Evil Edna by Andy Robb

I'm so excited to have author, Andy Robb on the blog today. Andy is famous for his Geekhood series as well as being the heart and soul behind the UKYA Blogger Awards. 

It's not often you get to meet a real, live witch but, in 1988, I became friends with a woman who I’ll always remember as Evil Edna. 

I was working at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, as a scene-shifter. Most people there knew I wanted to go to drama school and become an actor, so they cut me an awful lot of slack and let me take part in things that might help - like the company warm-ups. 

These were run by a woman called Edna. 

Edna was far from the pointy-hatted, walnut-face old crone you tend to think of when you hear the word ‘witch’. She was older, possibly in her late sixties, but always incredibly turned-out. With her Yorkshire accent, dyed red hair, colour-co-ordinated make-up and jingling with jewellery, it was a bit like talking to an insanely-glamorous dinner-lady. A dinner-lady who appeared not to have any bones in her body. While me and the actors would be straining to make a stretch or wheezing our red-faced exertions in an exercise, Edna made things look easy and effortless. 

Over the next few months, we got quite matey and would hang out in the theatre bar, where she’d sup a port and brandy “for me vocal chords, luv.” 

As we got to know each other, she let slip that she was a witch. I can’t remember how she told me, but it was common knowledge in the theatre and she’d tell stories about her coven meeting up and performing rituals. I was genuinely interested and, whenever we met, I’d ask her what she’d been up to. Eventually, she invited me to a ceremony - probably just to shut me up. But, for her and her fellow witches, this was a Big Deal: this was Samhain. Or, to muggles like me: Hallowe’en. 

Hallowe’en came around and, as I’d been instructed, I walked from the place I was living, to Edna’s flat, carrying a bottle of wine (fairly witchy) and some cake (not that witchy at all). Part of the ceremony involved the exchange of gifts at the threshold to where the ritual would take place. Cake and wine are, apparently, what witches like, in case you ever bump into one. 

As Hallowe’ens go, it had all the right ingredients: full moon, dark night and a glitter of frost. All it needed was a few bats and it would’ve been textbook. 

I got to Edna’s, knocked on the door and waited, clutching my wine and cake, suddenly a bit nervous. 

The door opened and there she was, dressed in her full regalia: a patterned robe, crescent-moon earrings, a pentacle around her neck and her fingers stacked with rings, sporting stones and crystals - all offset with a pair of slippers. The threshold for the exchange of my gifts was the porch where Edna kept her wellies. The wellies had stars on the them. If that’s not the sign of a witch, I don’t know what is. Pointy hats are so last year. 

As per instructions, I offered up my gifts and Edna gave me mine: an envelope that I was to open the next day. 

So far, so good. 

Edna showed me into her lounge, which was already thick with incense. Through the perfumed fog, I could just about make out two other witches and a warlock, sat on her sofa. 

Not a cauldron in sight. 

Not even a black cat. 

However, the assembled members of Edna’s coven were all drinking, from ornate, black chalices. Hoping to hear something along the lines of ‘eye of newt toe of frog’, I asked what was in them. 

One was having a cup of tea (I assumed the drink-driving laws applied to broomsticks), while the other two were on the red wine. 

Not quite the bubbling brews I’d been secretly hoping for; the closest I was going to get to a potion was Pinot Noir or PG Tips. 

I went for the Pinot. 

We all chatted for a bit, ate cake and Edna pointed out some of the things that were going to be used in the ceremony: 

Black candles (cool!) 

A black-handled, arcane-looking knife (excellent!) 

A bowl of salt (OK…) 

Edna had also assembled a little shrine, with some little statues of the various deities that were going to be invoked. There were also loads of photos, in small frames, all close to the candles, which were lit. These were people that the witches were going to send good energy to; a bit like praying for someone in a church, but with more words and a bit more dancing. 

Out of respect for Edna and her religion, I won’t go into the full details of what happened, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me telling you one bit: 

As part of the procedure, the witches summoned various spirits and beings, one of which was Herne the Hunter. Because some of these beings are a bit ‘chaotic’, you can never quite tell how they’re going to react or what they’re going to do. This is where the salt came in: sprinkling a circle of salt around us, Edna explained that this was a protective measure. Salt’s the thing, if you ever happen to find yourself surrounded by pagan deities. I’m not sure why they don’t like it - but they don’t. 

