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Dahlia DeWinters - Author

Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Three Halloween Books for Scary Reading

Yes, we like the movies, but there’s nothing like a scary book to curl up with on a dark, blustery night.  When I lived alone, I used to scare myself to death with the sounds that I thought I heard when I was reading an especially scary book.  And the dog didn’t help when she jump up and ran out of the room for no apparent reason. (Sometimes I think dogs do that on purpose to  scare the mess out of us.  Then they go drink out of the toilet and laugh at us.)

Anyhoo, here’s my top five books to read around Halloween, or any time.  These are presented in no particular order.

Pet Sematary  – Stephen King:  I can’t tell you how much this book frightened me.  I discuss this in more detail over at my blog, if you care to take a look.  Suffice to say, while the movie is pretty scary, it could not come close to the frightening visions that I had conjured in my head when I’d read the book..

I Am Legend – Richard Matheson:  Forget Will Smith.  Forget the movies.  Read the story.  Get inside of the head of the last human on earth, who is plagued every night by some kind of creatures who bid him to “come out, come out…”  This novel inspired George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.  Excellent reading.

Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury: Jim Nightshade and William Halloway encounter a carnival that is not exactly what it seems.  To me, some of the themes that run through this novel mirror Stephen King’s  Needful Things.  If you haven’t read either, read Something Wicked first.

The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson: I saw the movie, yes, it was scary.  However, as I wrote before, there’s nothing that can scare you worse than yourself.  Shirley Jackson taps right into that terror and carries you along with her.

Rosemary’s Baby – Ira Levin: First of all, stay away from the “sequel”, Son of Rosemary’s Baby.  That book made me so angry that I threw the hardcover across the room.  Literally.  (I am very glad that I hadn’t been reading it on an e-reader because the urge to throw it would have still been very strong.).  The original Rosemary’s Baby is another case of the ordinary turning so hideously extraordinary that you can’t believe it’s happening.  Certainly, it may be somewhat dated, but still, transport yourself back to the era before the Internet and immerse yourself in the horror.

I hope you enjoy these hand-picked scary selections of mine. Be sure to lock the doors and the windows and leave the bathroom light on.  You don’t want to fumble into someone in the middle of the night.

 

Pleasant dreams!


Filed Under: Blogging, Blogtoberfest, Movies--Books--Music--Television Tagged: black girl nerds, blerd, blogtober, blogtoberfest, colors in darkness, dahlia dewinters, halloween, horror, rosemary's baby, scary, scary books, shirley Jackson, spooky season, Stephen King

Blogtoberfest – Dark Country Songs

There’s no song like a country song.  Whether you’re into Charley Pride, Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline or the “new school” of Garth Brooks, Trace Adkins, Miko Marks and a score of others, there’s not a doubt in my mind that country’s roots are entwined with the blues both musically and lyrically.  Some of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard were from either of these genres, usually by men, who’ve acted up so bad that they drove their woman, and sometimes their dog, away.

Today we’re going to look at and listen to some dark country songs that go even deeper into the human psyche, past crying into your beer or sittin on the porch weeping, into murder, mayhem and ghosts.

 

The first one is by a musician who performs one of my all time favorite country songs.  The Charlie Daniels Band is perhaps best known for its rollicking fiddle-fest “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, but they also did a mysterious song that tells of a swamp, an old man and a treasure.

It’s a song that tells a story and it starts off like this:

 

Well, if you ever go back into Wooley Swamp
Well, you better not go at night
There’s things out there in the middle of them woods
That make a strong man die from fright
Things that crawl and things that fly
And things that creep around on the ground
And they say the ghost of Lucius Clay
Gets up and he walks around

To say anything further would ruin the scarily told/sung story, so click here to listen for yourself:

 

As a child, Johnny Cash’s rumbling bass always used to scare me. It also didn’t help that he was called “The Man in Black” which rendered him as some sort of evil being floating around, scaring kids with his guitar and flashy country shirts.  As I grew older, however, I was more able to appreciate the music and I give you “Ghost Riders in the Sky”.  Can’t get much scarier than that.

Rachel Brooke – The Black Bird

This sparse arrangement leaves room for Rachel Brooke’s hauntingly innocent sounding voice to a story of illicit love…and that black bird always watching. Also, the video is pretty creepy too!

 

 

Comment below with your dark country artists!

