Being from Australia, a land where celebrations centre more on sport than the change of seasons, I never had the pleasure of indulging in trick or treating. I knew of Halloween from seeing it on US television shows growing up, but it just wasn’t practised in Australia. “It was an American thing”.

That’s not to say that no one in Australia celebrates Halloween, but I’d hazard a guess that those that do are in the minority. However, I have over the past few years, seen a return to Halloween, but its re-emergence seems to be sadly rooted in commerciality.

As a child I was jealous of those Americans who got to don scary costumes and go and knock on their neighbours’ doors for chocolates and candy every year, but if anything it helped spur me on to learn more about Halloween and its true meaning.

As an adult my recognition of Halloween is solely from a spiritual standpoint – it’s a time to remember the loved ones we have lost. The pumpkin carving, costumes and sweet-collecting make it fun and perhaps empowers children to do away with their notions that monsters are real (they’re not real – right?)

Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but I wonder if Halloween is just humanity finding a way to cope with our impending mortality; a colourful reminder of the fact that beneath the veil of flesh and blood is a skeleton waiting to be exposed.

Oh, for Pete’s sake – enough with the philosophising!

From an author’s perspective, Halloween is the perfect fodder for a great horror story. One of my first published short stories was about Halloween, but in my story, the children were demons and the houses they knocked on belonged to some of history’s worst killers.

At the moment I am writing a story set during Halloween night and I’m very eager to capture that traditional Halloween ideal of spooks, trick or treating and costumed children discovering what might reside on “the other side”.

Halloween has also influenced my artistic pursuits. There’s something about those sneering pumpkins that instantly appeals to the artist in me and whenever Halloween comes around I always feel the need to draw something.

When I was asked to create the art for the Halloween Haunts advertising campaign I jumped at the chance. I hope it puts everyone in the mood for Halloween and encourages newcomers to the Horror Writers Association family.

Even though I don’t live in a country that celebrates Halloween as much as it’s other western counterparts, I’ll still celebrate Halloween in my own way; by reading a piece of Halloween-themed fiction, writing my own tale, watching a horror movie or two, or sketching a pumpkin head. I might even don a Scream mask and chase my kids around the house, (but I doubt the wife will let me).

Wherever you live and whatever you believe, just celebrate Halloween your own way, but most of all make it fun.

GREG CHAPMAN is a horror author and artist from Central Queensland, Australia. His first two novellas Torment and The Noctuary were published by Damnation Books in the United States in 2011. His third novella Vaudeville, was just published by Dark Prints Press. His short fiction has appeared in The Absent Willow Review, Eclecticism, Trembles, Morpheus Tales 2011 Christmas Special. His comics and illustrations have appeared in Midnight Echo, Decay and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. His first graphic novel, Witch-Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times, written by Bram Stoker Award® winners Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton, was also published by McFarland Publishers in May this year. After joining the Australian Horror Writers Association in 2009, Greg Chapman was selected for its mentor program under the tutelage of author Brett McBean. Since then he has had short stories published in The Absent Willow Review, Trembles, Eclecticism, Bete Noire and Morpheus Tales and comic artwork in Midnight Echo Magazine. “Torment” is his first novella-length publication in the United States. It was published on March 1, 2011 by Damnation Books. Chapman’s second novella “The Noctuary” was published on December 1, 2011. Greg’s home on the web is www.darkscrybe.blogspot.com

TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: Greg Chapman is offering one digital copy of his novella, “Vaudeville.”  To enter post a comment in the section below or e-mail memoutreach@horror.org and put HH CONTEST ENTRY in the header. Winners will be chosen at random and notified by e-mail.

About “Vaudeville”

Vaudeville is an e-novella by Greg Chapman, published July 2012, by Dark Prints Press, ISBN: 9780987197641, For More information: http://www.darkprintspress.com.au/books_novellas.html

One year has passed since Anthony Moore’s father was found hanging from a tree in Keaton Woods.
On the anniversary of his father’s death, Anthony ventures into the woods in search of the truth about how his father died, but the truth is hungry – and waiting for him.
Vengeful demons, exiled to the woods more than a century before, are eager to escape and Anthony considers giving them their freedom, when they offer the answers he seeks.
“The All-American Travelling Trobadours” have a dark story to perform – all they need is audience of four young souls.
Vaudeville is a coming-of-age horror tale, touching on themes of grief, loneliness and the darkest days of the American Civil War.

Author: Rocky Wood, Lisa Morton (authors) and Greg Chapman (illustrator)

For nearly three centuries, as the Black Death rampaged through Europe and the Reformation tore the Church apart, tens of thousands were arrested as witches and subjected to trial, torture, and execution, including being burned alive. This graphic novel examines the background; the methods of the witch hunters; who stood to profit; the brave few who protested; and how the trials finally faded as Enlightenment replaced fear and superstition with reason and science. The book examines famed witch hunters Heinrich Kramer, architect of the infamous Malleus Maleficarum; Matthew Hopkins, Englandâ s notorious â Witchfinder Generalâ ; King James I, supposedly the target of assassination by a Scottish coven; the Salem Witch Trials; and the last witch trials and executions in Europe.

TOC: Table of Contents

I. Before the Trials 1
II. The Trials Begin 9
III. The First Witch Hunter 17
IV. The Contagion Spreads 24
V. Joan of Arc 31
VI. The Trials in Arras 41
VII. The Hammer of Witches 47
VIII. Witchcraft and the Reformation 80
IX. The Trials in Wurzburg 89
X. King James and the North Berwick Trials 97
XI. Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General 126
XII. The Salem Witch Trials 136
XIII. The Frenzy Fades 160

Bibliography 185

“The graphic novel digs deeper into the issues with graphics and dialogue that bring the witch-hunts to life” – Digital Journal

Publisher: McFarland and Company Incorporated, Publishers

Release_Date: 07/30/2012

ISBN_10: 0786466553

Author: Greg Chapman

Struggling writer Simon Ryan’s life has gone to Hell.

Shadows are pouring into his reality and his words are not his own anymore. He has been chosen to become a scribe for some of the worst creatures of the Underworld–the ones whose sole purpose is to torment human souls–The Dark Muses.

As Simon writes he falls deeper into the abyss and before long he has no sense of what is real. With the help of another scribe, old and mutilated, Simon comes to discover that his writing can mould people and places–that he can write things out of existence.

To become a scribe he has to pass a test and the Muses offer him a chance to rewrite his horrible past. All Simon has to decide is how the story ends.

“Both elegant and visceral, violent and darkly witty, Greg Chapman’s THE NOCTUARY is an insightful look at the processes of creation and the birth of horror. His sinister muse, Meknok, is one of the most intriguing new horror characters since Clive Barker unleashed Pinhead, and indeed THE NOCTUARY is occasionally reminiscent of Barker’s grim beauty, while being very distinctly its own beast. THE NOCTUARY is rich, compelling, and unsettling, and Greg Chapman is obviously a writer in complete possession of his own sinister muse.” — Lisa Morton, four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award and author of The Halloween Encyclopedia

“Greg Chapman’s THE NOCTUARY is straight from the depths of Hell. Here the past is a very difficult geography. Fresh and original it takes the reader on a frantic ride to regret; and may well provide the nightmares horror fiction often promises, but rarely delivers.” — Rocky Wood, Bram Stoker nominated author of Horrors! Great Stories of Fear and Their Creators and Stephen King: A Literary Companion

Publisher: Damnation Books
Release Date: 12/1/2011
ISBN_10=1615725490
ISBN_13=978-1615725496