It’s almost time for the annual Adolescent Candy Extortion Day!

Trick or Treat? To most kids those are simply the magic words to get free candy. They don’t realize what it boils down to. I will play a trick on you and possibly damage your property OR give me a treat and I’ll go away. As a grumpy old fart, I could easily choose to see this holiday as nothing more than a shakedown. And that’s my costume this year, BTW. I’m going to be that old guy who sits on his porch and yells at kids to ‘stay off my lawn’! The only difference between Halloween and any other day is, I’ll be throwing candy at them as they run off!

But…now I have grandkids who are old enough to Tick or Treat. To see their joy as they go house to house, dragging their little plastic pumpkin with them in their loose fitting costume brings a smile to my face and stirs old memories. The joys of being old and having a bad memory allows me to believe that I was a good kid and never got into trouble. It’s those inconvenient times that an old school chum reminds me of things I did that makes me question that belief. (I choose to believe that I was mostly good.)

But Halloween is the time of change. Seasons transition from hot and dry to cool and wet to bone chilling cold. The leaves, the smells, the cooking, the cooling weather…it all brings a smile to my face as we slide into what is easily my favorite season of the year. Seeing how other people celebrate it is almost as fun as candy extortion used to be. From the goofy to the macabre to the questionable, Halloween is celebrated in so many ways that one questions the origins of the day. Whether dressed as a cartoon character or elaborately made up victim to those who barely wear anything at all and still call it a costume, everybody puts their own flair into it. It is, after all, a celebration and people will find a way to put their own personal and unique stamp on it.

Personally, I prefer the scary stuff. Sure, the cute and cuddly is nice for the wee ones, and the younger generations can have the ‘sexy’ stuff, but the realistic and frightening is what it’s all about for me. Give me a haunted house that causes people to wet themselves a little and that’s a house I’d stand in line to go through. Of course, my wife will go in ahead of me to keep me safe. She’s a lot tougher than I am…and I hate wetting myself.

And let me add this, I’m joining with my fellow Addictive Reads‘ Authors for our annual Halloween Blog Hop and Giveaway. This year, we’re talking about our favorite parts of Halloween. We’re having a giveaway over at the Addictive Reads site ($50, $25, & $10 gift cards) so be sure and take part in the festivities!

Also, I’m taking part in the WINTER OF ZOMBIE 2015 EVENT on Facebook. I hope you’ll join me and a whole gob of other fantastic zombie authors. There will be fun and prizes and some of my favorite authors will be participating. Just click here to join the FREE event now so you don’t miss out!