This is Halloween by James A. Moore

 Author James A. Moore offers up ten autumnal tales of the darker things that lurk just around the corner of Indian Summer. A man learns of a town's obsession with scarecrows and tries to find the answers as to why they are so important. Children move through familiar streets and find that Halloween makes everything different. Tis' the season when ghosts are real, witches soar through the night, and things in the Beldam Woods are not always what they seem. Sometimes it's the monsters that wear the masks.

If the gorgeous cover didn't get me, the title would. Halloween is my favorite holiday. Short horror stories are my addiction, and Halloween horror is my favorite. I expected a lot from this collection, and it delivered all I could have hoped for.

These stories embody the spirit of the season. 

From folk horror to trick or treating at homes that don't exist in the light of day this book held me spellbound from start to finish. You will travel to small towns with strange and deadly customs, meet vengeful spirits, and more. The writing crackles like crisp leaves and snaps like an October wind. And much like Halloween itself, I hated for it to end.

5 out of 5 stars

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Ghoulish Tales Issue #1- Various Authors

 The debut issue of Ghoulish Tales features stories by Robert Nazar Arjoyan, Barbara Castro-Rojas, Clay McLeod Chapman, Chloe Harper Gold, Rae Knowles, Angela Liu, Nina Maar, and Betty Rocksteady. Also includes articles by Nicholas A. Battaglia and Lor Gislason.

This is the first issue of a brand new magazine from Ghoulish books. I hope many more issues will follow.

I have been addicted to short horror stories for as long as I can remember. There's nothing I love more than a good anthology, and Ghoulish Tales delivers some fantastic dark fiction.

This was a quick and creepy read with dark humor, body horror, revenge, and more. There are a couple of articles but to be honest I'm just here for the horror fiction.

My favorites were Life In The Demon's Gizzard by Betty Rocksteady about two sisters, one of whom can't or won't let go of the past. On what is their last night together they share snacks and differing memories of their childhood.

Tonight's Guest Is! by Robert Nazar Arjoyan in which a talk show guest is surprised by the host who seems to know more about his life than what was published in his recent memoirs.

All the stories had unexpected twists, but those two really hit home for me.

My thanks to Ghoulish Books.

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Nestlings by Nat Cassidy

 

Ana and Reid needed a lucky break.

The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling: with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. That's about to change with the words any New Yorker would love to hear―affordable housing lottery.

They've won an apartment in the Deptford, one of Manhattan's most revered buildings with beautiful vistas of Central Park and stunning architecture.

Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia as the price of living in New York―people are odd―but he can't explain the needle-like bite marks on the baby.

When Reid and Ana put their names in the lottery for an affordable luxury apartment they never dreamed they'd win. They also never dreamed that their lives would be so different from the time they entered the lottery to the time they finally got called.

When they are shown the apartment it seems perfect for most people, but Ana has misgivings right away. She is confined to a wheelchair these days and can not get down the stairs from their upper floor apartment if there is ever an emergency. Ignoring her unease, and buoyed by her husband's excitement over their win. she agrees to take the apartment. After all, it will do them good to get away from their obnoxious antisemitic landlord.

It's not long after moving day when Ana knows something is wrong with this building. Her baby seems to sense it too, constantly screaming and crying as if she knows this is a bad place to be. Reid becomes obsessed with learning the history of the building, to the point that he loses interest in all else, even gaslighting Ana when she points out the tiny bite marks on the baby after having seen a face at their top floor window.

Not since The Sentinel or Rosemary's Baby has an apartment building had such an unsavory past or housed such sinister tenants. I can't say much else about the plot without spoilers, but I loved the domestic drama as much as the scary parts. The psychological fear mixed with the supernatural terror combined to make Nestlings into an exquisite horror that was perfection from start to finish. This book will land firmly on my best horror of the year list.

5 out of 5 stars.

My thanks to Tor Nightfire.

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Movie Review- Heir of the Witch

 

Heir of the Witch is a chilling folk horror full of unnerving surprises. All is not as it appears. In fact, the things that you see may not be what is truly going on at all. Anna is plagued by traumatic memories and haunted by the angry spirit of her grandmother, the witch who is even more dangerous in death than she was in life. Through Ana's memories, we are shown in flashbacks how she came to be cursed.

Starring Victoria U  Bell as Anna, a seamstress caring for her sickly aunt and supporting herself by making beautiful dresses for wealthy snobs who flock together like a bunch of "mean girls" with all the maturity of a high school clique. Anna floats along on the periphery of their lives, never really being part of the in crowd.   The movie does not rely on typical jump scares but adds an element of psychological fear that kept me glued to my screen. My only minor complaint would be that it does occasionally make use of distorted demonic-sounding voices which although they can be scary it sometimes makes the dialogue tough to understand. What is scary, is the ever-increasing dread as the witch infests every aspect of Anna's life in order to get what she wants. The effects are better than I have seen in recent indie movies and many of the scenes are visually striking.

Deanna Rashell shines in the role of Chloe the leader of the clique who takes advantage of Anna's good nature and financial problems.  Ben Holtzmuller was perfect as Chloe's unhappy husband with a wandering eye. 

I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys psychological horror in addition to folk horror.

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