What do you think?
Rate this book
October Dreams II: A Celebration of Halloween
A brilliant Halloween anthology of both new and classic novellas, short stories, essays on the history, literature, and films of Halloween, and real-life memories of October 31st-from today's best practitioners of Dean R. Koontz * Stephen Graham Jones * Ray Bradbury * Robert McCammon * Robert Bloch * Whitley Strieber * Stewart O’Nan * Brian James Freeman * Ronald Malfi * Lisa Morton * Kealan Patrick Burke * Glen Hirshberg * James A. Moore * Michael McBride * Gemma Files * Nancy Holder * Tim Waggoner * S.P. Miskowski * Karen Heuler * Ian McDowell * Richard Gavin * M. Rickert * Benjamin Kane Ethridge * Joe R. Lansdale * Matthew Costello * James Newman * Melanie Tem * Roberta Lannes * Harry Shannon * Nate Southard * Nicole Cushing * Ray Garton * Lisa Morton * Al Sarrantonio * Tim Curran * John Skipp * Orrin Grey * Elizabeth Massie * Al Magliochetti * Bev Vincent * Richard Gavin * Ronald Kelly * James Newman * Tina Callaghan * Sèphera Girón * Michael Kelly
571 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2000
28 people are currently reading
535 people want to read
About the author
Richard Chizmar
252 books3,445 followersRichard Chizmar is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Amazon, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author.
He is the co-author (with Stephen King) of the bestselling novella, Gwendy’s Button Box and the founder/publisher of Cemetery Dance magazine and the Cemetery Dance Publications book imprint. He has edited more than 35 anthologies and his short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including multiple editions of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA’s Board of Trustee’s award.
Chizmar (in collaboration with Johnathon Schaech) has also written screenplays and teleplays for United Artists, Sony Screen Gems, Lions Gate, Showtime, NBC, and many other companies. He has adapted the works of many bestselling authors including Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Bentley Little.
Chizmar is also the creator/writer of the online website, Stephen King Revisited. His fourth short story collection, The Long Way Home, was published in 2019. With Brian Freeman, Chizmar is co-editor of the acclaimed Dark Screams horror anthology series published by Random House imprint, Hydra.
His latest book, The Girl on the Porch, was released in hardcover by Subterranean Press, and Widow’s Point, a chilling novella about a haunted lighthouse written with his son, Billy Chizmar, was recently adapted into a feature film.
Chizmar’s work has been translated into more than fifteen languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, guest speaker, panelist, and guest of honor.
He is the co-author (with Stephen King) of the bestselling novella, Gwendy’s Button Box and the founder/publisher of Cemetery Dance magazine and the Cemetery Dance Publications book imprint. He has edited more than 35 anthologies and his short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including multiple editions of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA’s Board of Trustee’s award.
Chizmar (in collaboration with Johnathon Schaech) has also written screenplays and teleplays for United Artists, Sony Screen Gems, Lions Gate, Showtime, NBC, and many other companies. He has adapted the works of many bestselling authors including Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Bentley Little.
Chizmar is also the creator/writer of the online website, Stephen King Revisited. His fourth short story collection, The Long Way Home, was published in 2019. With Brian Freeman, Chizmar is co-editor of the acclaimed Dark Screams horror anthology series published by Random House imprint, Hydra.
His latest book, The Girl on the Porch, was released in hardcover by Subterranean Press, and Widow’s Point, a chilling novella about a haunted lighthouse written with his son, Billy Chizmar, was recently adapted into a feature film.
Chizmar’s work has been translated into more than fifteen languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, guest speaker, panelist, and guest of honor.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 23, 2025
2.5 rounded up
Clearly I am in the minority here, but I have to be honest and say that while the first October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween is probably my favorite Halloween anthology, this follow-up was a big disappointment.
I think there's a time and place for "cozy" or nostalgic Halloween stories when they're done well, and aren't laying on the messaging as thick as an extra layer of nougat and caramel. Good examples of this are A Night in the Lonesome October and, of course, Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Personally, I like my short Halloween horror stories like I like my chocolate, dark and bitter. The majority of the stories in this collection skew to the hokey and sentimental, and there was hardly a scare to be found. I even threw out a couple of one-star story ratings, which is pretty rare for me.
