Halloween's Ancient Roots

Halloween Is Almost Here. The stores are filled with candy packaged in special Halloween wrapping, spooky witch and ghost decorations, pumpkins waiting to be carved into Jack O'Lanterns, and costumes for both children and adults.

I've collected several bits and pieces about ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night that I'd like to share with you—starting with the ancient origins of the Halloween holiday and then a bit of Jack O'Lantern trivia.

The roots of Halloween date back 2000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in, rhymes with cow).  The Celts lived in what is now Ireland, United Kingdom, and northern France.  They celebrated their new year on November 1, the day marking the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark winter.  They believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead wasn't clearly defined.  On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, a time when they believed the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

To commemorate the event, the Druids (Celtic priests) built large sacred bonfires where the people made sacrifices to the Celtic deities.  During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes and attempted to tell each other's fortunes.  When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the winter.

By 43A.D., the Romans had conquered most of the Celtic territory.  During the next four hundred years, the Roman festivals of Feralia and Pomona were combined with the traditional celebration of Samhain.  In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV declared November 1 to be All Saints' Day.  It's believed today that the pope was trying to replace the Celtic festival with a church sanctioned holiday.  The celebration was also called All-Hallows.  So, the night before it, the night of Samhain, was called All-Hallows Eve.

In 1000A.D., the church declared November 2 as All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead.  It was celebrated similarly to Samhain with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes.  Together the three celebrations—the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls'—were called Hallowmas and eventually Halloween.

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition.  It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends.  They set places at the table and left treats on doorsteps for these friendly spirits.  They also lit candles to help their loved ones find their way back to the spirit world.  Today's Halloween ghosts are commonly depicted as much scarier, as is our emphasis on customs and superstitions as more horror related.

And speaking of superstitions…have you ever wondered about where these strange beliefs came from?  British author Harry Oliver wrote a book titled Black Cats and Four-Leaf Clovers where he explored the origins of superstitions and old wives' tales from around the world.  Here are a few of his observations.

Black Cats Bring Bad Luck:  black cats have been linked to black magic and the ancient concept of witchcraft through the centuries which is why many people think they're unlucky.  If a cat crosses your path, it's considered unlucky.  However, if a cat walks toward you, it's a good omen.

Carrots Are Good For Your Eyesight:  although studies have shown that the vitamin A in carrots is good for your eyes, the vegetable isn't enough to create 20/20 vision.  Many believe that it was a smart attempt by parents to get their children to eat their vegetables.  There is another belief that it started during World War II.  It was rumored that British pilots were eating huge amounts of carrots so they could see from high altitudes and in the dark.  The rumor was created to keep the public from discovering that radar had been invented and was being used against the enemy.

Wear Your Underwear Inside Out:  when you're having a bad day, superstition says that if you turn your underwear inside out things will get better.  No one is sure where this one came from, but it sounds like the result of a wild college fraternity party.

And then there's the Jack O'Lantern.  Making a Jack O'Lantern for Halloween is a centuries old practice that originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed Stingy Jack.  He played tricks on the Devil and made Satan promise not to take his soul when he died.  When the time came, God refused to allow him into heaven because he was an unsavory character.  The Devil wouldn't allow him into hell because Jack had made him promise.  With nowhere to go, Jack put a burning coal into a carved out turnip and has been roaming the Earth ever since.  The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as Jack Of The Lantern which morphed into Jack O'Lantern.

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions by carving scary faces into turnips and potatoes, and in England they used large beets.  Immigrants from these countries brought the tradition with them to the United States where they soon found that pumpkins made the perfect Jack O'Lantern.

Do you have a favorite costume this year?  Are you planning on going to a party?  Leave me a comment about your Halloween plans.

Haunted Houses Are Big Business, Part 2 of 2

Last week I talked about the history of haunted houses as staged events and ended with some Halloween facts.  This week I'm talking about the big business of professional haunted house attractions.

In the U.S., there are approximately 4,500 professional haunted house attractions opened to the public during the Halloween season—300 theme parks that operate a seasonal haunted house venue, 1200 large-scale haunted houses, and 3000 such attractions operated by and/or for charity organizations as fund raisers.  And, of course, Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida have the year round Haunted Mansion ride.

What is America's oldest and largest Halloween haunt?  That honor belongs to the Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles, California.  Or as it's known this time of year—Knott's Scary Farm.  It's the world's first Halloween theme park event, the largest Halloween theme park event, and the largest special event in the amusement park industry.  The park makes it clear that the event is not recommended for children under thirteen years old.

