{"id":10627,"date":"2025-10-08T20:40:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T00:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=10627"},"modified":"2025-10-08T20:40:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T00:40:50","slug":"book-review-samhain-screams-edited-by-greg-chapman-and-cameron-trost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-samhain-screams-edited-by-greg-chapman-and-cameron-trost\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Samhain Screams edited by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cover<\/a><\/p>\n

Samhain Screams<\/em> edited by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost<\/p>\n

Black Beacon Books, 2025<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-0-9756118-2-1<\/p>\n

Available: Kindle edition (pre-order release October 17, 2025)<\/p>\n

Buy:\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Samhain Screams <\/em>is an anthology of Halloween and Samhain-inspired stories, focusing on the creepy and terrifying rather than the superficial aspects of this spooky time of year. Editor Greg Chapman, an Australian, brings a perspective distinct from the typical American experience of the season. It’s a strong collection, with plenty of hits and very few misses. Many of the authors have created atmosphere and suspense that will hook the reader and keep them on the line.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Favorite stories include Mia Dalia’s “The Last Pumpkin”, in which a horror writer encounters his biggest fan; DJ Tyrer’s “The Knock”, in which a mystery knocking in the narrator’s apartment building leads to disappearances; Matthew R. Davis’ “Hauntology”, which reveals the secrets of a shopping mall; Hannah Baxter’s outstanding ” The October Shadows”, in which a film studies student is taken over by an obsession with a 1922 horror movie that caused a disturbing riot at its only showing; Kevin M. Folliard’s “Vengeance of Halloween”, an entertaining nightmare about monsters going corporate and planning to take over the world in an ‘eternal October’;\u00a0 Brian Moreland’s “Sweet Tooth”, in which Helen’s obsession with candy saves her from a serial killer; and C.E. O’ Conaing’s “The Hollows”, where three kids trick-or-treating in a newly-built development have a terrifying experience. The point of view character in this story was in a wheelchair, and her character development was great. The last story in the collection, S.B. Watson’s “The Day You Die’, won me over. I was glad I hadn’t skipped through to the end– it was a perfect “last bite”. Recommended.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samhain Screams edited by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost Black Beacon Books, 2025 ISBN: 978-0-9756118-2-1 Available: Kindle edition (pre-order release October 17, 2025) Buy:\u00a0Amazon.com   Samhain Screams is an anthology of Halloween and Samhain-inspired stories, focusing on the creepy and terrifying rather than the superficial aspects of this spooky time of year. Editor Greg Chapman,<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5866,2204,1731,155,750,645,749,3163,5867,5865],"class_list":["post-10627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-black-beacon-books","tag-cameron-trost","tag-greg-chapman","tag-halloween","tag-horror-anthologies","tag-horror-book-reviews","tag-horror-books","tag-horror-short-stories","tag-samhain","tag-samhain-screams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10627"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10631,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10627\/revisions\/10631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}