If this collection were about two hundred pages shorter, I'd say it's worth the price of admission for the few and far between dark gems, like Stephen Graham Jones' "Universal Horror," a delightful tale of trick or treating revenge, and Robert Bloch's grim "Pumpkin." The real standout story for me, however, was our own king of Halloween nostalgia's "The October Game." Bradbury does messed up horror as well as he does cozy autumn vibes. I recommend like-minded short horror lovers to seek out that story on it's own merit, but this anthology was a miss for me overall.
Clearly I am in the minority here, but I have to be honest and say that while the first October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween is probably my favorite Halloween anthology, this follow-up was a big disappointment.
I think there's a time and place for "cozy" or nostalgic Halloween stories when they're done well, and aren't laying on the messaging as thick as an extra layer of nougat and caramel. Good examples of this are A Night in the Lonesome October and, of course, Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Personally, I like my short Halloween horror stories like I like my chocolate, dark and bitter. The majority of the stories in this collection skew to the hokey and sentimental, and there was hardly a scare to be found. I even threw out a couple of one-star story ratings, which is pretty rare for me.
If this collection were about two hundred pages shorter, I'd say it's worth the price of admission for the few and far between dark gems, like Stephen Graham Jones' "Universal Horror," a delightful tale of trick or treating revenge, and Robert Bloch's grim "Pumpkin." The real standout story for me, however, was our own king of Halloween nostalgia's "The October Game." Bradbury does messed up horror as well as he does cozy autumn vibes. I recommend like-minded short horror lovers to seek out that story on it's own merit, but this anthology was a miss for me overall.
November 16, 2025
I took my time with this anthology. Read stories here and there throughout the 2025 spooky season. Loved it! So many atmospheric gems in the collection. I’d already read the wonderful offering by Malfi and the one by Moore. Ronald Kelley’s story was great as well. As was Bradbury’s. What I loved best about this book was many of the authors’ musings in the “My Favorite Halloween Memory” chapters. Each author explained so much of why they became horror authors while recalling memories behind their love for October and Halloween.
🎃 4.5 🎃🎃🎃🎃!!
🎃 4.5 🎃🎃🎃🎃!!
February 11, 2016
Some 14 years after the release of the original " October Dreams", Cemetery Dance has published volume 2. This anthology is filled with plenty of spooky stories by many well know authors. Many authors recall their memories of their favorite Halloween. The first story, " Mr. Dark Carnival " by Glen Hirshberg, sets the pace to make this one of the best Halloween anthology of 2015. This truly is a celebration of Halloween. This was many years in the making but it was well worth it. I highly recommend this anthology!
October 24, 2021
Wow! Mr. Chizmar did it again. I am a Halloween fanatic, so despite the unusually high price to get a copy of this book (it's been sold out for quite awhile and I got a signed Uncorrected Advance Copy) I snatched it up the moment I found it. I previously bought the first October Dreams but decided to read this one to start, and, as always, I am incredibly impressed with the collection Mr. Chizmar has put together. There's work from some of the kings of Halloween of course, such as Ray Bradbury and Al Sarrantonio, as well as plenty of stuff from horror authors, artists, and those genuinely intrigued by the macabre. That's not to say that everything here is horror; Halloween is about so much more than that. Sadly, as I said, it's near impossible to get a copy for less than your first born child, but I'm willing to say that's a price I'd pay.
October 25, 2025
I liked the first half of the book much more than the second half, with my favourite stories being Mr Dark's Carnival by Glen Hirshberg, Guising by Gemma Files, Death and Disbursement by S P Miskowski and Dear Dead Jenny by Ian McDowell.
April 14, 2015
I guess my preference for stories of Halloween slants toward the old, nostalgic stuff like Ray Bradbury used to write. And while there are plenty of stories here that include those cheesy rubber-banded masks of the '60's and '70's and the smell of burning jack-o-lanterns -- and one story by Bradbury himself -- there's not a lot of subtlety in this collection. "And then he was hit by a bus!" and "So she killed them all!" are approximately what's to be found in "October Dreams 2." As Bradbury himself would say ... where is the metaphor in that?
