From all of us at Fierce and Nerdy.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m prone to nightmares, so I’m not a huge fan of being scared. Usually if I read a horror novel, it has to have more than chills going for it. I want to be entertained, I want to be put in a thrall of “then what happened?” — horror novels more than any other kind have to earn their keep with me. Think Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, masters of horror, who know how to both entertain and keep a reader hooked in. This is the only explanation I can give for why I resisted the work of Tananarive Due for so long, even after my good friend, Tamara, whose taste I trust implicitly, recommended her work to me our senior year of college. By that point I wasn’t even reading King, Koontz, and Straub anymore, having moved on to the then-exploding market of black women’s fiction. As an emerging woman attending an all-women’s college with no romantic prospects in sight, I was most interested in immersing myself in the world of the older black woman’s experience — especially if they were in any way romantic. As it was, when I finally did read my first Tananarive Due novel in my later twenties, I set myself up for a perfect storm of pure horror. For one, I had very recently returned to Stephen King, having just read and loved the first two books in his DARK TOWER series. I was in the library, scouring the aisles for audiobooks which I might listen to while performing the mundane tasks of my dead-end job, when I came across an audiobook called MY SOUL TO KEEP by Tananarive Due, featuring a blurb from none other than King himself. I picked up the...

Just in case you run into one today. From i09: Neuroscientists (and longtime zombie fans) Bradley Voytek and Timothy Verstynen have. In this just-released, two-part TED-Ed lesson, the two researchers discuss the neuroscience of zombies, and what it can teach us about the links between behavior and the brain. And Part...

Good news! This 10 foot tall Bumblebee costume, complete with flame-thrower hasn’t sold yet. Get prepared for next Halloween super-early. It’s only $9,000 on Etsy! [via i09]...

I expect we’ll be seeing this kind of technology in haunted houses by next year, since we’re pretty much living in the (heart attack-inducing) future. [via...

Forget the books on how to nurture your child. This Halloween concentrate instead on making sure your baby’s Halloween costume is nerdy enough. Below see pictures of babies with truly good parents. And click through to i09 for even more pics. [via i09] Baby Ackbar   Baby Tardis:   Baby Nightmare Before Christmas :   Baby UP:   Baby...

Yes, Sandy is bearing down on the East Coast and will perhaps tear it apart and who knows if kids will even be able to trick or treat this year. But that doesn’t mean you should leave your inanimate objects out of the Halloween fun. Here’s  “Halloween Costume Ideas for Inanimate Objects” by Jeff Wysaski of Pleated-Jeans. [via The Mary...

Oh guys, before we tackle the scary stuff, let me just thank you profusely for the outpouring of love and comments since yesterday’s pregnancy announcement. I’m very lucky to know all of you online and off, and you’ve truly made my entire month. But enough about that. Did somebody say Halloween??? 1. Yet another reason to YOLO all over Halloween this year — here are seven signs we are heading for mass extinction. [i09] 2. Instructions for how to make a wolf suit ala WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE for your kid. I’d make one for Betty, except I’m totally not crafty. I’m also afraid she’d spend an inordinate amount of time chasing our cat around with a fork. [Running With Scissors] 3. I hate dressing up for Halloween, but I love, love, love couples costumes. Here are some ideas just in case you and your partner are still trying to figure out what to be for Halloween. [The Frisky] 4. The horror! The horror! Apparently popular people really do do better in life, but only if you’re a white male. So make sure to buy your favorite misanthropic white male a beer this weekend. [Jezebel] 5. No word on robot maids, yet, but apparently they’ve invented a robot that can carve a jack-o-lantern for you. Um, progress, I guess?...

These tooth-soled “Apex Predator” shoes were designed by Fantich & Young, who used 1050 teeth dentures to bring their creation to life. [via...

Are you interested in death? Like really, really interested in it? Well, here’s a message from Kaitlin of Ask a Mortician fame to let you know that’s totally okay. Call it a Halloween PSA. #themoreyougore! [via The Mary...

…because nothing says you really, really care about Halloween than showing up at a party with open wounds on your leg. Amirite! Get yours for $40 at Laughing Squid. [via Fashionably...

What better way to kick off the week leading up to Halloween than with Christopher Lee reading Tim Burton’s original Nightmare Before Christmas...