John R. Little | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Book Review: Haunted Nights edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton

Haunted Nights edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton

Blumhouse Books, 2017

ISBN-13: 978-1101973837

Available: Paperback, Kindle ebook, Audible, and audio CD

Haunted Nights collects sixteen previously unpublished tales of Halloween. It is co-edited by Ellen Datlow, a highly respected genre editor, and Lisa Morton, an authority on Halloween. Haunted Nights presents stories of related holidays as well (e.g. All Souls’ Day and Día de los Muertos).

While I enjoyed all of the stories in Haunted Nights, a few stood out from the others. In “With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds,” Seanan McGuire weaves a great haunted house story that switches perspective between the dead and the living. Mary can’t abide the teenagers who disturb her house, especially on her birthday, but she knows how to take care of her house, and the intruders. Stephen Graham Jones presents a tale of familial loss and a disturbing return in “Dirtmouth.” Jonathan Maberry’s “A Small Taste of the Old Country,” set in 1948, proves revenge can be served warm and comforting. Garth Nix always delivers an excellent story, and his entry in this collection does not disappoint. In his tale, “The Seventeen Year Itch,” the new hospital administrator disregards all of the warnings from staff about patient Broward and the incessant itch he feels compelled to scratch every Halloween. “A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds” by Eric J. Guignard is set during Día de Muertos rather than Halloween. A misspelling on a sugar skull leads to an eventful night for a man in mourning. Paul Kane’s “The Turn” takes the perspective of multiple characters, and is surprisingly well done in such a short story. Tom Nolan has never gone out on Halloween, but the urgent call from the hospital about his dying grandmother drives him outdoors on the most haunted night of the year.

This collection belongs on the bookshelves of readers who love Halloween and other ghost-related holidays. Other authors in this anthology include Joanna Parypinski, Kate Jonez, Jeffrey Ford, Kelley Armstrong, S.P Miskowski, Brian Evenson, Elise Forier Edie, Pat Cadigan, John Lanagan, and John R. Little.

Contains: blood, bullying, homophobia, rape, sexual content

Recommended

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Book Review: Halloween Carnival, Volume 1 edited by Brian James Freeman

Halloween Carnival, Volume 1 edited by Brian James Freeman

Hydra, 2017

ISBN: 9780399182037

Available: Kindle edition

Halloween Carnival, Volume 1 is the first of five collections of five Halloween-themed stories, with each story by a different writer in the horror genre. Curated by Brian James Freeman, the short collections were published as individual ebooks in a series, with one releasing in consecutive order on each Tuesday in October of 2017.

Robert McCammon’s “Strange Candy” is a bittersweet ghost story. A father finds an odd piece of unwrapped candy is found in the bottom of his child’s candy bag, and when he doesn’t heed the kidding chides of his wife about eating tampered candy. and consumes it, he is visited by a spirit for each of the gnarled peppermint shaped fingers. Each one brings him urgent messages to deliver to the living. When he receives his own visit from a very human messenger, he knows what he must do.

Kevin Lucia’s “The Rage of Achilles, or When Mockingbirds Sing,” returns readers of his previous books to Clifton Heights. Father Ward volunteers to hear confessions on All Hallow’s Eve. The father of a dead boy apologizes for what he is about to do after delivering his story. Will Father Ward be too late to stop the distraught father, or is there something more to the events of this strange night?

In John R. Little’s “Demon Air”, Halle is headed to Australia on the cheapest flight possible. When the stewards and pilot get in on the Halloween fun, it seems like all fun and games, until the danger becomes too real on the long flight.

In Lisa Morton’s “La Hacienda de lost Muertos,” Trick McGrew, an old-time cowboy star of the silver screen, is thrown into a real ghost story when he walks onto the set of his new film in Mexico. He discovers the sad La Llorona, searching endlessly for her lost children, is more than just a legend. He also discovers the truth behind her death, and what became of her babies.

Everyone is using hashtags these days. What happens when someone takes it too far? That’s the question Mark Allen Gunnells poses in “#MakeHalloweenScaryAgain.” Dustin, an author working on his next novel, starts the infamous hashtag that will change the town he lives in forever. When journalist Shawn befriends the author, and the major suspect in a grisly chain of events, things get even stranger. The use of social media in this story adds to the intrigue the author sets. Who is using the author’s hashtag to drive his push to make Halloween scary again?

I enjoyed this short anthology very much. The stories are short, entertaining reads, especially appropriate for the most wonderful time of the year for those of us who love Halloween. “The Rage of Achilles” is a particular favourite. The story is subtle in its horror, and the author’s treatment of a child with autism is very real, well-written, and sensitive to the fact that not every person with autism has every single marker of the spectrum. Recommended.

Contains: some violence

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker