#halloween novels

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

If you're looking for some indie novels to get you into the Halloween mood, let me recommend the works of my friend Ren Montgomery. She's self-published over on Amazon, and I want to get the word out for her three books.

Horror

Haunt is a period piece set in the late 1970s. It tells the story of the Stewarts, a dysfunctional family who are looking for a fresh start in a brand new housing development, but the trauma they bring with them feeds into something sinister within the house itself. Pete is an abusive alcoholic, Mae is a lapsing fundamentalist at her wits' end, and their three young girls Kelly, Robin, and Lori are just trying to get through the new school year without slitting each others' throats.

Ren explores what it means to have faith when your views don't line up with what your Church dictates, and when those in power don't have your best interest at heart. Haunt is about the ties that bind a struggling family together, for better, or more often for worse, and the pain they face while trying to break the cycle of abuse. The presence which darkens the doorstep of the Stewarts' new haunt heightens their worst impulses and brings each and every one of them to their personal breaking point.

Haunt is both terrifying and gripping, and the 70s setting permeates every aspect of the plot; it doesn't feel like a modern story with a nostalgic 1970s coat of paint over it, it feels like something straight out of the dingy, smoke-filled, no-seatbelts-or-airbags era, an oft forgotten aspect of the decade that so many authors struggle to capture on page.

Contemporary fantasy

Monsters Are We is a story about burning bridges, both accidentally and on purpose. With some relationships, when the passion is gone, you can cut your losses and go your separate ways, but Penelope Draven doesn't have that option. Her old life with Leo the soul-sucking cheater needs to come to an end so her new life can begin.

She's danced this dance before, but this time around is going to be much more difficult for two very important reasons. First, she finally has something that makes her hesitate before throwing it all away, something she wants desperately to take with her when she goes; her teenage daughter, Clementine. Second, Leo knows what she is, what she's done, and what she's capable of, and he's not going to let either of them go so easily.

Ren explores the relationship between a mother and daughter from two very different generations, but who are more like one another than either realize. Monsters Are We is about figuring out who you are and choosing who you want to be. It's about being allowed to make irreparable mistakes so you can learn from them. The Draven girls find themselves on a road trip to hell and back which puts their lives and the lives of their closest friends into Leo's crosshairs. When they find themselves down on their luck, Penelope knows how to make her own, but it comes with a price.

Psychological thriller

Drawn to You is the story of the one that got away and one woman's twisted machinations to try and get it back. Ruby Deardon never got over her college crush, Sean Chaplin. They could have had something beautiful, Ruby tells herself, if only they had had anything at all. The timing was never right, the dominoes never fell the way she needed them to, so she lost her chance at her fairy tale happy ending.

Well, after nearly a decade of pining from a distance she decides to take matters into her own hands and insert herself back into Sean's life so they can finally have the life she's always wanted. He wants it too, she's sure of it, he just doesn't know it yet.

But just as she's about to zero in on Sean, she learns that Jeremy is zeroing in on her. She's was his one that got away, and while most women would be wary of his level of obsession, Ruby sees him as nothing but an obstacle standing between her and the future she's set her mind on. Jeremy is an unexpected dog in Ruby's game of cat and mouse, but cats have claws, and he has no idea what she's willing to do to make sure the mouse gets got.

[dommnics]

Happy Halloween season! Here's another stab at my own take of Carrie White, based on her book description. I'm super happy with how these turned out! I'd love to tackle some of the other characters in the book eventually, especially Margaret!

EDIT:

Now available as an art print here!

--

Check out more of my work on other platforms!

My Instagram -- My Twitter

[panthermouthh]

“Oh, Frankenstein… Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to by thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.”

[screensavorstudios]

Jill O' Lantern: Final Cut now available on Steam and Itch.io

[dinolich]

late night Fritz Frankenstein appreciation post because I'm obsessed with my own side character. HELLAWEEN 2 is out now btw

[ponyasworkshop]

Asra is a sea witch glow in the dark mermaid

Portia is a werecat ninja

Lucio is a slutty fallen angel

Nadia is vampire in a swan ballgown

Julian is a tortured Vampire-Werewolf hybrid who is also a pirate

And Muriel is a sheet ghost

Hate to disappoint, especially if I'm one of the people being disappointed, but I won't be doing all the characters as full illustrations. But I can do them all as chibis, and that's what I did.

