Since today being the 1st of October that means the month-long countdown to Halloween begins, and with it we ratchet up the celebration of the haunted and mystical season. With this post I will share three items that recently came across my desk for review, and which also represent October promotional items available for my readers.

The first item is the book Bestial: Werewolf Apocalypse by William D. Carl (Permuted Press, 2008). This is the first book by Carl and it comes with an endorsement blurb by my fellow LOTT Dmember, Kim Paffenroth, who has also published with Permuted, which states that this book is “The kind of debut novel authors dream of writing.” The book’s storyline is stated on the back cover:

“Beneath the dim light of a full moon, the population of Cincinnati mutates into huge, snarling monsters that devour everyone they see, acting upon their most base and bestial desires. Planes fall from the sky. Highways are clogged with abandoned cars, and buildings explode and topple. The city burns.

“Only four people are immune to the metamorphosis-a smooth-talking thief who maintains the code of the Old West, an African-American bank teller who has struggled her entire life to emerge unscathed from the ghetto, a wealthy middle-aged housewife who finds everything she once believed to be a lie, and a teen-aged runaway turning tricks for food.

“Somehow, these survivors must discover what caused this apocalypse and stop it from spreading. In their way is not only a city of beasts at night, but, in the daylight hours, the same monsters returned to human form, many driven insane by atrocities committed against friends and families during.

“Now another night is fast approaching. And once again the moon will be full.”

Werewolves have gotten short shrift in horror writing in comparison with other monsters and Carl’s novel fills this void nicely by offering a frightening story perfect for October reading in the dark.

The second item to be highlighted in this post is a recent Midnight Syndicate release of The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates CD. This summer Midnight Syndicate released their first all-original, independent release since their best-selling and award-winning The 13th HourCD. Using their signature style of dark orchestration and soundscape, The Dead Matter draws listeneers into the world of vampires, ancient Egyptian relics, and the living dead – the same themes explored in Midnight Syndicate Films’s upcoming motion picture, The Dead Matter.

This CD was a pleasure to listen to, and for my tastes tracks 11 with “Alchemist’s Chamber,” and 13 in “Forging the Scarab,” were the most entertaining, the former involving a pipe organ and a Gothic horror feel, and the latter involving drums and horns and reminiscent of an epic horror theme. Midnight Syndicate’s continued contribution of soundtracks to the Halloween holiday position this company in such a way as to make an impact upon music associated with the season akin to Disney’s Haunted Mansion from a previous generation.

The final item to be discussed in this post is Catacombs and Photographs, a collection of horror and dark fantasy poetry, by Brandy Schwan. The book is produced by Apex Publications with the following description on their website:

The Grim Trixter is back, this time with a limited edition chapbook collection of more than 30 hauntingly evocative poems that explore everything from nursery rhymes to modern serial killers. Schwan’s voice brings beauty to the horrors of the world around her, yet infuses objects of seeming innocence with such a shadowed nature that one cannot help but see that behind her pen is, in the words of her poem “Hands and Dues Paid a Muse,” a mind holding devious things.

Rest, rest in silence
Silence where we love to dissect
What might have been living when ink
Was more important
And it was, Truly, it was.
~from “Worm God,” in Catacombs and Photographs

Each poem tells a story complete in itself, but together the collection forms a collection of photographs that capture the moments of deepest emotion when the world is raw and vulnerable and at its most beautiful to those who know how to see.

As mentioned earlier, each of these excellent items will serve as promotional items for the month of October at TheoFantastique. Readers can be entered in a drawing for the item of their choice simply by recommending this website to five friends with an interest in horror, sci fi, and fantasy. After the recommendation simply pass along your name, email address and mailing address and the drawing will be held with announcements of the winners on October 31.