Happy Halloween! Reading: "Not More Lovely Than Full of Glee" is Leanna's Sequel to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Oval Portrait"!

 "Not More Lovely Than Full of Glee" is Leanna Renee Hieber's sequel to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Oval Portrait" in which an artist paints his young bride- literally- to death... Here's her revenge... 

As read by the author! Eerie, beautiful music underscored by the amazing band Valentine Wolfe! You can find this story in the anthology A WINTER'S TALE: HORROR STORIES FOR THE YULETIDE via Pavane Press! If you like this story you'll love Leanna's novels, available wherever books are sold!

Happy Haunting! 

OCTOBER IS HALLOWEEN AWARENESS MONTH, And I've got prizes.

Ladies & Gents, it's October. My favourite month of the year. You know what October means: NATIONAL HALLOWEEN AWARENESS MONTH!

Fabulous New York things to do this month include:

1. The Great Pumpkin Blaze
2. Boo at the Zoo
3. Embrace your inner Slytherin. (Shouldn't we all?)

To share in the joy of this month, I'm giving you, dear readers, prezzies.
Each week of October I'm hosting a different giveaway, either here on the blog, on Twitter or on Facebook; I'm rotating, so be sure you're following each site.

First off? My partner in crime, the Diana to my Anne of Green Gables, the wondrously talented author, artist, Jill of all trades and princess, Alethea Kontis is featured in a just-released anthology that is very appropriate fare for Halloween Awareness Month:

DEMONS: Encounters with the Devil and his Minions, Fallen angels and the possessed - featuring Neil Gaiman, Kim Harrison, Maggie Stiefvater, William Peter Blatty and the aforementioned Ms. Kontis and many more!

And I'm giving away a copy! Signed, no less! Keep reading for details:

Also, it's only appropriate that I mention Alethea is also the author of the popular AlphaOops H IS FOR HALLOWEEN - which is something everyone should have for their little ones this season. And she is ALSO the author of forthcoming YA Fairy Tale magic twisted and made new as only she can, ENCHANTED. (Yes, you can pre-order it!) No, this is not the last time you'll see us talking about one another's books. She's the "Once Upon a Time" and I'm the "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night". Together, we're all your favourite kinds of stories in one.

And so, to kick off HALLOWEEN AWARENESS MONTH I've a copy of the DEMONS anthology, SIGNED BY THE AUTHORESS herself, to give away right here right now.

Extra entries if you Follow Alethea on Twitter and/or on Facebook.

HOW TO ENTER:

All you have to do to enter is tell me your favourite thing about Autumn! (Include follows so I can include extra entries. Winner by Random.org on Friday, October 7th!)

NEXT WEEK?

We'll be running a Twitter contest for a copy of CANDLE IN THE ATTIC WINDOW: An Anthology of Gothic Horror published by Innsmouth Free Press and featuring my short story "AT THE DOORSTEP" which is set in the world of DARKER STILL: A NOVEL OF MAGIC MOST FOUL.

DON'T FORGET!

Pre-orders are up for DARKER STILL at WORD Bookstore; get a signed, personalized (if you like) copy! Also WORD is hosting my 11/10/11 Launch Party at 7pm.

Cheers!! And remember, only YOU can hold Halloween in your heart, and keep it all the year!

Halloween with Miss Percy Parker

Hello friends!

Well it has certainly been a glorious time for costuming in my world. You may recall in my last post that I was going to dress up as Miss Percy Parker, the heroine of my Strangely Beautiful series for my favourite day of the year, Halloween. Friends and I went to Dances of Vice for the big Hallows day - I love these people, they really know how to throw a cross-genre, history lovers' party. Now I did have pictures done professionally at the venue, however those are going to take a while to get to me, so in the meantime, from my not professional camera, may I present to you, Miss Percy Parker! And special guest (and really good sport of a boyfriend) Professor Alexi Rychman (Imagine him with longer hair, a bit older, and it's about right...) :

What was really incredible was to see how people reacted to me- to Percy. It being Halloween aside, when people expect outlandish looks, I still really had a sense of what she goes through. Especially when I would look people in the eyes with those ice-blue contacts I'm wearing, there were gazes of fascination, curiosity, outright shudders as I met their gaze- It confirmed all the little daggers of not being able to belong, of being a curiosity, all those little hurts that en masse would indeed make a sweet girl quite shy and withdrawn. And make the man that loved her all the more special. Stay tuned for the professional shot, I saw the proof that night - it's gorgeous.
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As always, The Great Pumpkin Blaze in the Historic Hudson Valley was one of my favourite events of the year. Thanks to Biz of Biz Urban Photography for this unique shot!

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In film/tv news, I got to see a real live movie car crash on The Adjustment Bureau where I worked again, this time as a stand-in. Must admit, that was pretty cool. Happy to report Matt Damon continues to be a prince of a man, dedicated to his craft, and lookin' good.

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In Miss Percy Parker news:
She's a Recommended Read at CK2s Kwips and Kritiques!

Thanks Debbie!

