Ah, autumn. My favourite season. I love the soft tingling in the air, the cold wind that is not yet the intense, biting frost of winter, just a hint of it and all the colours painting nature to look like a sunset. Even as the leaves fall and the trees become barren, I love autumn. I love how people are starting to pile on sweaters, scarves and beanies and staying so warm and comfy. I adore the fact that we’re spending more time indoors and enjoying cosy activities like puzzles and reading. Or, well, at least me and my friends are, I don’t know about the general population.

One of my absolute favourite things about autumn, however, is Halloween. Even when I’m swamped with deadlines, I look forward to the cheap candy, tacky costumes and silly decorations. I look forward to rewatching Beetlejuice and listening to the entire Corpse Bride soundtrack on loop for weeks. My favourite podcasts do their fun Halloween specials about traditions around the holiday, fascinating women who have been accused of partaking in the occult and historic crimes tied to the dark and eerie time of year. I thrive as I read my favourite works in gothic horror and academic thrillers. But unfortunately, my celebrations and intricate rituals get interrupted by something: Christmas.

Finland is not exactly known for bright and sunny winters, so I understand why we would take every excuse to celebrate something. Celebrating and having fun ease up the dark and gloomy months of the year, and we do need a balance within all of it. But why, oh why on earth do stores put out Christmas stuff in September? Why can I not enjoy my silly little dress-up holiday full of fake spiderwebs and capes that feel like plastic before I have to see Santa and his little elves propped up on every shelf? And especially if we truly take every reason to celebrate something, why would we overlook a fun little holiday in October for one that is still months away? Besides, celebrating Christmas well before its time takes away from how special it should feel in December. I want to feel enthusiastic about it, but after being unwillingly subjected to “the Christmas spirit” and the decorations and the gingerbread-flavoured everything and listening to holiday music for far longer than necessary, I find it quite challenging to get as excited as I want to get.

Sure, Christmas is nice and warm and cosy and sweet and people get time off from work and all that but like does that mean we need to hype it up for three months? I get so tired of looking at the advent calendars and decorations in every damn store I go to. And like do not get me wrong, I have nothing against Christmas itself, just the marketing aspect of it starting so early. Christmas is a family holiday that I cherish like I was still a five-year-old waiting for presents and has its own rituals and soundtracks, but it’s not meant to go on for three months straight. So why should stores start blasting Christmas ads before we’ve had the chance to enjoy autumn and the costumes that people put on for Halloween parties? December is cold and icy up here so the holiday season being cosy and sweet makes sense. But some of us want to enjoy the gloom and eeriness that come with the dark nights in October.

It's not an obligation for everyone to celebrate Halloween, or even like it for all I care. That is a thing where I can disagree with someone and still love them the same. Who cares. And if some people want to start buying Christmas presents in October, sure, go for it. I started knitting a sweater for my brother because he desperately needs a new one and making those takes a while. But I don’t want every store to stack all the jolly Santa figurines and snowmen in their little globes out before November. I want holidays to have their own dedicated times. Yes, I am currently thinking about Christmas, but as I sit in my room knitting the sweater, I still listen to the Corpse Bride soundtrack or a poetry collection by Edgar Allan Poe because this time of the year is dedicated to those in my household. I wish to celebrate Halloween in piece without Walking in the Air looming in the background, let alone that one Mariah Carey song that I choose to leave unnamed lest it starts playing in my head already. Nothing against either song, but things like that, belong in a later part of the year. That way I’ll have time to enjoy them, especially The Snowman and give them their flowers without being sick of them by the time it’s December.

To celebrate the season, I dedicate this issue of BTSB to the end of October, Halloween and its rightful place among the holidays near the end of the year. Just in time before all Hallow’s eve, our editors have prepared a devilishly delicious array to feast on this October. Minja graces us with two magnificent poems, one about a mysterious black owl and the other about the habitants of a Victorian mansion. Liisa invites you to explore the depths of a cave in a captivating short story that you just cannot seem to stop reading, while Robi takes you along to appreciate the windows of one’s soul, the eyes and all that they reveal about the person. Sara writes an intriguing poem that twists and turns around desperation. And, making their BTSB debuts, Cilla has drawn us a wonderful picture of a scarecrow and Valo has written a little description of living in a haunted house. Joining them are two other debutants, Ronja, who writes a fascinating retelling of Hansel and Gretel and Anni, who shares her thoughts on a different horror altogether, modern dating. With this crimson carnival of thrills never seen before, let us enjoy Halloween in all its glory: all of the fake teeth, plastic jack-o'-lanterns and inaccurate depictions of Frankenstein’s monster.