The only problem was that Edna’s front-room wasn’t that spacious and the circle of salt was quite small, so we were all huddled, back-to-back, in the middle of it. Barry (the warlock of the group) happened to be standing a bit too close to Edna’s altar, on which the candles were burning. His robes had those long, tapering sleeves which, 

when you stand with your arms by your side, tend to hang down quite a way. Unfortunately for Barry, his dangled into a flame and, as Edna was doing the summoning bit, the smell of burning slowly filled the room. Luckily, one of the other witches (who I think was called Linda), still had her wine on the go and threw it over his sleeve, just as it caught fire. 

Unfortunately for Barry, his robe now had a charred sleeve and red wine stains all over it. 

The deities were summoned and tasked with doing good for those in the witches’ thoughts and, after some spell-casting, they were dismissed and the circle was quickly hoovered up. 

Walking home that night, it struck me what a lovely and peaceful religion it was. Although they’d told me that there were ‘bad witches’ out there, who use their abilities to cause problems for people, the gang I’d hung out with were focussed completely on making the world a better place. 

I opened that envelope the next day and it turned out that Edna had taken the time to write out a three-page Wiccan spell for me. It’s way too long for me to put it all down here and, again, out of respect for Evil Edna, I’m not sure I should. But, there is a stanza in there that I think is a good one to live your life by - and it goes like this: 

“You are your own Devil 

You are your own God 

You have fashioned the paths 

That your footsteps have trod 

And no-one can save you 

From error or sin 

Until you have listened 

To the Spirit within.” 

Happy Hallowe’en! 

Or, as Edna would’ve said: Blessed Be!

The True and Untold Story of the Outlaw Tam Barker by Andy Robb is available to buy from Amazon here. 

To find out more about Andy Robb: 

Website / Twitter

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Top 5 Halloween Movies with Amy Lukavics

I'm pleased to welcome the author, Amy Lukavics, author of The Women In The Walls, onto the blog to tell us  her Top 5 Halloween movies. 

1) Trick 'r Treat: This one is a long-time fave of mine, and I make sure to watch it every year. It seriously never gets old! I love anthology movies, so you can't really go wrong with a Halloween anthology. I even have a signed photo from the actor who played Sam hanging over my writing desk!

2) House of 1,000 Corpses: What goes down on Halloween night in this story is enough to turn my insides to ice. This movie is wickedly brutal, so if that doesn't bother you, get ready for one hell of a crazy ride. 

3) Pet Sematary: This isn't technically a Halloween movie, but I wanted to include it anyway because it's a total classic for me and it always hits all the right horror nostalgia notes. Eerie and amazing, the perfect October watch.

4) Monster House: This movie rocks! Funny, compelling, and definitely spooky. A very entertaining Halloween story for kids and adults alike.

5) Hocus Pocus: Do you care to explain to me how I could possibly list my top five Halloween films without mentioning Hocus Pocus?! IT IS LEGENDARY, THE END.

******

The Women in the Walls by Amy Lukavics was published by Simon and Schuster. 

Summary 

Lucy Acosta's mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she explored the dark hallways of the estate with her cousin, Margaret. They're inseparable—a family. 

When her aunt Penelope, the only mother she's ever known, tragically disappears while walking in the woods surrounding their estate, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret has been spending a lot of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her dead mother's voice whispering from the walls. Emotionally shut out by her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin's sanity slowly unravels. But when she begins hearing voices herself, Lucy finds herself confronting an ancient and deadly legacy that has marked the women in her family for generations.

To find out more about Amy Lukavics:

Twitter / Website

Sleep Paralysis...Or Paranormal Encounter by Michelle Harrison.

Today on the blog, I have one of my favourite authors, Michelle Harrison, who is sharing the most frightening things to ever happen to her. 

The two most frightening things that have ever happened to me are similar experiences, and both occurred when I was in a place where I should have felt safest: at home in bed. 

