Greetings, you ghastly ghoulies! It’s time to reveal the theme for this year’s Halloween Horrors contributor’s series! However, before we do that, let’s briefly explain what the Halloween Horrors series is, in the rare circumstance that you are just discovering this event for the first time! Ok, maybe it’s not that rare.

I started the Halloween Horrors series back in 2015 as a way for a few friends of the site (most of whom are longtime friends in my “real” life) and myself to celebrate the Halloween season (that so many of us love and eagerly anticipate each new year) with articles, reviews, essays, and personal accounts; highlighting the films that remind us of the Halloween season.  As the series has continued, attracting new contributors each year, I started adding a “theme”; a general guideline that entrants had to attempt to adhere to when selecting the topic that they chose to write about.

As there are only 31 days in the month of October, that means there are only 31 spots available in the Halloween Horrors series. As two of those available spots will be claimed by my wife and I, that means there will only be 29 spots open for potential contributors. I say “only”, but truth be told, we have never actually filled all 31 spots in the previous 5 years of this series. We’ve come close. So close.

Now, with that out of the way, let’s reveal this year’s theme…

Halloween Horrors 2020 

Like many others, I’ve found myself spending some extra time at home this year, thanks to this current COVID-19 situation. To be quite honest, as I now work from home, I rarely leave the place. As such, I’ve had to find ways to curb the onset of cabin fever. For me, help came in the form of a “lot” of Halloween-themed cartoons on VHS tapes that I bought off of eBay. This included titles like The Halloween Tree, The Great Bear Scare, and even the Scooby-Doo! episode “The Headless Horseman of Halloween”! I soon found myself adding in streaming sessions of old network Halloween specials and Halloween episodes of television shows.

Surprisingly, this new “habit” continued on for a few weeks before I realized that the theme for this year’s Halloween Horrors series had been right in front of me all along! All this said, you aren’t reading this post for a story. At least, not right now. So, with no further delay, here’s the rules for Halloween Horrors 2020!

Acceptable Topics

You may write about :

1. ANY made-for-television or made-for-home-video Halloween “Special” or Halloween-themed cartoon. This includes things such as The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Scared Shrekless!, the Halloween episodes of Tales from the Darkside, and even The Fat Albert Halloween Special!

2. ANY Halloween-themed episode of ANY television program/series. I must point out that any contributor hoping to write about The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror episodes or any of the Roseanne Halloween episodes will only be allowed to cover one specific episode and NOT the entire run!

3. ANY made-for-television horror movie of the 1970’s. Some sci-fi and thrillers acceptable. Just email us if you are unsure if your topic would be acceptable.

I know that there are plenty of options available here, but if you have something that you aren’t sure fits the theme or would be allowed, just ask! I very well might accept it.

Claims:

In order to be part of 2020’s Halloween Horrors series, you must “claim” a topic to write about. To do so, email us at Horrorandsons@yahoo.com with the topic that you would like to write about. Please use “Halloween Horrors 2020” in the subject line. YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO CLAIM YOUR TOPIC STARTING AT 3PM EST/12PM PST ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 23RD!!! NO CLAIMS WILL BE ACCEPTED BEFORE THAT TIME!!

Claims will be made on a “first come, first served” basis, with emails looked at in the order in which they were received. If the topic that you wish to write about has not already been claimed by another person, it is yours and no other contributor will be allowed to write about it! If you choose a topic that has already been claimed by another, we will email you back as quickly as possible to notify you and to allow you to choose again! You will have as much time as you’d like to find a new topic to write about, but your spot in the series is not guaranteed and available spots will be given to the next interested participants.

As Horror And Sons is only one person, please be understanding of any delays in response. I’m really trying my best to make this run as smoothly as possible.

Submissions:

All submissions must be at least 600 words long, but you are free to ramble on for as long as you would like. That said, I would recommend keeping your article/essay/review under 3,000 words. I assure you, no one wants to read more than that.

Please include any images that you would like used in your submitted entry, otherwise we will supply the images at our discretion. If you wish to have your submitted images placed in specific places within your piece, please notify us when you submit your entry. Otherwise, we will place them at our discretion.

All submissions MUST received by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, Sept 27th! Any contributors who fail to submit their entry before the deadline will be excluded from this year’s series, as well as any possible promotions related to the series, and will potentially be banned from future Horror And Sons’ Halloween Horrors series events.

I may or may not once again write intros to all of the submissions this year. In the instance that I do, I do ask that any information that you may want disclosed about yourself be included when you email your entry. If you are affiliated with another media outlet (websites, podcasts/webcasts, social media outlets), please let us know so that we can let our readers know about your other projects! You are more than welcome to not disclose any information, in which case, we will just be forced to make shit up about you.

Please be advised that Horror And Sons reserves the right to edit any typos or errors in your submission. However, we sincerely hope that you make every effort to submit a piece that has little to no need for editing. 

Community Spirit:

One of the biggest hopes that I had when I first started the Halloween Horrors series was that it would serve as a “common ground” for horror fans and Halloween lovers to share their thoughts and opinions on what these things mean to them. I always hear talk of a “horror community” or “horror family”, and my hope was that maybe this series would be a way to help bring some of them together.

As such, I have usually included a rule that obligated contributors to not only share the “Theme Reveal” post on their own social media accounts (so as to inform others that may want to contribute or at least read along with the series), but I have also asked contributors to share at least one entry from the series written by someone other than themselves.  As there is always at least 1 or 2 contributors each year that have “issues” with that rule, I will no longer be enforcing it. If you want to share a post, share it! If not, whatever! 

 

Well, I think that’s everything! I hope you enjoy this year’s theme, and I truly hope you will join us, whether it be as a reader or a contributor, when the Halloween Horrors 2020 series begins on October 1st!! Thanks!