 

Dahlia

 


Filed Under: Blogtoberfest, Music Tagged: blogtoberfest, colors in darkness, dahliadewinters, dark country, dark country songs, horror movies, scary songs, songs for halloween

Blogtoberfest – My Bloody Vampire Sangria

Hello again!  So glad to see y’all along with me for the ride Halloween blogging, or, as I call it……BLOGTOBERFEST……..

Today’s recipe is not a mocktail, but a straight up liquor fest.  It was a choice between this and chocolate martinis.  I chose this because it looks like fruit punch.  (What, me drinking?  Nah, this is fruit punch.)  And I love sangria.

You can find the basic recipe here, but I added my own twist.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 (750 ml bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja reds, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
  • 1 Lemon cut into wedges
  • 1 Orange cut into wedges
  • Strawberry or Kiwi slices
  • 3 Tbsp sugar
  • 2 shots brandy
  • 1 shot gin
  • 2 cups ginger ale or club soda

Preparation:

Pour wine in the pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon and orange into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible) and add sugar and brandy. Chill overnight. Add ginger ale or club soda just before serving.

If you’d like to serve right away, use chilled red wine and serve over lots of ice.

 


Filed Under: Blogtoberfest, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged: blerd, blogtoberfest, colors in darkness, dahlia dewinters, female geek bloggers, geek girl, halloween, halloween drinks, Halloween fun, halloween recipe, sangria, vampires

Blogtoberfest – Five Scary Movies – Mya Lairis

My top five scary movies are: 

 

1. Trilogy of Terror– is my all time scary movie. There is just something about that damn doll, like maybe it gnawed my ankles off in a past life or something but I have only watched this film once. Trying to get up the nerve to do it again, but…that doll!

2. Squirm– I have no issue with snakes, at all…they are tasty in fact but earthworms, shrieking, no-eyes having, able to be cut into pieces and still live, burrowing under the skin…Hell naw.

3. Event Horizon– When I first saw this film it scared the crap out of me. Dimensional terrors usually hit home with the terror mark in me and that the space ship had breached the dimension to Hell and was inescapable…yeah. I have been able to watch this a few times however and still, its a shitty deal for those on board.

4. Evil Dead Remake– This was an excellent remake and one that I winced a couple of times at but enjoyed all the same. That razor blade though….

5. Beloved– Yup, actually now that I think about it, this could be one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen. The notion of slavery is frightening enough but this film did emotional damage to me as it made me question the notions of anger, vengeance, and self. Creatures are scary and all but the human psyche can be far worse.

Bio: Mya Lairis is a monster and kaiju  fanatic who writes paranormal romance and erotica but who reads mostly extreme horror and heart racing cyber punk sci fi.

Website: www.myalairis.com

 

 


Filed Under: 5 Fandom Friday, 5 Favorites Friday, Blogtoberfest Tagged: black girl geeks, black girl nerds, blerd, blogtoberfest, CID, colors in darkness, dahlia dewinters, halloween, halloween party, horror movies, movies, movies that scare, mya lairis, scary, scary movies, top scary movies

Blogtoberfest -Swallow that Sweet Fear: Halloween Cookie Recipe

Photo Courtesy of Domino Sugar

It’s cookie recipe day! 

If you’re like me,  you plan way ahead for any type of party or treat fest because you’ve just GOT to be sure that everything is going to go right. 

I worked with my daughter this summer in perfecting her cupcake and frosting recipe so she would have the most lovely cupcakes to take to school for her birthday.

Mind you, I can’t stand everyday cooking, but baking is my thing.  I like the fact that it’s fun, short and you get a sweet treat at the end.

Now, I’m giving you this cookie recipe early enough so you have time to experiment with it, mess it up and start again. 

 

Halloween Bat Sugar Cookies – Recipe courtesy of Domino Sugar

YIELDS

3 to 4 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

Cookies

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
  • 3/4 cup firmly packed Domino® Light Brown Sugar
  • 3/4 cup Domino® Granulated Sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Icing

  • 3 3/4 cups (1-lb pkg.) Domino® Confectioners Sugar
  • 3 tablespoons meringue powder
  • 6 tablespoons warm water
  • purple food coloring
  • 1 tube black decorator gel icing

Click HERE for the rest of the recipe.

 

Happy Baking

 

Dahlia


Filed Under: Blogtoberfest, Recipes Tagged: black girl nerds, blogtoberfest, colors in darkness, cookie recipes, cookies, dahlia dewinters, female geek bloggers, halloiween, halloween, halloween cookies, halloween dessert

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