A Month of Treats: Interview with Birthday boy (& ghost) - Logan Keeley

Welcome to week three of A Month of Treats! Julie from My 5 Monkey's is celebrating witches with an interview with Carrier of the Mark author Leigh Fallon.

Today is Logan Keeley's birthday! For those of you not in the know - he's from Jeri Smith-Ready's popular Shade series. Logan, in a tragic event (moment of stupidity), died and became a ghost on his birthday....but he's not going to let a little thing like that get him down! 

What better way to celebrate A Month of Treats and Logan's birthday than with an interview with a real ghost! & a giveaway of course!

I have my pal Brooke from Brooke Reports joining me today. She LOVES Logan so I asked her to join in the fun.

Karen & Brooke: Happy Birthday Logan! *smothers you in hugs & kisses* What are your plans for the big day?
Logan: THANKS! (<<especially for the hugs & kisses)

I'm having a #forever17 party on Twitter, and you should TOTALLY come! If you tweet me (@keeley_logan) a music video, you can be entered to win free CDs, some Keeley Brothers swag, and a signed hardcover of ENTHRALLED: PARANORMAL DIVERSIONS. I have a story in that anthology, even though it's pink and has a picture of a girl on the front. She's pretty cute, so that's okay.


Karen: Find all the details on Jeri's Blog. Logan will be on Twitter at 9pm (Joined by Zachary at 10pm) for a #SHADEboys chat until midnight. Follow the boys: @keeley_logan @moore_zachary

K & B: You died wearing your Quicksilver cargo shorts so you're stuck in them forever, what do you wish you were wearing that night?

L: No no no, I'm wearing those forever because it's what I was wearing at the happiest moment of my life (which was, uh, about twenty minutes before I died--IRONY!).

K & B: (Our dear, sweet innocent Brooke was pondering what it would be like if you were in your birthday suit)

L: THAT'S MY ANSWER! For obvious reasons.

K & B: Since I asked you to stop by to help celebrate A Month of Treats, Brooke and I have a few Halloween themed questions we wanted to ask you.

L: OK, but you know how much I hate talking about myself. #LIESLIESLIES (<<AUUGH!! Ghost-honesty hashtag followed me from Twitter!)

K & B: As a ghost you're in a unique position to celebrate Halloween. Now you are one of the things that go bump in the night. Does that feel weird? How do you celebrate the holiday? Do you just stay in and watch scary movies or do you go out trying to annoy pre-shifters or haunt things?

L: Well, it’s funny. Trick or treaters are pretty tough to scare, because they see ghosts all the time. (For folks who don’t know, in my world everyone roughly seventeen and under—who call themselves post-Shifters because they were born after the Shift—can see and talk to ghosts, but no one else can.)

BUT the good part is, on Halloween lots of post-Shifters get the urge to play tricks on older people. And I help them with that. See, pre-Shifters are still pretty freaked out at the fact that there are all these ghosts around that they can’t see. I know, because I am a pre-Shifter. It’s so creepy—I’d be talking to one of my younger friends or my girlfriend, and they’d suddenly start zoning out watching a ghost. Of course, sometimes they’d pretend there was one there when there wasn’t. Not that I could tell the difference.

Anyway, it’s fun to be on the other side of the creep factor for once. Sometimes.

K & B: Hey! Did you ever go to Disney World? You could totally get a job on the Haunted Mansion Ride!

I did! But would you believe they BlackBoxed that sucker so real ghosts can’t get in? (To the Haunted Mansion, I mean, not all of Disney World.)

K & B: Are you a fan of the trick or the treat? I bet the Keeley Brothers got into a lot of trouble as kids! Did you ever pull any good Halloween pranks?

L: Yes. Our lawyer tells me not to talk about it.

Karen: That bad huh?

K & B: Speaking of treats - do you have a favorite Halloween candy?

L: I’m not a huge chocoholic, so I’m more about the candy corn and the caramel apples and the roasted pumpkin seeds.

Not Necco Wafers, though. Why do those things even EXIST?


Karen: roasted pumpkin seeds.....mmmmm

K & B: Casper the Ghost……friendly or creepy?

L: Movie version? Friendly. Cartoon? Creepy. I know, most people think it’s the opposite, but I don’t trust anyone who smiles THAT much.

