Halloween is my favorite holiday and this couldn’t be a better timing for my bittersweet ghost story “What Cannot Follow” to be online in issue #72 of Fireside Magazine!

It features an amazing narration by C. S. E. Cooney that perfectly captures the feeling of the story.

The main question that inspired the premise was: What makes a family? I believe that sometimes we can find greater closeness and tenderness in people we are not related to. And that is an idea that gives me hope against the loneliness inside.

I was born and raised in Greece, where Halloween is not celebrated–although we do have our own day, dedicated to remembering the dead called The Saturday of Souls.

I’ve always thought of Halloween as a holiday that makes us more mindful of our mortality in the hopes that we’ll make, even temporarily, some peace with it. And what better way to fight that ancient fear by celebrating this Holiday with loved ones?

I hope you enjoy the story and Happy Halloween!