It should be no surprise that many of the professional haunted houses/scare attractions have an organization of their own.  Many of the most famous haunted house attractions in the U.S. have formed America Haunts.  They even hold a national convention every summer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The attractions that belong to America Haunts are as diverse as the people who operate them.  These attractions have been consistently reviewed and are rated as excellent by scores of media sources and considered safe, fun and an extremely scary show for horror and haunted house fans.  These are amazingly detailed, cutting edge attractions that rival many Hollywood horror movie effects.  Definitely not for the faint-hearted.

The many America Haunts attractions [located across the country from San Diego, California, on the Pacific coast, to Baltimore, Maryland, on the Atlantic coast], annually draw in crowds numbering in the millions during the Halloween season.  The haunted house industry, like most other industries, has their own trade shows, experts, consultants, suppliers, magazines, associations, education seminars, gatherings and events.  Haunted attraction owners annually spend millions of dollars with haunted house vendors for supplies such as fog machines, animatronic monsters, lighting equipment, and costumes and masks.  In recent years, the overseas market has provided the biggest growth in business for the haunted house vendors of supplies.

The Otis Elevator Company estimates that 85% of the buildings with their elevators do not have a named 13th floor, with that actual floor being given the number 14.  Some businesses don't want to be associated with the stigma attached to the number 13 as being unlucky.  Some don't want to take a chance on losing customers/clients due to them having an aversion to the number 13.  And that probably explains the basic reason for the name of one of the largest haunted house attractions in the U.S.—The 13th Floor Haunted House in Denver, Colorado.

In the 1940s, the building that houses The 13th Floor Haunted House operated briefly as a hotel located across the street from the Sunset train station.  A group of children arrived at the station on their way to their destination south of Denver.  The weather had turned bad, so the bus driver taking them from the station to their final destination decided it would be better to wait until morning to complete their journey.  They checked into the hotel across the street and in the morning continued on their way.  The school bus became stalled on the tracks just south of town and was struck by a train, killing 10 of the children.  Legend has it that those children continue to haunt the hotel, protecting others from a similar fate.

Several of the large, professional attractions, such as The 13th Floor Haunted House, offer more than one venue as part of a specific location.  Each of the venues has a different theme.  And some of the attractions have both indoor and outdoor fright areas.

One such outdoor attraction is Hundred Acres Manor in Pittsburgh.  The attraction boasts 6 haunted attractions for 1 price.

Another outside offering is The Haunted Trail in Balboa Park, in San Diego, California.  It's a mile long trail through a twisted grove of pines and gnarled oaks.  This year it also offers a creepy stroll down New Orleans famous Bourbon Street complete with vampires and other creatures of the night.  This year, the Haunted Trail also offers the return of the 3500 sq. ft. maze

And this barely scratches the surface of what the large, professional Haunted House attractions have to offer those looking for the ultimate scare.  So…have a happy, sane, and safe Halloween.

And be sure to watch your back or you, too, could become one of the ghouls who haunt the land every Halloween!

Haunted Houses Are Big Business, Part 1 of 2

This week and next week I'm doing a two-part blog about haunted houses.

I remember when I was a child in West Los Angeles.  We had a very large garage and one year my mother and father fixed it up like a haunted house for my Halloween party—a winding, twisty route through all kinds of scary things.  It was a lot of fun and totally different from anything anyone else in the neighborhood did for Halloween.  Of course, back in those days, scary things were not at all the same type of bloody gruesome attractions that are the main features of today's professional Halloween attractions.

Halloween attractions have moved far beyond the neighborhood scare as a fun encounter for the trick-or-treaters.  Today they are big business—very big business.  Operators of the large attractions spend most of the year coming up with new and better ideas for frightening attractions and then implementing them.  They take pleasure in dreaming up even more diabolical ways of giving us the seasonal nightmares.

This week, let's talk about the history of haunted houses and some Halloween facts.  Just in the United States, there are over 1200 professional haunted houses, 300 theme parks that operate horror-themed events and over 3000 charity-run spooky Halloween attractions.  Haunted attractions have a long history dating back to early civilizations.

Ancient Times:

The Egyptians knew that the best way to keep body snatchers away from a pyramid was to really scare them away.  The commonly used mazes, moving walls, self-opening doors, and traps as well as snakes and insects to protect treasure and the bodies of royalty.  True, they weren't charging admission and the public wasn't lined up waiting to get inside, but it is an early example of creating a setting to produce fear.

The Greeks and Romans have a folklore complete with mazes and labyrinths filled with monsters.  With theater being a vital part of their culture, we can assume they created numerous special effects devices to enhance the scare factor that would evolve into today's haunted house elements.

The Dark Ages:

This period in history saw the Christians continue the evolution toward today's haunted house attraction. During the 1300s through the 1500s, Europe had been converted from Celtic and pagan religions to the practice of Christianity.  Many of today's Halloween activities—carving pumpkins, bobbing for apples, dressing up in costumes and even trick-or-treating—were pagan practices that stayed with us.