I'm done drawing for now. NGL this was the most stressful drawing month I had. First my cable for the drawing tablet just caught on fire, then my work schedule had it's guts rearranged, and before I knew it there were like 10 days of October left out of which I had only 5 days off and I'm having an art identity crisis.

So I had to improvise a bit.

I hope you enjoy them non the less.

Have fun!

[mysharona1987]

[callmevenus]

⭐️🎀🎃｡☆ ﾟ ＊ ¸* .魔法使いの女の子 ｡ ☆ ﾟ ＊ ¸* .⭐️🎀🎃

[luccaeli]

Spooky season

[talkbycolor]

halloween night

A/N; y e s, solivan as ghostface, HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!

Pairing; "Solivan Brugmansia" x AFAB!Reader

CW; panic at the disco anxiety on the kitchen / non-con / ghostface mask stays on during sex / both are fucked up, grow up / dead dove as always / established relationship, unhealthy relationship / Sol is aggresive towards MC, important point

Halloween night! Who doesn't like that holiday? Parties, costumes, candy, terror, a time to enjoy with friends… Sure, if you had any.

It's not that you were a super strange person that people would avoid at school, you had friends who knew how to have fun and liked your company, in fact, Crowe kept texting you to remind you about the party Brittney had planned and if it was her party, you were pretty sure it would be as loud as it was mind-blowing.

You were almost ready, even if your costume wasn't the most creative it was in keeping with the theme, you just had to finish putting on your shoes.

…

You were a ghost, Brittney was definitely going to make fun of you, who would think of taking a white blanket and making two holes in it?

Well, it was worse than nothing, besides, the fun would be chatting with friends and playing together, you couldn't wait to see-…

Knock, knock

That was the door to your apartment, damn it! You hadn't put any decorations in your house so you didn't expect to have any visits from children, it's not like you could buy candy for them so you walked to the door with the resignation of disappointing a couple of little ones and probably suffering some pranks.

When the door was opened… you were greeted by an empty hallway.

"Damn brats" You couldn't help but think, in the end, kids would be kids but you weren't a person to receive many unexpected visitors, that wasn't good for your poor heart.

You went back to your small room to grab your phone and check your text messages when an incoming call appeared on the screen, an unknown number.

Breathe, breathe, breathe, it's not the first time you've done this, it happens sometimes, right? Some calls when you order a package, takeout or a simple mistake in the number.

You swallowed hard before answering.

"Hello, who's speaking?" Perfect, you didn't stutter.

"…" But no one answered, in fact, if you paid attention you could hear the distant sound of breathing.

You decided not to say anything else and just hung up.

Your phone rang once again, this time accompanied by the sound of the door, no, not a knock but it being opened.

Just when you were thinking of turning around an imposing hand grabbed the back of your head and slammed it against the wall, causing an immediate nosebleed, tears of pain were not long in coming followed by pitiful whimpers as you tried to keep your eyes open to see the person responsible.

"Move and die." The voice under the mask spoke, completely dressed in black and wearing a Ghostface mask, it was a little hoarse but-…

Suddenly he pulled your hair hard, and you felt your scalp burn as you were dragged across the floor until you reached the table.

"S-STOP! IT HURTS, IT HURTS SO MUCH!" You whimpered but he didn't stop even then.

A hand came up to your throat, caressing your skin possessively as he moved up to your bleeding nose to take your blood and use it as lubricant on your pussy, that hand had black painted nails, and you recognized it.

It wasn't gentle at all, he didn't even lubricate properly due to the fear and pain you felt, he simply slid his length inside you, your body was rigid on the table, bleeding and crying on top of the wood.

"NO! NO! PLEASE! ENOUGH! SOL, I-I'M SCARED!" You begged your boyfriend.

"You only squeeze this hard when you're scared, love."

It was tearing you apart, it hurt so much, you wanted to keep screaming but once again he held your head to smash it against the table, making the bleeding worse and knocking out a tooth, you felt so dizzy and your mouth was numb from losing one of your front teeth.

You looked so perfect that the taller man moaned just by looking at you, feeling himself harden inside your pussy to pound harder into you, your flushed face was a work of art, he wanted to use your blood to paint a portrait of you, a thousand of them.

"So beautiful, so beautiful, I'm so lucky, fuck, I love you so much."

