October

by Gregory Bastianelli

A magician and a dark evil at Halloween come together in an intriguing coming-of-age thriller.Readers of Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes and All Hallows by Christopher Golden will love this. In 1970, four boys on the cusp of becoming teenagers notice strange events occurring in Maplewood, NH, timed with the late-night arrival of an old magician who has taken up residence in a boarding house in their neighborhood where one of the tenants is a reclusive pulp horror writer. The writer’s fears have kept him from venturing outside in over forty years, fears linked to the magician’s previous visit. As children go missing in town, the four boys try to piece together seemingly unrelated phenomena and realize dark forces are at work, but no one will believe them.FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Genres: Horror

384 pages, Hardcover

Published October 8, 2024

About the author

Gregory Bastianelli , a New Hampshire native, graduated from the University of New Hampshire where he studied writing under instructors Mark Smith, Thomas Williams and Theodore Weesner.
He worked for nearly two decades at a small daily newspaper where the highlights of his career were interviewing shock rocker Alice Cooper and B-movie icon Bruce Campbell.

He is the author of the novels, "Jokers Club," "Loonies," "Snowball," "Shadow Flicker," and "October."

His pulp horror novella "Lair of the Mole People" appears in the anthology "Men of Mystery Vol. II"

He lives in New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Michele The Stick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a great story. The idea behind it had so much potential. But, I did not like the writing style and I was super disappointed in the ending.

The female characters in particular were treated harshly. They were solely used as sexual objects. Elsie and Becky's sole purpose in the story was to be alluring. Rita, on the other hand was handled so badly that I was actually offended on her behalf. She was a caricature. Not only was she a fat lady, described as such at every opportunity, but also she was villainous for the sake of being so. it was as if gluttony is enough of a sin to warp her entirely.

As a dog lover, I did not appreciate his story line. That poor dog was unloved and mistreated throughout the whole story, making Ryan unlikable.

The dialogue was also horrendous. I can't imagine people communicating in short spats, without personality and nary a complex sentence.

I did think the story was genuinely scary and I appreciated the lack of gore. Not ever being really sure what happened to the characters lent to the mystery and did carry me forward. I feel like the bones of the story was good, the ending could use some work and the author could have given the female characters a little more value.

[Tamra Alger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great! Honestly, It sucked me in and I thoroughly enjoyed it through 99%. Something is very wrong in this small town when an old man with a top hate shows up being dropped off at the train station by a train that NEVER stops. Once he arrives, things begin to get weird and gory.

The old magician who arrives is in search of the old carnival fat lady from so many years ago. He finds her and hopes she has held onto his magic box that once held his sweet dear son.

This books has EVERYTHING...a father searching for his son, kidnapping, haunted and devil pumpkins, goblins, and jerk kids that bully. Haunted houses and alternate dimensions where what you fear can actually kill you!

I read this book IN October for extra creepiness but you don't have to wait a year. The reason for my 4 stars was just the magician and the boy...what the magician decides to do was heartbreaking, however, it didn't end up needing to be done so it broke my rating a bit TBH. However, it in NO WAY makes this a bad read...it was great in every other way, shape and form.

[Karen Dandurant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first came across Bregory Bastianelli at my local library, and I realized we had a connection. I read Jokers and then began reading all his books, and liking them. This newest one is a great read for Halloween (or even after Halloween). I loved the characters and the strange situation they found themselves in. And the connection? Well maybe it's --- fluffernutters. It's not but I do still love fluffernutters and it's so New England.

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think Stephen King meets ‘Stranger Things’ meets ‘Goosebumps’ meets ‘Gremlins’ and you might be halfway to knowing what you’ll encounter when you start reading this book! If this sounds appealing, then you are guaranteed to love “October” by Gregory Bastianelli.

There’s not many books in the horror genre that actually give me the chills, due to either being too unrealistic or not creative enough in its atmospheric descriptions but with this book I felt like I was actually in the town of Maplewood, living with the residents themselves.

I loved the time setting, portrayed through the whole of October, 1970 and the location of the New Hampshire town, with the freight trains rumbling through and the quirky residents living in the boarding house, each with their own backstory. The way the kids stuck together to try and discover why the town had gone bad was enjoyable to read and Ryan’s memories of his twin brother was heartbreaking. Things take a very eerie and sinister turn in Maplewood once a magician returns to the town after forty years and as this is the main premise to the story, it just gets more and more chilling as the story progresses.

I did find the ending a little abrupt but there was a very tense and action filled denouement to make up for it. One thing is for certain though, I won’t be looking at Halloween pumpkins the same way and defy you to either, once you’ve read this book!

An excellent novel with high quality writing, an atmospheric setting, scares a plenty and spine chilling characters. Not to be missed!

#October - 4.5 stars

[cinnamonwitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m so incredibly annoyed that I wasted almost the entirety of October reading October.