The Tricker-Treater, and Other Stories

by Briana Morgan

"The Tricker-Treater is gonna stop by your house tonight. You gotta meet with him and do what he says, or else."

A woman agrees to take part in a creature's sick game to save the child she loves. A girl and her mother move into a nightmare house. Two brothers embark on a high-seas treasure hunt.

In this haunting collection, Briana Morgan shares stories of love, loss, and horrors both real and imagined.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Halloween, Horror Thriller, Anthologies, Fantasy, Collections

104 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 2020

About the author

Briana Morgan is a horror writer, editor, and author of The Tricker-Treater and Other Stories, which won a Godless 666 Award for Best Audiobook. With more than a decade of experience scaring herself and others, Briana has a fresh voice that shines through in her latest book, The Reyes Incident, which has sold more than 16,000 copies to date. Her other books include Mouth Full of Ashes, Unboxed: A Play, and more.

Briana has a BA in English and Creative Writing from Georgia College & State University. She is also an active member of the Horror Writers Association. When not writing, Briana loves reading disturbing fiction, playing video games, and traveling with her husband.

Reviews

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up for Goodreads!
THE TRICKER TREATER And Other Stories is Briana Morgan’s first all-in dive into horror. Earlier this year, I read Morgan’s UNBOXED; a stage play I would safely call horror-adjacent. THE TRICKER-TREATER is a collection of several stories ranging in length, genre, and style.

THE TRICKER-TREATER
MORATORIUM
THE DIVE
THE HANGING OF CONSTANCE EVANS
CHARITY
THE SESSION
THE MISTAKE HOUSE
THE JOB

In terms of my overall reading experience, I have to start with this cover. Obvious to seasoned horror fans, this is an Elderlemonlemon Design (Kealan Patrick Burke) and it is straight up eye-candy. The colors, the font, that creature--much like food, where I eat with my eyes first, this cover is all kinds of appetizing.
The title story is a great start to the collection exploring a trending trope in horror: the wicked game. I’ve read several stories this year where the main characters get caught up in some kind of horrible, high stakes game. Someone or someTHING forces the characters to make an impossible choice or else.
This was a fun story that I would love to see developed further into a full novella.
If flash-fiction is your thing, MORATORIUM and THE MISTAKE HOUSE deliver. I know some readers don’t like it because there’s not a lot there to sink your teeth into but I enjoy those ‘short sharp shocks’.
THE DIVE was interesting. I wasn’t sure if it was me or the story but I got confused somewhere along the way and I didn’t find my way back. I either missed a scrap of information that would have tied everything together or it just wasn’t there. Either way, I left that one feeling unsatisfied.
One of my favorite stories here is THE HANGING OF CONSTANCE EVANS. I’ve been mildly obsessed with the Salem Witch Trials ever since I learned about them in grade school history. I enjoyed Biana’s tale and I was sad to let go of Faith, Constance, and Thomas.
I’m glad that there was a possession story in this collection--CHARITY is about Father Hildebrand and his unique encounter with a cursed/haunted object. A pretty bleak ending. I enjoyed it.
Overall, I think this is an alluring introduction to the imagination of Briana Morgan. I’m excited to see where this journey into horror will take her--I’m keeping my bookshelves open to whatever she releases in the future.

[Roxie Voorhees · Rating 3 out of 5]

That amazing cover makes me tingle!

[Marcy Reads on IG · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Every game has rules, Moira. Do you want to play?”

I think I have found a new favorite author!

Briana’s writing is, IMO, exceptional. Each story flowed so easily and kept me engaged. Although I enjoyed each and every story in its own way the stellar for me was The Tricker-Treater. I also feel like Briana did such a great job of giving us totally different stories. In this collection we encounter a raging storm at sea, a witch hanging, a sinister ghost, an evil house and much more. Each story had a different atmosphere and voice which really kept me looking forward to the next story.