The Renaissance:

Theater became increasingly popular and catered to society's love of horror and resulted in the development of more special effects.  Ghosts, demons, the devil, and other monsters appeared regularly in plays including those of William Shakespeare.

The 1800s:

This was a time when the general population became fascinated with ghosts and the possibility of other realms.  Self-proclaimed mediums, fortune tellers, clairvoyants, and spiritualists engaged in conjuring sessions in an attempt to communicate with the dead which became a form of entertainment for the elite.  The theme of hauntings continued in the theater and the century provided the first wax museum, the forerunner of future walk-through attractions that played on people's sense of reality.

The 1900s:

The start of the 20th century saw the increased popularity of the traveling carnival and the rise of the what was referred to as a freak show.  Dark rides also became popular amusements.  The patrons sat in a boat or on a train and were automatically moved through numerous scenes.  Amusement parks came into popularity during this time.  Those that could not afford a big roller coaster offered cheap fun houses and haunted house attractions to pull in customers.

Also during this time, many of the residential houses built during the early 1800s had become dilapidated and worn down.  Adults would tell their children that ghosts filled the neglected homes in an attempt to keep them from exploring the neglected homes.  This further fueled the mystique of haunted houses.

The 1960s:

1969 was the opening of Disneyland's (Anaheim, California) Haunted Mansion attraction.  Rather than putting a genuine decrepit-looking structure in the middle of Disneyland, he created a lavish mansion with a pristine exterior based on the appearance of the San Jose, California, Winchester House.  It was originally a walk-through attraction but was soon changed over to a ride.

The 1970s:

Non-profit organizations began to use abandoned buildings and fields to put up haunted houses to raise money for charity.

The 1980s:

This was the decade when horror movies grew in popularity and so did haunted houses.  Most amusement parks had a scary attraction of some sort.

The 1990s to present:

Haunts are everywhere—haunted hayrides, mazes and scavenger hunts.  They've become so popular that haunts are here to stay with the industry constantly evolving with new and more terrifying attractions.

Halloween Frightening and Fun Facts:

Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the U.S.

Approximately 100 countries celebrate Halloween.

Over 7 billion dollars are spent annually on candy, costumes and activities in just the U.S.

Approximately 90% of all households with children will participate in some sort of Halloween activity.

Over 80% of all haunted attractions in the U.S. are operated by a charity or help to benefit a charity of some sort.

Check back next week for Part 2 of my Haunted Houses blog.

HIS MAGICK TOUCH—a conversation with Devon and Raina

HIS MAGICK TOUCH an erotic witch romance available in ebook that tells us the story of Devon Bainbridge and Raina St. Clair. So, in honor of the upcoming Samhain celebration and it's more modern Halloween counterpart, I've invited Devon and Raina to be my guests today.

Welcome to my blog, Devon and Raina.  Thank you for taking time from your schedule to be here today, especially with how busy you are due to the special gathering of covens for this year's Samhain celebration.

Raina:  It's our pleasure, Samantha.  Thanks for the invitation.

It's my understanding, Devon, that as a High Priest you've been invited to open and close the special ceremony involving the gathering of many covens from various states at this year's Samhain celebration.

Devon:  Yes, it's a very special gathering this year.  I'm honored to have been chosen.

And isn't it that gathering of the covens that's indirectly responsible for bringing the two of you together?  Two people who had never met but each with your own agenda in seeking out the other?  And you first encountered each other at a Halloween party, of all places?

Raina:  (laughs) That succinctly describes it.  The uncomfortable situation of a witch of the bloodline at a mortal's Halloween party.

Why would you be attending such a party?  Doesn't it violate everything you stand for and represent?

Raina:  Even though I'm a witch and immortal, I still need to earn a living.  The man throwing the party, the one who invited me, is one of my best clients.  So, even though the party theme wasn't to my liking, I felt an obligation to put in an appearance.

Devon:  And it was due to Raina being at the party that I needed to be there.  I didn't know if I would be able to make a connection with her at the Samhain celebration, so I sucked up my disgust and teleported inside the country club to the party location and waited for her to arrive.

So why were you each trying to make contact with the other?  You had no prior connection, right?

Devon:  A prior connection?  That's an easy answer. A definitive yes…and no.  (chuckles)  I had never met Raina but I had crossed paths with her sister, Miranda, a century ago.  Miranda and I had some unfinished business.  Since Miranda had been deftly avoiding me, my plan was to use Raina to locate her sister.  I've always lived by the witch's credo of Harm To None (a quick scowl darts across his face), but my unfinished business with Miranda was in total violation of that honorable intention.

What kind of unfinished business?