K & B: We know how much you love attention but your options for fame are a little limited now because of your ……ahem….condition. What if General Mills calls you one day (pretend you can answer the phone). Do you accept the offer to become the new face on their box of Halloween "Boo berry" cereal? Get it? BOO….cuz you're a ghost?? Too tacky?

L: I’d have to talk to my agent about that. But your question inspired me to use about half a dozen Boo-Berry pics as my Twitter avi this month, so GO YOU!

Karen: Thanks Logan! Enjoy all the love and attention coming your way today before The Woman Upstairs takes you on a short vacation while she finishes writing the conclusion to the Shade trilogy....SHINE.

As a birthday gift from me to you - well you can't really use much - so more of a gift "in honor of your birthday" I'm donating $1 for every comment up to $50 to VH1 Save The Music Foundation. I know music is a big part of your life/death (sorry)!

The VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education in America's public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child's complete education. Since its inception in 1997, the VH1 Save The Music Foundation has provided $48 million in new musical instruments to 1,800 public schools in more than 100 cities around the country, impacting the lives of over 1.8 million children.

So make me broke people! Leave a comment! Wish Logan a happy birthday and don't forget to join Jeri's all day Forever 17 Birthday Bash! ( #forever17 on Twitter) Details HERE

As always there's a giveaway!

Enter using the Rafflecopter form below!

Winner chooses from the following selection of spooky books:

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions - Anthology/various authors including Bridge by Jeri (includes signed book plate if you choose this book)
Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready (includes signed bookplate if you choose this book)
Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon
Wolfsbane by Andrea Creamer

International entries welcome!
Giveaway ends 10/30 All Month of Treats winners announced on 10/31!

**BOO** It's all about the Ghosts!

Every Friday My 5 Monkey's and I are having a GRAB BAG GIVEAWAY as part of the 

Month of Treats festivities.

PRIZE

A bag of Halloween candy treats and a $5 Amazon Gift Card

US ONLY - Leave a comment with your email and a winner will be announced tomorrow!

Extra Entries:

+2 if you follow this blog through GFC
+2 if you follow My 5 Monkey's

Since it's ghost week we're naming our Favorite Ghosty things!

Ummm.....this is embarrassing. I don't have a lot of favorite ghosty things.

I suppose I enjoyed the movies Ghostbusters, Ghost and Casper when they came out but I don't consider them favorites. For books I love Stacia Kane's Downside Ghost series and Stacey Kade's Ghost and the Goth series.

My favorite actual ghost (is there such a thing??....yes there is!) is Logan Keeley from Jeri Smith-Ready's Shade series. Perfect reading for the Halloween season....hint....hint....
I love that boy in all his self absorbed glory! In fact, he'll be stopping by for an interview on his birthday - October 18th!

Follow the #SHADEboys on twitter: @keeley_logan & @moore_zachary
Share in the bromance, the fights, the SHINE & SHATTERED teasers......

I MAY have had a real life ghost encounter. You be the judge. I posted this story when I first started blogging so those of you have been following me for a while may experience a case of deja vu.....

Cue spooky music......

When I was very young I used to play out in my yard along a rose bush hedge that separated our yard from my neighbors. I knew them a little – they would let me play under their Weeping Willow tree and sometimes invited me in for lemonade.
One day while I was playing on my side of the rose bushes an elderly woman in a long white dress came up to me and started talking. She asked me what game I was playing, talked about the roses and talked about the people who lived in the neighborhood. She said it was nice to meet me and left.
I didn’t think too much about it (this was in the early 70’s by the way…no weirdo kidnappings and neighbors were still friendly – my mom watched me through the kitchen window) I told my mother about the woman but she said she hadn’t seen anything and she probably thought I was making it up. I was an only child so I did tend to have a bit of an imagination!
A few weeks had passed when my neighbor’s invited me in for a drink after a day of playing under the Willow tree. While in their house I saw a picture on the mantle of the woman I had talked to and told them about our conversation. Well – they completely freaked out! They kept asking if I was sure it was her. I was positive because I didn’t know anyone else that old at the time other than my grandmother. It turned out the woman was their mother who had died the year before. The things the woman had told me were things that only she would know about their family. Not something a 12 year old would know on her own.
My neighbor’s brought me home and had a heated discussion with my mother. I have no idea what they said……but they never talked to me again. They still let me play in their yard but they never offered me a drink or came out to talk to me again.

