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The Devil's Quill: A Quartet of Halloween Stories
TRICK OR TREAT . . .
Welcome to the spookiest night of the year, when two award-winning authors present a quartet of stories in The Devil's Quill guaranteed to keep you up late. In these pages, you'll meet Rudy, a misanthropic computer nerd whose dreams of technology-fueled revenge turn into an old-fashioned nightmare; David , an orphan who buys a beautiful ebony box from an antique store and discovers to his dismay that it collects a lot more than dust; Ruth, an old woman whose efforts to break a centuries-long Halloween family curse backfire horribly; and a group of young neighborhood bullies who plan an evening of trick-or-treating nastiness but instead find that strange new kid Finn's imaginary friend is not so imaginary after all.
The Devil's Quill combines the writing skills and imaginations of two authors working at the top of their crafts, and the result is a book of wholly original, wholly unexpected horror stories.
Welcome to the spookiest night of the year, when two award-winning authors present a quartet of stories in The Devil's Quill guaranteed to keep you up late. In these pages, you'll meet Rudy, a misanthropic computer nerd whose dreams of technology-fueled revenge turn into an old-fashioned nightmare; David , an orphan who buys a beautiful ebony box from an antique store and discovers to his dismay that it collects a lot more than dust; Ruth, an old woman whose efforts to break a centuries-long Halloween family curse backfire horribly; and a group of young neighborhood bullies who plan an evening of trick-or-treating nastiness but instead find that strange new kid Finn's imaginary friend is not so imaginary after all.
The Devil's Quill combines the writing skills and imaginations of two authors working at the top of their crafts, and the result is a book of wholly original, wholly unexpected horror stories.
212 pages, Paperback
Published August 4, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 9, 2025
THE DEVIL’S QUILL is a collection of fun, spooky stories written by two gifted storytellers. Lark and Levin are writers with serious chops who use horror not just to scare, but to probe deep anxieties—loneliness, grief, the urge for revenge, and the monstrousness lurking in ordinary people. “Dread Box” especially resonated with me: David’s story, trapped between worlds and families, wrenched my heart. The haunted object trope is familiar, but here it becomes a metaphor for trauma and inheritance, and the ending left me thinking.
Levin’s “The Dybbuk’s Curse” is a particular highlight for me in this collection and I enjoyed the respectful, inventive take on dybbuks—plus, the twist that ties the detective's personal history to the case is both clever and tragic. Even the more “fun” stories, like “Finn’s Friend,” have a dark undercurrent that refuses to let the reader off the hook. This is a great book for anyone looking for horror with the right dose of spookiness and humanity.
Levin’s “The Dybbuk’s Curse” is a particular highlight for me in this collection and I enjoyed the respectful, inventive take on dybbuks—plus, the twist that ties the detective's personal history to the case is both clever and tragic. Even the more “fun” stories, like “Finn’s Friend,” have a dark undercurrent that refuses to let the reader off the hook. This is a great book for anyone looking for horror with the right dose of spookiness and humanity.
October 24, 2025
Just in time for Halloween, Lark and Levin give us four bite-sized treats for our trick-or-treating bag. The stories approach horror in different ways: malevolent spirits, haunted objects, technology run amok, individual alienation, and "special" friends. The authors are adept in telling a full story -- introducing the characters and the mystery, ratcheting the tension up, and finally delivering a wonderful (or disturbing) conclusion -- in a small package. My personal favorite was Dread Box, reminiscent of Lark's earlier horror novel Better Boxed and Forgotten, where evil lives in found objects. A great book to curl up with on a dark night!
September 9, 2025
Here is what you will discover in these pages: four well-crafted tales of horror, characters that are complex and cleverly developed, aand nd elements of horror like none you have read before. There is beauty in the prose, dialogues are engaging, and the twists in the plot will keep you turning the pages.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews