Halloween Paperback – September 13, 2011

I love a good Halloween story, and so an anthology of Halloween stories is certain to pique my interest. Particularly when it turns out to consist mostly of stories I've never read before, as Paula Guran has managed to put together in her anthology, with many coming from the best writers in the field over the years. I can't say that every story is sure to be a winner and there were definitely a few that just didn't work for me, but most are well-written and several are stand outs that make this an anthology worth having for any Halloween enthusiast.Among the stand-outs for me were:"Monsters" by Stewart O'Nan - Not all hauntings are supernatural, as we see when two boys, best friends, have an accident in the weeks leading up to Halloween. A truly memorable story with a final mental image that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. Even by itself, this one's worth the price of the entire antho."Auntie Elsbeth's Halloween Story" by Esther Friesner - A delightful mix of darkly twisted humor and the genuinely macabre by the queen of humorous fantasy. Guaranteed to leave you never looking at Jack O'Lanterns the same way again."Hallowe'en in a Suburb" by H.P. Lovecraft - A highly visual and atmospheric poem by one of the greatest writers of the macabre that truly captures the dark foreboding feel of All Hallow's Eve as we both fear and wish it to be."On the Reef" by Caitlin R. Kiernan - An omnisciently-narrated tale, appropriately following the above poem, which suggests even older and darker origins for certain Halloween rituals than we were ever aware of. Skin-crawl creepy in true Lovecraft style."The Sticks" by Charlee Jacob - Some places have Halloween traditions that are different from the ones we're familiar with. Some quite different. In most towns, children dress up and roam the streets, hoping for treats on Halloween night. In The Sticks, its the adults who dress up and roam the streets. The children stay home and lock the doors, hoping to just stay alive."Tricks & Treats: One Night on Halloween Street" by Steve Rasnic Tem - This is actually a string of twelve micro-fictions, twelve tiny but darkly compelling little gems linked only by the setting - a once-a-year night at a place called Halloween Street. Wonderful examples of how a truly gifted writer can capture in a dozen lines what would take lesser writers a dozen pages."Pranks" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - Not everything that walks the streets on Halloween is mortal. And for some, tricks are the whole reason they came."Pumpkin Night" by Gary McMahon - Halloween starts when it gets dark, as does this tale. But with each page, it gets darker, and darker, and even darker still, and yet you just can't look away. This is one of those stories that will stick in your mind for a long, long time.In addition, Guran opens her anthology with a brief but interesting history of Halloween and the various traditions with which it has been observed over the years.Recommended for any lover of all things Halloween.

The hardest part about writing a review for a collection this diverse is coming up with a singular opinion to describe the entire ensemble of stories. Halloween, edited by Paula Guran, is a rich collection of seasonal stories by the likes of Charles de Lint, H.P. Lovecraft, Peter Straub, Glen Hirshberg, and many more. It contains poems, short stories, and a few works which either reach novelette status or come really close. The shortest story is a few pages. The longest, well over fifty. The only story missing from the Kindle version of the book is Ray Bradbury’s “The October Game” because Bradbury’s estate does not allow digital versions of his works (If that is a particular concern, I recommend purchasing the print version, which does contain Bradbury’s contribution). Guran does include a summary of the missing entry, though, which is especially useful since the very next story, “The November Game” by F. Paul Wilson, ties directly into that one.“Halloween” stands in at 480 pages. It contains everything from the macabre to the hilarious to the downright depressing. The horror of some stories is driven by supernatural forces; others by the pure evil nature of seemingly ordinary people. Across all of the stories there is a wide array of characters, from the deranged to the just, from the old to the young, from the human to the inhuman. Needless to say, there is something for every Halloween fiction enthusiast here.Guran begins her collection with a fairly long preface discussing the origins and evolution of Halloween, which likely sprung from the Celtic festival of Samhain. Little is know of the practices and rituals associated with Samhain since the Celts did not write anything down, but it is believed that in their culture faerie-folk were resentful of humans, who slowly were taking over the world. During Samhain, the faerie-folk’s power was enhanced, and thus so was their propensity for mischief. Samhain was eventually adopted by the Christians, who made it into a celebration of the Virgin Mary and martyred saints. October 31 became All Hallows’ Eve (‘hallow’ was synonymous with ‘saint’ during the Middle Ages), though the old ways did not die out so easily. Today, Guran proposes, the holiday is really split in half between adults and children. For grown-ups, Halloween is the third biggest “party day” of the year (New Years and Super Bowl Sunday are first and second, respectively). While the modern celebration of the holiday has mostly been confined to North America, retailers are slowly pushing it into other markets as well, including Japan.As far as the stories contained in “Halloween,” I found many enjoyable. There’s “The Halloween Man,” which tells the story of a demon that rises once a year to hunt for children’s souls. “Pork Pie Hat,” which I’m still scratching my head over (but in a good way). “Three Doors,” a moving tale also included in Norman Partridge’s Johnny Halloween. “Auntie Elspeth’s Halloween Story, or the Gourd, the Bad, and the Ugly,” a hilarious story within a story told when three grandchildren are unceremoniously dropped off to visit their aunt. The list goes on from there. All told, there are over thirty stories and poems to read.“Halloween” would have earned a solid four rockets if not for the numerous typos I discovered while reading. Many readers demand perfect spelling and grammar; I am one of them. Some of the errors were simple characters missing. Others were entire words or a repeated word. These sorts of errors jar the reader from the experience and are somewhat easily corrected by employing a good line editor and proofreaders.That aside, Halloween is such a diverse blend of Halloween stories there’s really something for everyone here. I give it three rockets and a solid recommendation to add it to your Halloween reading list.

