Vincent Price no longer makes me Cry

When I was a kid I was terrified of the Thriller song.  Not the dancing zombie part, or the transforming into a creature part, I was terrified of the Vincent Price monologue part. I don’t know why. Maybe it was just his creepy voice that made me imagine that it was what a demon or the devil would actually sound like, but what I do know is that whenever that part of the song would play I would run and hide and hold my hands over my ears. My cousin, who loved tormenting me, discovered my weakness. She would hold me hostage in her closet and play Thriller, specifically the Vincent Price part, at such a loud volume that I couldn't block it out. I would cry and cry and she would laugh and laugh….oh childhood memories.

Friday evening started out with a book launch party. It was the launch of HypotheticalPress’ new book Reading Glasses.

Reading Glasses is a short story speculative fiction anthology.  Many of my talented writing friends have stories in the book so I wanted to show my support for the book by helping out at the event.

 I have to absolutely commend Amy Holiday and Jessica Walsh-Jadach. 

Jessica Walsh-Jadach

They were the event coordinators and the editors of Reading Glasses.  It is rare to find two people who are so organized.  They made helping out a pleasure. 

The party was held at Victorian Savories located at the Voorhees Town Center.

Victorian Savories did an amazing job accommodating the event.  Their cookies are voted best of South Jersey.  The owner is also a published author so she really understood what the book launch needed.

 The party was jumping.

 Writers are really cool people.

Several of the authors read from their stories.

Frankenstein, who was quite the comedian, made a brief appearance during one of the readings.

My job at the book launch was to help out with the giveaways.

 There were some great books and other treats that were up for the winning.

 I had fun announcing the winners. I forgot how much I love being behind a microphone. 

While the book launch party was going on, there was an event going on outside.  Voorhees Town Center was having a Thriller Night. 

There was zombie face painting,

balloon animals by zombie pirate Jeremy,

and this guy.

Many people braved the soggy- mud laden grassy area to view The Nightmare Before Christmas on an outdoor screen.

After the movie they showed the Thriller video on the big screen while students from the Fusion Performing Arts Center did the Thriller dance.

After the first viewing they showed the video again and anyone who wanted to could come up in front of the screen to do the Thriller dance.  Of course author Steampunk Granny Marie Gilbert was up there getting her Thriller on.

 If they do it again next year I might invest the time to actually learn the Thriller dance so that I could join in, but I wouldn’t mind if they decided to do the Time Warp instead.  That’s a little more within my dancing capabilities.

The book launch party was a success. 

The Thriller event was pretty fun, and although I know that part of the point was to drum up business at the mall and center, I think it could have been improved by some food trucks and maybe other vendors selling spooky funky jewelry and other cool wares. I don’t think it would pull business away; I actually think it would attract more people to the event and encourage them to stay longer, or maybe it’s just me wanting food trucks to be at my disposal at all times.

At the end of the night I was pretty proud of myself. I had to listen to the Vincent Price monologue twice. I didn’t have to cover my ears and I wasn’t afraid. Vincent Price no longer makes me cry.