I highly recommend this to anyone who needs some quick and easy-to-read spooky stories! I especially think this would be a great reading slump buster. It cured my slump!

[Ayden Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Tricker-Treater and Other Stories by Briana Morgan

I love reading short story collections when I can’t focus on one book. I’m in that state of mind where I’m reading a few pages and putting it down and picking up another book to do the same. The holidays are crazy times and just the stress of everything decreases my focus. When I picked up this short story collection, it had that quick and easy follow to it. Another thing I loved was the ending to most of the stories. They were unpredictable and I never could have guessed them. I love being tricked in the end. My favorite stories from the collection were “The Tricker-Treater” , “The Hanging of Constance Evans” and “Charity”. There are a great mix of stories in this collection from Halloween, Assassins, Witches, Ghosts, Crazy Houses and more. There is a little something for everyone but with every collection I have my favorites and some that just didn’t work for me. I gave this collection and overall 3 ⭐️.

The Tricker-Treater
The first story of the collection, Riley visits Moira and tells her of the Treater-Treated and how he is going to visit. He loves to give treats but there is always a game to be played. I really enjoyed this story. It definitely took an unexpected turned at the end. I love when I can’t see the endings coming.

Moratorium
My eyes bugged out at that last line. Like wait , what did she just say? I was not expecting that. (My eyes 👀)

The Dive
The heart of the ocean is the only thing to get these two brothers back together again. I wasn’t a big fan of this one. I just don’t think it was the story for me.

The Hanging of Constance Evans
This is the first witchy short story I’ve read all year and I loved it! So great!

Charity
A possession story from a simple cabinet at a charity event. The regret of unfinished business is heavy on the soul. Very interesting ending to this story.

The Session
A marriage council session with so much backstory and questions. I was immediately drawn in and curious of where this would lead and what had gotten the couple to this point.

The Mistake House
When the haunted house plays tricks and moves the furniture around, it’s all fun and games until it starts to mess with the people inside the house. Interesting concept.

The Job
An assassin seems like a pretty cool job as long as it comes with a lot of fancy perks. Ending the collection with a Christmas themed story.

[Rachelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Her scream seemed to penetrate the fiber of every being on Gallows Hill.."

Super fun little Halloween novella. Each story packed a pretty spooky punch!

[Heather Horror Hellion · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been loving short stories lately and these were entertaining.

The first thing that stands out, other than the incredible cover, is the fact she added a content warning on her Author's note page. I think that is such an incredible thing to add to a book.

The second thing that really stood out to me was the story "The Hanging of Constance Evans" I just loved how it ended and it was the most postive story in the book.

The book is a great one to add to your collection if you are interested in short stories.

[Ga.selle (Semi-hiatus) Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.45 🎃

The Tricker-Treater - 3.5🎃
Moratorium -3🎃
The dive - 2.5 🎃
The Hanging of Constance Evans - 4🎃
Charity - 5🎃
The Session - 2.5🎃
The Mistake House - 3.5🎃
The Job - 3.5🎃

[Richard Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Briana Morgan’s latest collection of horror shorts we have eight stories that run from the supernatural to the every-day, including;

The Tricker-Treater – A supernatural force visits elderly widow Moira on Halloween with a proposal of a deranged game with terrible consequences

Moratorium – A grieving daughter views a beloved picture of her deceased mother with fresh eyes.

The Dive – Two men take a boat out to sea in search of a mysterious box. What are they looking for, and who could have sent them?

The Hanging of Constance Evans – Set in Salem in the 1600s, a young woman is set to be executed for the crime of being a witch. Have the townsfolk made a grievous mistake, or are there really witches in their midst?

Charity – When one of his parishioners passes away unexpectedly, Father Hildebrand comes into possession of the deceased’s wine cabinet. When the cabinet turns out to be haunted by the restless spirit of its former owner, Father Hildebrand must do his duty to help him move into the next life.

The Session – A counselling session between two former castaways reveals more than either party expected.

The Mistake House – A family finds that a house that is able to change at will may not be the easiest place to live.

