24 October 2011


A Hardy Halloween

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. Which means I’m disappointed that nothing paranormal or spooky has ever happened to me. No weird banging in any closets, no cold spots, no apparitions at the foot of my bed. The only thing that comes close is once during high school, the local radio station switched from the rock music it was playing to 30 seconds of this weird screaming and chopping sound like some woman was being hacked to pieces. Totally freaked me out, but it was gone fast and nothing was ever said about it (and I looked). I still have no idea what that was all about, but it was creepy.


 This ghostly shunning has not dampened my love of the holiday though. Every year as October 1st rolls around, I head into the garage for the decorations. House knick-knacks are replaced by Halloween ones, with jack-o-lanterns and black cats and witches on shelves and cabinets. I even have a Halloween village (like a Christmas village, but spooky), complete with a haunted pirate ship. They all light up and play music and everything.

For outside the house, the graveyard goes up on the lawn, surrounded by skull fencing. Purple, orange, and green witchy lights dangle from the roof. Spider web balls and my cocooned corpse hang on the porch. I lug out several dozen jack-o-lanterns and arrange them in a patch along the garage. Seriously, I go all out. Half my garage is devoted to Halloween decorations.

The house isn’t the only thing that gets decorated, though. I have a vast selection of Halloween shirts and, of course, socks to wear all month. I even have the most awesome skull and crossbones shoes you’ll ever see.

When the 31st rolls around, I’m definitely the house you want to Trick-or-Treat at. Not only do I hand out candy by the handfuls, I also have toys, stickers, tattoos, glowing jewelry and other fun things in the cauldron of goodies. In fact, the trick-or-treaters often bypass the sweets for the toys, picking out what they want. I guess they get enough candy from everyone else.

Dressing up is part of the fun, and I have a box full of costumes. My favorite has got to be my zombie, even though it takes a long time to do the makeup. (And needs two people to get the rotting flesh to look just right)



Speaking of zombies, the very best part of my Halloween is Cadaver Dan, my yard zombie. But what’s fun about him is that he’s not just there for Halloween. Cadaver Dan is in my front flowerbed all year long. He likes to dress up for holidays, and even has his own Facebook page. He’s quite popular, though I think he has freaked out a few delivery folks. But the neighbor kids play with him, so how scary can he really be?

 He’s the perfect symbol for Halloween: a little scary, a little wacky, and a whole lot of fun.









DarkFall (Healing Wars Book #3) is Currently Available from HarperCollins!

Synopsis: War has come.

Nya’s the one who brought it. And the people love her for it.


With Baseer in shambles and Geveg now an impenetrable military stronghold, Nya and the Underground have fled to a safer location—without Tali. Nya is guilt-ridden over leaving her sister behind and vows to find her, but with the rebellion in full swing and refugees flooding the Three Territories, she fears she never will.


The Duke, desperate to reclaim the throne as his own, has rallied his powerful army. And they are on the move, destroying anyone who gets in the way.


To save her sister, her family, and her people, Nya needs to stay ahead of the Duke’s army and find a way to build one of her own. Past hurts must be healed, past wrongs must be righted, and Nya must decide: Is she merely a pawn in the rebellion, a symbol of hope—or is she ready to be a hero?



Order The Healing Wars Trilogy Online: 



Janice Hardy always wondered about the darker side of healing. For her fantasy trilogy THE HEALING WARS, she tapped into her own dark side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions often made the worst choices. Her books include THE SHIFTER, BLUE FIRE, and DARKFALL from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins.  You can visit her online at www.janicehardy.com or chat with her about writing on her blog, The Other Side of the Story. blog.janicehardy.com.
 



Enter to win YOUR Choice of ONE SIGNED BOOK from the Healing Wars Trilogy + Swag!



Rules and now to enter:

You must be at least 13 years old to enter.
To enter, please fill out the form provided below.
Giveaway open INTERNATIONAL!!
Giveaway ends: November 7th, 2011



Don't forget to stop by and check out who Jessica is featuring today for Haunted Halloween!

REMINDER: *If you are interested in the COMMENT CONTEST, remember to include your email address with your comment for an extra entry.
Please ready full entry rules >>>HERE<<<

Janice, thanks so much for sharing how you celebrate Halloween. I LOVED the pictures of Cadaver Dan! I've been dying to see them since that first email you mentioned him. Also, thanks so much for donating the book to giveaway.



*I am not compensated at all for any of the links within this page.

