The smells of the season are being taken care of by Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs Samhain and Pumpkin Patch 1 and 4. I highly recommend checking out these truly unique perfume oils–just don’t be scurred by the intensely gothic feel of the site. Beth conjures up some incredibly complex scents.

I also appreciate a good spirited (haha) playlist. Like the one I found at the CBC Radio 3 website. Damn, those Canadians have some good tunes. Even scare-a-rific ones!

Long live the undead and Sookie Stackhouse! This year’s vampire story was Dead to the World, one of the Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series. Sookie Stackhouse, girl next door and telepath, finds herself a vampire boyfriend and gets more information than she ever wanted about the (now outed) vampire community. Quick, satisfying reads with fun story lines. Charlaine Harris’ website says that this is going to be an HBO series soon. I’ll be all over that one.

Since Sookie only took one day and a half to devour, I started Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things last night. Neil is by far my favorite author, intertwining fantasy and horror effortlessly and enticingly. “October in the Chair” tells a sad story of a boy’s bitter life, and death. From a design perspective, the book binding, with it’s broken butterfly wings and the onionskin-like dust jacket that barely conceals it together create a gorgeous piece of art.

Okay, enough. Time for some more snack-sized candy bars–my sugar high is wearing off. Cheers.