Monster Carnival: An Anthology of Things, Beasts & Creatures

 This Halloween the monsters are real, and they are coming to your house! Shadow House Publishing opens the crypt and unleashes a MONSTER CARNIVAL!

Under the bed and behind the closet, in dank basements and gloomy attics…they are the whisper in the dark, the growl in the corner…they are everything we fear, and all that we secretly desire…they are us…they are MONSTERS!

MONSTER CARNIVAL: An Anthology of Things, Beasts, & Creatures, edited by supernatural horror author and critic WILLIAM P. SIMMONS, is an evocative anthology featuring the monsters that terrified us when we were children…and still do.

They’re all here, a paranormal parade of the dead, demonic, and devilish! Vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghouls, and blobs…unnamable entities and marvelous monstrosities, murderous severed hands and demonic frogs…every crawling, lurching, leaping, shambling THING that ever stalked a printed page.

They were the original bad boys of horror–the ugly outcast, the despised loner, the creature from the grave-basement-coffin-outer space-that everybody loved to be scared by (even as we secretly rooted for them). From ancient folklore bogies to inter-dimensional demons, this funerary feast of 22 classic and rare stories makes fear fun again.

Children of the night stalk in 22 tales from a diverse group of authors, some well-known, others anonymous or forgotten, from the gothic era to the 20th century. Contributors include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, E.F. Benson, H.P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Rudyard Kipling, Lord Dunsany, and H.G. Wells alongside fear specialists Manly Wade Wellman, Frank Belknap Long, William Hope Hodgson, Henry S. Whitehead, and Robert E. Howard. Some chilling tales make their first appearance in decades, including monstrosities from Edward Lucas White, Victor Roman, Anthony M. Rud, Hume Nisbet, Ulric Daubeny, Augustus Hare, and several others.

Editor William P. Simmons leads this spectral spectacle, hand-picking supernatural, psychological, and weird tales for every torrid taste. From the bloody behemoths of pulp magazines to the terror titans of the Lovecraft circle, from classic supernatural monsters to mutants and slithery things with tentacles, this compendium of long legged beasties and ‘things that go bump in the night’ features an Introduction discussing the appeal of the monster in fiction.

Featuring a cast of creatures to delight and disgust, the Monster Carnival has something for everyone... Well everyone who is not afraid to plow full steam ahead into some very dark and disturbing worlds where creatures masquerade as human and family curses can ruin one's love life.

Most of these stories were new to me, since my knowledge of the classics is pretty limited to Poe and Lovecraft. This anthology includes monsters that were familiar to me, but aside from the usual werewolf and vampire fare it offers strange and unusual tales with creatures that as of yet had never made the acquaintance of my nightmares. I am sure that will change now that I have been introduced to several wondrous and horrifying beings. Read if you dare, and should you see something from the corner of your eye in the misty morning fog trust your vision and seek immediate shelter.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

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Monster Carnival Table of Contents:

• Here There Be Monsters, William P. Simmons
• Amina, Edward Lucas White
• Four Wooden Stakes, Victor Rowan
• The Hounds of Tindalos, Frank Belknap Long
• Mark of the Beast, Rudyard Kipling
• The Demon’s Spell, Hume Nisbet
• Jumbee, Henry S. Whitehead
• The Spectre Spiders, W.J. Wintle
• The Werewolf, Eugene O’Neil
• At the End of the Corridor, Evangeline Walton
• The Hoard of the Gibbelins, Lord Dunsany
• The Lurking Fear, H.P. Lovecraft
• The Sea Raiders, H.G. Wells
• Lot 249, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Voice in the Night, William Hope Hodgson
• The Vampire of Cronglin Grange, Augustus Hare
• Frogfather, Manly Wade Wellman
• Rukorokubi, Lafcadio Hearn
• The Death of Halpin Frayser, Ambrose Bierce
• The Beast with Five Fingers, W.F. Harvey
• The Sumach, Ulric Daubeny
• Ooze, Anthony M. Rud
• The Thing in the Hall, E.F. Benson
• About the Editor: William P. Simmons is a supernatural fiction author, critic, & journalist. Eight of his stories earned Honorable Mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. By Reason of Darkness was praised by Publisher’s Weekly, All Hallows & Cemetery Dance. Graham Masterton, Hugh B. Cave & T.M. Wright endorsed his fiction. He has interviewed such authors as Richard Matheson, F. Paul Wilson & Caitlin Kiernan.
• SHADOW HOUSE PUBLISHING preserves our horror heritage!

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