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For as long as I can remember horror movies have played a part in my life. Growing up in the mountains of Western North Carolina, (the devastation visited there by hurricane Helene is heartbreaking) as a child the drive-in was my first exposure to movies. My older brothers would promise my parents that they would be seeing something appropriate for their little brother and invariably break that oath and select a horror film. I have fragmentary memories of Hammer Horror and region drive-in movies that in all likelihood are far less well executed than I remember them.

I also clearly remember during the summers that bats lived nearby and often fluttered just beyond my window, casting shadows into my second story bedroom. A macabre scene that is impressed on my memory.

It is no surprise that horror cinema has always been fascinating and inviting to me. Ghost stories are by far my favorite sub-genre of horror with the slashers born in the wake of 1978’s Halloween my least loved.

I have written and published a few short stories in the genre and currently await the decision from a publisher on my first horror novel. It is no surprise that the ‘spooky season’ is something I enjoy.

This October, in addition to getting more work done on my folk-horror novel, I plan to watch more horror than usual, revisiting some I enjoy and exploring a few new ones.

It should be fun.