Crawford Pederson’s Reviews > October Dreams II: A Celebration of Halloween > Status Update

“On a Dark October” by Joe R. Landsdale is short but has a lot of room for interesting interpretation. I like it.

“The Real Darkborn” by Matthew Costello is another nonfiction entry that isn’t bad.

“The Jump” by M. Rickert is a Halloween memory only two half pages long and it is possibly the most affecting and horrifying piece of short nonfiction I’ve read. Says so much by saying so little.

“The Corn Factory” by Benjamin Ethridge is a schlocky story that, like Richard Gavins story before it, plays a little bit on the fear of the tricks we might be ingesting when we eat our Halloween treats.

“All the News” by Karen Heuler is a fun two page essay about Halloween, death, and the community around you.

“Dear Dead Jenny” by Ian McDowell pulls at the heart strings but the writing here reminds me I’m reading genre fiction and I don’t mean that as a compliment.

“What Blooms in Shadow...” by Richard Gavin is so far the weirdest and most Lovecraftian story of the collection. It is very good.

“Monsters” never quite reaches me the way the story was meant to.

S.P Miskowski’s “ Death and Disbursement” on the other hand stays with me. It’s a horror story that might land especially hard for anyone who has had to work in customer service with older customers. It’s sad and little painful to read and sit with, but it’s a great short story nonetheless.

Gemma Files “Guising” is another winner in the early parts of this collection. It just oozes fall and fits perfectly into the vibe of the collection.

Nancy Holder’s Halloween memory essay is short and sweet and makes me think about the lengths my Tia Cathy went through to make me some wonderful Halloween costumes. Family is great.

Tim Waggoner’s essay is fine, just never sits in my mind for long.

The first of the ‘My Favorite Halloween Memory’ essays is called “Perspective” and it touches upon the mystery of childhood and the usually boring and mundane perspective that adulthood brings. It’s not bad. The Dean Koontz story is short and never really sticks with me.

The second story “Universal Horror” is okay. Not the best story in the collection and not the worst. It’s a 90 minute slasher film condensed into a 15 page short story. I am for the first time reading this realizing this short story is by Stephen Graham Jones who wrote this years horror hit “The Only Good Indians” which is on my to read list.

The first story “Mr. Darks Carnival” is wonderful and always puts me in the Halloween spirit. It’s mysterious and sad and haunting. Great story to start the collection.

Another October, another attempt at finishing this collection in the month of October. I really like some of the stories and short personal recollections in here and I really don’t like others. A mixed bag of good and bad Halloween candy and I hope I can get all the way down to the bottom of the bag this year.