Today I have two fabulous posts covering one of my own favorite books, A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. Who knew you could plan a whole meal around the horrors experienced by Merry and Marjorie? Let’s get to it! Also, K.P. Kulski actually has two more delicious horror posts coming soon, so stay tuned in the next week or so to see what else she created!

K.P. Kulski

K.P. Kulski’s short fiction has appeared in Unnerving Magazine, anthologies Not All Monsters and Typhon Vol. 2. She holds an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction, an MA in History and is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and Air Force. She has a special interest in feminist horror, historical horror and stories that examine Korean-American experiences. Her debut novel, Fairest Flesh will be released by Strangehouse Books in December.

She can be found at www.garnetonwinter.com or via twitter @garnetonwinter.

Tell us what horror book you chose to highlight and why it’s a favorite of yours:

When deciding on which books I wanted to use for these blog articles, my husband suggested I should pair Paul Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts with spaghetti sauce. If you’ve read the book, then you know why I promptly laugh-snorted. After I regained my composure, I realized this husband of mine was on to something. I happen to love this book and well… pasta features prominently in it, rendering it a perfect Delicious Horror candidate.

On the surface A Head Full of Ghosts is about a family facing the possible possession of one of their daughters, Marjorie, told from the perspective of the younger daughter, Merry. This is great example of a horror that makes the reader think on a deeper level and I adore it for this reason. There is so much to think about, gender and family dynamics, coming of age, reality television and social media. That’s just scratching the surface. It is just so well done and everyone should read it. (Seriously, get thee a copy now if you don’t already have one.)

What did you decide to make to pair with the book, and what from the book inspired your delicious treat?

I opted to go for a pasta dish that didn’t include spaghetti sauce, for reasons you’ll have to read the book to find out. I settled on Carbonara because 1. I love bacon and 2. Yum. I’ve never made Carbonara before and I’m sure I committed many sins against the dish in my process. I used the recipe I found on bon appetit website, finding it rather straightforward. I felt ready and rolled up my sleeves to create deliciousness.

Then I realized.

I had forgotten to pick up spaghetti noodles.

Friends, I am not easily deterred from making (and therefore eating) dishes that include bacon. I searched my pantry for a solution and ended up using what I had on hand, ziti noodles. While I’m sure I violated some sort of cooking rule, the dish came out quite tasty.

There you have it. My sauce-less pasta creation. May it give you long life.

“Merry” Halloween!

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Becca (astoldbybex)

Mother of cats, baker of treats and crafter of… crafts.

Becca lives in Michigan where she spends a majority of her time surrounded by her four-legged pals, devouring the horror genre in all of its beautiful mediums and playing video games. Since she was raised by a horror-obsessed father, Becca was introduced to the genre at a very young age. She remembers her tiny hands typing blood-soaked poetry on her family’s 98 Windows desktop and publishing them in various Yahoo! groups for the world to see.

Now, Becca just wants to spend her time screaming about her favorite genre while supporting the wonderful humans that continue to conjure up nightmares. You can catch Becca on her blog As Told By Bex and Divination Hollow Reviews sharing book reviews & all things horror! She’s also 1/3 of The PikeCast, a podcast that dives into the world of Christopher Pike.

Tell us what horror book you chose to highlight and why it’s a favorite of yours:

When someone asks for a horror book recommendation, I’m always quick to choose The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. I’m sure to a lot of my pals, I sound like a broken record. And for that reason, I decided to step out for this project and recommend something a bit more modern, but similar.

A Head Full of Ghosts introduces us to the suburban New England family, The Barretts. Everything seems normal, until their fourteen-year old daughter, Marjorie, begins to show symptoms of schizophrenia. From there, things go off the rails; Catholic priests are called in, exorcisms are recommended and the Barretts find themselves the stars of a new reality television show, The Possession.

There’s two things that I love about A Head Full of Ghosts. One would be the format in which Tremblay tells this story. We not only get Merry’s (Marjorie’s younger sister) first-person narrative of the events unfolding, we also get to listen to an interview with an adult Merry, as she discusses what happened. And throughout the read, we get blog posts recapping episodes of The Possession. Having all three perspectives really helps the reader to get even deeper into what’s really happening in the Barrett family.

The second thing I love is something Tremblay often does in his books – leaving the book up to the reader’s interpretation. Was Marjorie possessed? Did she have schizophrenia? It depends on what reader you ask. A Head Full of Ghosts gets inside your head and leaves you feeling extremely uncomfortable, long after you close the book. If you’ve yet to read A Head Full of Ghosts, I strongly urge you to throw it in your cart the next time that you go book shopping.

And, horror fans, Stephen King even says this book scared him – so, if you’re not going to listen to me, at least listen to him.

What did you decide to make to pair with the book, and what from the book inspired your delicious treat?

As mentioned above, I usually recommend The Exorcist and let’s be real – there’s one major food pairing I could have gone with if I was to stick with that. Yes, friends, pea soup. But, no one in this house is going to eat that and therefore, it would just be a waste.

Once I decided that I was going to recommend A Head Full Of Ghosts, I started to remember the ridiculous amounts of Halloween baking/decorating supplies that I’ve purchased in the past and realized that I had so many candy ghosts lying around. And, reader, what’s cuter than a cupcake full of ghosts?

So, no – there’s nothing especially deep about the pairing of cupcakes and A Head Full of Ghosts. I don’t remember a scene where Marjorie and Merry chow down on some baked goods, prior to (or after) spiraling into demonic possession and exorcisms. Cupcakes are simply good, just like this novel by Paul Tremblay.

Can you share the recipe or a link to the recipe?

As much as I love baking from scratch, I also enjoy doctoring up a simple box of Betty Crocker Cake Mix. Replacing water with milk, oil with melted butter (but double the amount!) and an extra egg can really give your cake that straight-from-the-bakery-feel!

Thank you SO much to Becca and K.P.! I adore these posts and had so much fun reading their answers. Find out how to submit a Delicious Horror post of your own here!