Harvest Tales and Midnight Revels; Stories for the Waning of the Year

by Michael Mayhew (Editor)

Illustrated by Mona Caron.

217 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 1998

Reviews

[Debbi Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally! A book of Halloween tales marked not for children,it is an older book{1998} but has wonderfully creepy stories.I wish I could find more out there like this. Not your regular Halloween tales.

[Byron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Harvest Tales and Midnight Revels: Stories for the Waning of the Year promises a mix of Halloween-themed stories and guidance for hosting storytelling gatherings, but it doesn’t fully deliver on either front. The stories themselves are decent but lack memorable standouts, failing to capture the atmosphere of the Halloween season that one might hope for from such a collection. Though the book is marketed as partly a guide for hosting seasonal gatherings, this aspect is largely confined to a brief afterword, offering little insight for creating a festive storytelling experience.

While there are moments of horror and intrigue, this collection feels more like a standard horror anthology rather than a source of immersive, Halloween-specific tales. One surprising note of interest is a reference on page 110, which may contain one of the first literary mentions of "incels." For readers looking for a light horror anthology, this might be a passable choice, but those hoping to be swept into the magic of Halloween or inspired for seasonal gatherings may find it lacking.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've tried to organize a storytelling evening before with very little interest :-( This shows what happens when it goes right.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good collection of short stories, some, as always, better than the others. I really liked the reasoning behind it though. The thought of having story parties is a great idea!