Instead, your limp body was being maneuvered over the table, a mix of tears, blood and saliva forming under your face.

Sol's groans increased as his climax approached, he gently held your face as he brought a small disposable camera closer to take a picture, a perfect pose where your sleepy expression was unable to focus the lens as he fucked you.

"Happy Halloween, darling."

"H-Happy Halloween, S-Sol…"

♡

[redspringstudio]

Happy Halloween… and Happy 1 Year Anniversary since TOUCHSTARVED’s launch! 🎉

We hope you like our trick— err, treat ☺️

[n1ghtmxre97]

[tnbc-thoughtsandheadcanons]

Thinking about how we could’ve had a Nightmare-permanent ride attraction at Disneyland AND a Jill Thompson TNBC graphic novel if it wasn’t for Tim Burton... 🤔

[mxtx-incorrect-quotes]

Pei Ming: Would you slap General Nan Yang-

Mu Qing: Yes.

Pei Ming: I didn't even finish!

Mu Qing: Fine, continue.

Pei Ming: Would you slap General Na Yang for 100 gold bars?

Mu Qing: I would do it for free.

Feng Xin: Rude...

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

quick question- I was a bit confused in some dialogue during book 1 lol 😭😭 It’s during the later chapters when riddle has collared both ace and deuce after they’ve challenged him for his seat. More specifically, the part where yuu calls riddle out for his behavior (rightfully so) and he responds by insulting them and their parents I believe?

The confusion stems from aceyuu shippers (just wanted to clarify I’m not self shipping lmao) where they say ace ends up punching riddle because he’s explicitly defending yuu’s honor or whatever but i also see other people (non-shippers) who say ace punched riddle because he insulted ace and/or deuce’s parents? Im not quite sure which one it is and went back in the actual game to check but i feel like the wording of riddle’s insults is a bit vague? Idk, maybe im just being a bit of a dum dum and can’t properly comprehend the scene even though it’s quite simple. I feel like it’s also just because i see a lot of people saying different stuff and just wanted to hear your thoughts on it if that’s okay?

I just feel like you really understand both the story and characters in that regard haha

P.S. your posts r genuinely very informative and helpful especially for people like me who kinda have no media literacy (not in a negative way!!) pls keep up the good work you’re rlly great at it <333

Hmmm, I see 🤔

Before I get to responding to this question, I want to preface this with a few disclaimers! Firstly, I do not mean to invalidate or detract from Ace x Yuu shippers or anyone who may interpret their relationship as romantic. You should ship what you like and have fun doing it. My reply aims to be more objective, but that should NOT impede on your enjoyment or whatever it is you choose to ship. Secondly, for those who don’t ship Ace x Yuu, I will be discussing the pairing later on in this post, so please keep this in mind.

Let's first look at how the game and how it depicts the scene. This occurs in 1-22, shortly after Riddle collars Ace and Deuce in their duel for the dorm leader seat. With his victory secured, Riddle begins to gloat about how this is proof that he is "the most correct". At this point, Yuu/the player character is granted two dialogue options:

If you choose "But that's not right!", Riddle replies with, "I am the one who decides what is wrong and right! What sort of pitiful education have you received, that you cannot follow such simple rules?"

If you choose "You can't just use rules to do whatever you please!", then Riddle replies with, "If there were no penalties, no one would follow the rules. I have to wonder what sort of pitiful education left you unable to comprehend so simple a concept."

However, no matter which dialogue option you choose, Riddle continues on to say, "Clearly, you were born to parents with no great magical capability. And as a result... You lack even the basic education necessary to attend a school such as this. It's quite sad."

Deuce becomes upset after hearing this--but before he is able to act, Ace is already on his feet and manages to deck his dorm leader in the face.

Based on the fact that Riddle seems to react to something that Yuu says, the framing here implies that the "you" Riddle is using refers to them specifically. As you can see above, both Ace and Deuce take offense to what Riddle says, but it is Ace that acts preemptively and attacks Riddle for his rudeness. This is what Ace x Yuu shippers will point to as a defining moment in their relationship (though, to be clear, this scene can definitely also be interpreted as platonic!!).