The first was when I was aged twenty, at college and living away from home for the first time. I'd just moved into a new flat with a couple of friends with whom I worked at a local nightclub, and the flat happened to be the upstairs of an old pub - The Bear and Pheasant in Stafford. I'd only been there a week when I was woken one morning by the feeling of something hitting the end of the bed repeatedly. As I was sleeping alone and there should have been no one else in the room, I was instantly struck with fear and the thought that this had to be a supernatural presence. I can only describe it as being like the weight of a fist pounding the bedclothes by my feet. It went on for about twenty seconds, during which I kept my eyes tightly closed, too frightened to move, but convinced I was awake. When I finally plucked up the courage to move my foot the tiniest amount, the pounding stopped. Convinced the place was haunted, I got dressed and stayed out of the flat for the entire day, eventually moving out the following week. I later heard a story that the room had once belonged to an elderly couple who ran the pub. The woman had been very ill for a while, and supposedly her husband used to go in and wake her every morning to make sure she hadn't died in her sleep. Whether this part is true, I'm unsure, as I only heard it from one (dubious) source . . . 

The second time it happened was in a different bed and a different house, more than ten years later. This time was more terrifying than the first. Again, I was alone, and stirred from sleep by the sound of footsteps - like an old person wearing slippers shuffling slowly round the bed away from me. And again, I was instantly afraid, knowing that there was no one in the house but me. I became even more terrified when I realised I was paralysed with fear (or so I thought) and couldn't move a muscle. It was at this point the footsteps paused halfway round the bed, then came running back round to me at a crazy speed, then whoomph! The side of the bed sank down with a heavy weight, like a person had thrown themselves next to me. When I finally managed to wake up properly I was screaming, but once I'd calmed down the sense of terror didn't last. 

The reason for this was that in between these two experiences, I'd written a book called Unrest, based on my sister's experiences which were similar to the two I've just described. In the book, the main character, Elliott, has frequent bouts of what's called sleep paralysis, or sleep apnea, during which he believes ghosts are making contact with him. Having done some research into sleep paralysis, I'd learned that it's surprisingly common, and most people experience it at least once. 

It takes place during REM sleep, when the body's muscles naturally go into paralysis (to stop us acting out our dreams and harming ourselves) but when our minds are in the dreaming phase. Sometimes, the mind partially wakes up, projecting our dreams into our everyday surroundings, but because our bodies are still paralysed, we go into panic mode and the dream hallucinations turn threatening. Most often, this takes the form of a malevolent figure approaching us, with many accounts of the victim feeling a crushing weight on their chest and struggling to breathe. Because of this, sleep paralysis is believed to be responsible for the vast number of supernatural/alien/ghostly encounters that people experience, as it feels so incredibly real and scary - even when you understand what's happening, as I did the second time round. 

What research fails to explain is why this hallucinated threat so consistently manifests as a shadowy, human-like figure or presence . . . 

Happy Halloween!

Published by Simon & Schuster

Summary

What happens when a tale with real magic, that was supposed to be finished, never was? This is a story about one of those stories . . . 
Midge loves riddles, his cat, Twitch, and ‒ most of all ‒ stories. Especially because he’s grown up being read to by his sister Alice, a brilliant writer.
When Alice goes missing and a talking cat turns up in her bedroom, Midge searches Alice’s stories for a clue. Soon he discovers that her secret book, The Museum of Unfinished Stories, is much more than just a story. In fact, he finds two of its characters wandering around town.
But every tale has its villains ‒ and with them leaping off the page, Midge, Gypsy and Piper must use all their wits and cunning to work out how the story ends and find Alice. If they fail, a more sinister finale threatens them all ...

****

To find out more about Michelle Harrison:

Website / Twitter

My Top Five Scariest Films...and some TV shows, too! By Cameron McAllister

Today I am pleased to welcome Cameron McAllister, the author of the spine-chilling detective novel THE DEMON UNDERTAKER onto the blog.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself…” Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

You wouldn’t think an ex US president would know much about scary movies. Well, you’d be surprised… 

First of all, here’s a little secret. As well as writing books, I also write television scripts...sometimes scary ones. One of the shows I wrote for a few years ago was a series called Primeval about dinosaurs escaping from the past and terrorizing London. Hmm, not that terrifying you might think - unless perhaps you’re six. But you’d be surprised. Because what we quickly discovered was that the most frightening thing was not the monster - as FDR said, it was fear itself. When we realised that, the show suddenly got a lot scarier. 