Devon:  To put it as simply as possible, Miranda St. Clair misused and abused her witch powers and in so doing was responsible for the purposeful destruction of my brother.  I fully intended to make her accountable to the council for her misdeeds and personally see to it that she did not escape retribution.

And did you?

Devon:  I can't reveal that here, but it's all in the book.

(LOL) Fair enough.  How about you, Raina?  How did you discover the truth of Devon's agenda?  And what did you think when you found out what he really wanted?

Raina:  Devon voluntarily told me about trying to locate Miranda and why.  But his assumption that I could help him with that was mistaken.  Miranda and I…well, we've…(a look of sadness comes into her eyes, Devon reaches over and gives her hand a reassuring squeeze).  Well, it's all in the book.

LOL…It seems that you're both stonewalling me.  Let me try this. Raina, what about your agenda in wanting to make contact with Devon?  What was that all about?

Raina:  I had never met Devon in person, but knew his excellent reputation as a very powerful High Priest and the respect paid him by the members of the witch community.  I had planned to seek him out at the Samhain gathering and was quite surprised to see him at my business client's Halloween party.  Why was I determined to meet him?  Devon is an acknowledged expert in all facets of sex magick.  I wanted him to teach me…to school me in the proper rituals.

Was he surprised by your request and did he agree to teach you the rituals?

Raina:  Well, to quote something I heard recently—I can't tell you that…you'll need to read the book.

The two of you are telling me the same thing?  Neither of you will disclose the information about how you resolved your issues?  You won't tell me what kind of impact Raina's unexpected request about sex magick had on Devon's quest to find Miranda and seek retribution?

Devon:  (winks at me)  I believe you've grasped the core of the situation.

Raina:  In other words…that's right!  (LOL)

Fair enough.  The answers are in the book!  Thank you, Raina and Devon, for being with us today.

HIS MAGICK TOUCH  R-Adult Excerpt #1:

She grabbed a napkin from the bar and dabbed at her neck and upper chest, leaving most of the champagne to trickle between her breasts.

He set the half-empty glass on the bar, surprise covering his features. “I’m so sorry.” A sincere concern surrounded his words. “Are you okay?”

Just the sound of his smooth masculine voice sent a ripple of desire coursing through her body, headed directly for her pussy. She gave him her most seductive smile as she continued to dab the champagne from her skin. “I’m fine, no problem.”

He ran his fingertip along the edge of her plunging neckline. “Can I be of assistance?” A quick glance down the front of her dress noticeably quickened his breathing. “I can lick up the excess champagne…if it will help.” His voice and words teased and a sexy grin tugged at the corners of his mouth, but the glow in the depth of his eyes radiated pure passion and sexual magnetism. The kind that could melt the most determined woman’s defenses.

Her nipples puckered, partly from the cold champagne and partly from his obvious perusal of her body combined with the sexual energy that practically sparked from him. Her heartbeat increased. Being this close to him had her juices flowing and her desires running at full speed. She definitely wanted to experience Devon’s sexual prowess and learn the techniques of sex magick from a master, to discover and embrace the untapped potential of her sexuality.

She smiled seductively. “That’s a very gracious offer."

BLURB:  As the powerful High Priest of his coven, Devon Bainbridge lives by the witch's credo of Harm To None. Yet he is willing to sacrifice everything in his century long quest for revenge. He intends to use Raina St. Clair as a means of locating her sister, the witch who misused her powers to destroy his brother. But once he meets Raina, his plan doesn't go as intended, especially when he discovers her agenda. She wants to learn sex magick.

Is Raina the one woman who could save Devon from himself?

HIS MAGICK TOUCH, erotic witch romance is available in ebook at The Wilder Roses, the Scarlet Rose line of erotic romance from The Wild Rose Press:

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/wildcatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=182&products_id=943

Additional excerpts from HIS MAGICK TOUCH and information on my other books available on my website at www.samanthagentry.com

SUMMER SIZZLE—a conversation with Blake and Vicki

How does that old adage go? Opposites attract? I don't think that's ever been more true than when Blake Callahan and Vicki Templeton first encountered each other at the beach house—a house each claimed as their own.

That definitely sounds like an awkward situation and who better to explain it to us than the two people involved.

My guests today are Blake Callahan and Vicki Templeton from SUMMER SIZZLE, an erotic romance novel by Samantha Gentry, released on Friday, September 25, 2015, in both ebook and print from The Wilder Roses (the Scarlet Rose line of erotic romance at The Wild Rose Press). Also available from other online vendors.

Thank you, Blake and Vicki, for being with us today.

Vicki:  Thank you for inviting us.

Blake:  It's our pleasure. You said you'd like to ask us about how we met and the difficulties we had in developing a relationship?

