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Halloween Party '21
Halloween Party '21 is the latest horror collection from Gravelight Press. It features 21 scary, original works sure to delight and terrify. From the disturbing undercurrents of "Insecticide" to the psychologically charged drama "Unwell" to the speculative thriller "Before She’s Gone Forever," there's an entire trick-or-treat bag of goodies awaiting you between the pages of this unique anthology. Introduction by Dianne PearceEast 55th Street Affair by James GoodridgeAristotle’s Lantern by R. David FulcherInsecticide by Nancy North WalkerHopscotch by Bernie BrownThe Halloween Hound by David YurkovichUnwell by Faye PerozichInto the Fire by David W. DuttonHe Knew Where She Was by Jeffrey D. KeetenThe Urraca Affair by James GoodridgeAll Hallows’ by Morgan GolladayIt Is Highly Illegal to Hit Someone With an Egg by Morgan GolladayThe Gravid Doe by Morgan GolladayDevil’s Throne by Morgan GolladayAre You Lonesome Tonight? by Bernie BrownThe Hat by Russell ReeceSnail! Snail! Show Me Your Horns by J.C. RayeElevator of Blood by Robert FlemingA Good Daughter by Kim DeCiccoSecond Date by Morgan GolladayBefore She’s Gone Forever by Phil GiuntaPorch Ghost (as recounted by Dianne Pearce)
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
211 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 13, 2021
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132 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 30, 2021
******I just got word from the publisher that HP21 is now available at AmazonUK and AmazonCanada. We've gone international!!!******
”The fog had lifted some, and Hal could see the dark, twisted form of the battered limbs of the elm against the sky. A chunk of bark, curled in the shape of a boat, had been dislodged by the impact and lay in the adjacent weeds. The house behind the tree sat like a gray figure with slumped shoulders, as if it had been defeated by the elements. Missing shingles created a checkerboard design in the roof. Chips of paint, stripped off the boards by the relentless weather, lay like confetti at the base of the house. A few window panes were shattered, leaving jagged knife-like pieces that sat like splintered teeth in the broken frames. The porch had collapsed.
The door hung open.”---He Knew Where She Was by Jeffrey D. Keeten
I’ve written somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand book reviews, and with almost every one of those reviews, I began with a quote from the author. This review is unique because I finally start a review with a quote from something I wrote.
I’m very happy with how my story turned out, and I’d like to be able to say it is the best story in this collection, but I would be fibbing. There are several stories in this collection that I can make a case for being the best, but the story that made me squirm and made me...by the end…gasp is Unwell by Faye Perozich. The author even tells the reader what’s going to happen...and I can guarantee that you won’t believe her. So there is this added level of suspense...knowing. By the end, I felt complicit in this diabolical tale of revenge. This revenge is feeding on harbored resentments that, when brought into the light of day, crumble to dust, but because they are kept in the darkest place of the soul, they thrive, they grow, they patiently wait for an opportunity to fulfill their dreadful destiny. **SHUDDER**
For those fans of James Goodridge’s unique blend of history and the supernatural (count me as one of them), you’ll be happy to know there are two of his stories in this collection. Madison Cavendish and Seneca Sue SunMountain are the coolest duo of fiendish elegant creatures who know better than humans how to look good while solving crimes of the supernatural. He also has a short story in the excellent anthology collection Exhumed: 13 Tales Too Terrifying to Stay Dead.
The anthologies Halloween Party '21 and Exhumed: 13 Tales Too Terrifying to Stay Dead make as good a pairing as Cavendish and SunMountain and will give you chills and thrills to enhance your ghoulish Halloween experience.
What makes this collection so strong is the diversity of the plots. There is a tale of claustrophobia that will give you the willies; there is a truly terrifying story of a stalker and insect bots. There are ghostly tales that will have you seeing things on the edges of your vision; there is a Halloween Hound which I hope to see reappear in future stories. There is a bank heist story that had me thinking about Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs; there is a tale with Elvis in the house, and he doesn’t rest easy. There is a witchy Nun, a mother’s unnatural interest in her children (not what you are thinking), a vampire who is deemed too vampy, a ghostly photography story that puts a new spin on ways to be haunted, and last, but not least, there is a tale, a retelling by our editor Dianne Pearce, that has the feel of an urban legend that just has to be true.
My story, He Knew Where She Was, is about when mental illness, with roots in the past, collide tragically with the present. I dreamed about this story for three nights straight. I finally decided the only way I was going to get this haunting out of my head was to write it down. So, during one hot summer afternoon, with a flurry of flying fingers, I captured this story and banished it from my mind. By the time my staggering fingers typed... The End, I was completely wrung out and collapsed on the daybed for a much needed, dreamless nap. When the past and the present intertwine it becomes hard for my characters to find their way back to the linear present. We are complicated human beings, and sometimes our actions make no sense to others because some of us have passengers riding shotgun who occasionally wrench the wheel away from us.
