Happy Halloween from the wacky Waylands!

Well, chalk up another successful Halloween for those wacky Waylands.  We have returned, and we have returned with booty!

I think everyone had a great time, and these kids have enough candy to last for quite a while.  Well, they've got a lot of candy.  We'll see how long it lasts . . .
Anyhow, when I left you earlier, we were gearing up for the costume phase.
Alaina Rachel wanted to be a vampire princess and Taryn Grace wanted to be a rainbow fairy princess.  We found cool costumes and we got a make-up kit.  Kristen felt that it would be best if I handled the vampire princess and she did the rainbow fairy princess.  I've never applied make-up before, but I've seen every horror film known to man, and I've seen most of them twice, so I welcomed the challenge.
Here's how I did:

Not too shabby, huh?  Anyone who has read my book knows that I like my vampires scary, so I didn't pull any punches. 
And here's what Kristen came up with for Taryn:

If I had snapped a better photo, you would have a better look at the rainbows on her cheeks, but she was positively gorgeous.
Now, here's a look at our ladies in costume.  Behold, the vampire princess and the rainbow fairy princess:

I think they looked awesome, and they scored rave reviews all night long. 
Oh, here's our little elephant:

Adorable, right?
I even got Kris to provide me with a group photo op:

Those are our jack-o-lanterns hanging out in the shot, which reminds me, I shared our first two efforts with you, but I never got around to showing you the third.  Our second choice was a spooky face (that's him in the middle) so we opted for a silly face on this one:

This was another unique design, and I think it turned out great.  I can't tell you how much fun carving a pumpkin is if you have children (hell, I would enjoy it even if I didn't, but their happiness is a treasure all its own) and it never hurts to take active measures toward warding off evil spirits.  Who wants evil spirits hanging around their house?  Not us.

We hit up two "trunk or treats" and then we dropped in on the Momser and made our rounds in Fieldale.  Everyone racked up, but Kris and I couldn't help ourselves.  Yeah, we stopped at Food Lion on the way home and nabbed even more candy for the occasion.  Hey, Halloween only hits once a year, right?
Anyway, when I told you we were looking to make the most of it, I wasn't playing.  I hope you've enjoyed these Halloween blogs, and I hope to keep you entertained here in the Land of Way.
Halloween isn't over yet, so I'm going to grab my wife and make her watch a gross and utterly disturbing film of some sort.  I hope you make the most of your night as well, ghouls and goblins.
Happy Halloween!

10/31

Halloween is here.  I can't wait to transform my ladies into a vampire princess and a rainbow fairy princess* later today.  Young James Asher will be the cutest elephant on the planet.  I'll be sure to share some photos with you.  We've got another jack-o-lantern to show off as well, so I'll definitely do a big Halloween post later today. 
Until then, I'm hard at work in the man cave.  How often do you get to submit your vampire novel to publishers on Halloween?  Of course, all work and no play makes for a dull master of the macabre, so I'm also taking another dip in Alan Moore's swamp today.

Seriously, his run on Swamp Thing is massive.  Now, to be fair, it isn't quite on the same level as Moore's masterpeice, the graphic novel that towers above all others, Watchmen.

Yes, Watchmen is the best of them all, a graphic novel that belongs on any fan of literature's bookshelf, but Moore did some rather gruesome and incredibly inventive stuff with Swamp Thing.  Seriously, I have always loved horror comics, but most of them are frequently fun and only faintly frightening.  Swamp Thing gave me nightmares as a child, and Alan Moore was the guy writing the book.  The first issue he scripted, The Anatomy Lesson, which is where the vintage graphic novel (circa 1987, peeps) I'm currently enjoying kicks off, is a stellar example of just what the comic book format is capable of delivering.
I think Watchmen and his work on Swamp Thing represent the finest work of Moore's illustrious career, but I would be intrigued by virtually anything that features his name in the credits.

Alan Moore

 I'm currently scripting some material based on my book for my incredible illustrator, the one and only Chris Visions, and I'm hoping we can mine some disturbing themes of our own in panels in the near future.  He's a phenom.  Seriously, check out the marvelous cover he crafted for my book sans title:

The cover Chris Visions prepared for TPT&V

See more of the fantastic work of the maestro I call "Master Visions" at: http://chrisvisions.com/

Regardless, I'm working, reading, carving pumpkins with the fam, and gearing up for a stellar Halloween night.  I hope you're ready for October 31st, because, well, if you're not, you've run out of time.  Let's do this right, people.  We need jack-o-lanterns, costumes, tricks, treats, scary movies, and Halloween parties to wake the dead.  

*Some kids want to be witches or super heroes.  You ask little Taryn Grace what she wants to dress up as and she thinks about it for a moment and then declares that she wants to be a rainbow fairy princess.  Fortunately, we found just the costume for her.