Let me explain. When we first started writing the series, we had a lot of fun creating what we hoped were really terrifying CGI dinosaur monsters. Naturally, we were keen to show them off and scare the living daylights out of our audience. But a strange thing happened. To our disappointment, in test screenings the audience weren’t nearly as scared as we hoped. Then we tried an experiment. We didn’t show them the monster…at least we held off for as long as possible. The result? The children in the audience started cowering behind the sofa! 

This was the first time I realised something that seasoned horror writers have known for decades, maybe even centuries…that the scariest thing isn’t meeting the monster, it’s the anticipation of meeting it. In other words, the suspense of wondering when the creature or bogeyman will jump out on them. 

Take a simple thing like Harry Potter’s Marauder’s Map. Seeing the mystery footsteps getting closer and closer to Harry as he peered down the pitch dark corridor was genuinely spine-tingling. The tension built and built as you waited for the terrifying creature to burst out…or not, as the case was. 

This is why The Silence of the Lambs is one of the scariest films I’ve seen. 

Take the moment when the young rookie Agent Starling bravely (or stupidly?) crawls under the garage door and explores the lock-up by herself. I defy the viewer not to be peering through their fingertips as they wait for some grisly spectre to be revealed…the equivalent of the monster leaping 

out. More nail-biting still is the moment when she corners the killer in his lair and he turns the lights out. She gropes around blindly in the dark, all seen from the point of view of the killer through his night vision goggles. 

This is why we end up screaming at the screen to tell the character to “turn the bloody lights on!” Deep down, of course, we’re all terrified of the dark because we can’t see what’s lurking - and more to the point, when it’s going to jump out on us. 

Eventually the monster must jump out, but when it does, frankly it can be a bit of a let-down. This is usually when scary movies turn into action movies. But action is rarely that scary. Personally, the more movies resort to outlandish CGI, the less gripped I become. Truth is, action sequences, unless they’re brilliantly realised, can just be plain boring. All the tension that’s been so carefully built up evaporates on the spot. 

This explains why so many great scary movies take as long as they possibly can before they reveal what their monster looks like. Usually about an hour according to my watch. The film makers know that whatever they come up with can never compete with what we’re imagining in our heads! 

Take Jaws - a masterpiece in tension and story-telling. But when you see the shark bite…sorry, I nearly start laughing. 

Alien, on the other hand, is a very different matter. Again, about an hour of tension as you wonder what the creature will look like and where it’s lurking. But when it does finally leap out…it doesn’t just have one set of jaws dripping with battery acid - it has another mini-me set inside! 

Two of my all-time scariest movies, The Grudge and The Ring, are remakes of Japanese ghost stories, and this is why I think they succeed so well - because they rely on good old-fashioned ghostly creepiness and not CGI. 

One of the most chilling scenes I’ve seen in a movie is also the simplest, and it’s in the sequel, Grudge 2. It’s when one of the characters thinks she’s alone in the locker room after taking a shower. Cue tense, discordant music. She looks round and her eyes narrow in confusion, then terror…is that someone’s foot she can hidden behind the pillar? Is someone there…? Who knows, because by now I’m not even looking at the screen. 

One of the most effective ways to make a monster scary is a simple devise - a mask. Cover the bogeyman’s face, especially their eyes, and you rob them of any human characteristics - hell, they might not even have a face at all! This is why in my novel THE DEMON UNDERTAKER I give my villain 

a white mask - in this case shaped like a crow’s skull. It doesn’t just disguise your baddie - it dehumanizes them. 

It’s interesting that one of the scariest masks belongs to a figure who should provide fun and laughter - the clown. Schoolchildren across the US are being terrified as I write by a spate of clowns leaping out at them. One of the scariest masks for me, though, has to be the one worn by Michael Myers in Halloween. It’s so simple, but completely terrifying, simply because there’s no emotion there…no trace of humanity. 

