Amanda M. Blake's Blog
October 16, 2025
Halloween playlist: Killers
Today I’m sharing the subsection of the playlist devoted to killers, whether real or fabricated, and victims. A few of them have references or samples to movies, but they felt more applicable to this subsection than the movie reference one.
Killers
“Haunted” – Evanescence“Die, Die My Darling” – Metallica“Lonesome Hunter” – Timber Timbre“The Curse of Milhaven” – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds“Among Us” – Susanne Sundfor“Dead and Lovely” – Tom Waits“The Zodiac” – Kamelot“Ed Gein” – Twisted Insane“Killer Instinct” – Dawn of Ashes“In the Lake” – Emilie Autumn“Tear You Apart” – She Wants Revenge“Trigger Happy Jack (Drive By a Go-Go)” – Poe“Run from Me” – Timber Timbre“Buried” – UNSECRET (feat. Katie Herzig)“Heathens” – twenty one pilots“Predator” – Gadi Sassoon (feat. Elenna Canlas)“Scavenger” – Emilie Autumn“Psycho Killer” – Talking Heads“Criminal” – Unions“The Killing Season (UNKLE Remix)” – Mark Lanegan Band“Happy Birthday” – The Birthday Massacre“I Am Coming to Paris (To Kill You)” – Timber Timbre“Bat Outta Hell” – Twisted Insane (samples from Zombie’s Halloween)“I Want You” – Delain“Should’ve Known” – Erotic (samples from House of 1000 Corpses)“Song of Joy” – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds“Henry Lee” – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (feat. PJ Harvey)“Where the Wild Roses Grow” – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (feat. Kylie Minogue)“Deep Red” – Apoptygma Berzerk“Murder in the Red Barn” – Tom Waits
October 15, 2025
Halloween playlist: Hauntings/Ghosts
Today I’m sharing ghost stories in the form of songs.
Hauntings/Ghosts:
“Ghost House Heart” – Delain“The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)” – Kamelot“There’s a Ghost” – Fleurie“Ghost Town” – Adam Lambert“Haunted” – Poe“In Twilight Hours” – Kamelot (feat. Jennifer Haben)“Ghost Love Score” – Nightwish“Lonely Ghost” – O + S“Haunted” – Kelly Clarkson“House of Leaves” – Poe“Boy and the Ghost” – Tarja“If I Burn” – Emilie Autumn“Ghosts” – James Vincent McMorrow“All is Lost” – Katie Garfield“A Lovely Affair” – Death Cab for Cutie“He Haunts Me” – Extreme Music“Ghost” – Neutral Milk Hotel“Passage” – Vienna Teng“Ghosts of Mulholland” – Emily West“Retrogradation” – Informatik“Everywhere Ghosts Hide” – UNSECRET (feat. Erin McCarley)“HAUNTED” – Isabel LaRosa“The Shirt of a Ghost” – Katie Melua“Dead Boy’s Poem” – Nightwish“Ciaran’s Well” – TarjaOctober 14, 2025
Halloween playlist: Witches/Magic
Witches/Magic:
“Season of the Witch” – Lana del Ray“Blueberry Head” – Tuna Helpers“Elizabeth: i. Mirror Mirror” – Kamelot“Abracadabra” – Lady Gaga“Witchy Woman” – The Eagles“Burning Times” – Inkubus Sukkubus“The Shining Path” – Tristania“The Spell” – Kamelot“She’s My Witch” – LVCRFT (feat. Dani Miller)“Lady Geneva” – Inkubus Sukkubus“Rhiannon” – Fleetwood Mac“Darkened Days to Come” – Sirenia“Liar (Murder Mix) – Emilie Autumn“Threefold Law” – Nemesea“Witches Song” – Juliana Hatfield“Witchcraft” – Frank Sinatra“I Put a Spell on You” – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins“A Night on Bald Mountain” – Modest Mussorgsky“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” – Paul Dukas“The Witches of Eastwick: Devil’s Dance” – Gil Shaham, Jonathan Feldman“Spell Eater” – HuntressOctober 13, 2025
Halloween playlists: Jekyll & Hyde/Phantom of the Opera
The last two playlists were relatively short, so I decided to put them together today rather than create separate posts for them.
