Updates, Quotes, and A Spooky Halloween Tradition

Wishing you all a safe and happy October! We had a blast at the events in September and are looking forward to the upcoming conventions! Unfortunately, due to unforeseen events, I needed to drop out of the Mighty Con scheduled for later this month. I do hope to participate at another one of these fantastic Mighty Con events in the future.*

Fast Updates:

Added Events: Hall Of Hero’s, Dark Arts & Oddities Market, and Sci-Fi Family day.

A new trailer has been created for the final book in the Blood Inheritance Series – Resist: A Blood Inheritance Novel and I have added it here. Click here to visit the page: Trailers or see it here: https://youtu.be/cpgJMjSDtjI

The limited edition book titled – Trio Of Tales: Horror Con 2024, will be available in paperback format at the horror conventions which I am participating in this year and online until October 31t. The release is meant as teaser for the newest short story collection that I am working on. It contains several illustrations as well as three short story’s: one dark fantasy, one folk Horror, and one apocalyptic horror.

From October 18th through 25th, The Blood Inheritance Novels Series Two-Book Set: Endow and Resist (Kindle edition) will be available at a discounted rate! Prices for this countdown deal are available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Also:

readersfavorite.com will have three of my available books listed as prizes in the monthly book giveaway. If you are interested in winning some amazing books by great authors you can check out the monthly giveaway here: book giveaway /Rise or/and here: book-giveaway/combo and here: book-giveaway/The Warning Signs

Upcoming Event Reminders:

2024

Concealed Realms plans to participate at the Dark Arts & Oddities Market @ Soundgrowler Brewing in Tinley Park IL on October 5th. This event is hosted by Streetz Artz Alliance.

We plan to participate at the Brookfield Quad Con on October 12^th and 13^th! This event will take place at the Brookfield Square Mall.

.We are scheduled to participate in the Lafayette Comic Con, Mighty Con on October 26th. This event takes place at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, located in Lafayette, IN *(Unfortunately I will no longer be able to participate at this event)*

On November 2^nd and 3^rd, we plan to participate at the Peoria, IL Quad Con! This event is set to take place at the Northwoods Mall.

On November 17th Concealed Realms will be returning to Sci-Fi Family Day at Discovery World in Milwaukee, WI.

On November 23^rd and 24^th, Concealed Realms plans to participate at the Madison WI East Towne Mall Quad Con.

Concealed Realms plans to return to the Davenport Northpark Mall for Quad Con. The event is set to take place on December 7^th and 8^th^..

We plan to participate at the Des Moines Quad Con! This event is set to take place at the Merle Hay Mall on December 14^th and 15^th.

2025

We are planning to return to Peoriacon! This event is scheduled to take place at the Peoria Civic Center on March 29^th and 30^th.

We are planning to return to the Hall of Hero’s Comic Con in Elkhart Indiana! This year’s event will take place on May 31st and June 1st at the Northern Indiana Event Center.

Quotes Regarding Myth and Lore:

“Myths are seldom simple, and never irresponsible.” – Robert Graves

“I believe in everything until it is disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?” – John Lennon

“So that the lover of myths, which are a compact of wonders, is by the same token a lover of wisdom.” – Aristotle

“Myths aren’t fairy tales or legends—they’re an honest attempt to explain mysteries.” – John J. Geddes

“Both dreams and myths are important communications from ourselves to ourselves. If we do not understand the language in which they are written, we miss a great deal of what we know and tell ourselves in those hours when we are not busy manipulating the outside world.” – Erich Fromm

“Nights through dreams tell the myths forgotten by the day.” – Carl Jung

“I believe that legends and myths are largely made of “truth,” and indeed present aspects of it that can only be received in this mode.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

“In the older folklore, faeries were frightening beings. In fact, it was such a bad idea to get their attention that people would use flattering euphemisms for them, such as ‘the people of peace,’ ‘the little people,’ and ‘the good neighbors.” – Holly Black

Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated.” – Thomas Bulfinch

“Folklore used to be passed by word of mouth, from one generation to the next; that’s what makes it folklore, as opposed to, say, history, which is written down and stored in an archive.” – Jill Lepore

Definition of : Spooky

Merriam Webster.com

Adjective

a. “strange, unsettling, or frightening in a way that suggests the supernatural : eerie, uncanny.”– merriam-webster.com

Dictionary.com

Adjective

A: “like or befitting a spook or ghost; suggestive of spooks.

B: “eerie; scary.”” – dictionary.com

Seasonal Traditions

Autumn has arrived! I don’t know about you but I am ready to visit a pumpkin patch, get lost in a corn maze, hear some spine-tingling tales, and transform my home with some eerie decorations such as the spooky Illuminated “candle” craft that I shared as a project tutorial in last Octobers creativity post. I always have a blast preparing for Halloween.

Since many of the customs of the season have roots that go back to ancient times, I thought it would be interesting to delve into the history of a few traditions and the legends that go along with the season. There are many fascinating customs this time of year, so I chose to focus on the history of Jack-O-Lantern’s for this article. As such, in this post we will take a brief look at the origins of carving pumpkins, then I will share a short project tutorial on how I created some “moldy” foam pumpkins to add to my spooky Halloween display.

Historical Roots

Halloween follows many traditions from the ancient Celtic festival Samhain. This two thousand year old practice flagged the end of summer, and the harvest season as well as the beginning of winter, which they associated with death. Since the seasons of life and death converged on this day, the Celts believed the shield separating the living and the deceased was particularly week, allowing spirits to rise from their graves and walk among the living. The Celts were said to have lit large bonfires and put on disguises to bewilder and repel the spirits. They are also said to have carved faces into root vegetables such as turnips, which would be lit to use as spooky lanterns.

How long this carving tradition has been taking place seems to be a matter of some debate, with some historians citing that it began during the ancient festival, with the lanterns used to guide festival goers and others stating that it began sometime after (609) All Saints Day (All Hallows Day) was moved from May 13th to November 1st and Pope Gregory IV (837) ordered its general observance. Either way at that time Samhain became known as All Hallows Eve, although many continued to enjoy their traditional rituals.

Over time the bonfires began to shrink, but the traditions were never completely extinguished. When the potato famine drove over a million starving Irish into Americas port cities in the nineteenth century, these customs continued to transform, with the carving of root vegetables evolving into the carving and lighting of gourds and pumpkins.

“Moldy” Pumpkin Craft

Final thoughts

The more I delve into history and myth, the more inspired I become! I had a lot of fun learning about the transformation of this seasonal tradition and an awesome time creating “Moldy” Jack-O-Lanterns. Closer to Halloween, we will pick some fresh pumpkins to carve and add to the small patch.

I want to thank you for your continued support. I hope that you enjoyed this brief post !Lets look to the future with hope, excited about the chance for a fresh start and the endless possibilities to come. Stay safe and keep being awesome. Happy Haunting!