What the fuck is Halloween Spooktacular, and why should you even consider associating yourself with such a detestable virtual event?

The What

Halloween Spooktacular is a not-so-annual annual writing festival which began in 2008. Surrounded by boredom and no outlet for my horror passion, I created Spooktacular as a way to showcase my work, socialize with the horror community, and help promote the work of other writing fools folk.

Since its inception, it’s grown tremendously, and 2015 promises to be the biggest, most badass year yet.

The Who

Me. You. Him. Her. Them. And that goofy lookin’ dude over there.

It’s a fucking horr-orgy.

Invite anyone you want to join in.

The Where

This year, Halloween Spooktacular will take place on two sites. One will be the official Spooktacular Facebook Page, and the other will be right here on Dark Randomosity.

The official Facebook Page will contain more frequent, trivial content such as music, random questions/interactive posts, and photos, plus links to all Spooktacular-related Dark Randomosity posts.

Dark Randomosity will be the engine for the bulk of the end-of-month one-week hailstorm of horror, plus any other lengthier random shit I decide to drop at random times.

So have no fear, you thumb-suckin’ sissy: You won’t miss anything if you Like the Facebook Page. Also, if you happen to stalk me on any of my personal social media sites, you already know I’ll blast your newsfeeds with self-glorifying links and posts.

Ain’t no shame in my exposure game.

The When

Beginning October 1^st, you’ll get tiny doses of horror and music and fun as we head toward the main event, which lasts from October 26^th until Halloween night.

Here’s a quick rundown of the main event themes:

• Monday, October 26^th: Rancid Resurrection
• Tuesday, October 27^th: Tropes & Legends
• Wednesday, October 28^th: Horrific Hump Day
• Thursday, October 29^th: Bloodthirsty Thursday
• Friday, October 30^th: Creepy Contests & Cohorts
• Saturday, October 31^st: Frightful Finale

A more detailed event list will be posted around the middle of October, so stay tuned.

The Why

Why should you even bother with all this jazz?

Well, I’ll tell you why.

And you know what? Fuck it. I’ll even throw in some unnecessary exclamation points for good measure.

 INTERVIEWS!

This year I put out a call for a few indie author interviews and ended up with 5 in all, plus I landed an interview with an underground hip-hop artist to boot.

I wanted to keep this random shit going, so I made a list of questions and then pumped  said questions into the Dark Randomosity Randomizer, a sophisticated, high-tech process consisting of many 10-or-20-sided role-playing die rolls. Then I sent a grueling questionnaire to each individual via email and asked them to fill it out and send it back.

And they ended up being more epic than I’d anticipated.

Who’ll enlighten us this year?

• David Schliemann
• Gerald Rice
• David Owain Hughes
• Jonathan Moon
• Peter Oliver Wonder
• Shawn Milazzo

POETRY!

 A few old poems, a few new ones, and my first attempt at a spoken poem video, “Clownin’”,  complete with still-frame action sequences and…splattered brains?

SHORT STORIES!

 Though short stories aren’t my forte, I’ve written two exclusively for Halloween Spooktacular this year. “Layer” is a story in which a serial killer may have met his match at a strip club. And on the night of the finale, get ready for the ride of your life with “Horrorcoaster”.

You’ll also get to read this year’s Spooky Short Story Contest winning entry, so you totally win.

CONTESTS!

 I dug deep into my savings account, pulled out mounds of pennies, and then decided to sprinkle in a few contests throughout the Spooktacular festivities.

There’ll be a costume contest, a pumpkin carving contest, and at least one random contest thrown in the mix.

Pssst! That doesn’t include the super-secret grand finale contest.

Announcements will be made as the date for each contest approaches, so stay tuned.

Oh, and have I mentioned for the twentieth time that most of these contests result in monetary prizes?

I know you do, you greedy sumbitch. I know you do.

TRIPLE-ACTION GRAND FINALE!

A resurrection of boner-tastic proportions. The unveiling of a masterpiece. And a contest in which one unlucky bastard will have to choke down one of my works against their will.

But Wait—There’s More!

Randomosity is the name of the game, and in keeping with that weird, random style, I’ve decided to throw a few more cool things into the mix.

We’re talking self-promotion days for other authors/artists/craftspeople to pimp their own shit, random author takeover spots (which could bring about more contests!), and other random, randomly themed days.

Oh, and please note: These events will be held whenever the hell I feel like it, on whatever day, at whatever time, and with whatever rules I want to concoct on the spot.

Random Wrap-Up

I hope you  stay tuned. There’s more randomosity—and a shit-ton of Halloween Spooktacular goodies—coming soon.

JO