{"id":2116,"date":"2012-10-30T07:40:17","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T11:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=2116"},"modified":"2012-10-30T07:40:17","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T11:40:17","slug":"guest-post-ten-classics-of-halloween-fiction-by-lisa-morton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/guest-post-ten-classics-of-halloween-fiction-by-lisa-morton\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Ten Classics of Halloween Fiction by Lisa Morton"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEN CLASSICS OF HALLOWEEN FICTION<\/span><\/p>\n

by Lisa Morton<\/p>\n

\n

Most horror fans probably think that Halloween-themed fiction has a lengthy and deep history, and glancing at lists of October releases every year would certainly lend credence to that belief. But the truth is that prior to the twentieth century, Halloween made surprisingly few appearances in fiction; the only stories to focus completely on the holiday were usually quaint tales of middle-class parties found in ladies\u2019 magazines, and aimed at Victorian hostesses who were in search of themed parties to fill that gap between Independence Day and Christmas.<\/p>\n

In the twentieth century, though, as Halloween celebrations spread throughout America, so did Halloween fiction. Interestingly, stories from the first half of the century still focused on parties; it wasn\u2019t until the close of the 1900s that Halloween fiction became its own cottage industry, with stories now centering on everything from trick or treat to haunted attractions to urban legends to Halloween\u2019s Celtic origins.<\/p>\n

The list below includes only works of fiction (excluding, in other words, poetry, because this list would start with Robert Burns\u2019s 1785 masterpiece \u201cHallowe\u2019en\u201d if that were the case), is arranged chronologically, and is notated to make these works easy to find.<\/p>\n

\u201cClay\u201d (1914) by James Joyce \u2013 Yes, this is the James Joyce primarily known for A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man<\/em> and Ulysses<\/em>, but the Irish author also wrote this poignant and subtly dreadful story of a lonely, impoverished woman who attends a Halloween party and plays fortune-telling games, with melancholy results. \u201cClay\u201d appears in Joyce\u2019s collection Dubliners<\/em>, which is still in print and easily available.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll Souls\u2019\u201d (1937) by Edith Wharton \u2013 Even though this story seems to confuse All Souls Day (November 2nd<\/sup>) and Halloween, there\u2019s no question that it belongs to the latter holiday. This low-key, creepy and even mildly surreal gem is about a wealthy woman living in an isolated mansion who wakes up on Halloween to discover that all of her servants have vanished and she\u2019s alone in the house. The story has an undercurrent of rich vs. poor and American vs. Old World tensions, and remains very effective. It can be found in the wonderful collection The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton<\/em> (still in print).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cloak\u201d (1939) by Robert Bloch \u2013 This wry little tale by the author of Psycho<\/em> may be the first modern Halloween tale to feature costuming, and is one of the earliest examples of a definitive Halloween tale by a horror author. It\u2019s about a man who rents a vampire costume to attend an upper-crust Halloween party, only to discover that he now has a desire to drink blood. Although the story has been reprinted dozens of times, it doesn\u2019t seem to appear in any current books; the most recent is the 1994 collection Robert Bloch: The Early Fears<\/em> (which is readily available for purchase at most online book sites).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe October Game\u201d (1948) by Ray Bradbury \u2013 Bradbury is the king of Halloween fiction and this could be his crowning achievement. This unnerving little tale focuses on a children\u2019s Halloween party at which the kids are being entertained by the classic game of passing squishy things around in the dark and being told they\u2019re body parts. The story is justifiably famous for its last line, and has been anthologized dozens of times, although as with The Cloak<\/em> it\u2019s been missing from most recent volumes. A cheap used copy of the Bradbury book Long After Midnight<\/em> is probably the way to go.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown<\/em> (1967) by Charles M. Schulz \u2013 Yes, I know it\u2019s more widely known as a beloved television special, and yes, I know it\u2019s a kid\u2019s book\u2026but this is arguably the single most important work on this list. Prior to It\u2019s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown<\/em>, children\u2019s Halloween books were amazingly scarce; probably the best known one prior to this was Robert Bright\u2019s 1958 Georgie\u2019s Halloween<\/em>, about a lonely little ghost who fits right in on October 31st<\/sup>. The success of It\u2019s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown<\/em>, though, paved the way for an explosion of children\u2019s Halloween books, and may even have spilled over into the adult realm as well. The book hasn\u2019t gone out of print since 1967.<\/p>\n

