R.I.P. Ray Bradbury

Author of my favorite book, "The Halloween Tree," Ray Bradbury, dies at the age of 91. 


Thank you for my childhood, Mr. Bradbury. You'll be missed.

Wicked Wheel

Image via Park Benches and Book Ends Blog

I splurged and got myself a copy of Midnight Syndicate's latest album, Carnival Arcane.


It immediately brings to mind one of my very favorite rainy-day films, Something Wicked This Way Comes. Close your eyes and you can hear it: the crunch of autumn leaves in the field where the carnival lies waiting. Breathe deeply, and you can smell it: the odor of popcorn and cotton candy and things less identifiable yet slightly disturbing to the lizard brain, which float on the crisp breeze. Listen to the music, the sound of calliope and tuba, floats on the air, too, dragging you along, almost, almost unwilling. And your feet must follow. They must always follow.


Yes, a tasty and creepy offering from this dark and delightful group. Happy Valentine's to me, and to us all.

Halloween Tree and the Charmed Pot

Those of you who listen to Hauntcast (and I know that's all of you, right?) are aware I did my segment on Ray Bradbury's beloved book, The Halloween Tree. Long ago, I did a blog post on The Halloween Tree, as well.

I don't often get mail directly to my mailbox after one of my segments, but one man is pretty consistent with his comments and feedback: Robert Beech, groundskeeper of Brandywine Cemetery. He, too, loves The Halloween Tree, and was kind enough to share this wonderful story with me, and graciously gave permission for me to pass it along to all of you, as well:

While I was living in LA many years ago I was very impressed with the animated version of Hallowe'en Tree. So much so that I sculpted a Moundshoud mask. I made 5 copies before the mold broke. One, I sent to Ray.
On Hallowe'en afternoon, 1995, I received a telephone call at work; "Thank you, thank you, thank you for that wonderful mask you made!" It was Ray.
Kind of made my day.
The other masks made their way to collectors. One went to John Debney, the composer of the music for the animated version. For that I own the only legitimate full version of the soundtrack.

Thanks again for the segment.

BTW, I really hope that someone (Michael Dougherty?) makes a live-action/CGI version of the book someday. A version that more closely resembles the book than then animated version.

Thanks again, Robert for sharing this, and for your continuing support of Hauntcast.

The Halloween Tree

The Halloween Tree. Artist: Ray Bradbury.

The Next in Line

Source.

"Promise me," she said, and stopped.
"Promise you what?" he asked, after a long pause.
"Promise me," she said, and couldn't go on. She lay there. He said nothing. She heard the watch and her heart pounding together. A lantern creaked on the hotel exterior. "Promise me if anything-happens," she heard herself say, muffled and paralyzed, as if she were on one of the surrounding hills talking at him from the distance, "-if anything happens to me, you won't let me be buried here in the graveyard over those terrible catacombs!"
- Ray Bradbury, from The Next in Line.

Last day to Enter!

Today is the last day you can enter to win some of my hand made jack-o-lanterns. Go to this post for details!

And just to let you know that I've been busy, I'll include pics of my hanging jackos. I think they''ll make a nice addition to any Halloween Tree, don't you?

Again-pics are copyrighted, so please ask permission before you use them!

"They rounded the far side of the house and stopped. For there was the Tree. And it was such a tree as they had never seen in all their lives. It stood in the middle of a vast yard behind the terribly strange house. And this tree rose up some one hundred feet in the air, taller than the high roofs and full and round and well branched, and covered all over with rich assortments of red and brown and yellow autumn leaves."

"But," whispered Tom, "oh, look. What's up in that tree!"

For the Tree was hung with a variety of pumpkins of every size and shape and a number of tints and hues of smoky yellow or bright orange.

"A pumpkin tree," someone said. "No," said Tom. The wind blew among the high branches amd tossed their bright burdens, softly.

"A Halloween Tree," said Tom.

And he was right.

I wanted to give my contest winner the chance to have one of the very first jacko pots I've made, before I start to sell the rest of them. They'll be posted to eBay on Friday. I've also decided to have two winners, with the first name drawn out of the hat getting first pick, and the second name out receives the second jacko.

Good luck, all!

The Halloween Tree

One of my favorite stories since childhood is Ray Bradbury's "The Halloween Tree." It's one of the few Halloween things my mother did for me: she bought the book for me and even read it to me. I remember the cover you see at the left, with the dynamic original illustrations by Joseph Mugnaini. Lucky me, I managed to hold on to my original copy through two divorces and countless moves.

"The Halloween Tree," for those who have never read it, is a story that combines the exuberance of a group of boys on the best holiday of all, with a mysterious house on the hill, the history of Halloween, death, and, possibly, a deal with Death Himself, in the guise of Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, (A name that gives you a little shiver down your spine.) to save their frined, Pip's, life. According to Wikipedia, the novel started as a screenplay in 1967, with an eye to having the marvelous Chuck Jones animate it. Sadly, that version wasn't made, but in 1992, Bradbury was successful in getting The Halloween Tree produced, winning an Emmy Award for it. In 2005, he released a longer version of the book, including both his story elements from the screenplay, and the 1967 version.

For those of you with time to spare, I've included as much of the 1992 version as I could find on YouTube. Narrated by Ray Bradbury, himself!

Finally, on October 31, 2007, Disneyland in California invited Bradbury to the unveiling of its very own Halloween Tree, to be part of the park's Halloween decorations every year. About time, I say!