AND The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker has been chosen as a Hidden Gem of 2009 by Rhapsody Book Club! This is really exciting and great national exposure for the Strangely Beautiful series. I'll be doing an audio excerpt of the book for their site to go up at the end of November so stay tuned!

Blessings to all!

Work and Play... And Ween...

Work:
Upon my return to NYC I have thrown myself back into work, not only on the next developments in the Strangely Beautiful series, (I'm having a wonderful time writing and wish there were more hours in the day) but also work in the studio and on film and television sets. Where hours are wierd and reality is more than a little bit off kilter.

Which means I've been drinking way too much coffee. *twitch*




Perhaps the coolest experience recently was today on the set of The Adjustment Bureau, where Matt Damon was a consummate gentleman. He was kind, funny, clever, professional, talented, hot, etc. Seriously, what a cool guy and what a gorgeous day on the Fulton Ferry landing, below Roebling's awe-inspiring Brooklyn Bridge, the landing surrounded by the immortal words of New York's own Walt Whitman. Particular highlight of the day occurred when Obama's helicopters flew over the Bridge. Wasn't planned for the political rally scene we were dealing with in the film, but provided a fitting and exciting pause.



Strangely Beautiful is featured by award winning author of Rowan of the Wood, Christine Rose! Hosted in one of her cool "Stumble into the Otherworld" pieces, my interview is up on Book Addict at PopSyndicate!


I was also hosted in style by The Lady Novelist, Leslie Carroll, consummate hostess, in a lovely interview on her even lovelier site.

Random Review Roundup:
(I'm sure I've missed a few along the way, since the maelstrom of the release date I've only been able to gather them if they're brought to my attention.) Lovely words found here:
Romance Reviews Today
Passionate Booklover
Angieville

Events:

HEY NEW JERSEY! I'll be signing The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker on Saturday at the New Jersey Romance Writers - Put Your Heart In a Book Conference! Saturday the 24th at 4pm! Stop by! (Details)

Play:

Saw the film Zombieland. T'was fun. My specific thoughts are over on Popculturedivas.

I don't know about you, but I'm gearing up for the best day ever, my favourite day of all the year: That greatest of Ween - HALLOWEEN!

It's October. You know what that means. Halloween Awareness Month. Figure out for yourself how you can keep Halloween in your heart throughout the year. I do.

I shall attend a Victorian ball dressed as Miss Percy Parker, ghost-white, eerie contacts and all, and my love has graciously agreed to dress as Alexi (I even bought him a gorgeous frock coat that's almost identical to a coat I'd written about). Thrill!

Now off to buy tickets for my Halloween staple: The Great Jack o' Lantern Blaze!!!













Back to work! Let's make sure we shake it up with a little play too, shall we?

Halloween Awareness Month Concludes With... Halloween!

Um.... How COOL is this?



SUPER Cool, I say!

So October was a very busy month. Between edits, plotting, projects, work, conferences - The New Jersey RWA conference was really wonderful and fun - campaigning and costuming... I'm exhausted! But it's a good tired. Here are a few Halloween Awareness Month Highlights!

THE GREAT PUMPKIN BLAZE! Every year at the historic Van Cortlandt Manor thousands of pumpkins are carved and the outdoor display is just amazing. Marcos and I have made it our October tradition. It is SO cool. The pumpkins are beautifully elaborate!

Then came the New Jersey RWA Conference, where I met up with a bunch of friends, made new ones, schmoozed and signed Crescent Moon Press's bestseller DARK NEST - check out Kate at Babbling About Books for her take and thanks for that lovely picture of me at the signing, Kate!

Then immediately after the conference, it was on to Philadelphia where my awesome other half Marcos and I went campaigning for Obama for a couple of days to try and do our part. What struck me most about the City of Brotherly Love, a place I'd never been before, was the generosity of our hosts, the excitement of the campaign volunteers, and the gorgeous murals all over the city, in both the nice downtown areas of the city and the economically harder hit outer areas.

Two of the countless treasures.

Viva Puerto Rico!

And soon... before I could catch my breath, it was Halloween day itself...

The day being spectacular, and the day being Halloween, the lovely and talented Hope Tarr and I, always up for a little outer-borough adventure, headed up north into beauteous Bronx territory to the Woodlawn Cemetery.

It was magical weather. The trees were turning gorgeous shades, the sky was a brilliant blue...

The stained glass glimpsed while peeking inside the mausoleums were all breathtaking. (I have a stained glass and an angel obsession, put them together; heaven). I'm particularly moved by the weeping angel.

And then... HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!

Most of my camera's pictures didn't come out so well, but here's Marianne Mancusi and I, her as Little Dead Riding Hood, me as Little Dead Muffit, replete with spider. The Rebels of Romance will have more pictures of our evening's adventure, INCLUDING my Muffitt Halloween Jig (tm), and the impeccable camera-wielding hostess Morgan has great pictures HERE.

The Halloween Parade is my annual tradition.

The huge skeleton puppets are always worth the wait!

After the parade, on to Morgan and Nick's studio where hilarity abounded.

This picture of Nick says it all. What, exactly, I'm not sure, other than hilarity.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!