A Few Halloween Reads - Adult Fiction

 There's less than a month to Halloween. So, I thought that I would mention a few good Halloween reads. These were not all published in  2014, but they are good reads.

The first 2 books are collections of short stories that have something to do with Halloween. Both books were edited by Paula Guran who does a great job. The picture on the left is the first anthology, the one on the right the second. The first collection has a variety of authors some current and some classics such as Ray Bradbury and H.P. Lovecraft. The second anthology is pretty much all current authors, but it is a good read as well. Halloween edited by Paula Guran was released September13, 2011. Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre edited by Paula Guran was released September 10, 2013.

Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor Lavalle is a kindle single that was released last year. It is definitely a creepy novella. Lucretia, or Loochie as her family calls her, remembers her brother Louis saying, "Horrors come for kids too. Being young doesn't protect anyone." Her friend Sunny has been away getting treatment and is weak from it and from the illness she has. Suddenly she disappears. A Kroon comes onto Loochie's fire escape and tells her with gestures that Sunny is up in apartment 6D. And the horror/adventure begins. If you click on the title, it will bring you to my review of the novella.

The Ocean and The End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman is a full length novel. I listened to on CD and didn't write a review of it.That doesn't mean it wasn't good. It was excellent. It's listed as a sort of adult fairy tale. The narrator drives back to his old neighborhood after attending a funeral and finds himself remembering all sorts of things from the year he was 7 years old. Some of them are nice things, like the 11 year old Hempstock girl. Other things are less pleasant, a malign force that follows him and Lettie home from another dimension and the consequences. It might not have set out to be horror, but it certainly gave me chills at times. It's well written and if I had reviewed it, I would have given it 4 stars. The audiobook is read by Neil himself.

If you are looking for something more classic, you might want to try something by Ray Bradbury like Something Wicked This Way Comes or The Halloween Tree. Dracula by Bram Stoker is also an interesting read if you haven't read it before. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux is good too.

There are many more titles available than I've mentioned here. What's your favorite Halloween read? Or, is there a new one coming out that you're looking forward to? Please share with us in the comments. And thanks for stopping by!