Mister Glow-Bones and Other Halloween Tales by Ronald Kelly

 

Halloween is more than a holiday; more than a fun time of candy and costumes for the young. It is inoculated into our very being at an early age and there it remains. As we grow old, it grows dormant… but it is still there. For the lucky ones, such as us, it emerges every year, like a reanimated corpse digging its way out of graveyard earth to shamble across our souls. And we rejoice… oh, if we are the fortunate ones, we most certainly rejoice.

So turn these pages and celebrate our heritage. Blow the dust off the rubber mask in the attic and hang the glow-in-the-dark skeleton upon the door. Light the hollowed head of the butchered pumpkin and string the faux cobweb from every corner and eave.

It’s Halloween once again. Shed your adult skin with serpentine glee and walk the blustery, October streets of long years past. And, most of all, watch out for misplaced steps in the darkness and the things that lurk, unseen, in the shadows in-between.

I had actually read a couple of these stories not long ago in another collection The Essential Sick Stuff

and had planned to skip over them, but instead found myself enjoying them a second time.

The title story alone is worth it's weight in gold, or maybe chocolate, since I devoured these grim and grisly tales like a bag of Halloween candy. If you are looking for something to get you into the spooky spirit or whether like me you enjoy that delicious spine tingling feeling all year long this is a well written collection of creepy tales. But beware, some of your dollar store décor may have ill intent.

5 out of 5 stars

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Stories included in this collection:
Mister Glow-Bones
The Outhouse
Billy’s Mask
Pins & Needles
Black Harvest
Pelingrad’s Pit
Mister Mack & the Monster Mobile
The Halloween Train
The Candy in the Ditch Gang
Halloweens: Past & Present
Monsters in a Box

A Song for the End by Kit Power

 

Becoming an overnight sensation was supposed to be a good thing.
Not for Bill Cutter, supply teacher and weekend rock star. His band, The Fallen, have just released their latest tune on social media, and it’s blowing up.
So is the body count.
Now, Bill faces a frantic race against time to stop the spread of the song, before the horrific effects can no longer be contained.
Terrifying, bitterly funny, and tragic, A Song For The End is a breakneck, blood-soaked tale of truth, lies, consequences… and Rock N Roll.

Bill Cutter is thrilled at first, with his band's new song. It's literally the best work they've ever done. Unfortunately, the song forces everyone who hears it to tell the truth. While at face value this could be an amusing development as people spill their embarrassing secrets, there are deadly and immediate consequences for trying to lie, or even trying to remain silent. Bill's band mate Jeff feels that truth at any cost is exactly what the world needs, and he plans to spread the song far and wide regardless of the death toll. Bill will risk his life to stop him.

Sprinkled with humor and splashed with blood, A Song for the End lies somewhere between the Twilight Zone comedic episode The Whole Truth about the haunted car that forces the shady salesman to tell the truth, and the mysterious recording played on Lords Of Salem for the devil's child to take over the earth. Even the most honest among us may have to stop and think what would happen if the option of saying nothing when you had nothing nice to say, were replaced with a grisly death for not speaking the truth.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review

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About the author

Kit Power lives in the UK and writes fiction that lurks at the boundaries of the horror, fantasy, and thriller genres, trying to bum a smoke or hitch a ride from the unwary.
In his secret alter ego of Kit Gonzo, he also performs as front man (and occasionally blogs) for death cult and popular beat combo The Disciples Of Gonzo, www.disciplesofgonzo.com

Season of the Dead: Supernatural Horror for Halloween by William P. Simmons (Editor)

 

TWENTY TERRIFYING TALES FOR HALLOWEEN, THE MOST FRIGHTENING NIGHT OF THE YEAR!

“The Dead walk beside us in October…and this Halloween, they have a story to tell…”

SEASON OF THE DEAD: SUPERNATURAL HORROR FOR HALLOWEEN opens the veil between the living and the dead with 20 classic and rare supernatural stories set on or around All Hallows Eve. Macabre masters and unjustly forgotten authors revisit centuries of Halloween legends and folklore with stories of witches and demons, faeries and specters. These deliciously dark narratives from 19th & 20th centuries visit a time when the tricks were deadly, the treats horrifying, and people feared the dead.

Halloween—Samhain—Nut Crack night—Dia de los Muertos…on this night, ghosts, goblins, and ghouls cross into our realm, the familiar turns strange, and our most intimate fears are unmasked. A night of dark wonder and magic, mystery and the macabre. A Season of the Dead.…

Experience Halloween like never before! Light your pumpkin, lock your door, and listen to leaves scurry…the dry, rustling feet of the dead. Open this book, and try not to think about who, or what, might be peering in your window to set by the fire.

