Scared silly

Lawn ornaments and literature that go "boo"

“It's like the smarter you are, the more things can scare you.”
― Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia

In This Issue

• Come, take a walk with me through my neighborhood

• Then, some (free) Halloween treats for you

• First, though, make sure you vote! Here’s a link to some resources if you need any last-minute information about voting in your state

Lawn Ghouls

About a month ago, they started to appear, the skulls, a doll with a pencil through its forehead. Gravestones on bright green lawns or scattered throughout a drought-tolerant landscape. The other day, I came face to face with this:

And then, I rounded the corner and peering out of the bougainvillea were these two:

This is the time of year when little kids get to dress up and pretend they are someone else. It is the time of year when graveyards and cobwebs take over front yards. Suddenly ghosts and goblins are everywhere. It’s Halloween and now we get to choose how to scare ourselves -- even though the sight of lime-green skeletons relaxing in a deck chair in front of the Inn At Sunset Cliffs is not exactly terrifying unless you are a minimalist or a landscape designer. 

I noticed the skeletons and ghouls started to proliferate the day after I turned the last page on the book Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett. I’ve mentioned him in August when I decided to escape into fantasy. Well, one book led to another. And another. I feel guilty about it but I can’t stop. I’m cranking my way through every Discworld novel I have, 25 of the 41 he wrote. Those pages are filled with magic, mystery, monsters, witches, vampires, trolls, dwarves, and Death who is spelled with a capital “D” because in these books, he comes to life, enjoys curries, and rides a horse named Binky. He is a tall skeletal creature with a scythe, a hood, and an enduring — and strangely endearing — bafflement about those whose lives he helps bring to a close. He seems to have leaped from the pages of Pratchett’s books to the lawns of my neighbors.

Turns out there is no escaping the world with all its wonders and limitations in these novels. Instead, Pratchett serves it up warts and all and makes us laugh. His humor is sharp but it flows from kindness, one senses. He does not use satire to ridicule, but as a mirror held up by a fellow flawed human who figures we might as well laugh. These may not be literary masterpieces and the writing varies from novel to novel, but they are essential reading in a way I had not fully appreciated the first time around. They stand between me and the darkness. This essay by Kyle Chayka comes very close to explaining how I view these books. Also, like me, he saves these to read at night before bed. Presumably, we are both getting more serious reading done during the day. For those who don’t know about Terry Pratchett, he died at only 66 of a rare form of Alzheimer’s. Read more about him here.

In the meantime, here’s a shot of Death, sans Binky, having a beer, courtesy of another creative neighbor:

At Halloween we toy with the darkness. We make a game out of it. When I grew up, the costumes and the haunted houses and the parties and, of course, the candy, eclipsed all including the teaching of the nuns at my elementary school in Connecticut who emphasized that this was just the prelude to the more serious observation of All Souls Day on November 1. And I was much more likely to focus on the fun than the scary stuff.

I have friends and fellow writers who enjoy horror, who write it well, who understand that sometimes we need to be plunged into our worst nightmares in this relatively “safe” way in order to feel that rush of adrenaline and the relief that comes from knowing it “could never happen.” The problem: the best horror stories are the ones that are rooted in the real. Take just about any babysitter story you suffered through on a Girl Scout overnight trip, the ones about the phone calls in the night, the steps on the stairway, the very real idea that there was no escape. Or take any one of the stories in Gross and Unlikeable the collection of horror stories written entirely by women in So Say We All’s Black Candies series. One, “Good Country People Are Hard to Find,” is a chilling riff on Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Country People.”

It is said that horror stories give us a “safe” place to be afraid or repulsed. But they never consider those of us with an overactive imagination who can’t turn off the story when it’s over. When we were kids and it was her turn to pick out the television shows we would all watch, my younger sister used to delight in making me watch Chiller Theater. Her lust for the scary stuff came in handy years later when I designated her to be the one to take my son to see Alien, a movie I have never watched.

This year, there will be no trick or treaters, at least not at our house. We will miss them.  Instead, here are some fun treats for your reading pleasure including a chance for two subscribers to win a book in time for Halloween.

Free Candy

Got three minutes? Here’s a little gem written and illustrated by Ryan Bradford when he was eight years old. Totally free candy. An added bonus: he gives a dramatic reading of all of four minutes so you can listen as you read and enjoy the illustrations. Just click play on the button at the top of the post.

Ryan also happens to be the co-editor of Black Candies series from So Say We All. Take a look, make your choice of the four books in the series and let me know which one you want by commenting below or by emailing me at elizabethmarro@substack.com by Midnight Pacific time on Sunday, October 25th. I’ll draw the winner on Monday, October 26 and send it out to you.

And there’s more: I’ll also draw a winner for Jim Ruland’s Forest of Fortune, a really fun novel that doesn’t have tons to do with Halloween but does have at least one ghost and comes with a “spooktacular” drawing (meaning “kind of spooky and not very good” but sure to help you navigate the underworld). To enter to win either book, just comment below or send me an email.

Eye Candy

The upside of no trick or treaters is the chance to watch an entire movie uninterrupted on Halloween night. I’ve been looking for the right one. Feel free to suggest your favorites. In the meantime, here’s a list of a lot of other movies, old and new, that fit right in with the season. 

Historical Candy

Think you know all about Halloween? Take a look here and see how much you really knew.

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And one last shot from Walter Anderson’s Nursery where people take flowers and Halloween very seriously. This is just about as scary as it gets here in San Diego:

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Calling for Your Contribution to “Moment of Zen”

Here’s your chance to share your “moment of Zen” that ends every issue of Spark. It’s going down as one of the most fun things ever. This week’s is from me, but I want to hear from more of you.

What is YOUR moment of Zen? Let’s open this thing up. Send me your photos, a video, a drawing, a song, a poem, or anything with a visual that moved you, thrilled you, calmed you. Or just cracked you up. This feature is wide open for your own personal interpretation.

Come on, go through your photos, your memories or just keep your eyes and ears to the ground and then share. Send your photos/links, etc. to me by replying to this email or simply by sending to: elizabethmarro@substack.com. The main guidelines are probably already obvious: don’t hurt anyone  -- don’t send anything that violates the privacy of someone you love or even someone you hate, don’t send anything divisive, or aimed at disparaging others. Our Zen moments are to help us connect, to bond, to learn, to wonder, to share -- to escape the world for a little bit and return refreshed. 

I can’t wait to see what you send!

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That’s it for this week. Next week will be special — we will be talking to two writers who endeavor to tell the story of a person’s life in 1,200 words or, often, far less. And we will move on from Halloween treats and ghosts to the deeper celebration of life itself.

In the meantime, if you are looking for your next read, check out the Spark Community Recommendations page on Bookshop.org where every sale helps local bookstores and will, eventually, help us to raise money for literacy programs. In fact, if you have friends who have not heard of or are thinking about buying a book, send them over to our page to browse. And let me know what you are reading so we can expand our list! To comment, you may have to register first so to do that, just hit the subscribe button below and follow instructions and you’re good to go.

Thank you. Stay safe. Vote.

P.S. And now, your moment of Zen…this one’s for you, Mary