Neil exchanged a mischievous glance as they crept over to the house. They hesitated when they reached the edge of the long, crooked walkway.
“Scared?” Maddie teased.
“Shut up!” Eric said. “Like you’re not scared.”
“I’m not,” she informed them. “Watch this.”
She strode confidently up the walkway, mindful of the cracks and overgrown weeds. When she reached the front door, she turned around and held her arms out.
“See?”
Eric and Neil stared at her in disbelief. She could almost smell their fear, but she also knew they didn’t want to look like cowards. They slowly made their way to the front door, pausing to take in the statues, which were even creepier up close.
“So go ahead,” she said, motioning to the large oval-shaped knocker.
Eric and Neil turned away from the statues and Maddie could see how eager they were for this to be over. As they approached the front door, she stepped back and waited. It wouldn’t be long now. She could barely contain her glee as they reached for the knocker when suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a towering woman who was somehow both ancient and ageless. The boys started to scream when a blast of green light emanated from her fingers, temporarily blinding Maddie as she almost stumbled and fell for the second time that evening.
Fortunately, she caught her balance just as the light disappeared. The woman was gone and her door was closed. The only things that were different were the two new statues she had in her front yard. And the full-sized Snickers resting at the bottom of Maddie’s tattered bag. With a bright, satisfied smile, Maddie skipped down the front walkway, stopping at the edge to give the house a friendly wave goodbye.
“Thanks, Grandma! Happy Halloween!”
And when Maddie bit into her Snickers later that night, she decided that it was indeed just that.
