Thursday, January 17, 2019

Alphabet All-Stars Spooktacular Update: Story #8 (Candy Corn'd) Is Now Live!

Available at Amazon and part of Kindle Unlimited
It took a little longer than expected, but story #8 in the Alphabet All-Stars Spooktacular series is now live. If you've purchased this book in the past, delete it from your Kindle and download a fresh copy (if automatic updating doesn't appear). The new story will appear magically before your eyes...

You can tell that you have the latest version by visiting the Copyright page, which should read: First Edition (v1.12).

Here's an excerpt from Candy Corn'd:

Gabe Gratz stood still as a statue, his eyes wide and skin gooseflesh. A fiery pumpkin flashed by, chasing after Melvin Muffrow, one of the many neighborhood bullies who came out at night, especially on Halloween. His little ghost of a son cautiously stepped out from behind a tree and joined him, peeking through tiny holes cut into the bedsheet draped over him while a pumpkin bash unfolded a block over.

"So, uh... I hope you like Smarties, Ryan." He handed over the roll of candy and slowly patted his son's head. Just a moment ago, the pumpkin stood over him, eyes blazing and ready to pounce. But Gabe was able to talk his way out of it--[i]sort of[/i]--and wound up getting a roll of Smarties for his trouble.

But that wasn't all the pumpkin had left behind, to which his son merely pointed.

"What's wrong, son?" Gabe finally looked down.

"He left behind another piece of candy, dad," said Ryan.

"Really? Where?" Gabe squinted. His eyes weren't the best at night, certainly not without his glasses. And where had he put his flashlight? He had brought along a flashlight, hadn't he? He scratched his curly head and looked around.

"There!" Ryan walked right up to the treat and stopped.

For some reason, Gabe still couldn't see it. "Well, go ahead and pick it up."

"No way." Ryan shook his head and backed off.

When the pumpkin a block over screamed "Just one piece!" Gabe fully understood why his son was reluctant to touch the candy.

"That must be for you." Ryan took another step back and pointed, making sure that there was an appreciable distance between himself and the candy so that the ghoulish pumpkin wouldn't mistake his intentions.

"Don't be scared." Gabe stepped over. "Old man Gordon is just playing a trick on us, like he does every Halloween. And he certainly wouldn't hold it against you if you tried to return a piece of candy that had accidentally fallen out."

"Just to be safe, I think you should pick it up." Ryan did not budge.

"Right. Now where did you say it was?" Gabe reached down and felt around. When his fingers struck upon the plastic wrapping, he picked up the confection and held it up to the moonlight. "Well, that's odd."

"What is it, dad?" Ryan craned his head up to his father, but could only see so much through the holes in his sheet.

"It's a single piece of candy corn." Gabe looked at it more closely. "Usually these come in packages filled with several pieces. I wonder why this only has one." He glanced at his son's Smarties. "Hey, wanna trade?" He held it out to him.

"First, we need to make sure that... Oh, Mr. Pumpkin!" Ryan said to the animated pumpkin as it dragged Melvin the Mischief Maker along with him.

"Whoa!" Gabe jumped back.

"Yes, my child?" the pumpkin's voice was rough and booming. He considered the boy, then father shaking beside him.

"You forgot a piece." Ryan pointed to his father.