West Coast Review

It is now time for the annual Vampire Holiday Sing-A-Long!

On the first day of Christmas my Vampire gave to me

A Raven in a Dead Tree

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On the second day of Christmas my Vampire gave to me

Two Vials of Blood

And A Raven in a Dead Tree

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On the third day of Christmas my Vampire gave to me

Three Bat Skulls

Two Vials of Blood

And A Raven in a Dead Tree

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On the fourth day of Christmas my Vampire gave to me

Four Howling Wolves

Three Bat Skulls

Two Vials of Blood

And a Raven in a Dead Tree

__

On the fifth day of Christmas my Vampire gave to me

Bram Stokers Heart

Four Howling Wolves

Three Bat Skulls

Two Vials of Blood

And a Raven in a Dead Tree

__

On the sixth day of Christmas my Vampire gave to me

Six…

Have you seen a New Yorker article about the horrors of the birthday week? The author takes exception to people who celebrate their birthday for more than one day. It’s narcissistic and self-obsessed. It’s childish.

Reading the article and several of the comments made me wonder about how some of us seem to live in very different worlds. I imagine these people inundated by non-stop birthday outings, being dragged through office break rooms and being forced to wear party hats. People are weird.

Personally, I’m going to cheer you on if you want to celebrate your birthday for a week or for a month. If you’re happy enough to celebrate being brought into this world, then hell yeah! Bring it, birthday celebrants! (Especially if there’s cake.)

Most commenters supported long-lasting birthday shenanigans, but a few definitely agreed birthdays had gone too far. They called birthday revelers narcissists and ego-maniacs. They…

Vampires, Party Favors, Family, Friends, Thanks, and a Recipe for Swiss Chard.

Back in the 1880’s around the time of Jack the Ripper, my brother Valentine and I spent some time in London. We were in our 20’s out having fun and getting into more trouble than I want to mention tonight. There, in London, we met another young American Vampire, named Pleasant Van Dusen. Pleasant and I became lovers. He was handsome, cultivated, fashionable, sexy, and I hate to admit, but a bit more of an asshole than I needed. But at the time we worked well together, especially with the party scenes of both elegant Vampires and warm blooded folks.

We were young. We were Americans. We were full of too much joy and light for most Vampires we met there. Truly, we were, and of course the others, the English, and European Vampires found us extremely fascinating.

As soon as it’s November
the pumpkins will be gone
the skeletons are in the attic
free of ghosts is our lawn.

**

For a moment there is silence
in peace, our life can stay
for just one small and little moment
before the next big holiday.

**

Enjoy the break and get your strength
you will need it you will see.
Go for walks enjoy the season
be relaxed, and smile, feel free.

**

But first of all, before the break
We need to work and take a beat
to get us through the pumpkin time
and play the trick or treat!

*****

(Copyright: Aurora Jean Alexander, October 2019)

Picture courtesy of http://preventioncdnndg.org/

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Deadline for the contest is

October 31, 2019 – 9 pm Pacific Time

Hurry up!

Every author and poet are invited to participate and deliver a “Halloween-Poem” to my email address:

aurorajean.alexander@aol.com

together with their picture and a link to their website, a social media account or blog

• Your poem needs a Halloween theme.
• Your poem needs a minimum of 99 words.
• Your poem has to be delivered to my email address between October 10 and Halloween, October 31, 2019, at 9 pm Pacific Time.
• Your poem has to be delivered together with your picture and a link to your blog/page.
• Please avoid violence, bad language, and sexual content within the poems. It would be disqualified.

Thank you very much for participating and making it very hard for the jury to decide on the winners!

If you’re visiting Vampiremaman.com, and especially if you like Halloween and Vampires, you’ll love the art of J. Harrison Kemp aka my friend Jason Kemp of Tenkara Studios.

I posted the first batch of Vampire Art of Jason Kemp earlier this month. Here is the second group. SQUEEEEEEEEE. OMG I love these SO MUCH. Thank you Jason. xoxoxox.

I have to stop for a second and admit in my cold Vampire heart that the top four images have my heart (especially the top two). Oh my goodness. Ask any Vampire. That said, the rest are utterly fabulous too.

Tenkara Studios are presently the sole domain of author and illustrator J Harrison Kemp, or Jason as the dust bunnies call him. Within the halls of his labyrinthine workspace, a sprawling Wunderkammer, or wonder-room if you will, we find the artist surrounded and overly influenced by the many intricate objet d’art of…

Picture courtesy of: http://preventioncdnndg.org/

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Please respect each authors’ and poets’ copyright. The rights remain with the writers. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from each of the poems author’s is strictly prohibited and violates copyright laws in the country you are reading this work in as well as in the country you are trying to re-publish this work in. – Aurora Jean Alexander

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The Hunt…

By

Christopher Graham

It was Halloween night, the full moon was bright,
why did you choose the witching hour
to explore this old house, where not even a mouse,
would eat any food, it would be sour.

Then a spooky sound, echoes around.
Claws, clickety, clacking on the floor.
You look all about, and know without doubt.
They’re coming from just outside the door.

Suddenly … silence … there can be no more pretence.
You know, that they know…

From Ghoulies and Ghoosties, long-leggety Beasties, and Things that go Bump in the Night, Good Lord, deliver us!

You’re sleeping. You wake up in the wee hours of the morning. It is still dark outside. You hear something.

You’re home alone. You hear something. You don’t know what it is. Your cat growls under her breath. Your dog whimpers and curls by your side.

You hear music…

The wind howls outside, the rain pours own, stairs creek, doors slam without notice, it sounds like something or someone might be on your back porch, in your hallway, or maybe even running a bath.

Or you might hear a thump and then a voice saying “awwwww shit.” Something just went bump. What was it?

Halloween is coming soon, along with even more things to go bump in the night.

Burning Question #62: What goes bump in your night?

Please feel free…