I’m still not sure I actually saw a ghost and nothing like that ever happened to me again so you can interpret that story as you wish …but there it is!

Be sure to follow and enter all the month's giveaways HERE!

And don't forget to enter over at My 5 Monkey's too!!

Comment to win!

What are your favorite ghost movies? TV shows? Books? or Have you ever had a ghostly encounter?

**THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED** The winner is Diana.

Next grab bag giveaway Friday October 14th!

A Month of Treats: Interview with Author Stacey Kade!

Welcome to week one of a Month of Treats, co-hosted with my friend Julie from My 5 Monkey's!

It's GHOST WEEK! and I'm kicking things off with part one of our interview with Stacey Kade, author of the The Ghost and the Goth and the sequel Queen of the Dead. This is an amazing series that keeps getting better so be sure to check it out. (my reviews: The Ghost and the Goth, Queen of the Dead)

After being sent back from the light, Alona Dare - former homecoming queen, current Queen of the Dead - finds herself doing something she never expected: working. Instead of spending days perfecting her tan by the pool (her typical summer routine when she was, you know, alive), Alona must now cater to the needs of other lost spirits. By her side for all of this - ugh - “helping of others” is Will Killian: social outcast, seer of the dead, and someone Alona cares about more than she’d like. (YA)

Welcome to For What It's Worth Stacey!

Karen: Do you have a favorite Halloween memory?

Stacey: I begged and begged to be Spiderman when I was four or five. And God bless my open-minded parents, they let me. No girly princess costumes for me that year, lol.

K: Do you prefer tricks or treats?

S: Treats!

K: What is your favorite Halloween candy?

S: Those little Reeses's Peanut Butter cups shaped like pumpkins.

K: Do you have any fears or phobias?

S: Too many to list! But the one people seem to find most interesting/absurd is my fear of birds. I don't like them anywhere near me. Flapping wings. *shudder*

Karen: I love animals but I'm afraid of ducks & geese. They hate me! They chase me down and try to attack. My husband never believed me until a duck chased me all through the zoo once. lol

K: What is your favorite scary movie or book?

S: I know it's ridiculous given what I write, but I don't actually like scary books or movies! That being said, I read and loved World War Z, even though it kept me up at night. And I don't know if it counts as a scary movie or not, but I love Disturbia.

Karen: World War Z....good choice! It was creepy on a lot of levels. I hope the movie is just as good.

The infamous Spiderman costume!

K: What is your best, worst or funniest costume you've ever worn?

S: I think the Spiderman year takes the cake. At a convention once, I went as a serving wench. That was not fun. :)

Karen: Thank you for sharing your Halloween memories, fears and pictures Stacey! Read part two of Stacey's interview tomorrow on Julie's Blog where she answers the all important question...."It's the end of the world. Who would you prefer to battle against? Witches, zombies, werewolves, vampires or ghosts?" and another giveaway of course!

About Stacey:

As an award-winning corporate copywriter, Stacey Kade has written about everything from backhoe loaders to breast pumps. But she prefers to make things up instead.

From her first childhood scribbles about a magical necklace that would turn people into cats, Stacey has long been fascinated with what happens when the “ordinary” bumps up against “out of this world.” What if aliens landed on Earth? What if the afterlife is really just another dimension?

She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg, and their three retired racing greyhounds, Joezooka (Joe), Tall Walker (Walker) and SheWearsThePants (Pansy). When she’s not reading or writing, you’ll likely find her parked in front of the television with her Roswell DVDs, staring rapturously at Jason Behr.

*Mark your calendars for Body & Soul - book three in the Ghost and the Goth trilogy - Available May 29, 2012! Also, check out Stacey's hilarious interpretation of the cover for Body & Soul

Find Stacey on: Website, Twitter,

Now for the first giveaway!

Enter using the form below for a ghostly giveaway!

Winner chooses one book from the following selection:

Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Ends 10/30! All Month of Treats winners announced on 10/31!


ENTER USING THE FORM AFTER THE JUMP!!