For many horror fans, including myself, Halloween is their
Christmas. But like Christmas, people are busy doing so many things that they
forget the reason for the season. And for Halloween, it’s reading scary
stories. That’s why I’m devoting this Fearsome Five list to some bite-sized
Halloween horror that you can digest while dressing up your little monsters or
carving up . . . pumpkins.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell. Sure, it’s in your
library’s children’s collection, but this is a one-way ticket to nostalgia
village for anyone who’s ever told a scary story by the light of a campfire or
a single flashlight. And let’s not forget the simple black and white
illustrations that are way scarier than anything with a J for Juvenile on its
spine has a right to be.
October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween edited by Richard Chizmar, et al. This anthology gets
that Halloween isn’t simply about being the scariest, grossest, most vile
monster out there. Sometimes, the horror of the season requires a little
whimsy, but not too much. Otherwise, you have stories like this.
 |
| *shudders* |
What also makes this a fun anthology is that it not only has
Halloween tales from esteemed writers ranging from Dean Koontz to Richard Laymon
to F. Paul Wilson, it also has memories from horror writers on what makes this
holiday so special. An overall good chance to see and read what lodges
Halloween deep in these authors’ hearts more firmly than any wooded stake.
Haunted Nights edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton. For those that like a little more bite
in their Halloween, though, Haunted
Nights has amassed a collection that skews less Nightmare Before Christmas and more
Nightmare on Elm Street. Stephen Graham Jones’s “Dirtmouth” is a particularly
dark nugget of terror while S. P. Mikowski’s “We’re Never Inviting Amber Again”
offers some bittersweet humor that shows the dangers of inviting family to
anything.
A Halloween Reader: Poems, Stories, and Plays from Halloweens Past edited by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne. There’s always time for the classics and this reader has plenty of
classic tales in a variety of formats that can put you in mind of such literary
fright giants as Poe and Hawthorne. Looking for some spooky poetry by Poe? How
about Sir Walter Scott or H. P. Lovecraft? What about a scary story to tell
your guests over cider? Maybe a play for you all to perform is what you’re
looking for. This book has all of that. As far as Halloween anthologies, this
book is like a Swiss Army knife with a snippet of text for every occasion.
Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge. Not an anthology but it’s a very quick read and one that
roars right out of the gate. In a small Nebraska town, on Halloween night, the
young men are released into the streets to try and bring down the October Boy,
a scarecrow-like creature with a jack o’ lantern head, a candy heart, and a
willingness to do whatever is necessary to make it through the throngs of
teenagers looking to claim the ultimate prize of a chance to leave their small
town existence behind. It’s a fun, eerie romp of a tale that brings to mind Joe
Lansdale but it also has a lot to say about the power of ritual and the kind of
hells that supposedly bucolic small town can become.
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