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32 comments:

  1. OOh haven't heard of this one!

    jessica(DOT)agreatread(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the givaway! Awesome pic btw! The cementary is a nice touch :) I really want to see how your place looks on Christmas ;) And don't worry, your not the only who hasn't experienced supernatural stuff before.

    Email: osnapitzAngiex3(AOL)aol(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mary DeBorde [M.A.D.]
    zenrei57 (at) hotmail dot com

    Love those Halloween decorations, but I gotta say that the *Easter Bunny* was so funny I almost spewed soda all over the keyboard!!
    :D Those costumes totally ROCKED!

    ReplyDelete
  4. i accidentally hit enter before i could enter my tweet link and number of entries:
    http://twitter.com/#!/ariannecruz07/status/128573951197720576
    number of entries: 4

    ReplyDelete
  5. Halloween is my favorite holiday too! I even got married last year on Halloween :)

    Amanda
    hippiesbeautyandbooksohmy@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oops! I forgot to add my entries up, sorry! -.-

    I've never thought about giving out things like that at Halloween! I'm going to try that this year! :D Temporary tattoos would be tons of fun! :D

    bookcrookliza at gmail dot com

    Liza @ Book Crook Liza

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love your blog.

    Stopping by from the Spooktacular Giveaway to have a look around.

    NEW FOLLOWER.

    Stop by my blog if you like to see some flying bats on my Blog Hop post.

    Elizabeth

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. OOh haven't heard of this one!

    rogcaprino@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. you house look gret wow
    i like it
    destitheblonde@msn.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love Creepy Man...that's what we call him at home. My dad has him.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for another international giveaway!i must admit...ive never heard of the author! And i love discovering new people! WOuld love to read this!

    nylesor85 at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  12. I soooo want a DAN!!! That is the coolest thing I think I have ever seen in my life lol Adopt me please!

    Brandi
    bgilvaja87(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great pics! I should get my mom a Cadaver Dan for Christmas, she would totally freak. :)

    liedermadchen(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've thought about this series for weeks!! Thanks so much

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thank you for the chance to win a HEALING WARS book! :)

    Cherry Mischievous
    cherrymischif-darkward [at] yahoo [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  16. Cadaver Dan is awesome!!! Oh the possibilities!

    candicerjames {at} gmail {dot} com

    ReplyDelete
  17. I would so treat or treat at her house....I love when everyone gets into the Halloween spirit! Great post.
    veltara(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for the wonderful post and giveaway!

    Love Cadaver Dan! It's nice he still celebrates the holidays ;)

    efender1(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  19. WOW! Love your halloween spirit!!! What a great story of cadaver dan!!

    AmethystDaydreams at zoho dot com

    ReplyDelete
  20. I enjoyed your post!

    justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  21. I haven't heard of this. Thanks for the giveaway!

    minas_1989(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love Halloween, too! I can't wait until I'm older and have my own place and have enough money to actually buy the most epic decorations ever. Love your house and your costumes!!
    chiri_chan29330@yahoo.com

    -Nichole

    ReplyDelete
  23. I absolutely love Halloween, it's one of my favorite times of the year because it's the one day when you get to be anything other than yourself and it's totally fun. Thank you, for this excitingly fun post and for the opportunity to win one of these fabulous books from the series. ;)

    Suz @ A Soul Unsung
    susanhaugland@att.net

    ReplyDelete
  24. I think everyone needs there own cadaver Dan to decorate throughout the year.

    spyblue78(at)gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  25. I have not read the healing wars, but I love the premise and would like to. I have always wished I came from a family that went all out with decorating for the various holidays and love to visit when others do. Thank you for sharing the fun times:)

    dz59001[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  26. Another fun post!

    ashleysbookshelf at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  27. I haven't heard of this series before but it does sound interesting. Love the zombie easter bunny pic.

    thenarcissuslibrary at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  28. Ohh! I want to read this series so badly! I read the exert and her query letter when it was posted and it was brilliant!

    Sincerely,
    Emma Michaels
    Emma@EmmaMichaels.com

    ReplyDelete
  29. I had not heard of this series yet, but it sounds great! I will have to check out book 1.

    bchild5 at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  30. I would really love to trick or treat at your house if i were still a kid. I mean, tattoos? God, i used to buy tattoos all the time when i was younger! Anyway, is that your house? I love how you decorated it. Definitely digging the graveyard. No pun intended. XD I mean, I'm really liking the graveyard decoration. Looks pretty cool!


    -Danah
    icrave13@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  31. Oooh, I would love my own Cadaver Dan!

    the imagine tree at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete

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