Top prize for most original mask I’ve ever seen, however, goes to a children’s TV series…Doctor Who. An episode called THE EMPTY CHILD had children the length and breadth of Britain scrambling behind the sofa - and frankly me. The monster in question? None other than a little schoolboy who went round asking “Are you my mummy?” Surely this wasn’t terrifying, and yet somehow he was. The reason…? He was wearing a gas mask…

*****

Thanks Cameron. I'm not sure I will be watching any of these soon. *shivers* 

The Demon Undertaker was published in September.

Summary

olt your doors! Do not dare to sleep! A kidnapper known as ‘The Demon Undertaker’ is on the loose in London! 

Yesterday he continued his reign of terror in his most chilling crime yet - kidnapping Lady Grace Davenport from under the very noses of her family! 

A barrage of bullets could not stop the blood-thirsty ghoul from escaping in his black hearse - is he man or vampyre?

Young Thomas Fielding, nephew of the Chief Magistrate, stumbled across the villain and gave chase. Can Thomas and his team of Bow Street Detectives save Lady Grace and catch the Demon Undertaker before he snatches his next victim? 

To find out more about Cameron McAllister:

Twitter / Website

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Top 5 Scariest Films I’ve Ever Watched by Alex Bell

Alex Bell is no stranger to all things creepy. Her first book in the RED EYE series, Frozen Charlotte, has Ouija boards, possessed porcelain dolls, sinister siblings, an old school house with a deadly past, and a family tragedy with a twist. In her novel The Haunting, she takes on Cornish legends and the Waterwitch spirits. But can she handle horror films? 

The answer is absolutely - and here are her top five cinematic frights. 

1. Insidious 

I think the soundtrack alone makes this film worth a mention. That and the fact that I love how they get around the problem of why the family don't just leave the haunted house. 

2. Oculus 

I thought this film about a haunted mirror was a really original take on the genre. I'm also particularly fond of haunted object stories. There's something really deliciously creepy about them. 

3. Woman in Black 

Classic Victorian ghost stories like this are my favourite. I love the whole look, feel and mood of this film. 

4. The Others 

Another great, original take on the haunted house theme. I think Nicole Kidman is great in this, and little spooky kids are always a great addition to horror! 

5. The Ring 

This film really freaked me out and I thought the cursed video in it was one of the scariest things I'd ever seen. 

***

Alex Bell is the award-winning author of FROZEN CHARLOTTE and THE HAUNTING in Stripes' YA horror series, Red Eye. Alex is based in the New Forest and writes young adult horror books and middle grade fantasy books. Whilst at university studying to become a lawyer, she also wrote a grand total of six complete novels (admittedly there was not much of a social life during this time). Her first novel, THE NINTH CIRCLE was published by Gollancz and came out in April 2008. Deciding to use her Law degree for good, instead of for evil, she also works as a supervisor for the Citizens Advice Bureau. Her favourite things include Siamese cats, Old Crow Medicine Show music, vegetarian tapas and visiting New Orleans. She also has a weakness for any schlock horror film starring Vincent Price. Alex happily dwells in a make-believe world of blood.
BREAKING NEWS: Alex's first novel, Frozen Charlotte has been chosen as one of the Autumn books for the Zoella Book Club!

Published by Stripes in February 2016

Summary

Some curses grow stronger with time…

People say that all Cornish inns are haunted, but the Waterwitch’s history is particularly chilling. Built from the salvaged timber of a cursed ship, the guest house’s dark secrets go further back than anyone can remember.

Emma is permanently confined to a wheelchair after an accident at the Waterwitch which took place when she was ten. Seven years later, she decides to return to the place where the awful event occurred. But the ancient inn still has its ghosts, and one particular spirit is more vengeful than ever…

To find out more about Alex Bell: 

Twitter / Website

Halloween #ReviewMonday with @lockwoodwriter : The Halloweeds by Veronica Cossanteli

It was an ordinary, boring Wednesday afternoon. 

Until, quite suddenly, it wasn’t. 

It’s double Science on Wednesdays. Miss Drupe showed us a film about Food Chains. It wasn’t very cheerful. This green stuff called algae got eaten by this invisible stuff called plankton. The plankton got eaten by a fish, the fish got eaten by a seal and then the seal got eaten by a shark. 

