As part of the blog tour, I am thrilled to welcome Phil Hickes sharing some insights into his new town and their Halloween habits!
When I was growing up in Canada, Halloween was a big deal! Costumes were thought up well in advance and sometimes had to be fitted over snowsuits. It was always the Dad’s in my neighbourhood who would take the kids around the houses. We would come home with pillowcases full of candy. Then it was the Mom at home who would sort and sift through the “good” stuff!
Having read The Last Day of October, it is the perfect read for later tonight and it will thrill and surprise you! Check out Phil’s blog below!
My new book is set in the U.S. and thought I’d talk about why a British writer would do this and what happens in our small American town on the last day of October. When I was growing up, Halloween wasn’t that big of a deal in the UK, certainly not like it seems to be now. There was no trick or treating or carving pumpkins, so depictions of American Halloweens were always fascinating for me, everyone in costumes and pumpkins on every doorstep. There was also an inherent creepiness to it, as if there was always something darker and more menacing lurking just out of sight. While I wouldn’t recommend Halloween 4 the movie, I would recommend watching the title sequence. For me it’s masterfully done and perfectly captures the mood of small-town America on Halloween, with all its inherent eeriness.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN681J0-9qI
This sort of atmosphere is what I was trying to capture in the book. Whether I was successful or not is down to you, dear reader!
I currently live in a town called Astoria in Oregon. It’s a port city that was founded in 1811 and while its history is too long to go into right now, it’s very interesting and very dark in parts. The fur trade, logging and fishing were its primary industries and the treacherous waters around the town have claimed many a ship, which is why it’s also known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. Nearby is a place called Dead Man’s Cove, which is where the bodies of the shipwrecked used to wash up. So yes, its history has a darkish tinge to it!
Every Halloween, the lampposts are decorated with witches that look like they’ve crashed into them. They’re all unique and it must take them ages. There are ghost tours of the old Liberty Theatre (home to a besuited ghost called Handsome Paul among others) and also the Astoria Underground, where you can see the Shanghai Traps, where drunken men would be kidnapped and sold into forced labor on ships bound for Asia (hence the Shanghai term). Ghostliness abounds!
Festivities kick off with a Halloween parade on Pier 39, then there’s an official trick or treat in the downtown area. There’s a great pub there and it’s fun to sit down in the window with a beer and see all the costumes. Later in the evening, it’s usual to receive quite a lot of trick and treaters. The real professionals turn up last thing, around 7 or 8pm. These tend to be older and approach trick or treating with military precision. Aided by willing accomplices, they’ll jump out of their cars, rush to the house, grab their candy and then it’s on to the next house and the next street until they probably stagger back home with enough sweets to last them through the year! Then for us at least, it’s finally time to relax and watch some spooky films.
I hope for those of you who also love Halloween, that you find that perfect balance of coziness and scares that makes this such a special day of the year.
My Shelves Are Full 