January 1, 2015
Review coming. Awesome!
October 22, 2023
Fantastic collection here -- though there are two stories I found very uncomfortable in an unwelcome way that really threw the vibe off.
November 18, 2025
Its a little after Halloween, but I decided to see this one through because I had been reading it prior to spooky season ending. While not as great as October Dreams I, II is still plenty amazing. October Dreams I also had almost 300 more pages so it feels a little unfair lol. There were some truly great Halloween memories and short stories in this one. The stories that really stood out to me were:
Mr. Dark’s Carnival - Glen Hirshberg
Guising - Gemma Files
Dear Dead Jenny - Ian McDowell
What Blooms in Shadow Withers in Light -Richard Gavin
The October Game - Ray Bradbury (might be the most disturbing thing I’ve read from Ray, wonderfully macabre)
Fear of Fallen Leaves - James Newman
Strange Candy - Robert McCammon
Mr & Mrs Werewolf - Whitley Streiber
Pumpkin - Robert Bloch
The Spirit of Things - John Skipp
The Little Werewolf That Cried - Al Magliochetti
Mr. Dark’s Carnival - Glen Hirshberg
Guising - Gemma Files
Dear Dead Jenny - Ian McDowell
What Blooms in Shadow Withers in Light -Richard Gavin
The October Game - Ray Bradbury (might be the most disturbing thing I’ve read from Ray, wonderfully macabre)
Fear of Fallen Leaves - James Newman
Strange Candy - Robert McCammon
Mr & Mrs Werewolf - Whitley Streiber
Pumpkin - Robert Bloch
The Spirit of Things - John Skipp
The Little Werewolf That Cried - Al Magliochetti
August 29, 2016
October Dreams 2 is exactly what the sub-title says: A Celebration of Halloween. Split between a compilation of short stories and authors’ remembrances of their best Halloween experiences, the book excels at capturing the spirit of the holiday.
The short stories have everything you could ask for: ghosts (good and bad), werewolves, Lovecraftian-creatures, and perhaps worst of all – the evil inherent in ourselves. Particular standouts for me were the stories by Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, Whitley Strieber, and of course the incomparable Ray Bradbury. These stories alone are worth the price of admission. The story by Robert Bloch was also classic, seemingly tailor-made for the great comics of old like The Vault of Horror or Tales from the Crypt.
Most of the authors contributing their Halloween memories are of my same era, being trick-or-treaters of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Their Halloween accounts reflected and resurrected many of my own childhood memories. Trick-or-treating was a different (much more exciting, in my opinion) experience for us children of that era than it is today. The magic has been replaced with caution in today’s world, and that is sad (but unfortunately necessary).
If I have any criticism of this compilation, it would be that a couple of the author’s “favorite” memories clearly don’t qualify as a “celebration” of Halloween, but rather as real-life commentary on the dark side of humanity, and better suited for a different sort of compilation.
The short stories have everything you could ask for: ghosts (good and bad), werewolves, Lovecraftian-creatures, and perhaps worst of all – the evil inherent in ourselves. Particular standouts for me were the stories by Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, Whitley Strieber, and of course the incomparable Ray Bradbury. These stories alone are worth the price of admission. The story by Robert Bloch was also classic, seemingly tailor-made for the great comics of old like The Vault of Horror or Tales from the Crypt.
Most of the authors contributing their Halloween memories are of my same era, being trick-or-treaters of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Their Halloween accounts reflected and resurrected many of my own childhood memories. Trick-or-treating was a different (much more exciting, in my opinion) experience for us children of that era than it is today. The magic has been replaced with caution in today’s world, and that is sad (but unfortunately necessary).
If I have any criticism of this compilation, it would be that a couple of the author’s “favorite” memories clearly don’t qualify as a “celebration” of Halloween, but rather as real-life commentary on the dark side of humanity, and better suited for a different sort of compilation.