The seal had whiskers and big, chocolate-y eyes. When the shark grabbed it, everyone went Oooh! and Awwww! and Maisie Milligan started to cry. Nobody bothered about the fish much, or the poor plankton.As for the algae - well, that’s how it works, isn’t it? 

Plants get eaten all the time, and never get a chance to eat anybody back. 

Or that’s what I thought.

****

Cover by Steve Wells Design, illustrations by Mark Beech

217 pages in paperback

Published by Chicken House 6th October 2016

Summary and extract from Publisher’s Website

Dan promised he’d look after his siblings, but he hadn’t bargained on his scientist parents dying on a jungle research trip. 

Orphaned Dan’s new home is a crumbling castle. Here, horrible Aunt Grusilla reigns supreme, tending to her mysterious graveyard garden. But why are Aunt Grusilla and her curious servants each missing a finger - and what are the hungry ‘cabbages’ in the greenhouse? As Dan struggles to solve the mystery, he encounters a chilling question: what’s the price of everlasting life? 

*** 

If your pre-Halloween wishes are for something funny, scary and grotesque - then this is the book for you! There’s something of the anarchic darkness of the best Roald Dahl, together with a hint of Little Shop of Horrors - and lots of adventure amongst the awfully strange goings-on. 

You can see from the delightfully monstrous cover, by Steve Wells Design and Mark Beech, this isn’t going to be a cosy and cute little tale with fluffy kittens. It’s as weird, daft and as fun as The Extincts - but even more suitable for this spooky time of year. I loved the apparently grubby pages, and you’ll find the writing is just as full of quirky details that are simply so right. 

It does have its deliciously creepy moments - so it might not suit those easily frightened - but then they wouldn’t pick up a book with a cover like that, would they? Despite the chills and the outlandishness, there’s actually a lot of courage and friendship within this strange mystery tale - and a few serious questions to ponder. 

Perfect for any confident reader who likes a good grin along with their helping of gruesome.

---

K. M. Lockwood lives by the sea in Sussex - see the pics on Instagram. She fills jars with sea-glass, writes on a very old desk and reads way past her bedtime. Her tiny bed-and-breakfast is stuffed full of books - and even the breakfasts are named after writers. You're always welcome to chat stories with @lockwoodwriter on Twitter.

The Witches Are Coming!

“Where shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done, when the battle 's lost and won”

Macbeth, William Shakespeare.

***

Welcome, child. 

You've picked a good day to join us.

Are you here for the gathering?

 You were only looking for candy?

 A little bit of harmless trick or treating? 

Oh dear. 

That's not good.

 You really did you pick the wrong house. 

You see tonight is All Hallows Eve and the witches are gathering. Three very special witches have been chosen to call the rest of the coven.

Each witch will summon three lost witches,  to join them in a coven of thirteen.

 Are you ready for the gathering? 

I hope so! 

Because once the witches are all in place, there is no knowing what will happen!

Ritual to Call A Lost Witch

"Power of the witches rise

Course unseen across the skies

Come to us who call you near

Come to us and settle here."

Charmed

Welcome Kat Ellis, the first witch to join us this Halloween. By day Kat is an author. Her first novel, Black Fin Sky was published earlier this year.  Please present the witches you wish to join us.

Gwen ferch Ellis - first woman hanged as a witch in Wales

In 1594, Gwen was accused of leaving a destructive charm in the house of a man with whom her friend had allegedly been having an affair. During her trial, 7 witnesses also accused Gwen of crimes ranging from invoking insanity in a child to murdering an old man. Gwen, who outlived 2 of her 3 husbands and was described as a ‘vengeful’ sort, was sadly underappreciated in her own time, but would make a wonderful addition to our coven.

Phoebe Halliwell from Charmed

The youngest of The Charmed Ones couldn’t freeze people or toss them across the room like her older sisters, Piper and Prue. Phoebe’s gift of seeing snippets of the future sprang on her at the most inconvenient moments, and was far less kickass than what her sisters could do. So, rather than wallowing as the weakling in the powers-department, Phoebe learned how to kick asses, old-school-style. And when she did develop an active power, she used her levitation to keep on kicking asses from on high. Who wouldn’t want a witch with that kind of moxie in their coven?

