This is one that I actually spent my own money on ... a sort of madness took over. I'm blaming it on the headiness of October and moving on.I'll be reading these short stories throughout the month. The introduction is an excellent overview of Halloween which incorporates new discoveries about olden time celebrations. Thus far I am not too far along but have just begun Hat by Peter Straub. I don't think I've ever read anything by him but early in it is a fabulous look at jazz, a musician's life,

Cute fun short stories all having to do with Halloween, what’s not to love? Did skip a couple of stories and did not finish in time for Halloween.

The anthology wasn't what I expected OVERALL REVIEW It must likely that Paula Guran, the editor, just wanted to reunite a collection of short stories and novellas, all about the celebration of Halloween, not matter if they were scary or not. However, in my case, I was expecting an anthology full of scary short stories of horror, all related to the celebration of Halloween.Due that, I couldn't enjoy as much as expected this particular anthology. It's nobody's fault, but I won't rate high a

3.5 Stars overall. Some really great HALLOWEEN short stories in this collection that I thought outweighed the disappointments......with lots of Michael's, lots of Jack's and lots of Meyer's to fill the cracks!CONVERSATIONS IN A DEAD LANGUAGE (Thomas Ligotti) - 3 Stars - An evil human monster from hell!MONSTERS (Stewart O'Nan) - 2 Stars - A scary lesson, but disappointing Halloween read.THE HALLOWEEN MAN (William F. Nolan) - 3 Stars - Delightful and scary little story for the kiddies.THE YOUNG T...

While there were some very good stories in this collection, such as the ones written by Ray Bradbury, Charles deLint, and Peter Straub, the book itself was a nightmare to read. It is so riddled with typos, misspelled words, crappy typesetting, misused apostrophes and missing letters that I have to wonder if anyone even bothered to glance at it before it was published. I will never purchase anything with this editor's name on it again.

Nice collection of seasonal stories in a variety of genres and senses of creepiness. Note that the e-book edition does not contain Ray Bradbury's "October Game", which is unfortunate, since it is among the best Halloween stories ever, but I have it in a hardback collection and have it practically memorized, so it wasn't a big deal for me. It is a must read to even begin to appreciate the "companion" story in this colleciton, though.

This anthology had a lot of brilliant stories as well as some real duds.The two-star rating I've given isn't so much to do with the duds (although, for me, there were more of them than ones I enjoyed). It's due to the fact that the entire 500+ page book never seemed to have made it to a proofreader. At all. There was an unconscionable amount of typos. The last story - an 80-page novella - even had several missing words!I can't stand that. It completely takes me out of the story.That novella at t...

First, let me say that this was an good compilation of stories. I enjoyed most of them and the caliber of contributors met my expectations. Not all were spectacular, but overall, there were some good moments.However, this was the most poorly edited book I have ever read. There is a typing/proofreading error in every story--sometimes more. I found it distracting to read through missing words, misspelled words, and other proofreading errors. I tend to forgive one or two in a book, but not in every...

Overall I really enjoyed this collection. Sure, there were a few stories that were not good, but overall they were really quite enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the last story, Braunbeck's "Tessellations". Definitely worth a read for some silly, spooky fun.

Guran’s first Halloween anthology gives an updated introduction of a short history of Halloween previously appearing in October Dreams along with 33 short stories spanning a variety of horror writers.“Conversations in a Dead Language” by Thomas LigottiA mailman who lives alone sees the same kids each Halloween. I read this one in October Dreams and liked the atmosphere and chilling ending. 4/5“Monsters” by Stewart O’NanAround Halloween, two boys prepare to be monsters for the church fundraising

It's Not You It's Me Department: Halloween is an anthology edited by Paula Guran. I really looked forward to reading this. There are some dark delights here. There was a Ray Bradbury story (The October Game) that was new to me. There was a wonderful bit of poetry by HP Lovecraft I had never stumbled upon before and it was a delight. There was a story by Joe Lansdale that is so very dark you will cry tears of blood. Sadly none of this counteracted a very infuriating truth-even though it is the se...

As with most anthologies there are some good, some excellent, and some not so good. Worth reading: The Halloween Man ****The Young Tamlane ***Three doors ***Auntie Elspeth's Halloween Story ****The Sticks ****Memories ****Ulalume ****Pranks ****The Universal Soldier ****Night Out ****Man Size in Marble **** + If the stories are not mentioned, there is a reason. Some I started but didn't like. Some I finished but didn't like. Sadly, I didn't like "The October Game" by Ray Bradbury, whom I LOVE, b...

After three years in a row trying to read through this anthology before Halloween came and went, I finally finished it! Huzzah! It’s a pretty standard anthology, cashing in on the holiday. The editing was fine overall; decent spread of stories, fairly well-ordered. (Although a TON of distracting typos, like several per story. More than I would expect in a professionally published work.) Most of the stories were pretty good! I especially liked the straightforward, spooky ones. Some of my favorite...

Good seasonal collection of Halloween related stories. Desperately in need of a fresh edit though. I kept getting distracted by the edits I would make if allowed. Some stories were weaker than others, but overall I am glad I checked it out.

I really enjoyed this collection and it was perfect to read during the Halloween season. One star off for the last story because it was all over the place, confusing and didn't make sense, too weird for me, and too long also.

I enjoyed most of these but I wouldn't say they were frightening.

Typos everywhere but great stories.

Some really fantastic stories. The only really poor story was sugar skulls. The final story, "Tessellations" was incredible. My main gripe is the terrible job of editing. Every single story had 2-3 typos. I'm not really sure what Guran contributed to this book. The stories collected were good enough to make up for the poor editing.

I finished reading Halloween last night just before heading to bed. Halloween is a collection of 33 previously stories all having something to do with Halloween. Three of the stories are from the 1800s, but most (19) are from 2000 or later. Although the collection wasn’t exactly what I expected, it wasn’t bad. I was expecting more creepy horror stories and, although the later stories met my expectations, the collection starts out pretty slow. The first two stories didn’t do much for me, but the...

Another short story book edited by Paula Guran, Halloween is an excellent selection of stories, dating as far back as the early 1800s (a poem by Sir Walter Scott, called "The Young Tamlane"). There are over 30 stories in this collection, and it is, indeed, delightful. I was pleasantly surprised to find a story in the book by Stewart O'Nan, Stephen King's collaborator in Faithful, their chronicle of the historical 2004 season of the Boston Red Sox. There is a poem by H.P. Lovecraft, called "Hallo...