I'm going to do what I wish other reviewers would do for books with multiple stories, I'm going to list the contents in order:Conversations In A Dead Language - Thomas LigottiMonsters - Stewart O'NanThe Halloween Man - William F. NolanThe Young Tamlane - Sir Walter ScottPork Pie Hat - Peter StraubThree Doors - Norman PartridgeAuntie Elspeth's Halloween Story - Esther M. FriesnerStruwwelpeter - Glen HirshbergHalloween In A Suburb - H.P. LovecraftOn The Reef - Caitlin R. KiernanThe Sticks - Charlee JacobRiding Bitch - K.W. JeterMemories Of El Dia De Los Muertos - Nancy KilpatrickHalloween Street - Steve Rasnic TemTricks & Treats - Steve Rasnic TemMemories - Pepter CrowtherUlalume: A Ballad - Edgar Allen PoeMask Game - John ShirleyBy The Book - Nancy HolderHornets - Al SarrantonioPranks - Nina Kiriki HoffmanPumpkin Night - Gary McMahonThe Universal Soldier - Charles de LintNight Out - Tina RathOne Thin Dime - Stewart MooreMan-Size In Marble - E. NesbitThe Great Pumpkin Arrives At Last - Sarah LanganSugar Skulls - Chelsea Quinn YarbroOn A Dark October - Joe R. LandsdaleThe Vow On Halloween - Lyllian Huntley HarrisThe October Game - Ray BradburyThe November Game - F. Paul WilsonTessellations - Gary BraunbeckQuite entertaining and worth buying! Enjoy...Happy Hallowe'en!!Edit: This is the correct ToC for this book. I took the list directly from my copy. :)

I bought this because I love Halloween. However, I was disappointed. There are stories in here by some well known authors, but most of them were boring and derivative. Some of the American writers just went on for far too long. The ebook had a lot of typos too... couldn't someone have proofed this? Thankfully, Charles Dr lint was on sparkling form and saved this collection from being a total dead loss.

A great compilation of short (and not-so-short) stories. I won't list them all as other reviewers have done this already. They range from amusing to true horror and suspense, old (Sir Walter Scott & Edgar Allan Poe) to new. You can just picture Auntie Elspeth having fun telling her story. "Hornets" and the two "Hallowe'en Street" stories good. I've read many of Ray Bradbury's short stories but "The October Game" was a surpise. "The November Game" a worthy sequel. Not stories to read to the kids.My only gripe is that there are a whole load of typos throughout the book.

All the stories capture the haunting and jump scare liveliness of the Halloween Spirit. I love it.