Jekyll/Hyde:
“Jekyll & Hyde” – Bishop Briggs“Jekyll & Hyde” – Plumb“Mz. Hyde” – Halestorm“Murder, Murder!” – Jekyll & Hyde OBC“It’s a Dangerous Game” – Complete Jekyll & Hyde“How to Be Dead” – Snow PatrolPhantom of the Opera:
“Phantom of the Opera” – Nightwish“Ghost Opera” – Kamelot“Through the Mirror” – Beyond the Black“Graveyard Violin” – Phantom of the Opera (with Robert Englund)“Passion and the Opera” – Nightwish“Sleepwalker” – Nightwish“Overture” – Phantom of the Opera OBCOctober 11, 2025
Halloween playlist: Werewolves/Beasts
Today, I’m sharing songs related to wolves, werewolves, and general beasts inside (but not monsters, that’s another list):
Werewolf/Beast:
“Mine (Beast of Prey)” – Project Pitchfork“Wild” – Poe“The Beast in Us All” – Inkubus Sukkubus“The Howling” – Within Temptation“Man or a Monster” – Sam Tinnesz feat. Zayde Wolf“Lil’ Red Riding Hood” – Amanda Seyfried“7 Days to the Wolves” – Nightwish“She Wolf” – Shakira“Awooo” – LVCRFT“Animals” – Maroon 5“The Beast” – Lady Gaga“Predator” – Gadi Sassoon (feat. Elenna Cantas)“Varulven (Werewolf)” – Garmarna“Das Tier in Mir Wolfen” – E Nomine“Vicious” – Halestorm“Wolves” – Unions“Hungry Like the Wolf” – Duran Duran“Straight for the Kill” – UNSECRET (feat. Anna Renee)October 10, 2025
Halloween playlist: Devil/Demon
Here we have playlist songs for Halloween that involve the devil, demons, or hell:
“Der Furst der Finsternis” – E Nomine“The Devil Within (Piano Version)” – Digital Daggers“Lessons from the Fire” – Bishop Briggs“all the good girls go to hell” – Billie Eilish“Demonoid Phenomenon” – Rob Zombie“The Devil’s Inside My Head” – Casey Chambers and Shane Nicholson“Devil Man” – Cindy Morgan“The Devil” – Hoyt Axton“March of Mephisto” – Kamelot“Exercise the Demons” – LVCRFT (feat. Bruce Campbell)“Sympathy for the Devil” – Rolling Stones“Tribute” – Tenacious D“Devil Went Down to Georgia” – Charlie Daniels Band“Hells Bells” – AC/DC“Demons” – Imagine Dragons“Highway to Hell” – AC/DC“When the Devil Calls My Name” – LVCRFT“Demon Host” – Timber Timbre“dEVIL” – OhGr“Devils” – Inkubus SukkubusHalloween Playlist: Vampires
I’m posting selections from my personal Halloween playlist on BlueSky right now, with a new theme daily. I thought I’d share each themed post here this month. I feel like I’ve done this before, but I can’t find the post and it was so long ago.
These are far from comprehensive, and there are still albums, songs, and soundtracks that I would like to purchase eventually. I didn’t include some artists that I still play on my list but have engaged in heinous bullshittery. I also didn’t include the Cranberries’ “Zombie.” I’m firmly on the side of it being a horror song, but people feel very strongly about it being on Halloween music lists, because it definitely isn’t a party song (like Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is definitely not a Christmas song).
There are all kinds of music genres here, from musical theater to rap, because I’m more interested in content than genre.
Yesterday, I posted the Vampire list and today I posted the Devil/Demon list, so I’ll do both today here.
Vampire:
“Uninvited” – Alanis Morissette“Love Song for a Vampire” – Annie Lennox“Blood Like Lemonade” – Morcheeba“Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)” – Concrete Blonde“Transylvanian Concubine” – Rasputina“Masquerade Ball”/”Save Me” – Jorne Lande and Trond Holter (whole Swing of Death album, really)“Nosferatu” – Blue Oyster Cult“Love Bites (So Do I)” – Halestorm“Bleed” – Fractured“Master of the Living and the Dead”/”Dracula’s Soliloquy” – Possessed: The Dracula Musical“Possum Kingdom” – The Toadies“Damned and Divine” – Tarja“Vampire” – Xandria“Within My World” – Dracula concept album“Total Eclipse of the Heart” – Bonnie Tyler“Solar Midnite” – Lupe Fiasco“Bela Lugosi is Dead” – Bauhaus“Creatures” – Delain“Enter” – Within Temptation“First Blood” – LVCRFT“Vampires Will Never Hurt You” – My Chemical Romance“Vampire” – Bap Kennedy (added by a recommendation in the replies)Dead man’s arms: Friday Update
News:
My story “Wandering Lights,” about a small town’s post-trick-or-treat ritual, gets second life as a finalist for this month’s Dark Festivities theme at Crystal Lake’s Shallow Waters flash fiction contest. ($5/month tier and up). The original printing was in Halloween Horrors: 13 Tales of Terror, which is free on Kindle Unlimited.
