last spooky fingered posts

We had double digits of trick-or-treaters, which was lovely, if nervewracking, since we'd only saved 7 kiddy gift bags full of toys and candy from the reeption for our trick or treaters. Improvisation won the day and we dumped everything out in a bowl and let the latter treaters pick from it -- the kids who got whole bags were a little suspicious of why we were giving them so much stuff anyway. Oddly, very few were in full costumes. But still: trick or treaters rock.

The party last night was mucho fun and we stayed out way too late and imbibed way too much. There was a fabulous drag show featuring Cleopatra in the middle and an excerpt reel half of quaint old-fashioned girly pictures, the other half quaint screamingly cheesy horror flicks projected onto the back of the house. It was disconcerting at times to look up and see alternately gore and chainsaws or bouncing '60s co-eds. C said to me at one point, "I've been going to this party for 15 years. I like this party, that's why I keep going to it."

Anyway, two last Halloween links:

Susanna Clarke has a short Halloween fiction in the New York Times today, "Antickes and Frets¹."

I love how it's marked "Opinion," since isn't all fiction really?

And, only coincidentally on Halloween, yay for Greer Gilman for winning a World Fantasy Award for "A Crowd of Bone" from the fantabulous Trampoline. And for all the other winners. A good year.