Vicki:  Difficulties? (spontaneous laugh) That's definitely an understatement.

Blake:  (shoots her a teasing grin) Well, it wouldn't have been so difficult if it weren't for Vicki's near obsessive need to plan for the future without giving any consideration to taking a little time to smell the roses along the way. Every moment of her day planned out in advance—

Vicki:  (returns his grin) And you…carrying on as if tomorrow didn't exist.

I understand this all started with the mix-up about which of you had the legal right to be living in the beach house.

Vicki:  Late Friday afternoon, I had all my belongings in boxes ready to move into the fully furnished beach house I had rented for the summer. I had sold all my furniture and even my car to secure the necessary funds to return to the university and get my master's degree without needing to work while attending classes. That would allow me to take a heavier schedule and finish sooner. I had lined up several of the summer seasonal businesses at the beach as clients, quit my job, and paid five months rent for what I thought was the perfect location. A fully furnished beach house within easy walking distance of all my clients.

That sounds like a very ambitious plan.

Vicki:  I had carefully worked out everything and this was the most economically feasible plan for the future.

So what went wrong?

Blake:  There was this one little thing that her carefully worked out plan for the future hadn't taken into consideration. The rental agent was a crook. He took her cashier's check to the bank within an hour of the time she gave it to him and disappeared, leaving her to twist in the wind.

Vicki:  I unlocked the front door and found this man inside my house. We…uh…exchanged a few confrontational words.

Blake:  We exchanged lots of confrontational words. And not just words…her Siamese cat attacked me, dug its claws into my ankle then my arm and drew blood.

Vicki:  I did feel bad about that—guilty and embarrassed. I immediately put her back into her carrier and told her she could not go around attacking him.

Blake:  It must have worked. The furry little beast basically behaved herself after that. My wounds healed and the cat and I did become friends.

Vicki:  It quickly became obvious to me that he was nothing more than an unemployed kite flying beach bum who had somehow managed to gain access to my house. Then he tells me he has a signed one year lease. I suddenly felt at a total loss about what to do. I could see all my plans for the summer and returning to the university in the fall for my master's degree moving out of my grasp…out of my control.

Blake:  When I realized what a tough spot she was in, I offered what I thought was a more than fair temporary compromise to get her through the weekend until the owner of the house would be back in town.

Vicki:  His idea of a compromise was suggesting I stay there for the weekend, for me to share the house with this total stranger. I definitely found his offer very troubling.

Blake:  (laughs) She told me she knew karate and had a gun. Friday evening progressed cautiously. But by the time Sunday arrived (reaches over and gives her hand an affectionate squeeze while trying to hide a sexy grin), we had discovered one area of total compatibility.

Vicki:  During the ensuing week he did his best to turn my carefully planned life—

Blake:  She means tightly regimented life with absolutely no room for simple things like enjoying a beautiful sunset—

Vicki:  Let's just say we had vastly differing lifestyles. (furrows forehead in a moment of thought) But underneath that carefree live-for-today outward manner of his, I sensed a level of intense emotional pain that he carried with him. Something he obviously didn't want to acknowledge and certainly didn't want to share. He became more and more of an enigma with each passing day. He seemed to be so busy trying to change my lifestyle while keeping his own inner turmoil hidden away.

Blake:  I have to plead guilty to that. For two years I had been living only for today. Living…actually I was only existing. But my attempts to loosen up her regimented today doesn't matter, only tomorrow counts way of looking at things gradually began to backfire on me. I found myself starting to think about what tomorrow held, what the future could be.

Ah…the art of compromise?

Blake:  Not really compromise. Something more akin to acknowledging that the greatest tragedy of my life had imprisoned my outlook for the future.

Vicki:  Then that day of reckoning, the day I discovered who he had been before he decided to hide behind the façade of a kite flying beach bum and how it nearly destroyed the relationship building between us.

That's quite a statement. What does it mean?

Blake:  (laughs) It means you'll need to read the book.

Vicki:  I second that!

Thank you, Blake and Vicki, for being with us today and sharing a little bit of your story.

SUMMER SIZZLE by Samantha Gentry is available in ebook and print from The Wilder Roses, the Scarlet Rose line of erotic romance at The Wild Rose Press.

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/wildcatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=182&products_id=1066

And other online vendors

BLURB:

He lives only for today…she has eyes on tomorrow.

Growing up, Victoria Templeton watched her mother scrape for every penny and vowed that would never be her. She's become a woman so busy worrying about tomorrow, she doesn't allow time for today. And she has plans for the summer that don't include sharing a house with a carefree beach bum with no ambition, even one with a signed lease and a smokin' hot bronzed body.

