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Book Review: Halloween Carnival, Volume 4 edited by Brian James Freeman

Halloween Carnival: Volume 4 edited by Brian James Freeman

Hydra, 2017

ISBN-13: 9780399182068

Available: Kindle ebook

 

This is the fourth installment in the Halloween Carnival five-part series, and the stories just keep getting better.

In “The Mannequin Challenge” by Kealan Patrick Burke, Theo fights his social anxiety and accepts an invitation for an office Halloween party. The only problem is when he finally arrives in the office, things aren’t what they seem.

Ray Garton’s addition to this collection, “Across the Tracks,” tells the story of Kenny, JayJay, and Sam, three boys who are targets for the school bullies. Halloween night promises a showdown, but the boys aren’t ready for what happens the next day. I did not see the ending with this one.

Bev Vincent’s “The Halloween Tree” tells the tale of the creepy tree that just feels…wrong. But, if the boys want to get the good candy, they have to make it passed its grasping branches. They’ve managed it every year just fine. This year should be no different. This one is probably my favorite out of the book. It’s clearly set in the late 1960s, as Luke makes his Planet of the Apes Halloween mask out of Plasticine and, despite claiming to have never seen the film, uses magazines and other available items for reference material to craft his own mask. The friendship the boys have is also written so well, and the end is beautiful in its message of solidarity.

“Pumpkin Eater” by C.A. Suleiman introduces us to Peter who loves Halloween, and his wife Marlene who does not. This Halloween, however, is the perfect time to correct some of the marital problems they have been facing for some time.

In Paul Melniczek’s “When the Leaves Fall,” Haverville has a secret, and its name is Graver’s farm. Chris and Kyle decide to discover the truth one Halloween night. What they find changes the lives of the two boys forever. This story had a sort of Salem’s Lot feel to it, with a dash of the madness of Lovecraft thrown in, which I love. “When the Leaves Fall” is the longest story in the collection, but it’s a fast read. The tension is effective throughout, and the reader becomes invested in the characters from the first page.

If you appreciate a good dose of nostalgia in your horror, this volume is for you. If you are looking for stories that make you think back to and ponder your past Halloween nights, this is also for you.

Contains: bullying

Recommended

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on May 17, 2018 by , 1 comment

Book Review: And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe by Gwendolyn Kiste

And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe by Gwendolyn Kiste
Journalstone, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1945373558
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Every once in a while, a new voice emerges and takes the genre by storm. Remember this name: Gwendolyn Kiste will one day rule the world of dark short fiction if there’s any justice in the world of writing. The 14 hallucinogenic stories of And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe hit as hard as a sledgehammer; they are rich, brutally dark, and beautiful.

The stories captivate: each sucks in the reader, letting go only when the last word flows by. The first speaks of a woman who gives birth to birds, and is incredibly dark and endearing. Another describes a test citizens must pass to remain in society: a failure damns them to leaving, but it’s unclear how or why people fail. The story recalls the bleakness of Sarah Pinborough’s The Death House.  A few others recall the magic of what readers, as children, found in the best fairy tales, which most adults have lost the ability to see. These stories, reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s best retellings of classic tales and mythologies, spin new twists on tired tropes to create something splendid.

Plenty has been written about the final tale, “The Lazurus Bride,” and rightly so. While it’s not the best story in the bunch, Kiste makes its second person point of view work, where most others fail. In the story, Kiste writes to her lover, who may or may not be dead, in a head-twisting wrench of a plot that displays the pain of loving someone– and how sometimes, that love may not be enough.

While praise for new writers is often overdone, that’s not the case here. Kiste seems as fresh as Gaiman, Bradbury, Braunbeck, or Pinborough. Pick this up and be ready for your mind to be turned inside out. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Dave Simms

Posted on April 7, 2018 by , Reply

Kickstarter for Pinpricks: A Book of Tiny and Terrible Oddities by Jason Pell

I visited the Kickstarter page for this, and if the art and writing are as creepy as the audio introduction to the project, this will be something special. Seriously, this guy had me spooked.

The age range is 8 and older. The creator’s daughter helped with the project, and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

From the press release:

DARK, STRANGE, and often HUMOROUS, Pinpricks is made up of 101 unique short stories and illustrations. 128 page Hardcover with some the most troubling tales.

From Jason Pell, the creator of Zombie Highway, Suicide 5, and Season’s End, comes his next acclaimed offering.

Recalling the horror-themed books from his youth and with the help of his daughter, Mallory, the author has created something unique and at the same time, disquietingly familiar. A book that will give both the young and the young at heart… a case of incurable heebie-jeebies.

To get backers excited, several of the rewards on Kickstarter will ONLY be available through the campaign and discontinued afterward. With already almost 1/3 funded within 24 hours, the need for dark tales is evident!

If you ever felt a little askew. A bit out-of-step with everyone around you 

Then PINPRICKS was written for you.

 

Posted on March 29, 2018 by , Reply
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