From landmark supernatural fiction by Edgar Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and H.P. Lovecraft to literary nightmares by William Huntley, H.B. Marriott-Watson, Douglas Hyde, and Fritz-James O’Brien, there is a dark treat for every taste…along with some frightful tricks! Forgotten female authors appear in funerary finery, including E. Nesbit, Edith Wharton, Mrs. Henry Wood, and Mrs. J.H. Riddell. Horror favorites M.R. James, W.W. Jacobs, Bram Stoker, J.S. Le Fanu, and Robert W. Chambers stand alongside Nobel prize winning author Anatole France.

Feel October’s mingling of dread, lounging, and excitement. A celebration of olde halloween, when the monsters were real, the dead returned, and demons stalked every road.

Editor WILLIAM P. SIMMONS ushers readers through the Undiscovered Country of All Hallows with “Stories the Dead Know”, a thorough Introduction examining the holiday’s history, lore, and literature. Notes and Annotations create an eerie and informative context for readers.

These 20 classics from days gone by are arranged perfectly to get you into the spooky spirit of Halloween. Although previously published, all but H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, and Edgar Allan Poe were unfamiliar authors to me.

The notes that accompany each story were a plus as they explained a bit of background.

My favorites were Man Size In Marble in which a man finds his housekeeper's reasoning behind leaving her position near Halloween to be a mere superstition but may come to regret disbelieving.

Ken's Mystery, in which a man returns from a trip abroad entirely changed from his normal personality

The Three Sisters, a haunting story that begins at the death bed of one sister and the aftermath of her death on the survivors.

The Spectre Bridegroom in which young lovers are kept apart by their parents but drawn back together by the supernatural.

Whether you are already a fan of the classics or looking to test the waters before you dive in there is something for everyone in these collected tales.

I received a complimentary copy for review

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION: STORIES THE DEAD KNOW, by William P. Simmons
ULALUME: A BALLAD (1847) by Edgar Allan Poe
MAN-SIZE IN MARBLE (1887) by E. Nesbit
THE LOST ROOM (1858) by Fitz-James O’Brian
KEN’S MYSTERY (1883) by Julian Hawthorne
THE LAST OF SQUIRE ENNISMORE (1888) by Mrs. J.H. Riddell
THE THREE SISTERS (1914) by W.W. Jacobs
THE SPECTRE BRIDEGROOM (1865) by William Hunt
COUNT MAGNUS (1904) by M.R. James
TEIG O’ KANE AND THE CORPSE (1888) by Dr. Douglas Hyde
DRACULA’S GUEST (1914) by Bram Stoker
THE CHILD THAT WENT WITH THE FAERIES (1870) by J.S. Le Fanu
THE SCARECROW (1918) by G. Ranger Wormser
MASS OF SHADOWS (1927) by Anatole France
YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN (1855) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
REALITY, OR DELUSION? (1868) by Mrs. Henry Wood
THE DEVIL OF THE MARSH (1893) by H.B. Marriott-Watson
THE MESSENGER (1897) by Robert W. Chambers
THE VOW ON HALLOWEEN (1924) by Lyllian Huntley Harris
THE DUNWICH HORROR (1928) by H.P. Lovecraft
ALL SOULS (1909) by Edith Wharton

Prepare to Meet Thy God by Matt Starr

 

Almost Heaven

That's what the voice on the radio promised, and as Heath and his friends drove through the snow-capped mountains of West Virginia, they could almost believe it. Their destination? Blue Brier and the neighboring ski resort.

More Like Hell

The signs were there—becoming more evident as they drove deeper into the mountains of West Virginia—that something wasn't right. And nowhere was it more obvious than in Blue Brier itself, with its warning of "Prepare to Meet Thy God" painted on the side of a shed. Nor did the group heed the subtle warning issued by the local sheriff.

Ask, So That Your Sins May be Forgiven

The Harrowing is upon them, and it's too late to repent. Now they're running scared, running as though the very hounds of Hell are nipping at their heels.

A group of friends set off on a road trip to a secluded rental home where they expect to enjoy a vacation of skiing and partying. Sounds like a good time, right? Except the trip itself is a little freaky before they even reach their destination. At first I thought this was going to be one of those more tame and subtle horror stories with some mild spine tingly moments. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!) In fact I was so immersed in the characters and enjoying the dynamics between the friends, and the backstory of the main character Heath, that the horror aspect seemed secondary until all of a sudden it kicked in full force. I'm a sucker for small town horror where the locals keep dark secrets and outsiders don't escape unscathed, but there's more than mere mortals to fear in that desolate home in  unincorporated Mouth of Sheol. Do you know what Mouth of Sheol  means? you'll find out.

This is Matt Starr's first horror novel and I hope there will be many more to come because he's got quite a talent for it.

5 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy for review

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About the author

Matt Starr is a Best of the Net nominated typer and dog dad from a textile town in North Carolina. His work can be found in Barren Magazine, Empty House Press, and Schuylkill Valley Journal, among others. Matt is the author of Hell, or High Water (Main Street Rag, 2018), Prepare to Meet Thy God (Grinning Skull Press, 2020), and two collections of short fiction that, barring a miracle, only his girlfriend and dogs will ever read. Follow him on Twitter @illmattic919