Have a safe and happy Halloween.
Halloween Greetings
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Category Archives: Halloween
Halloween Tricks and Treats
Dark Hallows: 10 Halloween Haunts
Mark Parker, ed.
Scarlet Galleon
paperback $14.99, 161 p.
ebook $6.99
This book came out last fall, but my copy didn’t arrive until after Halloween, so I waited until this year to read it. There’s a second volume, but given that I’m writing this on the 27th, it will probably be a next-year-read as well.
Many of the names aren’t authors I’m familiar with. Obviously I know who Richard Chizmar, Norman Partridge, and Brian James Freeman are, as well as Lisa Morton and Al Sarrantonio. I’ve heard of a couple of the others, I think.
I’ve got the print version, and it’s a nice production. The cover art is perfect. Aaron Dries provided an original illustration for each story, which was a nice touch.
As with most anthologies, some stories were more to my taste than others. Here are a few of my favorites: Continue reading
Halloween Reading
I had hoped to have more read and reviewed by now. There should be some posts coming in the next few days. Once again there are several books I’ve been intending to read for the last few years that I won’t get read by Halloween. This year I’m just going to read them no matter what, even if Halloween is over when I do.
The picture is from the blog Displays for Small Academic Libraries. Check them out. They have some impressive Halloween themed displayed made of books, including a skull and Dracula.
Halloween Greetings
Try not to be too afraid.
Don’t Go Out on “Devil’s Night”
“Devil’s Night”
Richard Chizmar
Cemetery Dance
Ebook short story, $0.99
Cemetery Dance has over the last few years published a number of Halloween themed short stories in ebook form. (They all have the same cover illustration you see here with different text.) I reviewed some of them a couple of years ago and enjoyed all the ones I read. Richard Chizmar, in addition to being a top-notch editor, is also a writer.
The night before Halloween is known in many parts of the country as Devil’s Night. In the story of the same name, a small town high school teacher is alone in the parking lot of an abandoned rural post office on Devil’s Night. He’s worrying about things and is taking advantage of the solitude to think. Then a car pulls up in another part of the lot.
The Phantom of the Opera gets out, throws up repeatedly, then takes a body from the trunk. After disappearing into the woods for a brief time, the Phantom returns to his car and leaves, completely unaware that he’s been observed. Continue reading
You Pay a High Price When You “Pay the Ghost”
“Pay the Ghost”
Tim Lebbon
Ebook short story $0.99
I became aware of “Pay the Ghost” when Tim Lebbon posted a link to it on Twitter. I’ve been so distracted the last few weeks that I wasn’t aware of the Nicholas Cage movie coming out next weekend that’s based on it.
The premise is a man’s daughter disappears shortly after asking him if they pay the ghost while they’re taking a walk on Halloween. He has no idea what she means by that question, but he’s going to find out.
I’ll not say more about the story because it is after all a short story. It’s dark and creepy, and it has a bite at the end. I read it yesterday afternoon while I was waiting on my son to finish an after school activity. The chill it gave me was a nice relief from the nearly 100 degree heat.
I’ve not read much Lebbon, but what I have read has been good. I’ve read a couple of shorter pieces set in his world of Noreela and intend to read more.
Here’s a clip of the movie. Obviously there are some changes, but it looks like they kept the core of the story intact.
Happy Halloween
Make it a fun and safe one for you and all your minions.
A Journey Through The October Country
The October Country
Ray Bradbury
Illustrations by Joe Mugnaini
mass market paperback 307 p., $7.99
ebook Kindle $7.21 Nook $10.99
I first read this collection in the early ’80s, around 1980 or 1981, I think. Some of the stories have stayed with me (“The Small Assassin”, “The Scythe”), while some I’d completely forgotten (“Touched with Fire”, “The Cistern”).
Most of the stories were recycled from Dark Carnival, with a few being left out and a few being added. I’d hoped to have time to read the ones left out and discuss the differences in the two collections, but that will have to wait for a later post. For those unaware, Dark Carnival, from Arkham House, was Bradbury’s first collection. Original copies are hard to come by and will cost you a pretty penny. The author’s definitive edition from a decade or so ago isn’t cheap either.
Fortunately there isn’t that much difference in the contents, and the casual reader can enjoy the stories as they appear in this volume. There will be spoilers on some of them. Continue reading
A Look at Weird Tales 362
Before I start the review, I’d like to thank Doug Draa for the review copy and apologize for taking so long to get the review posted. The review copy is a PDF file, and I’d intended to read it while traveling over the summer. For some reason, my ereader (a first generation device) wouldn’t open the file. Anyway, since I hate reading for fun on a backlit screen (which I do enough of for work), it was a while before I managed to read it. So thanks and apologies, Doug. I promise to do better in the future.
There are a total of seventeen pieces of fiction, five poems, a tribute to Parke Godwin by Marvin Kaye,an interview with Joyce Carol Oates, and a look at how one of the illustrations was developed by Jeff Wong.
Overall, I found this issue to be a strong one, though not without a few stories which weren’t to my taste. The theme for this issue is The Undead. And no, not all of the themed stories are about zombies. Just some of them, which is good because I’m not a big zombie fan. But overall I found this issue to be a great read for Halloween. Continue reading
My Halloween Posts Creep into Other Blogs
Not all of the things I’ve been reading for Halloween are getting reviewed here. There have been two other posts that might be of interest to some of you.
The first post that went live was at Amazing Stories yesterday. I had intended to have it ready to go a week earlier but an out of town wedding derailed my plans.
Anyway, if you’re a fan of pulp fantasy and horror, this is one you need to put on your radar. There are a number of nice treats (and no tricks) in this novel. It’s about a pair of former police partners. One is now the sheriff and the other is a private investigator. The book opens with the discovery of the body a former classmate of theirs. He’s been ritually murdered. Blind Shadows is a great combination of pulp, horror, and hard boiled adventure.
I’ve been doing a series of posts at Black Gate for about a year now on the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. My goal was to have one completed about once a month, but that isn’t quite what has happened. Things have been a little more irregular than that.
This afternoon, my latest went live. It’s over H. P. Lovecraft’s The Doom that Came to Sarnath. This is a collection of stories written as Lovecraft was transitioning from fantasy in the vein of Lord Dunsany to his better known work in the Mythos. Many of these stories are quite short, but overall they’re an interesting read as they show a writer moving from imitation to his own unique voice.
Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to at other venues for Halloween.