The Job – Two hitmen take a last-minute job over the festive season, with a most unexpected target.

What drew me to the book was a promise of a diverse collection of stories that would have something to offer for every type of horror reader and, while it certainly delivered on that, I was disappointed to finish the book and find that I didn’t really connect with any of them.

It is not Morgan’s writing that is the issue here. She is clearly a very talented writer and her prose flows well and is very evocative, effortlessly painting a vivid picture with her stories. The issue is that the stories being presented aren’t all that engaging. Many suffer from an underdeveloped
premise, conflicting logic, or simply not having enough substance to justify their inclusion.

While none of the stories are particularly egregious examples of this, neither are any particularly standout. While I loved the visuals of ‘The Mistake House’, there isn’t much of a story there and it reads like an interesting concept sorely missing an actual narrative to hang it on. ‘Charity’ started off strong but is dragged down by an overstuffed middle and a twist ending where the logic doesn’t quite tally. ‘Moratorium’ was perhaps my favourite of the collection but, even then, the emotional pay-off doesn’t quite land how it should due to insufficient build-up. There are moments or concepts that show real promise but at no point did I feel this potential was reached.

An unusual example of a self-published work let down by the stories themselves and not the execution, ‘The Tricker-Treater’ is an exceptionally well written, but poorly conceived collection of stories that are never quite the sum of their parts.


You can read more reviews of new and upcoming horror releases at https://www.myindiemuse.com/category/...

[Aiden Merchant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories had endings that left me unsatisfied or disappointed; otherwise, I found Morgan's imagination to be of interest. Her writing is clean and easy to digest. The stories were all page-turners that kept you until the end. I think "The Mistake House" was my favorite, thanks to that twisted imagery found within the mother's room.

www.aidenmerchant.com

[Yvonne (the putrid Shelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun collection of short stories that acted as a palate cleanser. It would've been the perfect Halloween read, if I'd have gotten my arse in gear and read it when I'd planned.

Stories including a Halloween entity that demands a sacrifice. A priest possessed by a ghost that has some unfinished business, a haunted house story, a hit job gone wrong and a public execution of an accused witch.

A great collection with a lot of different sub genres displayed. A well written collection that left me feeling satisfied.

[Michael Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're considering buying this book, DO IT.

If it's already on your shelf but you haven't read it yet, READ IT.

Holy heck, this book was good. The content warning in the beginning tells you everything you need to be prepared for in the following pages. That warning is also a promise of what's to come, and Morgan keeps her promises.

This book was gruesome and sometimes savage, but there were also some really tender and heartfelt moments. I enjoy being taken on a rollercoaster of emotions when reading collections like these, and I finished this book nearly breathless from the ride.

This book was fantastic, the cover is incredible, and the author herself (who I am fortunate to call a friend) is a very supportive person in the Indie Horror community. Do yourself a favor and place your bets with the TRICKER-TREATER.

You can't lose.

[Glenn Rolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neat collection of stories. "The Hanging of Constance Evans" and "Charity" were definitely the standouts.

If you're looking for a quick short story collection, give THE TRICKER-TREATER a read.

[Dakota Dawe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tricker-Treater and Other Stories is my first dive into the work of Briana Morgan. I found out about this book and author through Max Booth III’s podcast Ghoulish, and I’m glad that I gave her a chance. Each story is executed well and I enjoyed reading through this book in one sitting. My favorites include “Charity”, “The Tricker-Treater”, and “The Mistake House”. These three stories had the best concepts, from a ghost that possesses a priest in order to tie up loose ends, a Lovecraftian being that makes people play games in order to have their wish come true, and a house that reorganizes itself. Although the concepts are fantastic and the writing is excellent, none of these stories really stood out to me and engraved themselves into my mind forever. “Charity” came very close, but the twist felt almost forced, like there was a lot of build up for an ending that seemed to come out of left field. I look forward to reading Morgan’s next book, “Mouth Full of Ashes” as soon as it drops as it looks even better than this book.

