New (True) Story: “Name Me Haunted”

October 21, 2021

I’m a member of the Horror Writers Association and they do a fun thing each October: Halloween Haunts. It’s a series of blog posts by HWA authors on why we love Halloween, Halloween stories, facts, & memories, and how Halloween has influenced our writing. At least one appears for each day of the month.

For the first time this year I contributed an entry. I guess it’s more than a post, a story really, or stories within a story, and very personal. If you’ve been following me, you know I’m named after a ghost. For real, my parents made that choice. But they had a very good reason, one that runs deep. Deeper than I’d ever known, actually, but I learned about that this summer when Dad filled in all kinds of missing pieces. Powerful ones.

Here’s how it starts: “Maybe I love Halloween because I was named after a dead kid.”

It’s called “Name Me Haunted” and you can find it here: https://horror.org/halloween-haunts-name-me-haunted-by-michael-rook/

I hope for all the other things it is that it’s some kind of tribute to my namesake. He deserves not to be forgotten. And I hope he rests in peace.

Happy Halloween, y’all, for whatever that means for you.