The Grand High Witch from Roald Dahl’s The Witches

Travelling from country to country, furthering her cause of exterminating all children, the Grand High Witch was certainly inventive. Why not turn children into mice to be snapped up in mousetraps? Or mince them up into hot dogs to be eaten by their own parents? She also had quite the flair with wigs and make up. With such a creative streak, we would be foolish not to invite her into our coven (especially as she had a machine that printed money!)

****

Welcome Dawn Kurtagich, our second witch to join us. Dawn is also the author of Dead House, which was published by Indigo earlier this year. Please present your chosen three witches who you wish to join the coven. 

Winifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus

Winnie Sanderson, the eldest of the three Sanderson sisters, read from her devil’s book as she stood at the hanging post, which is in itself pretty badass, and declared: “My ungodly book speaks to you. On All Hallow's Eve, when the moon is round, a VIRGIN will summon us from under the ground. Oh oh! WE SHALL BE BACK, and the lives of all the children of Salem will be MINE!” She would round out our coven rather nicely with that smooth spell action. Go Winnie!

Lamia from Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Lamia is the main antagonist of the novel Stardust by Neil Gaiman. She is the youngest sister of the three in the Lillim Coven. Her one goal is to capture Yvaine (a star in human form), and eat her heart to regain her youth and beauty. She would definitely have an expiration date if no stars fell from the sky for a while (definite downer), but just look at that attitude!

Moll Dyer 17th Century Witch, and Likely Inspiration behind the Blair Witch.

Moll Dyer Moll Dyer, the legendary witch who lived in Leonardtown in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, was accused of practicing witchcraft and, according to legend, chased from her home by local townsfolk in the dead of a winter night. Her body was found a few days later, partially frozen to a large stone. Today, a stream, a road and a large rock bear her name, and her story likely inspired the plot of the 1999 movie The Blair Witch Project and its sequel. If the legend is anything to go by, she would want revenge on the descendants of her townsfolk, but after that, she’d be a lot of fun! I say, add her to the coven!

****

And our final witch, welcome Tatum Flynn, who wrote The D'Evil Diaries which debuted earlier this year. Tatum, please present your chosen three witches. 

Willow from Buffy the Vampier Slayer

Because DUH. Willow has one of the best character arcs ever in fiction, from sweet timid dork to loved-up lesbian witch to grief-stricken Evil Willow and back again, and all whilst wise-cracking plenty along the way. 10/10 would witch again.

Marie Laveau.

 If witchcraft is fascinating, voodoo, to me, is even more so, and Laveau was the original Voodoo Queen, combining her Catholicism with African spirits and beliefs to create her own occult religious mix. She was incredibly powerful, with the city’s elite calling upon her for help in court cases, to combat the yellow fever epidemic, and for many other private matters, and there are contemporary reports of as many as 12,000 spectators watching her perform her legendary rites on St John’s Eve on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Also, she had a giant pet snake called Zombi.

Nancy from The Craft. 

Okay, if I were being sensible, I would choose Sarah for my coven, since she’s the most powerful of them all and actually manages to stay sane. Nancy is vicious and power-crazy and homicidal. But let’s face it, she has so much charisma she totally steals the film, and is still one of the first people that springs to mind when I think witch. I just better make sure to stay on her good side...

Now that only makes twelve witches, so the coven have gathered together to choose the thirteenth and final witch.

Morgan le Fay

Morgan was a witch of Arthurian legend whose earliest appearance was as a healer on the isle of Avalon. She later found her feet as a proper witch, seducing men including Merlin (“is that a wand in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?”) and Accolon, and as Arthur’s half-sister who hated the knights of the Round Table and, in particular, the insipid Guinevere. She also nicked Excalibur and gave it to Accolon to use against Arthur, and when that didn’t work, she took Excalibur’s scabbard—said to protect Arthur—and threw it in a lake. Sounds like our kind of witch!

And there you have our coven. Thirteen witches who will stand side by side this evening. 

Beware! Be warned! Be worried!

"When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween."

Unknown

Happy Halloween!

@el_kat

 @dawnkurtagich

@tatum_flynn