A Guide to the Best of Southern California : OUT & ABOUT : Scare Tactics

If it’s been way too long since you had a good case of the heebie-jeebies, consider joining a dozen authors of horror fiction for a hair-raising game of Halloween “tag.”

In this verbal variation of the childhood pastime, whoever is “it” makes up the opening line of a story--in this case, a very scary one--then passes to another player, who dreams up the second line, then passes to . . . . And so on, until the yarn unravels and, if all goes well, your skin crawls.

Writers such as S.T. Somtow (“Moondance”), Richard Laymon (“Funland”), David Schow (“Lost Angels”) and Dennis Etchison (“Masters of Darkness”), among many others, promise to be on hand Saturday for the event at the Paperback Trader in Santa Monica.

Party prizes include Bates Motel (as in “Psycho”) soap.

Information: Paperback Trader, 511 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica; (213) 394-8147.