The Halloween Tree<\/em> (1972) by Ray Bradbury \u2013 This fantasy novel, about an enigmatic character named Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud who takes a group of boys on a tour of Halloween\u2019s history, is easily the most beloved Halloween novel of all time. It features Bradbury\u2019s rich style and looks at related holidays like Dia de los Muertos and the Egyptian Feast of the Dead. The book also spawned an animated film and has been continuously in print since its original publication.<\/p>\n

\u201cGone\u201d (2000) by Jack Ketchum \u2013 This Bram Stoker Award-winning short story originally appeared in the seminal anthology October Dreams<\/em>, which paved the way for the Halloween fiction of the 21st<\/sup> century. The story is a bleak recounting of a frightening encounter between some trick or treaters and a woman grieving over the loss of her own child. October Dreams<\/em> was reprinted in a trade paperback edition in 2002, and although it\u2019s now out of print it can be easily acquired used.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Dark\u2019s Carnival\u201d (2000) by Glen Hirshberg \u2013 This long story mixes up Halloween decorating, folklore, and urban legends to tell a deeply unsettling story about a professor who discovers the dreadful truth behind his small town\u2019s obsession with Halloween. The story is also a commentary on America\u2019s violent history, and features fiction\u2019s most unusual take on a Halloween haunted house. The story appears in Hirshberg\u2019s collection The Two Sams<\/em>, which can be easily found at used book sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cHornets\u201d (2001) by Al Sarrantonio \u2013 This novella first appeared in the anthology Trick or Treat: A Collection of Halloween Novellas, <\/em>and began Sarrantonio\u2019s popular \u201cOrangefield Cycle\u201d, a series of interlinked novels and stories that celebrate Halloween in the fictitious small town of Orangefield. In \u201cHornets\u201d, a successful author wrestles with an insect infestation during Halloween season as he creates a children\u2019s book centered on the character \u201cSam Hain\u201d. \u201cHornets\u201d was reprinted in the mass market collection Horrorween<\/em>, which is readily available used.<\/p>\n

Dark Harvest<\/em> (2006) by Norman Partridge \u2013 This fast-paced novella is set in a mythical town in 1963 where Halloween is celebrated with a hunt and a sacrifice, all centering on a character called \u201cthe October Boy\u201d. The story is a potent commentary on the myth of the small American town, and in addition to receiving multiple awards it was named one of Publisher\u2019s Weekly<\/em>\u2019s 100 Best Books of 2006. The book is still in print.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Halloween fiction is alive and well, with many small press publishers (including Bad Moon Books, Dark Regions, and Earthling) releasing new Halloween-themed books for October. Among the best of the Halloween releases in the last few years: The anthology Halloween<\/em>, edited by Paula Guran and published by Prime Books; Earthling Publication\u2019s Halloween series, which has included such critically-acclaimed books as David Herter\u2019s October Dark<\/em>, Peter Crowther\u2019s By Wizard Oak<\/em>, and Glen Hirshberg\u2019s Motherless Child<\/em>; the novellas of Paul Melniczek, which usually feature lonely protagonists encountering Halloween threats in archetypal towns; and here at MonsterLibrarian.com, my own novella The Samhanach<\/em> was featured as one of the top picks of 2011, and Rhonda Wilson reviews my 2012 offering Hell Manor<\/em> elsewhere on the site.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

LISA MORTON BIO<\/span>: Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, an award-winning fiction author, and one of the world\u2019s leading Halloween experts. Her work was described in the American Library Association\u2019s Readers\u2019 Advisory Guide to Horror<\/em> as \u201cconsistently dark, unsettling, and frightening\u201d, and her latest non-fiction book, Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween<\/em> (Reaktion Books) recently reached the #1 spot on Amazon\u2019s list of Holiday bestsellers. She lives in North Hollywood, California, and online at www.lisamorton.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TEN CLASSICS OF HALLOWEEN FICTION by Lisa Morton Most horror fans probably think that Halloween-themed fiction has a lengthy and deep history, and glancing at lists of October releases every year would certainly lend credence to that belief. But the truth is that prior to the twentieth century, Halloween made surprisingly few appearances in fiction;<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,155,522,1309,83,363,11],"class_list":["post-2116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-collection-development","tag-halloween","tag-halloween-books","tag-halloween-fiction","tag-horror-fiction","tag-lisa-morton","tag-readers-advisory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2116"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2118,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116\/revisions\/2118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}