… Buuut it’s not completely clear that Riddle is explicitly directing any and all insults towards Yuu and Yuu alone, even if Yuu was the one to prompt his tirade. Due to the visual novel style format of the game, we have limited assets to base our interpretations off of, so going by the game alone may not be entirely accurate to what is happening in this scene. For example, we don't know how the characters are oriented relative to one another. It's possible that Riddle responds to Yuu's dialogue and then turns away to berate Yuu, Ace, and Deuce for their stupidity, since all three of them are, in his eyes, rule-breakers. We simply cannot tell due to the constraints of a visual novel. Let’s consult the manga adaptation and see how that presents 1-22.

In the Episode of Heartslabyul, the framing of the panels centers Riddle and Adeuce; Yuuken is not involved whatsoever. (On a prior page, all Yuuken remarks on is how fast Riddle is able to cast his spell; Yuuken has no lines similar to game!Yuu’s earlierdialogue options.) Riddle stands imposing over his opponents and rants at Ace and Deuce about their lack of an education. You can see that it really strikes a nerve with Deuce (whom we learned used to be a delinquent prior to NRC). This still results in Yuu punching Riddle.

The manga seems to imply that Riddle is not insulting Yuu, but rather Adeuce. This makes sense to me, given that though all of them are rebels to Heartslabyul’s strict rules, Adeuce are the two who most directly challenge his authority.

You can see in a close-up panel that Deuce is gritting his teeth and trying to hold himself back from going at Riddle. The text in that panel involves the mention of parents who cannot use magic—which just so happens to be true of Deuce’s mother. The same mother that he worked so hard to make proud of, the mother he turned over a new leaf for. But again, it’s Ace that gets the hit in. Why is that?

Let’s check out our final source, the first volume of the light novel. On pages 319 and 320:

Riddle very clearly states “And as for you two.” This clearly refers to the fallen Ace and Deuce. He then unleashes his barrage of insults at them. Again, not at Yuu, but at Ace and Deuce. The text even goes on to remind us that Deuce would be especially rattled by Riddle’s words because of how he had come to NRC for the sake of his mom. In this version, we see our Yuu (Yuuya) being more involved by trying to keep Deuce from lashing out. Like in the game, however, Ace still gets in that punch on his dorm leader.

Okay, so… The game, manga, and light novels are different iterations of the same base story. Based on which you consume, you could walk away with an entirely different understanding of the scene in question. The game, being the most interactive medium with a self-insert main character, a gacha game which makes $$$ from endearing the characters to us, has the set-up which is most conducive for yumeshipping and thus making the player feel beloved and important in 1-22. This is obvious if you also consider that many fanservicey lines from other parts of the game (such as Ace wanting to sleep in Yuu’s room) being left out of the manga. It's also entirely possible that Riddle first reacts to what Yuu says, and THEN shifts his attention to address the group rather than just Yuu. The manga, with a more standoffish and level-headed Yuu, doesn’t speak up like game!Yuu does, so Riddle instead directly insults Ace and Deuce. The light novel, which features a timid and non-confrontational Yuu, is focused on deescalating the situation. And, like the manga, the light novel is NOT interactive and so it doesn’t need to concern itself with making the player feel special. Riddle isn’t mandated to acknowledge Yuu; he can instead be mad at Ace and Deuce all he likes.

If we were to combine information from across the game, manga, and light novel to decipher what is “truly” happening, here’s how I see it!

The light novel contains a scene exclusive to it on pages 176 and 177. As Ace is making himself comfortable at Ramshackle, he formally apologizes to Yuuya for being mean to him in the prologue. Ace explains that his meanness was because he thought that Yuuya had bullied his way to be admitted to NRC under special circumstances. “[…] the rest of us had to work our butts off to get in, and you just sorta walked in.” He proclaims that this was unfair, so it annoyed him.

This makes a lot of sense for Ace’s character. In book 7 of the main story, he expresses that he is insecure about being an ordinary mage and that he hadn’t even developed his UM yet. (Coincidentally, he has a Chat where he praises the Queen of Hearts for having no special magic but still being able to make it big—perhaps because her circumstances remind Ace of himself?) He calls himself lame and pathetic, someone who is always looking for an excuse to take the easy way out. This is in spite of the bravado he puts on and how he often brags about being better or smarter than Deuce (most notably in book 5). If we believe the light novel dialogue, Ace worked hard to get invited to NRC. He has pride in earning this, and he has something to prove while he is there. Recall that his older brother is an alumnus of the school, and that his own father is a magicless human. Ace canonically has a good relationship with both of these family members and often bonds with them through little things like card trick competitions. When Riddle insults Ace's background... he is also insulting Ace's brother and father. He is also insulting all the effort Ace put forth to get into NRC in the first place. Ace would of course lose it--especially when he has been the primary victim of Riddle's rage for most of book 1. He's the first to be collared, the one who had to apologize and attempted to make an apology tart (which got rejected). Bro's fed UP having to bend the knee to a tyrant and sick of watching everyone else do the same. The punch that comes out of it seems to me like the result of all Ace's pent-up frustrations, as well as his own fury at Riddle speaking ill of him and his family.

