Happy Halloween

On this eerie night where ghouls and goblins creep the night, when the witches and werewolves inside us all roam about the world, let's toast those who write the spooky, the unsettling, and the quite very scary words which keep us glued to our books in the dark of night. Under the covers with a flashlight we read, in darkened study by the glow of the fire, or even in a lonely reading chair next to a single, solitary lamp in darkened room.

Poe and Lovecraft, King and Barker, all terrifying scribes who's words make us creep page after page, wondering if that creak or pop in the house isn't something terrifying conjured from our very darkest imaginations.

To those writers who give us a chill when we face the night, or a thrill as we turn the page, I honor you with this small tribute.

You make us look at the world a different way, to see the hidden terrors underneath, and create a lasting memory in our minds of what could just possibly be out there. The mysteries of life, and death. There is still a lot we just do not know, and science cannot explain it all, no matter how hard we try. So there is always that something else, the unknown, the what could be.

These writers try to fill in the gaps.

It is an important role, coloring in the places outside the lines, expanding our consciousness, and making us look at ourselves, and our fears, in entirely new ways. There is a salving effect of horror fiction, because we see one twisted mind's interpretation of the worst, we are a little better prepared when life throws the worst at us.

So we face our fears through these works, ones we have, or ones we never realized we had. We enjoy the thrill ride of a masterfully crafted tale, suspenseful chills, frightening terror, and well-written prose told to us by the masters of thrills and chills.

There is an art here I hope is never forgotten, and also a culture of scary stories and chilling tales that harken back to a simpler time. When the world didn't know as much as it did today, when the terrors written about in books mirrored the real-world fears of what science and technology were doing to the world, when robots symbolized the fear of industrial progress, and mad scientists represented our fears of out-of-control science.

Those fears of progress, science, medicine, intolerance, illness, and others - they are still with us today. They may be well hidden behind our cell-phones, computers, instant communication, or 55-inch television lifestyles - but they are still there. We fear becoming ill for no reason, losing our job to a machine, science's power over us, isolation from others, or even popular social forces of alienation or segregation. Those are still out there.

There is even a culture of fear we live with every day. The fear of others, strangers, and the constant barrage of crime, uncertainty, and fear coming over the giant LCD and cable-ready gods we create shrines to in our living rooms. Breaking news, the red lights flash and the dire bell tolls. Waiting for the next one is almost like an addiction to us.

But through our innocent fears we face these real ones.

I hope we never lose those innocent fears, the escapes even through campy and silly ones like Count Dracula, the Mummy, werewolves, or even Frankenstein. It's fun to be afraid of the things we know are not real, and there's a security there in which we toughen and practice ourselves for the hard times. Survival is why we laugh in the face of danger, for we need to conquer our fears to soar in the skies and experience freedom of action, thought, and mind.

Writers who help us face our fears bring us one step closer to being free.