[Kiera ☠ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only two short stories in this collection stood out to me. The title one ‘The Tricker Treater’ and the one involving the Priest and the Ghost from the cabinet. I’ve liked another book by Morgan but this one was a bit of a miss for me. I didn’t find the other shorts very memorable and didn’t really care to grab for it when I was reading it.

You can definitely see her talent in horror though some stories I didn’t feel were particularly scary, some were almost psychological in nature. Again, this isn’t necessarily bad but standing next to ‘The Tricker Treater’ they pale in comparison.

[Justin Lewis]

Review coming soon!

[Lindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This is a short story collection. My favourites were The Hanging of Constance Evans and Charity.

[H. Everend · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories were amazing. Briana has such a talent for her craft. I think my favorites were The Tricker-Treater and The Dive, but they were all well written and left the reader with a sense of dread after reading them. I recommend this to anyone looking for some unsettling reads and supporting an incredible indie author.

[T.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to start out this review by saying that the cover of this is absolutely stunning. Haunting and captivating and definitely fitting for the genre. I'm not a big horror reader, but I've enjoyed some of Morgan's other work and seeing that this had such a great cover just drew me in even more.

Now let's get to the stories. In any collection like this, you're going to have some stories that stand out more than others and some that work better than others. Overall, the author's writing is solid. "The Job" and "Moratorium" were probably my favorites in this collection. I also really liked certain elements of "Charity" and "The Tricker-Treater," although there were other elements that didn't work as well for me. None of the stories felt particularly scary to me, but again, I'm not much of a horror reader, and I don't scare easily.

I listened to this on audiobook and I had mixed feelings about the narrator. My first impression was that her voice was almost a little robotic. I got used to it after a while, but it still felt kind of flat and off to me. That's maybe just a personal preference. I did especially like the narration of "The Job" though. There are parts of a Christmas song that the narrator actually sings in that story, and it was really haunting and added some creepy vibes to the story.

Overall I'd probably give this a 3.5, rounding up to 4. Some stories were more a solid 4 and others were lower for me, but this is a nice collection of stories that could serve as a good introduction to Morgan's other work, if you're just looking for a quick read.

[David Veith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick read. A couple of the stories were very good. Most were very short, a page or 2, and not all of them are what I would call a horror story.

[Austrian Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Briana Morgan book, I’d approached Briana to get an audiobook copy and unfortunately, she didn’t have codes for my backwater Amazon (Germany), but I’m not one to be deterred, so I grabbed a copy for Briana’s birthday (which took three attempts to get to me!), and approached it with no expectations but an underlying feeling that no matter what I was going to read, I was going to have fun doing so.

Briana’s voice is very easy going, it’s almost chatty, you are in friendly company when you read the book, it’s got the feeling of a BFF telling spooky stories around a campfire – they might try to spook it up, but it’s always going to be your friend that is telling the story. So, the stories themselves have that feel – something to spook you, not outright scare or horrify you. It’s a specific genre of horror, and it delivers exactly that – entertainment.

The eight shorts (including two short-shorts) on offer here show a great span of imagination, we go from witchcraft to paranormal entity, to possession, to haunted houses – so from a range perspective this is pretty broad. As with most collections of shorts, some hit home harder than others.

There were a couple of shorts here that didn’t work for me as horror stories exactly – “ The dive” and “The session” for example, though both held horror elements, I just didn’t connect with them, though as short stories each packed impact. For me, the stand out horror story was the short “The mistake house”, there’s a fantastic line up-front that, as you read it, just immediately makes you sit up and think – Damn that line was good:

“We moved in seven months ago, and we should have moved out right away. The house was all wrong then, and now, so are we.”

And it’s moments like that which show you glimpses of what I think Briana is going to become now she has committed herself to her writing full time – her versatility here is all on display, but the flashes of brilliance are like cherry pickings just waiting to be expanded upon.

