Sometimes I forget just what it is about Halloween time that is the scariest. Is it really the goblins and vampires and ghosts in the dark that we are afraid of, or is it all the realities in our own lives that haunt us the most this time of year? I love Bradbury's scary stories, his whole definition of October Country, the creepy carnivals, the lonesome train whistes, the leaves blowing down the street at midnight. So many of his stories are perfect for this time of year, are tailor-made for the coolness and windiness and all around creepiness. Read The October Country if you really want to taste fear, to get a delicious shiver. It always delivers on its promise.

But then there is this. I read Tobias Seamon's essay in The Morning News today and it is so good, so beautiful and sad and melancholy, that I keep feeling a need to go back to it, to deconstruct just what specific parts impress me the most. What is it in this piece about family sorrows in the country of The Headless Horseman that makes it so unique, so intense? Is it maybe because we played a version of The Green Ghost when we were young, or because I understand that miserable death watch experience, because I have stood by on one of those myself?

Is it because I'm scared to death of doing it ever again?

Tobias is a great writer; I reviewed his book The Magician's Study earlier this year for Bookslut and wish more people knew about it. He has a wide imagination and immerses his stories in the history of a place so deeply and so richly, that the reader doesn't realize how much they are reading is true - it seems weightless, it seems perfectly designed for the story he crafts around it - it seems so perfect it must all be fiction. He's so good at what he does, and I look forward to reading more of what he has written on Sleepy Hollow country.

I feel sometimes like I'm on a mission to tell the world about all the good books they are missing. "Get out of your ruts!" I want to scream. It's one of the best parts about being a book reviewer, you constantly find books that are great that you might have missed if you weren't actively looking. And now that someone like Tobias Seamon is on my radar, I'll keep looking for his work every chance I get. And I'll spread the word to anyone who will listen, because I can. Because I can tell you all about a really good writer you might be missing.

I'm done with the mean girls and now I'm off to The Dream Merchant. Last night I read about infighting in the Catholic Church in Quebec and more angry Indians. I've also been reading a remarkable amount about the woman who came to Canada and their impact on the country's development. Kudos to Thomas Costain for writing such a complete early history with The White and the Gold. I think this is the first general history book I have read that includes everyone's perspective. When I'm done with the book I will tell you about the pathetic Canadian History class I took in college. Then you will understand why I'm so delighted with this book (and why I think the University of Alaska Fairbanks owes me some tuititon back!)