Review: Halloween Carnival Volume Three - Ed. by Brian James Freeman

4 of 5 Stars     Review copy

During the month of October 2017, Brian James Freeman and the folks at Hydra, have gotten together to present a total of twenty-five Halloween tales of horror from twenty-five of the best genre writers working today.  Every Tuesday during October there will be a new volume in the Halloween Carnival anthology series.

Volume three is a solid entry in this series and is well worth your time this Halloween reading season.

The Way Lost by Kelley Armstrong - A delightfully disturbing story with a killer opening line.  "Every Halloween, one child in Franklin lost his way and never came home."  The truth makes this tale even more chilling.

Calavera by Kate Maruyama - A Calavera is a representation of a human skull used in the Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  Trish makes one of these skulls to honor her friend Jasmine, but not everyone is happy about her decision.

The Devil's Due by Michael McBride - A wonderfully horrifying story of an annual sacrifice a town has been making ever since its inception and how one man defies the ritual and the consequences that follow.  Great storytelling.

A Thousand Rooms of Darkness by Taylor Grant - A terrifically imaginative and original story of a woman who suffers from phasmophobia (a fear of ghosts) and samhainophobia (a fear of Halloween).  The truth is even more frightening.  My favorite story in this collection.

The Last Night of October by Greg Chapman - Greg is an Australian artist and Horror writer, who grew up in a world without Halloween.  It's true, in Australia, Halloween just never caught on. No trick-or-treating, no costumes, no Halloween.  But, Greg's a horror writer and since Halloween is nearly synonymous with Horror, he's done his homework and the result is this gem of a novella about events that took place and continue to take place on The Last Night of October.


Recommended and looking forward to Volume Four in the series.

Halloween Carnival Volume Three is published by Hydra, a division of Random House, and is available as an ebook.