Not so very long ago, we found a stack of stories holed up in 826LA's scariest closet. At first glance they seemed to be written by otherworldly ghosts, but a little detective work led us to nineteen drop-in students, and once the interns and volunteers had put it all together, we found ourselves with a fantastic fiction collection worth getting dressed up for. Dressing up's exactly what we did on October 31 to commemorate Dogtown Books' publication of The Hard Way and Other Halloween Tales, complete with readings from some writer-princesses and sugar-coated snacks from a server dressed as a pineapple. Shortly thereafter, drop-in's authors went back to work, finishing homework and writing calavera poems for the Day of the Dead. The Hard Way, an entirely student-written anthology by local kids at 826LA, can be picked up in Venice, where tutoring takes place every week.