Prostitution is the elephant in the American parlor; though most men and a sizable fraction of women see it standing there, they refuse to talk honestly about it lest they upset their half-blind old Auntie who either can’t see it or has mistaken it for a large and rather oddly-shaped sideboard or ottoman.   –  “Elephant in the Parlor“

As long-time readers know, October is my favorite month.  Part of it is because of the weather and the shortening of the days, but a lot of it is because it ends in my favorite holiday, Halloween.  I try to do as many horror-themed columns as possible in October, but it isn’t always easy; in 2011 I only managed five of them, and that’s including the one for Halloween itself and this month’s fictional interlude, “Pearls Before Swine” (which is, BTB, one of my personal favorites).  The other three were “Moondance