The tragic loss of his six year old son caused Blake Callahan to learn the hard way no one is guaranteed a tomorrow. He now lives only for today—wine, women, and flying kites on the beach. Until an uptight female with soulful eyes and mouth-watering curves invades his beach house, claiming it's hers for the summer.

Forced to share the place until the mix-up is straightened out, Blake and Vicki find they have nothing in common…except a sizzling heat that has nothing to do with summer.

PG-EXCERPT #1 (first kiss—publisher's excerpt)

"You know what I think, Victoria Templeton?" His soft voice sounded so very sexy as he moved to stand directly behind her, his nearness sending waves of heated desire coursing through her veins. "I think you've never done a spontaneous thing in your life."

"How dare you make such an assumption!" She whirled around to face him and found herself looking up into his mesmerizing blue eyes. She tried to force a confident tone into her voice, something she definitely didn't feel. "You don't know a thing about me or my situation."

"I'll even go so far as to guess that you don't know how to be spontaneous." He stared at her as if trying to reach inside her head and drag out her thoughts. "You're so busy worrying about tomorrow that you won't allow yourself any time for today."

"You think I don't know how to be spontaneous?" Her words were spoken half in anger and half in disbelief. He had challenged her, something she couldn't allow to go unanswered. She stepped close to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and plastered her mouth against his.

Additional excerpts from SUMMER SIZZLE and information available on my website  www.samanthagentry.com

World's Best Festivals For October 2015

ALBA INTERNATIONAL WHITE TRUFFLE FAIR

Alba, Italy—starting October 11, 2015

Alba is nestled in Northern Italy in the Piedmont region where the harvest period of the white truffle is early October to mid-November. Each year it hosts the Alba International White Truffle Fair, which welcomes international chefs, gastronomy buffs, oenophiles and travelers to taste the decadent, aromatic and wildly exclusive white truffle. At the entrance to the fair, visitors are handed a glass—wine plays a large role in the enjoyment of this festival and of the food itself.

filling a balloon for the hot air balloon festival 

ALBUQUERQUE INTERNATIONAL BALLOON FIESTA

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA—starting October 3, 2015

This is the world's largest hot air balloon festival. For the nine days of this October festival, the Albuquerque skies are filled with more than 500 colorful balloons. Be part of an amazing hot air balloon experience as you walk among the balloons as they lift through the crisp, fall air. I've never attended the Albuquerque festival, but I have attended the very large one in Reno, Nevada—a fun and interesting time. I was surprised at being able to actually walk among the balloons, watch them being filled and readied for launch.

AMSTERDAM DANCE EVENT

Amsterdam, Netherlands—starting October 14, 2015

Every year the Amsterdam Dance Event Festival attracts 350,000 world wide visitors. This is the biggest international club festival and covers the entire spectrum of electronic sub-genres. It features 300 events and 2,000 DJ's over five days in 80 clubs and venues. The program features the biggest artists on the planet along with fresh, upcoming talent and everything in between.

FANTASY FEST KEY WEST FLORIDA

Key West, Florida, USA—starting October 23, 2015

Fantasy Fest is an annual 10-day party in paradise for grown-ups, started in 1979. Each year a new theme is chosen to help inspire out of this world costumes and bone-chilling parade floats. This year's theme is All Hallows Intergalactic Freak Show. You can explore the traditional Halloween route of goblins and ghouls, let your freak flag fly as the bearded lady or the infamous lizard boy, or hop aboard a UFO with your Martian friends. This October, Key West will play host to thousands of haunted, interstellar freaks!

HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

San Francisco, California, USA—starting October 2, 2015

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is an annual free and non-commercial music festival held the first weekend of October in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The festival features over 100 musical artists on 7 stages.

IBIZA CLOSING PARTIES

Ibiza, Spain – starting September 16, 2015

At this time of year, the end of the summer tourist season, the island of Ibiza still has fabulous weather but with a more laid back atmosphere than earlier on in the season. That is, until the night time takes over. Base camp is set up at Ibiza Rocks Hotel, considered party central which means you are never more than five minutes away from your next event.

LA CALACA

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico—starting October 31, 2015

La Calaca Festival is a free and interactive event established in 2012 to celebrate Día de Muertos, the Day Of The Dead. The event features art exhibitions, live music, parades and workshops, all of which are interactive. The event is located in San Miguel de Allende, which is consistently regarded as one of the world’s top travel destinations.

NAVRATRI

Vadodara, India—starting October 13, 2015

Navratri, literally interpreted as 9 nights, is the most celebrated Hindu festival devoted to Goddess Durga symbolizing purity and power or shakti. Navratri festival combines ritualistic puja and fasting and is accompanied by dazzling celebrations for 9 consecutive days and nights. Navratri in India follows the lunar calendar and is celebrated in March/April as Chaitra Navratri and in September/October as Sharad Navratri.

