Werewolves, wraiths, and rotting corpses--Halloween--and Tampa, oh, my

October 27, 10:12 AMTampa Books ExaminerJulianne Draper

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Zombies seek local BRAINS!

art credit: author's husband

Halloween is finally upon us, my friends, isn’t it fun? With trick-or-treating and ghastly fun on the minds of even the oldest of odd-ones, we look forward to Guavaween next week, ghostly tours of Ybor City, the Old Hunt and Ghost Stories thing in St. Pete, October 30, or St. Pete’s Days of The Dead Ghost hunting tour the weekend of Halloween, or the ever-popular Hallowscream at Busch Gardens. For the kids, there’s Lowry Park’s Zooboo, and even some local shopping haunts getting ready for the last grand howl of the scary season, so truly there is plenty of fun for even the most discerning demon.

Hey, believe it or not, even some “outsiders” tap into the fun. Have you ever read any of Carrie Vaughn's books? Well, her intriguing little werewolf DJ, Kitty, has a caller from Tampa, in the second novel (Kitty Goes to Washington). And there’s the massive new Zombie anthology from Night Shade Books; I’m certainly looking forward to ripping my claws *innocent look* into those! There are of course other fine horror authors from our area to take a peek at if you don’t feel like dragging your corpses out into the Halloween melee, many of which we’ve covered before, and some, well, we have yet to introduce you to (and will, very soon).

Also, many a denizen of the undead (be it vampire, or zombie) can be found on cable stations throughout Tampa this week: from, of course, the Halloween movies, to Buffy and her chicanery, to classic Zombie bits such as Night of the Living Dead, and beyond. (One wonders how they could have possibly forgotten Shaun of the Dead, but I digress.) Oh, and lest I forget, Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights “Ripped from the Screen” has (so we hear) a section dedicated to the recently released Sony Pictures' comic thriller Zombieland. (For those still in mourning over the passing of Michael Jackson, if you missed the zombies lurking St. Pete pier last weekend as they hosted a large “Thriller” dance, I’m sure it’ll be on Youtube soon).

And at any rate, the arrival of the legions of the brain-eating ones are a good lead up to that next great explosion on the pop culture creepy stage: the zombie attacks. One can already see the dingy corpses imprinting themselves again on Tampa/national bookstore and rental shelves—and who knows what’s next?

And you thought all the fun ends with the coming of All Saint’s Day (or not ;)). So get the brains while they’re . . . erm . . . something.

Or maybe not….

So, my friends, there's much to keep you happy this haunting Halloween. Be safe, and have a good one!