Halloween Anthology

For tonight's last countdown to Halloween post and the last reading suggestion, the book that fascinates my son so much. It's simply titled Halloween and it was edited by Paula Guran. It's a very special anthology as it is a Halloween anthology. There is plenty of horror in there, but not exclusively. You can even find some poetry. There are plenty of classics, a few forgotten treasures, some stories dating back from a time before Halloween became the phenomenon it is now. And it's a big book, so you will have plenty to read for this Halloween and the next. And of course you can revisit it, as I intend to do in future years.

Wolfie and Halloween

I blogged about this book of Halloween stories, aptly and simply called Halloween, edited by Paula Guran before. I finished it last Thursday and will try to blog about it again to dwell on it a bit more and to plug it properly. But right now, I just wanted to tell an anecdote about it and my baby boy Wolfie, who is one year old and to a lesser extend this book. Wolfie loves books. No, he adores books. All books, but some more than others. Recently, I also discovered that he is fascinated by Halloween or, more precisely, by the many decorations I put in the house. The Jack O'Lanterns, the skeletons, all these things. He is not scared by them, in fact he giggles, screams with excitement when he looks at them. Particularly the Jack O'Lanterns. And as you can see, he is also fascinated by his father's spooky reads. He has been curious about all my horror and Halloween books, more than the children Halloween books we bought him (except one). So I captured a few moments this morning when he was checking this Halloween book. I think he will love the holiday just as much as me.

More Halloween stories

For my countdown to Halloween post, I am plugging another book of Halloween stories. Like Halloween: Magic, Mystery and the Macabre, it is edited by Paula Guran. In fact, this one, simply called Halloween, is its older brother, or its prototype. It is also an anthology of many traditional horror stories set around Halloween, although there are also more modern authors. You will find among the classics Man-Size in Marble by Edith Nesbit, which I have recently blogged about. This is partially what convinced me to purchase it, even though I already have the short story in two different books. I just thought, if the rest is as good as Nesbit, it is worth a purchase. And I am making myself a nice little collection of horror stories. Its front cover, with the although spooky and beautiful Jack O'Lantern, is not as nice as the second book, but it still looks nice. And there are of course the stories. This is one of the books I am reading at the moment anyway. And I will finish this countdown to Halloween post by a teaser: I am writing a scary story myself for this blog, which I should post soon. So watch this space.

A Halloween story about a black cat

For my countdown to Halloween post today, I have decided to blog about a story from Halloween: Magic, Mystery and the Macabre, which I blogged about recently. It is funny, because it was not really a scary story. It is called For the Removal of Unwanted Guests and was written by A.C. Wise, who is a fellow Montrealer. I loved the story so much, I intend to read more of her. The story is about a witch and her black cat moving into the home of a bachelor. Not an evil witch, just an invasive one.
But for me, the story was all about the cat.

It touched me particularly because when I read it, Odin was curled up right next to me. He also pretty much took over the place the way the witch did in the story, walked in one night as if the flat was his home. In Wise's story, the witch says that the house needs a witch. In the story, just like real life, I think this house, like every other, truly needs a cat. Anyway, while there was no witch in my story, or no friendly, cat-loving one anyway (because unfortunately there was a nasty one), there certainly was a cat with the same carefree attitude. If you are into Halloween but not so much into horror (it exists), I would recommend this story.

Halloween stories

I already wrote a post on Halloween in French tonight, however I am writing a second one for my countdown to Halloween. I have recently finished (as in: today) Halloween: Magic, Mystery and the Macabre. I plugged it last year, but then I had only read one story of the book. I read them all now. I will come back to specific ones, by specific authors, as of course I have my favourite. But overall the book is a great read and I want to recommend it for all my Halloween loving readers.

Little observation here: while most of the stories have elements of supernatural, not all of them are properly speaking horror stories. Some while supernatural are not scary or even meant to be scary, Some belong more to the scifi genre and at least one is a what I would qualify as scifi allegory. But all use Halloween as a driving force and use it to great effects. And there are genuinely scary moments in many of them, even those that are not supernatural tales of terror. It matters a lot to me: Halloween still needs to give a good chill. And what I love of the scary ones is that they are not necessarily gore fests. Very little is needed to cause terror and the authors know it well. Anyway I intend to blog more about them and do not wish to spoil the read for you. Please get your hands on a copy.

Halloween: Magic, Mystery and the Macabre

I haven't blogged a countdown to mHalloween post yet today and I did not upload a picture of autumnal Montreal yet. Shame on me. The pictures will have to wait sadly, nevertheless I will write a Halloween-related post. The title of it is the same as the book (or one of the books) I am reading right now, edited by Paula Guran. I was looking to horror stories to read this season, but specifically related to Halloween, not merely horror stories, so I would avoid those many ghosts stories set during Christmastime. I was checking on Amazon when I found this one. I ordered it immediately. However, there was a catch I hadn't noticed: in fact, I wanted to buy this book, simply titled Halloween and edited by the same Paula Guran. The first book, published in 2011, was an anthology of horror stories set during Halloween written by reknown authors (Lovecraft and E. Nesbit for instance). It had inspired the creation of Halloween: Magic, Mystery and the Macabre. Maybe it is the title that appealed to me most, and the cover of course, with its grinning Jack O'Lanterns. So I ordered the first one when I discovered my mistake, but of course I kept this one. I am now the proud owner of a whole collection of horror stories, mainly classic tales of terror, but now, thanks to this book, very contemporary ones too. I have read one story so far. One story and a half in fact. Quite entertaining.