May 11, 2015
A great collection of nostalgic Halloween stories from writers favorites. It rings true to Halloweens gone by, sweeping memories of my own Halloween experiences back to life. All the atmosphere brought to life in this must read collection. I am sure readers will find their own memories in this collection. I thoroughly enjoyed these stories as I am sure other readers will . I recommend this book as a look back at our own adventurous Halloweens.
July 12, 2016
Much like the original October Dreams the second collection offers up a wonderful menagerie of Tales perfectly suited to put you in the spirit of the season.
October 9, 2016
400 pages of Hallowe'en fun. The memories of the authors are my favorite. The chronology of the holiday on TV was also lots of fun. It never gets old...
August 18, 2021
I have to admit I am a Halloween addict! I look forward to the season every year and I start early... however not normally in August. I mention that because I want you to know that to find this book was tough... Ebay is asking $150-$500 for this and though I was tempted that is way more than I want to spend. I was able to get my local library to borrow from one of the 3 libraries that carry this nation wide. Curious to hear if anyone else who read this how they got this book?
Thank you Pikes Peak Branch Library! I read the first book last year and found it to be the right balance of atmosphere, nostalgia and a certain spooky that is not necessarily gruesome but more or less eerie. I love Ray Bradbury and I really wanted to spend more time with that type of work. Enter the second book.
It has some good with the bad, so did the first book but this time I just was never hooked. I feel this time the stories were a bit more hardcore and have less build up with atmosphere. This book felt less clever. Also no Ray Bradbury. I wanted the Twilight Zone and what I got was fair but I am not going to pony up that $150 to own a copy of this.
If Richard Chizmar does a 3rd book for some reason I'll buy that and I'll pick this one up (hopefully it'll go on sale). If not I'll just re-read my copy of October Dreams 1.
Thank you Pikes Peak Branch Library! I read the first book last year and found it to be the right balance of atmosphere, nostalgia and a certain spooky that is not necessarily gruesome but more or less eerie. I love Ray Bradbury and I really wanted to spend more time with that type of work. Enter the second book.
It has some good with the bad, so did the first book but this time I just was never hooked. I feel this time the stories were a bit more hardcore and have less build up with atmosphere. This book felt less clever. Also no Ray Bradbury. I wanted the Twilight Zone and what I got was fair but I am not going to pony up that $150 to own a copy of this.
If Richard Chizmar does a 3rd book for some reason I'll buy that and I'll pick this one up (hopefully it'll go on sale). If not I'll just re-read my copy of October Dreams 1.
October 23, 2025
I actually think this is a stronger collection than its predecessor. The concept still works beautifully: let horror and speculative writers mix new fiction with short essays about why Halloween matters, and the whole book hums with melancholy and menace.
You get the tender, reflective side in pieces like Dean Koontz’s “The Scariest Thing I Know,” Ian McDowell’s “Dear Dead Jenny,” and Michael Kelly’s “October Dreams.” Then it pivots to the outright creepy with Glen Hirshberg’s “Mr. Dark’s Carnival,” Ray Bradbury’s “The October Game,” Robert Bloch’s “Pumpkin,” Ronald Malfi’s "The House on Cottage Lane" and "Death and Disbursement" by S.P. Miskowski just to name a few highlights.
The hit rate is high, the tones are varied, and the essays deepen the mood rather than interrupt it. If you want a Halloween anthology that delivers both shivers and heart, this one feels like a must-read.
You get the tender, reflective side in pieces like Dean Koontz’s “The Scariest Thing I Know,” Ian McDowell’s “Dear Dead Jenny,” and Michael Kelly’s “October Dreams.” Then it pivots to the outright creepy with Glen Hirshberg’s “Mr. Dark’s Carnival,” Ray Bradbury’s “The October Game,” Robert Bloch’s “Pumpkin,” Ronald Malfi’s "The House on Cottage Lane" and "Death and Disbursement" by S.P. Miskowski just to name a few highlights.
The hit rate is high, the tones are varied, and the essays deepen the mood rather than interrupt it. If you want a Halloween anthology that delivers both shivers and heart, this one feels like a must-read.
October 21, 2022
This anthology has some really creepy tales, some nostalgic Halloween memories, and was the perfect read for Spooky Season!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews