SIMON STRANTZAS HALLOWEEN INTERVIEW + PHANTASIC GIVE-AWAY!

This is my favourite day of the year, and not just because it happens to be my birthday. I love everything about it. 


I love the fall weather, the colour of the leaves, the crisp chill air. I love that today everyone gets to dress up and be anything they want to be. 


I love answering the door to trick or treaters and seeing all the great costumes kids are wearing this year. I love taking my own kids out trick or treating!

I love the memories it brings back from Halloween's past and the creation of new memories this year will bring. 

I dig the Halloween specials on television. The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown? It's great! And of course most of us will have caught John Carpenter's Halloween once or a dozen times on AMC.

To thank you all for coming to knock on my door today I wish to give you a treat. 


Simon Strantzas returns for a special Halloween interview, where he is grilled on all things Halloween and not just by me, either. My wife Brenda (of Blog It Up!) gets in on the act, as well as Aidan (9), Dani (6) and even little Owen (2). 

We hope you enjoy. 

As a bonus, anyone who leaves a comment in the comments section will be entered into a draw to win an e-copy of Laird Barron's premiere issue of PHANTASMAGORIUM via Amazon.com, which features Simon's story Strong As A Rock.

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The Man Eating Bookworm (MEB): Simon, thanks for coming back for the big day!

Simon Strantzas (SS): Certainly. I was doing nothing anyway but lying in my coffin, awaiting the evening's commencement.

MEB: So, people always wonder how horror writers celebrate Halloween (okay, maybe it's just me). I mean, this is their holiday, right? What's it like around the Strantzas house this time of year? What kind of decorations do you put up? Do you carve your pumpkins with happy or scary faces?

SS: My wife and I do as little as possible. A pumpkin, and little more. I know it's disappointing, but there are few children left in the neighbourhood, and those that still roam the streets most likely have heard the stories. You know the ones. About the man-sized monster across the street? The one who swallows treat-or-treaters whole? Surely you've heard about his teeth. His long sharp teeth. Or maybe those blood-red eyes? No? Then perhaps I ought to invite you over

tonight. For a quick bite.

MEB: *gulp* Um, I'll pass, thanks!

What is the latest you'll answer the door on Halloween night?

SS: I think 9 PM is the end of the night for trick-or-treating. Later than that, and it becomes intrusive.

MEB: Do you give out treats to teenagers that don't dress up?

SS: Yes, but only because I have an innate fear of young people. Besides, I remember what it felt like to be "too cool for school" to dress up. (Does saying that make me sound even older?)

MEB: Yes, but I won’t say anything.

What kind of candies are you giving out and what candies can you not resist digging out of the bowl for yourself?

SS: Chocolate. For both questions.

BRENDA: Um, there is a lot of “chocolate” out there. I want specifics. I want to know if I should bother with your house or not.

SS: Mini chocolate bars, to be frank. The odds are good, however, that very few will make it into children’s pillow sacks instead of my yawning maw.

MEB: What is your favourite Halloween memory?

SS: I'm sure it was going out with my cadre of friends along the streets of Toronto. Back then, the uncontested most popular costume was PSOK.

MEB: I remember a few years back I went out with my wife and pretended she was my daughter (she wore a ghoul mask) so we could get candy. That was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the funny looks I got from all the people.

Did you ever egg a house when you were a kid?

SS: No. What do you take me for? A monster?

MEB: No comment.

AIDAN: If you were 9yrs old again, what costume would you wear for Halloween?

SS: No question. PSOK.

BRENDA: What is your favourite Halloween creature: ghost, vampire, werewolf or zombie?

SS: Werewolf. There's something to be said about being allowed to run the streets, howling at the moon.

MEB: So, what's the perfect book to read this time of year, your Halloween go to?

SS: Poe is the one thing that gets me in the Halloween mood. Everything else is secondary.

DANI: Have you read Who Will Haunt My House On Halloween by Jerry Pallotta? It's my favourite Halloween book.

SS: I have! It's one of my favourites.

OWEN: Blug gawgle do flabby, yup?

SS: Often, but I still side with Einstein. What's this have to do with Halloween anyway?

MEB: What is your favourite Halloween movie?

SS: Obviously Carpenter's Halloween. You can't contest a classic.

MEB: Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, The Halloween Tree or SpongeBob SquarePants: Scaredy Pants?

SS: Nostalgia tells me to answer Charlie Brown, but pure comedy suggests SpongeBob.

MEB: Casper or Slimer?

SS: Casper. There's just something about a family friendly story about a slain child that really gets me smiling.

BRENDA: Does Halloween make you miss Buffy The Vampire Slayer even more?

SS: Are you trying to make me cry?

MEB: What do you think of people that dress up their pets for Halloween?

SS: I think you should be asking the pets this. It's their dignity you're stealing.

BRENDA: The nurse costume, hot or desperate?

MEB: Definitely hot! 

SS: My answer is contextual. And the context is; "Is my wife reading these answers?"

MEB: Finally, PSOK?

SS: Paul Stanley of KISS.

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Thanks again, Simon!

Hope all of you have a fun day and don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win an e-copy of the premiere issue of Laird Barron's PHANTASMAGORIUM via Amazon.com, featuring Simon's story Strong As A Rock.