Moratorium was likewise a good short-short, something which it is clear is a strength of Morgan's - it's incredibly hard to create a short that runs to only two pages that leaves the reader thinking - damn, what a great idea - but that's what Briana does, and well.

It’s a hard call to rate, I’m going to give it a 4 out of 5⭐’s because this is a gutsy, friendly, lovingly put-together collection of shorts from a really lovely person, with a whole lot to offer the horror community. Briana, you have my interest. Now blow me away with a novel.

[Robbie Myles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right on the heels of finishing Mouth Full of Ashes, I went back in for more Briana Morgan goodness, and Tricker Treater did not disappoint. I'm a sucker for anthology horror, so this pack of short stories was a no brainer read. I very much enjoyed how unique each story was here. All of them felt very original and fresh, most notably "Charity," my favorite in the book. If you want something quick, easy, super fun and fresh, give this one a go. Five stars from me and looking forward to more from Briana!

[Precious · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short story collection. I really like Brianna’s writing style-it was easy to read/straightforward/fluid. Her stories were unique. And I enjoyed “Charity” and “The Tricker Treater” most. I wanted those to be full length novels. Lol.

I immediately downloaded her new novel Mouth Full of Ashes and can’t wait to get to that one. I would highly recommend this book-it can easily be read in one sitting. But my life is so hectic being spooky season and all!!

[Kristyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent collection. There were a couple stories that I really liked. I will definitely check out some of Brianna's longer works as I would have liked to see where some of the stories could go if they had more fleshed out.

[Mallory McCartney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was wonderful!

[Janine Pipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for spooky season!
Full review coming soon.

[Rowland Bercy Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sped through this collection of eight engaging short horror stories in one sitting. Each story is unique and interesting, not a bad one
in the bunch. Will definitely be checking out other stories by Briana Morgan. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

[SpookyxSpice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the title story. Would love a sole book version expanding on the lore of Tricker Treater

[Sonora Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of stories for the season!

[Ewreck82 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tricker-Treater - This was a fun way to kick off this collection. A woman faced with an impossible choice given to her by a being of unknown power. I loved the pop culture reference and device that was used. I could feel the hopelessness in the decision that Moira was being forced to make. 🕒🕕🕓🕒🕕/5 time warps tonight

Moratorium - This super short story had me hooked from the beginning and certainly was not what I expected by the end. Super effective 👔👔👔👔.5/5 loose neckties

The Dive - The descriptions in this story completely immersed me in the lives of Clive and Harry. These brothers felt so real which makes their story that much more tense 🤿🤿🤿🤿🤿/5 snorkels

The Hanging of Constance Evans - I know that this story of witchcraft will hit home with my better half. I enjoyed the setting and to this day, struggle with Salem being as touristy as it is, given its very grim history. 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛/5 cat companions

Charity - One of the longer stories in the collection I was worried that I wouldn't connect with it. Religious themes are hit or miss for me but this one was a hit. I thought it was going one way but it went another which is always exciting while reading. ✝️✝️✝️✝️/5 charitable organizations

The Session - This was a quick story about the human spirit and what it can endure. I was rooting for Sheila the entire time. 🏝🏝🏝🏝/5 fateful island excursions

The Mistake House - In just two pages this story hooked me and made me immediately want to know more about this house. 🏚🏚🏚🏚🏚/5 not so fun houses

The Job - This was a fun, quick read about two unsavory characters that I shouldn't like but I kind of do. I would absolutely read more about Luther and Katie. 🔪🔪🔪🔪.5/5 assassin's blades

Overall this was a great collection. The Dive, Tricker-Treater, and Moratorium stood out most to me. I look forward to reading more by Briana Morgan. Overall I give this collection 🎃🎃🎃🎃.5/5 jack-o-lanterns

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was gifted an audio copy by the author.

The narration was good, the cover is killer, the stories were a bit uneven - some were more engaging than others - but an overall fun way to kill a couple of hours!