A Spooky Intro to Hocus Poke-Us

Newsletter 2024-10-01

Happy Halloween Month!

I wrote this article a while back to prepare for a Halloween post.

It’s amazing what sticks in your mind, even after decades pass.

And now you’re wondering my age, but let’s not dwell on that.

Some of my first memories of Halloween were dressing up in costumes and running around from house to house carrying a pillowcase. You see, I didn’t have one of those cute little plastic jack-o'-lantern trick or treat containers. Nope. I had a pillowcase, which was way better, and let me go nuts.

I don’t know how it was for all of you out there, but somewhere around the age of eleven or twelve, it was no longer “cool” to go trick or treating. I wasn’t the type of kid to egg or toilet paper houses, so I usually stayed home.

Except for one night.

A night that, even after all these years, has overshadowed much of my trick or treating memories. It just always sticks in my head, for several reasons. You see, in small towns, there are always stories. Kind of like those urban legend type stories. You know the ones. The crazy thing that happened to a friend of a friend of somebody.

My friend talked me into going out after dark. I thought it was an excellent idea. It didn’t even cross my mind that anything would happen to the two of us just wandering around town. We didn’t dress up, and as far as I can recall; we had no goals for the evening. In fact, I can’t really recall anything other than her talking me into going out, and the moment that has been stuck in my mind.

We had just crossed Main Street and were making our way toward the public elementary school when several masked individuals came out of nowhere. They circled around me, cause somehow my friend managed to avoid them completely. I remember looking up and all I could see was masks. None of them said a word, which made things even more freakish.

Then, just as quickly as they appeared, they disbursed and disappeared into the night.

Leaving the two of us to wonder: What the hell just happened? Who were the people behind the masks? And holy shit, that could have gone so much worse.

Cause you see, there’s this story I remembered hearing.

A story about this graveyard just outside of town. One of those this happened to a friend of a friend of someone I know. The story goes that supposedly some of the older  teenagers in high school would pick other teenagers up and drive them out to the graveyard at night. There, they would tell the person to strip down to their underwear. Then the crew would take off and leave them there to walk back to town.

All I could think of when I got surrounded was:

This is it. I’m going to be kidnapped and taken out to the graveyard, stripped down and made to walk back to town.

I already had an issue with mascots (don’t get me started on that phobia), and then that happened. And if I’m completely honest, to this day, I still have issues with masks. So, no amount of candy could have made me forget the way I felt when those masked “strangers” surrounded me. Not only that, but in essence they weren’t strangers… cause I lived in a small town and we knew everybody.

Looking back, as a fan of dark romance, I actually find the whole situation funny because a lot of the books I like now play up the idea of being pursued by a masked guy.

But, let me tell you, as much as I love to escape into a smutty dark masked men book, I definitely don’t like the idea of being naked and hunted by masked strangers through a graveyard.

The next Halloween, as I’m sure you’d understand, I started a new tradition. I figured if I was gonna be scared shitless on Halloween, that I’d have a bit of control over the situation. So I started binge-watching old horror movies on TV. A tradition I continue to this day. 

The entire month of October is a multi-movie horror fest for me.

So, in honour of a Halloween full of fun and fright, I compiled some smutty shorts to share with readers.

You can find them in Hocus Poke-Us, which is releasing to Kindle Unlimited on October 15.

Preorder here: https://books2read.com/HocusPokeUs

P.S. The paperback is already available for purchase through Amazon.

This Halloween you’re gonna find out what it’s like to:

Get chased through a graveyard by masked men with one thing on their mind.

Go to a Halloween ball where you’re the only thing the guests want to drink.

Go out on the night of a blood moon and become a werewolf’s mate. and more...

Happy Reading,

Kat