NEEWOLLAH

Independence, Kansas, USA—starting October 23, 2015

The Neewollah celebration (Halloween spelled backwards) began in 1919 as a venue to provide positive activities for kids to replace the typical Halloween pranks that occurred in the community of Independence, Kansas. In the beginning the events centered on parades, morning, afternoon, and night on October 31. The parades consisted mainly of decorated cars and carriages. Queens and princesses from area festivals rode in the parades, along with our own Queen Neelah who was selected based on votes bought at a penny each. The Great Depression and World War II interrupted the Neewollah celebration but in 1958 four businessmen revived and elaborated on the Neewollah theme bringing it back as a 3-day celebration.

Today Neewollah is the largest annual celebration in Kansas. The city of Independence will grow from a town of just under 10,000 inhabitants to 75,000 in the final days of the now 10-day celebration. The 1955 movie, Picnic, starring William Holden, Kim Novak, Rosalind Russell, and Arthur O'Connell, was adapted from William Inge's Pulitzer Prize winning play. It was set at the Neewollah festival in the 1920s.

NEW YORK CITY WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL

New York City, New York, USA—starting October 15, 2015

To date, the New York City Wine and Food Festival has raised $8.5 million over its 7 successful years to help fight hunger. It is the only Festival in New York to bring together both legendary culinary icons from around the globe and America’s most beloved television chefs. The festival began as a one-night event in the fall of 2007. In 2008, it was launched as the festival it is today.

OKTOBERFEST

Munich, Germany—starting September 19, 2015

There are many Oktoberfest celebrations held world wide, but this is the original. At precisely 12 noon on Saturday, September 19th, Munich’s mayor taps the first barrel to declare the Wiesn—as the Munich people call it—officially open. The festivities continue until Sunday, October 4th, 2015. It all started with a horse race on August 17, 1810, staged by the national guard for the people to mark the wedding of the Ludwig Crown Prince of Bavaria (later King Ludwig I) to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The race was such a success that it was staged again the following year. From 1870 onwards the event grew larger and in 1896 the very first beer tents were erected. They sold only beer brewed in Munich, a tradition which has remained to the present day. Due to lack of space the horse races which started it all were held for the last time in 1936.

THE VILLAGE HALLOWEEN PARADE

New York City, New York, USA—starting October 31, 2015

This year marks the 42nd annual Parade. In 1974, the parade was started by Greenwich Village mask maker and puppeteer Ralph Lee as a walk from house to house in his neighborhood for his children and their friends. After the second year of this local promenade, Theater for the New City stepped in and produced the event on a larger scale as part of their City in the Streets program. After the third year, the Parade formed itself into a non-profit organization and produced the Parade on its own. Today the Parade is the largest celebration of its kind in the world and has been picked by Festivals International as The Best Event in the World for October 31. Now, 40 years later, the Parade draws more than 60,000 costumed participants and spectators estimated at 2 million.

TREASURE ISLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL

San Francisco, California, USA—starting October 17, 2015

Treasure Island Music Festival is an annual two day music festival that takes place on Treasure Island, located in San Francisco Bay. The first day of the festival consists of electronica and hip hop/rap influenced performers and the second day consists of rock and indie rock influenced performers. Parking on the island is limited so a shuttle service is provided from AT&T Park to the island. The organizers also claim this reduces traffic congestion on the island. The Treasure Island Music Festival has also been noted for its emphasis on reducing carbon emissions. Organizers provide zero emission bus services to the island from the city of San Francisco and emphasize the use of composting.

VOODOO EXPERIENCE

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA—starting October 30, 2015

Voodoo is a musical gumbo stirring together music, art, community, cuisine, and everything else under the sun (and above the Louisiana swamps). The Experience attracts the mystics, madmen, femme fatales, gods, goddess, and music lovers of all kinds under one concept known as The Ritual.

For anyone deciding to visit any of these festivals…have a great time!

10 SURPRISING THINGS SPOTTED WITH SATELLITES

Phytoplankton Bloom Off The Coast Of Argentina

Satellites have become integral to our daily lives, such things as telephone, television, internet, weather forecasts, gps tracking just to name a few.  And with the launching of the Hubble telescope we can now see millions of light years into the vastness of space.  And we can't overlook those scientific discoveries including rediscovering things long forgotten and/or overlooked.

Phytoplankton Blooms

It's kind of bizarre to think that some of the smallest living things on Earth can make a display that you can see from space. In August of 2012, NASA's Aqua satellite captured some remarkable images of a massive phytoplankton bloom surrounding Russia's Novaya Zemla island. These particular plankton contain plates of a calcium-containing mineral that give them a bright blue color, and when they gather in massive numbers they make an incredible visual image. Temperature and salinity conditions have to be absolutely right to trigger this phenomenon, so capturing it this clearly is pretty amazing [above image].

