Thursday, October 15, 2009

Halloween Competition


I think it’s time I did a giveaway!

Now, seeing as Halloween is fast approaching, I thought it may be a good idea to hear from you—my readers—about any scary stories you may have that has happened to you. Just for a bit of fun.

It can be about anything, from actual ghosts and things that go bump in the night to something more earthly, like being faced with an infestation of mice in the back shed. Whatever!

To get things rolling and to help get you in the right frame of mind, here’s my scary story!

The scariest thing that happened to me was when I was a teenager. I used to keep and breed budgerigars (budgies as we call them here in Australia) in an aviary at the bottom of the garden. The cage was big enough for me to get into, but my movement was limited.

Anyway, one day during the breeding season I did my daily thing of checking the nesting boxes I had placed up high inside the cage. This particular day, when I checked the last box, a huge (as big as my hand—and no, the picture above is NOT me holding said spider!) huntsman spider jumped off the top of the box just as I peered into the hole the birds come out of.

I tell you, I can still remember it like it was yesterday. Everything went in slow motion as the spider jumped onto my face. I screamed and screamed like a girl and what’s more, I had nowhere to move because I was restricted and my hands were holding the nesting box so I couldn’t shoo it off my face.

Thankfully the spider, unperturbed by my fuss, just crawled up to my hair and sat there as if nothing was happening at all and this was it’s new lookout.

I Managed to calm myself and get out of the cage all the while sweating like a race horse and my legs going weak underneath me as the spider made my head its new home.

LOL (I can laugh now) Suffice it to say I have a fear of spiders now…oh, and I don’t keep birds anymore either…

So how do you ‘enter’ this little competition? Simple. Send me your story: mark alders at yahoo dot com (remove words and add symbols to give you a valid email address) or comment on this post. See...simple, hey?

You can then choose a book from my current release list if your story is chosen (randomly) as the winner! So easy, hey? I will also post the wining story with your permission, of course.

Call of the Hunted

Mama’s Heart

The Pauper’s Prize

The Cadet’s Officer

Hope to hear from you. Competition closes midnight on Halloween! Muhahahaaaaaa

5 comments:

Wendy_Ely said...

Great contest, Mark! Maybe I'll do one for Valentines Day since that's my fave. Anyway, I have lots of scary stories (my family is sensitive to the spirit world) but since we blog together, I won't ;)


Wendy

Mark Alders said...

No worries, Wendy! I understand. Hey, thanks for the comment :-)

*hugs*

Mark.

Kathleen Scott/MK Mancos said...

Great idea for a competition. You should put this on your personal blog and your website, plus any loops you belong to. I'll share a story with you, but like Wendy, since we blog together, you can keep my name out of the running.

So, this didn't actually happen to me, but it did happen to my brother when he was a teen. Suffice it to say, I grew up in a haunted house. Everyone in the family had one experience or another in said house. One weekend my father had taken us camping at a park about 20 miles from home. My brother said home alone since he had to work that weekend. Now, my brother is six-one and stocky. In other words, he's a big guy. So, when we get home, on Sunday evening, he's all kinds of freaked out. Seems on Saturday night, really late, he was downstairs in his basement bedroom, getting ready for bed when he heard noises coming from the ground floor. Now, on one was in the house, but he thought maybe someone had broken in. So, he goes upstairs armed and dangerous, only to find nothing there...but the rocking chair rocking in a steady beat back and forth over the carpeted floor as if someone were sitting in it. It scared him so much, he drove to a friend's house to stay the night.

-Kate

Mark Alders said...

Thanks for the comment, Kate! Yep, doing that. All on my blogs and stuff

Great story, too. Ghost stories always intrigue, don't they?

*hugs*

Mark

Alisha said...

Ya'll are scaring me silly! Great blog, Mark! This isn't for the contest..I know it's for your fans...but hey, my house is haunted by the previous owner. He mostly hangs outside in the backyard shed. He built it. My husband likes to smoke out there and piddle around. Sometimes Mr. Crawford slams the door and turns out the lights. It's one of those heavy weighted doors too so it could not be the wind. Michael had to actually have a conversation with Mr. Crawford to chill him out. I just don't think he liked him smoking in his shed but he's calmed down some now. We have lights go on and off all the time. Nothing too scary but my kids are so used it, my five year old will say, "Mr. Crawford? Is that you?" Ha ha. He's really just a fun spirit and likes to let us know he's around.

Hugs,
Alisha

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