Free Books by E-mail for Halloween

Spooky classics like "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," "Dracula's Guest," and "Frankenstein" are available to read free online for Halloween from ArcaMax Publishing's online Book Club.

The ArcaMax Book Club ( http://www.arcamax.com/books/ ), which has been offering free classics online for nearly a year, is featuring several of its Halloween classics for the holiday season in its 2006 Halloween feature ( http://www.arcamax.com/arcapub/s-121915-834126 ). Families can find well-known stories, as well as read some new ones, as part of this guide, which also includes safety and costume tips.

"Our books are available free all year round," says ArcaMax managing editor Hugh Spain, "but we like to feature special books of interest from the hundreds we have available. And right now, it's the perfect time of year for stories like 'Sleepy Hollow,' that kids can enjoy with their families. A good classic scary story can be a lot more fun and interesting than some modern offerings."

Classics are what the ArcaMax Book Club is all about, and readers have been enjoying the more than 600 available online. With a free subscription, a reader receives a chapter a day of their book of choice by e-mail. There is also a "bookmarking" option, so that ambitious readers can read ahead on the Web site and pick up where they left off the next day. Busy subscribers who need time to catch up can either do so on the site, or reset their bookmark to whichever chapter they read last.

Currently, the top-ranked book in the Book Club is H.G. Wells's "The War of the Worlds" ( http://www.arcamax.com/scifi/b-1010 ) — which many enjoy reading on the date of the original radio broadcast that terrified listeners everywhere. One reader calls the opportunity to read "The War of the Worlds" on Halloween "really fun," and admits, "I've always wanted to, but I never bought a copy. I'm so glad I found it free online, and in a format that's so easy to read."

This praise is a common response, according to Spain. "A lot of people just don't pick up copies of certain books, or they think they don't have time to read them. Offering them a little at a time, and in a way that's easy to read after work or first thing in the morning, is something readers really appreciate. One of the best parts is that we're making it available free, which is a nice surprise for many people in the online world of 'free trials' and hidden fees."

The ArcaMax Book Club, with its free books by e-mail, is one of dozens of available free ezines. Other publications include free daily recipes, home and parenting advice, and more than 20 free comic strips such as "The Wizard of Id" and "Andy Capp." For more information or to sign up for a free subscription, visit http://www.arcamax.com/cgi-bin/reg .