A Coup of Owls Press is trying to drum up backers for their novelette anthologies, and they’re struggling in part because of the US tariffs and customs issues. In sharing what they’re aiming for, they provided some insight into my gritty, grimy, glorious goddess-at-a-gloryhole story Glory to God, which is part of their Dark Paths anthology. If you’d like to help the press out, check out their Kickstarter.
Works in Progress:
I’m at 55K words, aiming for 58K words by the end of the day. I keep upping the anticipated end word count. I’m at 110K now.
I wrote out single-word sections of the book before I started, my version of an outline. There are a total of eight. For some reason I’ve only completed two at this point, and that concerns me greatly. Sure, some of the sections are probably shorter than others, but I’m still worried. I always overwrite in the first draft because of how I warm up into writing. On working days, I’m writing 1K words, but it can take me 500 words to properly warm up, and then before you know it, I’m done for the day and have to do other things. (The warm-up words are not necessarily useless; I’m just more likely to meander while I figure out my direction. I get good stuff out of that sometimes, but not always.) But is the ambitiousness of the story going to take me to Thorns-level first-draft word counts? I feel like I don’t have time for this.
On the other hand, glad that I’m able to write at all in this madness, so… And the story has continued to entertain me, although I’m still afraid it’s too ambitious and won’t stick the landing. It took me years of rewrites to figure out Nocturne, years before I was confident enough to tackle Masque, years before the Dracula reimagining worked the second time around. I’m at the point in my writing career that I’m trying to take on the more complicated stories floating around my head, but I may still not quite be there for everything.
On the other other hand, though, I start to lose patience with not being close to the end of a novel by about this point, a month out. Over two months is pushing it. I wonder if I can get myself to push my daily word count on working days to 1.5-2K…
Books I’m Reading:
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Rose Madder by Stephen King
Things I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Ready or Not
SWAT series
Hannibal series
Where Whatever the F You Want series (finished)
All Creatures Great and Small series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Halloween Baking Championship series
Poem of the Week: (throwback to 2023)
i would never be accused of
wallowing in my own sorrow
but may i render this ground
unhallowed with dripping salt
seeping into the ground soil
downhill of the cursed gallows
from where the mortician carries
my son to grave upon the morrow
October 3, 2025
She devil: Friday Update
News:
Nothing this week either.
Works in Progress:
I managed to reach my goal of crossing 40K words before the end of September on Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8). I should pass 47K words by the end of the day. It’s still a lot of fun, but although my goal word count is 95K words, I suspect I’m going to go well over due to overwriting issues. This is what happens when I have 1K-word days. It takes me five hundred words to properly get back into the scene, and then it takes me five hundred words again the next day, ad nauseum. However, I’m still very pleased with where it is and where it’s going. The center is holding.
Books I’m Reading:
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Rose Madder by Stephen King
Things I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Knock at the Cabin
White Noise
Hannibal series
All Creatures Great and Small series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Halloween Baking Championship series
Poem of the Week:
what do i have to do to get some
eyes in my direction? must i
enucleate the lot, keep them in a
glass jar so that i can direct your gaze?
or would you rather go blind staring
into the sun with cages for your eyelids
so that you cannot blink, only burn?
do i have your attention now?
September 26, 2025
Zombie room: Friday Update
I’m putting up Halloween this week, which is always a good time, and after getting COVID/flu jabs and the accompanying side effects, plus the dog’s gastroenteritis, I needed that little hit of dopamine.
News:
Nothing to share at this point.
Works in Progress:
I miss getting a lot of word count in every week, which allowed me to move forward a lot faster and combat some of my natural impatience, but I’m still glad that the story is working enough for me to cross 30K. I wanted to be halfway through by the end of September, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. I also wanted to be finished before the end of October, but that also doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, which disappoints me. I wanted to be working on We Follow You in the Dark rewrites during Halloween.
But I did get my first chapter in to the publisher so they could put it in at the end of Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) as a teaser, and I sent in the official book information for Never & Forever (M8).
Books I’m Reading:
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Rose Madder by Stephen King
Things I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Hell Fest
Until Dawn
Nope
The Haunted Mansion (2003)
Abigail
Black Phone
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Halloween Baking Championship series
Poem of the Week:
bleached bones in a seated position
against the bone-dry boulder behind
rusted metal in a vehicle frame
a fitting headstone for the former
person who thought waiting for rescue
was easier than picking a direction
