Book Review: "October Screams" (2023)
October Screams: A Halloween Anthology Book Review
Written by Stuart D. Monroe
Published by Kangas Khan Publishing
Edited by Kenneth W. Cain
Featuring Stories by Clay McLeod Chapman, Gregory L. Norris, Evans Light, Steve Ransic Tem, Larry Hinkle, Patrick Flanagan, Brennan Fredricks, Red Lagoe, Frank Oreto, Ronald Malfi, Jeremy Bates, Phillip Fracassi, Robert Stahl, Gemma Amor, TJ Cimfel, Rebecca Rowland, Larry Hodges, Bridgett Nelson, Kealan Patrick Burke, Gwendolyn Kiste, Cassandra Daucus, Todd Kiesling, Cat Voleur, Jacqueline West, Brian Keene & Richard Chizmar, Ryan Van Ellis, and Kevin Kangas
2023, 420 pages, Fiction
Released on September 18th, 2023
Review:
You know what I love more than a Halloween anthology full of the horrific, surreal, unholy, and nostalgically nasty? The answer is practically nothing! I have a slew of Halloween anthologies on the bookshelf here in my office, and I revisit the real bangers on the regular. That’s why I’m so damn tickled to add another that will sit right at the top of the list of collections loaded with bangers, a book that has given me a slew of “new” (i.e. new to me) authors to dig further into like a ravenous cannibal digging deep for the spleen.
The talent-loaded table of contents will mark October Screams as a landmark whose reputation will only grow over time. There are top-tier indie names like Kealan Patrick Burke, Gemma Amor, Red Lagoe, Ronald Malfi, Brian Keene, and Richard Chizmar (!) alongside newer talent sure to make a huge splash in the horror genre. At 420 pages, it’s a heavyweight tome chock full of nastiness, twists, and surprisingly heartfelt emotion.
Opening with Clay McLeod Chapman’s obsessively hungry yarn, “Sweetmeat”, October Screams hits the ground running and honestly never lets up. The tone and intent vary wildly throughout, but the quality never wavers and there’s nary a stinker to be found. If you read enough anthologies, you know that is an absolute rarity of the form (there’s almost always one stinker, after all). Some stories, like “The Magic Trick” by Gregory L. Norris and “Sown” by TJ Cimfel, will viscerally remind you of how shitty life could be in the fall seasons of your youth. Others like “November Eve” by Bridgett Nelson and “The Puppeteer of Samhain” by Todd Kiesling are sublimely vicious tales of how sometimes Halloween can get a hold of you and never let go. If you’re in the mood for a cleverly structured tale that doesn’t fuck around in regards to either violence or emotional gut-punching, try “Any Other Wednesday in A Bar” by Cat Voleur or “In the Night, A Whisper” by Robert Stahl.
There are tons of twists throughout the masterful collection of twenty-seven sick treats, but none hit harder than the surprise in “Twin Flames” by Gwendolyn Kiste. It took me a few minutes to recover from that one! “Masks” by Brian Keene and Richard Chizmar (what a combo there!) is one of the most relentless, panic-inducing things you’ll ever read. “Free Candy and Telescope Views” by Red Lagoe is easily one of the most brilliantly bizarre short stories I’ve ever read, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible…you’ll never look at spaghetti the same way again. With “Tate”, Ronald Malfi does Ronald Malfi shit, dwelling in the dark side of humanity and serving up some sweet vengeance. If short, nasty, and mean is what you’re looking for, look no further than “The Treat or Tricker” by Evans Light, “The Halloween Lost” by Frank Oreto, or “A Perfect Night for A Perfect Murder” by Jeremy Bates.
“The Iron Maiden” by Rebecca Rowland is a literary episode of Tales From the Crypt with one hell of an abrupt and jarring finish. “The Collecting” by Cassandra Daucus and “Let the Dark Do the Rest” by Kealan Patrick Burke both embody cerebral madness and sharp imagery. “No Such Thing” by Jacqueline West is a pure power of the imagination story that proves the reader’s mind is the scariest place to be. “Doll” by Ryan Van Ellis and “The Hooper Street Halloween Decoration Committee” both deal with the theme of failing marriage in unbelievably different ways- one plays it dark in a fucked kind of way while the other goes for pure catharsis. “Eleven One” by Phillip Fracassi and “Tutti I Morti” by Steve Rasnic Tem are kissing cousins steeped in pure heartbreak. Hard left swerves are the order of the day in “The Last Halloween” by Larry Hinkle and “Katrina’s Halloween Candy Journal” by Patrick Flanagan. “The Wind” by Brennan Fredricks is a succinct and haunting tale about the horror inside a soldier’s mind that feels like it comes from a place of personal experience. And “Spiders Under My Skin” by Larry Hodges is a straightforward, first-person dark delicacy that degenerates into madness in the best way possible.
The kicker for me, though, is Kevin Kangas’ “Scattergoods”. It’s the longest story in the entire collection and is loaded with the kind of reminiscence and nostalgia that makes Halloween such a special time of the year. It’s also the most satisfying story of the bunch. The title creature in “Scattergoods” is pure nightmare fuel, and the setting and vibe are note-perfect. Kangas proves that his chops as an author are the equal of his chops as a filmmaker, and that’s a powerful statement for me (as I do love me some Terrortory and Terrotory 2).
Again, there are zero stinkers in October Screams. For my money, the highlights are “Scattergoods”, “Masks”, “Twin Flames”, “The Iron Maiden”, “Tate”, and “The Last Halloween”. I guess that means I’d better just accept the fact that a lot more Kangas, Keene, Chizmar, Kiste, Rowland, Malfi, and Hinkle are going to be making their way to my bookshelves and draining my wallet. That’s fine. I’ll treat myself to some Christmas presents of the dark and scary variety this holiday season.
Who am I kidding? I do that every year. Get on my damn level and do the same!
