So many things to promote, so little time. In the interest of focusing on the most pressing, time-sensitive item, this blog post is all about the huge Halloweeny free-eBook giveway spectacular explosion of digital-candy goodness. With monsters and sexy shape-shifters and shit.

This is my first joint promotion for my work, and on Day One we’re off to a rocking start. More copies of my novelette (there’s that damn word again) Hot Pennies have been given away in the opening hours than what I managed with Filmography during its entire five-day promo (and I was pretty happy with those results). It’s incredible what we lonely writers can accomplish, when we clump together for something resembling social interaction, and collectively organize ourselves. It almost makes me want to break into song with a verse or two from “Look for the Union Label.” But I won’t. One writers guild is enough for me, thanks. At any rate, this advertising blitz has done right by Hot Pennies, and I’m pleased. But enough about my darkly humorous Halloween-themed story that’s free through to the end of this most pagany of pagan celebrations. I want to talk about all the other amazing stuff you can get, also for free!

The Halloweeny promotion, organized by Erica Conroy of the Self-Publishing Roundtable, has gathered together an astounding collection of 57 (59 if you count the box-set individually) Halloween-related eBooks by a broad spectrum of horror, supernatural, occult and otherwise weirdo authors. All of it is available from Amazon for free through to October 31. Whether you like hard horror or gooey paranormal romance, there’s bound to be something to scratch your itch here. From sexy manly men who turn into sexy bearly bears, to cozy witchy mysterious mysteries, to vampires who both suck and swallow, to deeply fucked up shit of questionable taste (y’know, what I write), there’s a lot to explore. And since it can all be downloaded without charge, there’s nothing to stop you from experimenting. You might awaken fetishes you never knew you had.

And isn’t that what Halloween is all about? Crawling out of bed with a hangover on November 1st, wearing strange and suggestive clothes you don’t remember putting on, and praying nobody took any pictures of you at whatever party you attended last night. And then, before the coffee has even had time to brew, discovering you’re trending on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and that there’s an angry email from work advising you that your desk has been cleaned out and your final paycheque is in the mail. Don’t worry. It’ll all be worth it. Because what’s important is that you’ve discovered something about yourself—something unexpected, special, unique, and only slightly mortifyingly embarrassing. And though those pictures of you in the sexy rubber chicken costume will never ever go away so long as the internet persists, those same photographs are getting a shocking number of swipe-rights on Tinder. Congratulations. Halloween has broadened your horizons yet again. And we all can’t wait to see what stupid pervy costume you drink yourself under the table in next year.