While Ace is unquestionably willing to ride or die for Yuu in books 4 (he takes a long public transit route from the Queendom to Sage's Island after receiving a SOS text from them) and 6 (he tries to protect his friends from Ferrymen)... I think book 1's a bit too early for him to be SO loyal to Yuu that he'd get this angry on their behalf and sock Riddle. (Book 1 takes place during the first week of school; Ace seems to have only known Yuu for a few days at this point + hasn't really hung out with them besides sleeping over at Ramshackle since he's not allowed back at Heartslabyul.) His punch definitely feels fueled by a bunch of other things rather than being extremely motivated to defend Yuu's honor. I think maybe a case could be made for the game specifically, since that's the only version where Yuu is potentially addressed rather than Ace and Deuce being addressed. However, this does take some extrapolation. You'd have to assume that Ace is actually very attached to Yuu this early on or pair it with the idea that Ace is sensitive about magicless humans in general being discriminated against because of his own father being magicless (ie Ace was insulted by proxy, even if Riddle might have aimed the comments at Yuu). Not sure if the latter argument holds up very well though, considering that Ace himself did discriminate against Yuu in the prologue because they lacked magic. Likewise, he doesn't get mad for Fellow and Gidel in Playful Land when they share about being looked down on for not being magically inclined. But hey, maybe that was just Ace being in denial and acting contrary in order to cope with his own complicated feelings on the topic. He’s been known to behave like this anyway, acting cocky despite having no UM and denying that Yuu would go home (even though we later find out he deeply does not wish for this to happen).

I definitely think that many of the game-exclusive lines and content are there as fanservice for the players, who are encouraged to project or to self-insert as Yuu. Ace in particular is one of the characters who gets a ton of this kind of yumejoshi bait-y stuff. Everyone has it to some extent, but Ace is one of the rare few who has several pretty overt instances in the main story (whereas most other characters have their fanservice content relegated to voice lines and maybe some events). On top of this scene (which could potentially read as "Ace defending Yuu's honor"), we have: multiple instances of Ace offering to share a room/bed with Yuu (once in book 1, again in book 3), he has shared his number with Yuu and invites them to call him if they "miss him", Ace's entire book 7 dream revolving around a reality in which Yuu is able to freely traverse between Twisted Wonderland and their original world (furthermore, he is the ONLY dreamer we have seen in which Yuu is involved in the dream), etc. Ace is also known to frequently tease Yuu, and, on top of having several voice lines inviting them to hang out, is actually shown hanging out with them and caring about them in various vignettes and events. For example, he has movie nights with Yuu (Idia's Labwear vignettes), asks for their opinion on whether or not he looks the part to woo the Ghost Bride, rides roller coasters with them in Playful Land while previously complaining that his ex-girlfriend wouldn’t, and worries for where Yuu might be (Endless Halloween Night). With this abundance of Ace and Yuu content, I can see why people that have the shipping goggles on--and even those who don't--might interpret early scenes as Ace acting out for Yuu's sake, be it romantically or platonically. More objectively speaking and when considering the manga + light novel though, I don't think I personally read 1-22 that way. I enjoy Ace as a character and I support Ace x Yuu shippers, but the evidence and context suggests that he's venting other frustrations to me.

Again though, this is just my interpretation. Feel free to use this information however you’d like and come to your own conclusion.

[dinolich]

HELLAWEEN: Spellbent— the sequel to my debut graphic novel is AVAILABLE NOW!!! Run to your favorite shop for books 1+2!

Join Gwen and her friends as they face new worlds, new monsters, new curses and big Halloween plans! “With such an inventive world and fun cast of characters all I want is MORE. I could read about this hellish little gang and their adventures forever.” —Dana Terrace, creator and executive producer of The Owl House

GET YOURS