Haunting the Writers Place on Saturday!

Annual KaCSFFS Halloween Party and Meeting is October 20
Where: The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64111
When: Saturday, October 20, 2018
Time: 6:00 p.m. - Setup; 7:00 - Readings begin
Food Theme: Seasonally appropriate food

Sean Demory has read for a KaCSFFS Halloween before.
Also shown: David Means, Allison Stein, Sherri Dean.

Come for the Readings . . .
Two distinguished local authors will bring some of their spookier works of short fiction to share with us.

KaXFEN may remember being riveted by the marvelous reading voice and fascinating fiction of Sean Demory, from last year. What's the plan for this year? "I'll potentially be reading something old, something new and something very new depending on time," he said.

Aaron Hollingsworth will read from
The Apothecary of Mantua:
A SupernaturalSequel to Romeo & Juliet.

Aaron Hollingsworth has been a KaXFAN, but this'll be his first time reading for a KaCSFFS meeting. He's chosen selections from The Apothecary of Mantua: A Supernatural Sequel to Romeo & Juliet.

Stay for the Party . . . 
KaCSFFS Halloween Parties are a tradition for the October meeting. Many of us love to wear costumes (what better opportunity, right?), but don't feel you must. If you'd rather come and enjoy the results of others' labors, there probably will be plenty of fun costumes to admire (admirers are always welcome!)

Glimpses from past Halloween Party Meetings: L-R Corey Barber, the Means Family, Susan Ives, and Carol Doms.

And bring food!
KaXFEN also love to eat. Whether it's trick-or-treat themed goodies, hearty autumn fare, or some kind of pumpkin marvelousness, please bring food to share!

The Halloween Party food table in 2014.

PHOTOS: The photos of Sean Demory at last year's Halloween meeting, those in the Haloween Costume montage, and the photo of the food table all were taken by Jan S. Gephardt, for the purpose of KaCSFFS publicity. If you'd like to use it, please attribute Jan, and provide a link back to this blog post. The photo of Aaron Hollingsworth is courtesy of Aaron's Facebook Author Page.

Scary stories, snacks and KaCSFFS Halloween Party

What: Monthly KaCSFFS Meeting
When: Saturday, October 21, 2017, 7:00 p.m. (6:00 set-up)
Where: The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64111
Food Theme: Scary Snacks for Halloween 

New featured program: Scary stories!
Our own Earline "Cricket" Beebe (also president of our local Horror Book Club) has arranged for local authors Sean Demory, Jack Campbell, Jr., and Sherri Dean to read some of their scary stories for us!

L-R: Sean Demory, Jack Campbell, Jr., and Sherri Dean, our authors giving readings of their scary short fiction.

Costumes (optional) for fun
At the start of the month we urged any and all readers who would be in the Kansas City area to consider wearing a costume and/or bringing a scary snack to the Annual Halloween and Monthly KaCSFFS Meeting. We hope you've been thinking and planning!

Here are some of the costumes worn to the 2014 KaCSFFS Halloween Party and Monthly Meeting.

Costumes make for colorful, interesting photos--but the main thing is please come! That's why costumes are optional: not everyone likes dressing up. If you don't, don't worry about being the odd one out. There are always members present who don't dress up, for a variety of reasons. We want everyone to come!

"Scary" snacks and decorated gourds

Find recipes for (L-R) Fruit Monsters, Screaming Donuts, and Oreo Spiders at sources listed at the bottom of the post.

Food is always welcome at any KaCSFFS meeting, but seasonally appropriate goodies for Halloween, while themed for the season or scary-looking, also must be safe to eat! For the sake of those among us with food allergies or dietary restrictions, please list ingredients of home-made goodies or bring package information if you bought them. Please also remember that some of us are diabetic, so soft-pedal the sugar! Thanks!

We also encourage all who wish to bring them to share their decorated pumpkins or gourds with the group. We'd love to gather enough imaginative gourd/pumpkins to do a group photo. Please also give us your thoughts on whether this should become a contest category!

Halloween: not just for traditional Jack-o-Lanterns anymore! How creative can YOU get?

Tabletop games are welcome!
We always try to encourage members bringing their favorite tabletop games to play. Ideal playing time is about 30-90 minutes. Board games or card games are equally welcome--especially if you have something seasonally appropriate!

Bylaws note:
The edited "Is-this-one-good?" draft of the new KaCSFFS Bylaws should be available to all dues-paid members via the KAXFEN list by the time we have our Halloween meeting/party. Remember, we're trying to have it finalized in time for a formal vote at the December meeting, but we are conducting our discussion online, NOT spending time on it at meetings. Please read this draft over and add your comments in a written format so your Board can consider your thoughts!

IMAGES: Many thanks to Jan S. Gephardt's Artdog Adventures for the photo of Sean Demory (the original source-page on the Johnson County Library website has since been removed!), Jack Campbell, Jr.'s website for his author photo, and Sherri Dean's NobleFusion profile for her author photo. The photo of the 2014 costume lineup is by Jan S. Gephardt, taken for KaCSFFS publicity purposes. If you post it elsewhere online, please include an attribution and a link back to this page as your source. Our "scary treats" montage is made up of Fruit Monsters from Listotic's post, "15 Super-Easy Halloween Treats to Make" plus Oreo spiders and screaming donuts from It'sAlwaysAutumn's post "20 Halloween Treats to Make with Your Kids." Check them out: Both include many more ideas, with recipes. Many thanks also to, L-R, Tiffany Jones Interiors, Lowe's, and Lowe's, (note: the Lowe's information includes how-to guidelines!)for the funky gourd-and-pumpkins lineup!

To costume, or not to costume?

What will YOU be, for Halloween?
Perhaps you're among the creative people who've never stopped pondering that question, even after grade school (while everyone else got "serious" and kinda boring).

L-R: 2011 Costumes by Robin W. Bailey, Jeff Orth, and Tanya Holthouse. 

Significant portions of KaCSFFS are right there with you! We have just a few short weeks till October 21, 2017, and our traditional, costumes-optional celebration of the Spooky Season, starting with setup at 6:00 p.m. at The Writers Place in Kansas City, MO. Only a few weeks to plan scary snacks, too! 

L-R: 2011 Costumes by Inger Myers, Sherri Dean, Samantha Myers, and James Hollaman.

We hope this mini-gallery of photos from past KaCSFFS Halloween Parties will help to inspire you!

L-R: Costumes from 2013 by Jeff Orth and Tanya Holthouse ("Breaking Worst"), and an unidentified 2011 werewolf.

If you'll be in Kansas City October 21, 2017, we hope you'll put the KaCSFFS Halloween Party on your calendar!

L-R: Costumes by Corey Barber, 2013; The David and Marisa Means Family, 2011; Susan Ives and Carol Doms, 2013.  

PHOTOS: All photos in this post were taken by Jan S. Gephardt or Ty Gephardt for KaCSFFS publicity purposes, with the permission (indeed, usually the cooperation) of the subjects. These photos may be re-posted online with an attribution and a link back to this post as the source.