Who can resist the magic of Halloween? Certainly not me, as Neal can personally attest. So far Halloween has been featured in two of my Caffrey Conversation stories. In 2004, Neal and Peter were put through the wringer in Azathoth's haunted house (The Woman in Blue). The next year, Mozzie and Sara joined them for a ghostly Halloween complete with tangerine slime (Columbia Ghost Story). Arkham Neal celebrated Halloween in The Crypt when he was treated to the trifecta of Arkham's nasty creatures—nightgaunts, ghasts, and zoogs.
The Caffrey Conversation timeline usually doesn't correspond to my posting schedule so I didn't post those stories at Halloween. However, when I checked my posting history, I realized that I often posted what could be considered to be Halloween-themed stories in late October. In 2016, it was Witches' Sabbath. In 2018, it was Night Howls on the Hudson.
Does my current story, Sands of Abydos, count? Many of the traditional elements of Halloween are present. Neal, Peter, and Mozzie are masquerading as ancient Egyptians. One could describe their quest to find a rare crystal as an elaborate trick-or-treat adventure. The gods of ancient Egypt are often depicted as if they were wearing Halloween masks. Could that priestess of Isis who led Neal away have any witch attributes? Would you like to place any bets on whether she is a good or evil witch?
Not that Halloween is necessarily about scary creatures. Chloe and Maia in my Crossed Lines series are examples of good witches and the beneficial aspects of magic. In Six-Crossed Knot, vampires, witches, and daemons are as multifaceted as humans, with only a few of them evil.
However you celebrate it, Happy Halloween!
Sands of Abydos on Archive of Our Own
Sands of Abydos on FanFiction
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