I want to thank Dianne Pearce and David Yurkovich for all the amazing work they do for their writers. Seriously, when you buy books from Devils Play Press and Gravelight Press, you are supporting people who are publishing books for the right reasons. They want the reader to get the best reading experience possible, and they want indie writers to have the best chance to find their audience.
I also want to thank my dedicated fans and followers on Goodreads for keeping me stoked about writing reviews for all these years. Now that I am transitioning to writing fiction, I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
”The fog had lifted some, and Hal could see the dark, twisted form of the battered limbs of the elm against the sky. A chunk of bark, curled in the shape of a boat, had been dislodged by the impact and lay in the adjacent weeds. The house behind the tree sat like a gray figure with slumped shoulders, as if it had been defeated by the elements. Missing shingles created a checkerboard design in the roof. Chips of paint, stripped off the boards by the relentless weather, lay like confetti at the base of the house. A few window panes were shattered, leaving jagged knife-like pieces that sat like splintered teeth in the broken frames. The porch had collapsed.
The door hung open.”---He Knew Where She Was by Jeffrey D. Keeten
I’ve written somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand book reviews, and with almost every one of those reviews, I began with a quote from the author. This review is unique because I finally start a review with a quote from something I wrote.
I’m very happy with how my story turned out, and I’d like to be able to say it is the best story in this collection, but I would be fibbing. There are several stories in this collection that I can make a case for being the best, but the story that made me squirm and made me...by the end…gasp is Unwell by Faye Perozich. The author even tells the reader what’s going to happen...and I can guarantee that you won’t believe her. So there is this added level of suspense...knowing. By the end, I felt complicit in this diabolical tale of revenge. This revenge is feeding on harbored resentments that, when brought into the light of day, crumble to dust, but because they are kept in the darkest place of the soul, they thrive, they grow, they patiently wait for an opportunity to fulfill their dreadful destiny. **SHUDDER**
For those fans of James Goodridge’s unique blend of history and the supernatural (count me as one of them), you’ll be happy to know there are two of his stories in this collection. Madison Cavendish and Seneca Sue SunMountain are the coolest duo of fiendish elegant creatures who know better than humans how to look good while solving crimes of the supernatural. He also has a short story in the excellent anthology collection Exhumed: 13 Tales Too Terrifying to Stay Dead.
The anthologies Halloween Party '21 and Exhumed: 13 Tales Too Terrifying to Stay Dead make as good a pairing as Cavendish and SunMountain and will give you chills and thrills to enhance your ghoulish Halloween experience.
What makes this collection so strong is the diversity of the plots. There is a tale of claustrophobia that will give you the willies; there is a truly terrifying story of a stalker and insect bots. There are ghostly tales that will have you seeing things on the edges of your vision; there is a Halloween Hound which I hope to see reappear in future stories. There is a bank heist story that had me thinking about Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs; there is a tale with Elvis in the house, and he doesn’t rest easy. There is a witchy Nun, a mother’s unnatural interest in her children (not what you are thinking), a vampire who is deemed too vampy, a ghostly photography story that puts a new spin on ways to be haunted, and last, but not least, there is a tale, a retelling by our editor Dianne Pearce, that has the feel of an urban legend that just has to be true.
My story, He Knew Where She Was, is about when mental illness, with roots in the past, collide tragically with the present. I dreamed about this story for three nights straight. I finally decided the only way I was going to get this haunting out of my head was to write it down. So, during one hot summer afternoon, with a flurry of flying fingers, I captured this story and banished it from my mind. By the time my staggering fingers typed... The End, I was completely wrung out and collapsed on the daybed for a much needed, dreamless nap. When the past and the present intertwine it becomes hard for my characters to find their way back to the linear present. We are complicated human beings, and sometimes our actions make no sense to others because some of us have passengers riding shotgun who occasionally wrench the wheel away from us.
I want to thank Dianne Pearce and David Yurkovich for all the amazing work they do for their writers. Seriously, when you buy books from Devils Play Press and Gravelight Press, you are supporting people who are publishing books for the right reasons. They want the reader to get the best reading experience possible, and they want indie writers to have the best chance to find their audience.
I also want to thank my dedicated fans and followers on Goodreads for keeping me stoked about writing reviews for all these years. Now that I am transitioning to writing fiction, I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
December 15, 2021
I know I missed this for Halloween, but even in December it was a fun, scary, and really weird read.
August 26, 2021
FULL DISLOSURE:
I published this book and wrote one of the stories in it & the introduction.
However, this book is notable, aside from my own motives for selling it, because it contains the last story that is ever going to be published by David W. Dutton, of "One of the Madding Crowd" fame.
David was my friend, and a wonderful writer, and has recently left us. One of the Madding Crowd
It also contains a short story by noted Goodreads reviewer, Jeffrey D. Keeten. Did you know Keeten could do fiction too? You did not!
Any Anne Rice fans? Then you may be interested to know that in this book is a story by Faye Perozich, noted for this work https://comicvine.gamespot.com/faye-p...
