This weekend, over on teh Twitter, Neil Gaiman invented a new Halloween tradition. He’s calling it All Hallow’s Read, and the idea is to give your loved ones a scary book on Halloween Night. His reasoning is simple: there need to be more holidays where people give books. I couldn’t agree more.
(Side note: in Spain, on April 23rd, lovers celebrate St. George’s Day by giving each other books and roses. I would soooooo prefer that to fuckin’ Valentine’s Day.)
The only thing I’d add is that I think you should also take twenty minutes on Halloween evening to read a scary story to your kids, or with your friends, or your family. Everyone reads The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, which is fine, but Halloween is really a time to share a good bone-shaking horror story that will keep your loved ones awake at night. Bonus points if you write it yourself.
I’m going to adopt this as a Halloween habit and I hope you will too. Here’s what Neil said about All Hallow’s Read on his blog, and here’s a brief response to the idea that ran over on Huffington Post. It ain’t easy to start a new holiday tradition on short notice – we might have to take a couple years to build this one up – but I think it’s worth doing.
Tell me in the comments thread who you’re going to give a book to (comics would count too), and which books you’re going to give. Maybe in the spirit, I’ll give some books away right here, I dunno. (And for the record, I’m figuring on giving books to my three boys, and a few friends… will report back on which ones I settle on)
Finally, five suggestions of my own for All Hallow’s Read gifts:
Good scares for 10-year-olds with a taste for necromancy.
Brainy frights for a 13-year-old who yearns to sleep in a coffin.
Cheerfully morbid spook-show for a person who loves skulls ’cause they’re always smiling.
Lushly written freak-out for the reader you know who thinks horror stories can’t be literature.
Ideal for the horror reader in your life who likes his scary fiction wet and red.
Anyone in the states want to adopt a 33 year old from Ireland, America seems to have all the great traditions, dont know any of my friends that would do this!
In saying that I have read Gaimans The Graveyard Book and am holding it for my little one (due March 2nd 2011) as I think it is a fantasic story so in maybe 10-16 years will hand the little one my edition (as its a signed/numbered edition)
Heart Shaped Box is another fantasic read, move over Stephen King your son is here to take the reins of Horror to the next generation off readers. If this ever makes it to the big screen Joe dont let them change it to “suit the executives!”
Outstanding! Heading out to my favorite bookstores now to buy about a dozen and spread the love. Any excuse to give a book as a gift works for me – especially one from this genre. Thanks Joe.
Joe Hill’s “Heart-Shaped Box” is honestly one of the first that popped into my mind. It’s a wonderfully creepy read, and I am hard to creep. I am a bookseller and have been sharing it for a long time.
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I completely support this and have been telling friends about it! I’m going to buy The Graveyard Book for my 12 year old nephew. My boyfriend and I are reading American Gods together, which is not quite a scary book, but definitely dark and humorus, which is right up our alley. I certainly hope this tradition grows, as books are a wonderful thing the give and receive, and I’m 100% behind anything that promotes literature and reading all life long!
(For the record, I am easily scared, and thus prefer dark and creepy books to anything actually scary, heh.)
why not have it be a book about what this “holiday” stems from–the pagan celebration of the Celtic festival of Samhain ? like a celtic legend book? just a suggestion…
Anything with zombies in it would be perfrect for any of my boys — I’m thinking Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for the oldest. For Hallowe’en story time, I think we’ll read from Book of the Dead or The Living Dead.
As for Valentine’s Day, there’s always My Zombie Valentine (a bit silly and romance-novel-ish, but fun).
And forget The Night Before Christmas, my bedtime story on December 24th is Dean Koontz’s Santa’s Twin (or occasionally Santa Cows if I’m feeling goofy, and who doesn’t at Christmas?).
I think I’m going to give my sister The Magic Cottage by James Herbert. She’s never been much of a reader and horror isn’t her favourite genre but I think she might like the understated nature of this one. I am loving all these suggestions though. Lots of inspiration and a good reason to give my credit card a bashing at Amazon.
I just heard about this on Friday, and I can say with honesty that this is definitely a tradition I will be adopting.
Not sure if I’ll be giving any books this year, but The Amityville Horror is one of the only books to ever truly terrify me, regardless of it’s truthfulness or not.
Also, for the younger folks in your life (I read the first when I was 11, but 8 and up would be acceptable), Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy is a wonderfully off beat series of books.
Two of my three kids both asked for books this week (The Outsiders and Stuart’s Cape) so I was happy to buy those. Next year I’ll go for the scary books.
I gave the hosts of a party I attended a copy of 20th Century Ghosts. I thought they might enjoy it.
I love The October Country. That, 20th Century Ghosts, and I Am Legend broke me out of a bad writer’s block a couple years back and I have not allowed myself to have block since.
Funny. I used to do that anyway. Every special day has a book attached to it in this household. I hope it catches on.
This year the kids got ‘Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror’ by Chris Priestley and Alvin Schwartz’s perennial favorite ‘Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark’. If the brief little stories didn’t give them pause, Stephen Gammell’s tres creepy illustrations did.
I just popped in here and this is hilarious. I love the AllHallowsread idea and love three of the books on your list. The funny part is that I among my recently-tweeted recommendations was your book ‘@0th Century Ghosts.’
It’s great, though unsurprising to learn, that one of the contemporary masters of the creepy and terrific has great taste in books as well.
Clive Barker’s “The Thief of Always” is great for the kids in my opinion.
For mature readers – you should check the Polish Edgar Allan Poe – Stefan Grabinski and his great train mystery stories in book The Motion Demon (only Kindle Edition) or The Dark Domain (only paper edition). It’s masterpiece! And unique! And great gift for fans of horror!
More about Grabinski and his books (in English language) I found here: http://www.latarnia.com/stefangrabinski.html
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