Calliope James would rather live life through a lens than in the spotlight. So when she reluctantly agrees to go with her best friend to a party, she doesn’t expect to find herself on the other side of the camera. Zachary Messiah left Bay View High School without so much as a word. Now he’s back. He’s not the boy she remembers, but she’s exactly the girl he’s tried so hard to forget. They should stay away from each other. But it’s Devil’s Night ... and tonight, even good girls might be tempted to the dark side. Trick or Treat is a 15,000 word prequel story to On the Rebound. This book contains mature situations and content. It was originally published in the Love at First Fright anthology.

Learn the secrets of the most frightening, fun-filled day of the year! The only day when the forces of darkness are openly celebrated, Halloween comes down to us from the strange, shrouded mists of antiquity, originating in the pagan world and the primitive ceremonies that honor Samhain, the dark, mysterious Lord of the Dead, at a time when the veil between our world and theirs is at its thinnest. The strange and weird customs and beliefs of our ancestors live again, every October 31st, in the only day of the year when it is considered okay to dress in frightening costumes, to go door to door begging, and to feast on fear. A true classic in the literature of pagan lore, you will find this book frightening, fascinating and fun!

Every year, children and adults alike take to the streets dressed as witches, demons, animals, celebrities, and more. They carve pumpkins and play pranks, and the braver ones watch scary movies and go on ghost tours. There are parades, fireworks displays, cornfield mazes, and haunted houses—and, most important, copious amounts of bite-sized candy. The popularity of Halloween has spread around the globe to places as diverse as Russia, China, and Japan, but its association with death and the supernatural and its inevitable commercialization has made it one of our most misunderstood holidays. How did it become what it is today? In Trick or Treat, Halloween aficionado Lisa Morton provides a thorough history of this spooky day. She begins by looking at how holidays like the Celtic Samhain, a Gaelic harvest festival, have blended with the British Guy Fawkes Day and the Catholic All Souls’ Day to produce the modern Halloween, and she explains how the holiday was reborn in America, where costumes and trick-or-treat rituals have become new customs. Morton takes into account the influence of related but independent holidays, especially the Mexican Day of the Dead, as well as the explosion in popularity of haunted attractions and the impact of such events as 9/11 and the economic recession on the celebration today. Trick or Treat also examines the effect Halloween has had on popular culture through the literary works of Washington Irving and Ray Bradbury, films like Halloween and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Simpsons. Considering the holiday in the context of its worldwide popularity for the first time, this book will be a treat for any Halloween lover.

Trick or Treat When Merlin the wizard answers the door, trick-or-treating becomes more tricky than usual. Suddenly everything turns Wackbards! Those tasty jelly beans have turned into silly belly jeans! Enjoy this hilarious Halloween treat that's guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth and your funny bone!

Using a mix of personal anecdotes and perceptive social analysis, acclaimed cultural critic David J. Skal examines the amazing phenomenon of Halloween, exploring its dark Celtic history and illuminating why it has evolved-in the course of a few short generations-from a quaint, small-scale celebration into the largest seasonal marketing event outside of Christmas.

A first edition of The Halloween Encyclopedia was published by McFarland in 2003 (Booklist: "a worthy addition to public and school libraries as well as the reference shelves of journalists and leaders of community events"); it was the first encyclopedic reference book on the cultural phenomenon (which also deals with such related holidays as Britain's Guy Fawkes Day, Mexico's Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, and the Celtic celebration Samhain). Now updated to 2010, this second edition includes more than 50 new entries, covering subjects ranging from Folk Art to African American legends. Many existing entries have been expanded and revised, with new entries ("Chronology of Halloween" and "Halloween in Literature and the Arts") in both appendices. Also featured are more than a dozen new illustrations, and an expanded bibliography.

Original, entertaining mix of personal anecdotes and social analysis examines America's perplexingly popular holiday, tracing the tradition's evolution from its dark Celtic history to its emergence as a mammoth marketing event.