Hundreds Of Sunken Ships

Much of the ocean is resistant to satellite photography because we don't have cameras powerful enough to penetrate those depths from space. However, there are still amazing things to be seen in the shallows, such as the ghost fleet of Mallows Bay. At the start of World War I, the United States needed to quickly build transport vessels. In April of 1917, 1000 ships were ordered to be built. By the end of the war, the boats had become obsolete and eventually they were sunk to the bottom of the Potomac River at Mallows Bay. From space, the ship graveyard is a striking and amazing sight.

A Marijuana Farm

If you're doing something illegal, it used to be sufficient to put up a fence and keep prying eyes out. But when the eyes are in the sky, things change. Spotting marijuana growths from small planes has been common practice for quite a while. But the owners of a massive marijuana growing operation in Switzerland found that out the hard way in 2010 when Google Earth satellite images revealed their pot fields. Police in Zurich discovered the two-acre field by chance while looking up the address of area farmers, and quickly moved in for the bust. Sixteen people were arrested and over a ton of marijuana was impounded.

Kazakh Geoglyphs

The people of the ancient world did some things that still confound us today. One of the most perplexing is the practice of creating geoglyphs—massive drawings in the earth that are too large to be comprehended from the ground, but show up clear as day from high above. The Nazca lines of southern Peru are the most famous. In 2014 archaeologists happened across a completely new set of geoglyphs in Kazakhstan. The drawings, which depict a number of different geometric shapes, have yet to be explained.

A Hidden Rain Forest

It's well-known that the truly wild areas of the planet are dying at a rapid rate, but satellite imagery can often reveal hidden oases that mankind hasn't managed to ruin…yet. That happened in 2005, when scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens were going over Google Earth images from Mozambique. At the top of Mount Mabu, isolated by steep slopes, was one of the largest untouched rain forests that scientists had ever seen. Villagers had used the site to hide from the civil war that rocked the nation, but aside from that it was on no map and not recognized by the government. Three years later, an expedition found previously undiscovered plants and animals there.

Lost Egyptian Pyramids

One of the most frustrating parts of the archaeologist's craft is having to guess about ancient civilizations buried beneath the surface. Egypt, with its constantly-shifting sands, is especially tough. Thankfully, satellites equipped with infrared cameras have changed the game completely. In a 2011 survey of the country, heat-sensing photography was used to reveal the shapes of seventeen lost pyramids, as well as thousands of other buildings buried beneath the desert.

A Methane Hot Spot

Satellites don't just take photos of things we can see with the naked eye. Their advanced sensors allow them to record wavelengths we can't perceive. That's how we found an enormous packet of the greenhouse gas methane hovering over the American southwest. The Four Corners area, where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet, is a hotbed of natural gas extraction. Scientists believe that the methane was released as a side effect of that industry, and claim that it's equivalent to the entire greenhouse gas output of Sweden.

A Meteor Crater

One of the coolest things about satellite surveillance is that it allows us to see things that would be virtually invisible from the ground. Case in point: the crater from one of Earth's most recent meteor impacts, a scant 5,000 years ago. Measuring just 150 feet wide, this tiny hole in Egypt was first noticed in 2008. But it wasn't until a team analyzed Google Earth images in 2010 that they realized what makes it unusual. The site is what's known as a "rayed crater," featuring lines of lighter-colored rock emanating from the impact area. These craters are common on the Moon but typically eradicated by erosion on Earth, so it's an advantage to science to find a new one.

A New Species Of Hominid

One of the most fascinating discoveries in the history of paleontology—a completely new hominid species that fills in information about the evolution of Homo sapiens. In 2007, South African professor Lee Berger was using Google Earth to examine caves around the so-called "Cradle of Humanity" area of South Africa when he started to notice a pattern. Following it out, he marked 500 other sites that he thought had the potential to produce fossils. The next year, he started to explore them on foot, and one gave up an incredible find: the first bones of Australopithecus sediba, a species that some believe might be the missing link between man and ape.

A Mars Lander

Let's look away from Earth and cast our attention to our nearest planetary neighbor for a look at a mission gone wrong. In 2003, the European Space Agency launched a mission to Mars that involved landing an unmanned craft called the Beagle 2 to take samples and return data. Unfortunately, after launch the ESA lost contact with the Beagle and it vanished into space. A dozen years later, NASA staff operating the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's cameras spotted an anomaly on the planet's surface. Upon investigation, they realized they had found the long-missing Beagle 2. The craft's solar panels had failed to open, resulting in mission failure, but it's been sitting on Mars this whole time.