David J. Skal, the critically acclaimed author of The Monster Show and Hollywood Gothic, will kick off a tour for his latest book, Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween, with a free public lecture at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2, at the University of California, Riverside.

This is the first in the newly inaugurated "Meet the Author" Lecture Series, organized by Melissa Conway, who directs UC Riverside's Special Collections at Rivera Library on campus. The authors are either from UC Riverside, or relevant to some of the library's rare collections, including the J. Lloyd Eaton Collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Utopian Literature. They will speak on the library's fourth floor, in the Special Collections Reading Room.

"It seems especially appropriate to launch David Skal's book on the history of Halloween at the world's largest catalogued collection of science fiction, fantasy, horror and utopian literature," said Conway. "David Skal is the expert on horror films."

She said other speakers include experts on Native Americans in honor of the library's Costo Collection of Native American artifacts, as well as George Fujimoto, who documented his experiences in a Japanese internment amp in a series of diaries now owned by Special Collections.

Skal's book digs into Halloween's ancient roots in harvest rituals, uncovers the origins of Halloween's icons of black hats and jack-o-lanterns, and explains the enduring popularity of Halloween, which is commercially second only to Christmas in terms of holiday spending in the U.S. He also takes on the topic of how the events of Sept. 11 may have transformed October 31 forever. He will sign books after his talk.

Skal first visited UC Riverside to look at rare first editions of the work of Jules Verne for a Disney documentary on the author. He has lectured extensively on genre cinema at leading colleges and universities. His media appearances have included Entertainment Tonight, Joan Rivers, Charlie Rose, The CBS Evening News, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

His book tour will start at UC Riverside and end Oct. 31 with an appearance on The Today Show. More information about Mr. Skal and his book on the website http://www.wolfmanproductions.com/skal.html.

All the lectures begin at 3 p.m. Other speakers in the series include:

Oct. 16 -- Susan Straight, professor of creative writing, will speak and read from her novel, Highwire Moon, a finalist for the National Book Award.

Nov. 20 -- Marlene Zuk, professor of biology, will talk about her latest book, Sexual Selections: What Animals Can and Cannot Teach us about Gender.

Dec. 5 -- Peter Nabakov, a UCLA anthropologist, will speak on A Forest in Time: American Indian Ways of History.

Dec. 18 -- John Bloomberg-Rissman, an assistant director at the UCR Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, will read from his latest book of poems, Only More Burning.

Jan. 15 -- Deborah Wong, an associate professor of music, and George Fujimoto, Jr. will discuss their collaboration on the Fujimoto Internment Camp Diaries.

Feb. 19 -- Piya Chatterjee, assistant professor of women's studies, will discuss her book, A Time for Tea: Women, Labor, and Post/Colonial Politics on an Indian Plantation.

March 12 -- Richard Godbeer, associate professor of history, will speak on his book, Sexual Revolution in Early America.

April 16 -- Margie Akin, an assistant research anthropologist, will speak on her book, Passionate Possessions, a book about what drives human beings to build collections

The University of California, Riverside offers undergraduate and graduate education to nearly 15,000 students and has a projected enrollment of 21,000 students by 2010. It is the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse campus of the preeminent ten-campus University of California system, the largest public research university system in the world. The picturesque 1,200-acre campus is located at the foot of the Box Springs Mountains near downtown Riverside in Southern California. More information about UC Riverside is available at www.ucr.edu or by calling 909-787-5185.