Jeff’s Reviews > All Hallows' Eve > Status Update

"The Thinning of the Veil" by Jeffrey Ford: 3/5 - clearly a rushed effort from the master himself, this story of a group of friends trading stories on Halloween that ends in a mafia hit has Ford's signature style, but none of his humor or conceptual development.

"Give Me Something Good to Eat" by Theresa DeLucci: 5/5 - the star of the show with the best title, best concept, more halloweeny and scariest story of all. Splatterpunk and body horror fans should be thoroughly satisfied with what would have been a hideous, primitive concept in the hands of a less elegant author. This story is of a Hartford tradition surrounding a particular witch on Halloween night.

Quite a display of mediocrity from this crew so far, with just six stories to go, but three of these authors are bona fide superstars. Hopefully, they'll bring the average for the class up a few notches. Datlow and her decree against traditional monsters has not done this anthology any favors.

"Saturday" by Chikodili Emelumadu: 2/5 - a very interesting, colorful and disturbing story, but it doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm sure it has its basis in a tradition that would provide meaning and context, but a bad kid is taken to a sort of purgatory Saturday school and is forced to dance with (not in) "a masquerade," which has no legs and whips kids' skin off. Okay, sure. Nothing about Halloween, though.

"The Hungry Grass" by Siobhan Carroll: 3/5 - certainly a complex and faithful adaptation of Dracula. The backdrop of the Irish Famine is well used, but not very original or compelling. A little on the nose, too. Gee, she sure has sharp teeth. He's on a hallucinatory carriage ride through the mountains. She has plans to meet his daughter in England. Get it?? And yet the drained bodies still come out of nowhere.

Lucy and Mina, Millara and Lizzie, sharp teeth, stoker--we get it. Lot of buildup here.

I've read Siobhan Carroll before but this story is levels above the ones preceding it.

"Ankou's Night" by Brian Evenson: 3/5 - a finely crafted, undeniably convincing story delivered in few pages, but the ending is a narrative dead-end, like the author had an idea of what would happen, but no idea what it should mean or how it should affect the characters. A little boy is abused by his grandfather who is dying, then waits up the night before halloween to see him return from the grave. Forgettable.

"The Kuker" by Alma Katsu: 4/5 - proving that a twist ending doesn't have to involve something self-destructive, this story takes the reader down a familiar road (especially in this book) of mourning a dead family member on halloween, right before handing out candy. The protagonist's memory revolves around a Bulgarian ritual with a curious costume, which was especially meaningful to the departed. A pleasant surprise

Some disappointing showings from veterans, in this first half, it can't be denied. But some dreamweavers who never disappoint are still on the way--I'm looking at you, Katsu--including the inimitable Jeffrey Ford, the notorious Nathan Ballingrud and, closing the show as usual, Mr. Langan, who, no doubt, has some metafictional halloween-themed tentacles in store for us.