If you read comics, then you'll be interested in the story by graphic novelist David Yurkovich (of Altercations and Less Than Heroes).Less Than Heroes Death by Chocolate: Redux Altercations: Critical Super-Human Encounters of the 20th Century
And if you follow horror magazine Samsara, then you will already be a fan of R. David Fulcher.
So, my own involvement aside, this book has a lot of plums hidden in it. I bet you'll love it, and with it's square shape and glossy cover, which we shall reveal in about 2 more weeks, it makes a great gift for that bother-in-law who you never know what present he would like. Give him a cool horror book!
I published this book and wrote one of the stories in it & the introduction.
However, this book is notable, aside from my own motives for selling it, because it contains the last story that is ever going to be published by David W. Dutton, of "One of the Madding Crowd" fame.
David was my friend, and a wonderful writer, and has recently left us. One of the Madding Crowd
It also contains a short story by noted Goodreads reviewer, Jeffrey D. Keeten. Did you know Keeten could do fiction too? You did not!
Any Anne Rice fans? Then you may be interested to know that in this book is a story by Faye Perozich, noted for this work https://comicvine.gamespot.com/faye-p...
If you read comics, then you'll be interested in the story by graphic novelist David Yurkovich (of Altercations and Less Than Heroes).Less Than Heroes Death by Chocolate: Redux Altercations: Critical Super-Human Encounters of the 20th Century
And if you follow horror magazine Samsara, then you will already be a fan of R. David Fulcher.
So, my own involvement aside, this book has a lot of plums hidden in it. I bet you'll love it, and with it's square shape and glossy cover, which we shall reveal in about 2 more weeks, it makes a great gift for that bother-in-law who you never know what present he would like. Give him a cool horror book!
September 12, 2021
Halloween is just around the corner and this anthology of creepy tales is a perfect way to set the mood. The collection starts with a werewolf/vampire detective duo solving a case against a beautifully drawn 1930's background in James Goodridge's "The East 55th Street Affair" and morphs into the claustrophobic cave system of R. David Fulcher's "Aristotle's Lantern." "Insecticide" by Nancy North Walker awakens our paranoia and the late David W. Dutton gives us the wonderfully haunting tale "Into the Fire." Dianne Pearce's "Porch Ghost" is a gorgeous 'retelling' of a local ghost story about vengeance that rounds the collection off nicely.
I hoped to read a story a day from this anthology, but I read the entire collection in one evening (with all the lights on, of course). All the stories are well-written and will stay with the reader for a while...at least through Halloween and maybe into the darkest winter nights. Is that the wind howling? Are you sure?
I hoped to read a story a day from this anthology, but I read the entire collection in one evening (with all the lights on, of course). All the stories are well-written and will stay with the reader for a while...at least through Halloween and maybe into the darkest winter nights. Is that the wind howling? Are you sure?
October 6, 2021
Very fun and scary anthology. My favorites were Kim DeCicco's "A Good Daughter", Phil Giunta's Before She's Gone Forever" and Dianne Pierce's "Porch Ghost" but all of the stories were worth the read. It is also a well edited book making it doubly pleasurable to read. Kudos to all of the writers and the editorial staff.
June 11, 2022
Great stories and poems to get you in the mood for Halloween!
October 25, 2021
Dianne Pearce selected a well-rounded out group of authors to capture the Halloween spirit.
Favorite stories: an awesome werewolf/vampire dectective story. (move over Holmes and Watson, new sleuths are in town.) “East 55th Street Affair” by James Goodridge, a claustrophobic cave story “Aristotle’s Lantern” by R. David Fulcher, and saving the best for last, Phil Giunta's “Before She’s Gone Forever”; hauntingly, beautifully written. (After I read this, it stayed in my memory for a long time.)
Even though I singled out these three, all of the authors' stories are well written causing shivers that you'll need to sleep with the lights on. Definitely buy Halloween Party '21 as the stories will slide you into the Halloween "spirit."
Favorite stories: an awesome werewolf/vampire dectective story. (move over Holmes and Watson, new sleuths are in town.) “East 55th Street Affair” by James Goodridge, a claustrophobic cave story “Aristotle’s Lantern” by R. David Fulcher, and saving the best for last, Phil Giunta's “Before She’s Gone Forever”; hauntingly, beautifully written. (After I read this, it stayed in my memory for a long time.)
Even though I singled out these three, all of the authors' stories are well written causing shivers that you'll need to sleep with the lights on. Definitely buy Halloween Party '21 as the stories will slide you into the Halloween "spirit."
September 28, 2021
There are things that go bump in the night. And then, there are the moaners, the growlers, the whir of insect wings, the voice calling your name. Some of these tales should be read in full sunlight, where the shadows are minimal, for they will stay in a corner of your memory all day, and all night, if you dare. Others are a bit lighter, but all have an element of horror that will linger with you long after you’ve whistled past that graveyard. Good luck! And wear your rabbits foot when you pick this book up. You won’t regret it.
September 16, 2021
What a thrill of a read. One piece after another. Couldn't put it down. Captivating collection just in time for Halloween. I am ordering more and getting a headstart on holiday gifts. Don't miss this one!!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews