Scan barcode
A review by mad_about_books
Halloween Carnival Volume 5 by Brian James Freeman
5.0
Sometimes the best IS left for last. In Volume 5 of HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL, the reader is given a five course meal of very different tales of the night that spirits and demons abound.
DEVIL’S NIGHT by Richard Chizmar
It is really quite amazing the way that a good horror story usually ends up sending the right message. Good and evil. Right and wrong. These are the ultimate battles the heroes of horror must face. (5 stars)
THE LAST DARE by Lisa Tuttle
Move over rough and tumble boys, grandmas and little girls have scary stories to tell too! Lisa Tuttle offers a modern take on the tried and true Hansel and Gretel tale. (5 stars)
THE HALLOWEEN BLEED by Norman Prentiss
Norman Prentiss is fast becoming one of my favorite authors, and not just his short stories either. (If you haven't read ODD ADVENTURES WITH YOUR OTHER FATHER, you're missing out on a truly great read.)
"Oh! What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" - from Marmion, by Sir Walter Scott… my first thought upon finishing the story. (5 stars)
SWING by Kevin Quigley
Never will you read a more haunting story of love and death than here. Death is a dance to be savored, and its music can be whatever it needs to be. (5 stars)
PORK PIE HAT by Peter Straub
"Pork Pie Hat" is not a new story; I recognized the title right away. In fact, I thought I might have even read it a time or two. As I read, I realized that I had not.
Peter Straub is an artist with words. He will often use a phrase that bears repeating once, twice, even three times in the course of reading a particular piece. In "Pork Pie Hat" I read these words several times "…most of what is called information is interpretation, and interpretation is always partial" - appreciating their profoundness not only in relation to the story, but in their timelessness and applicability to this particular time in history. These words seem to sum up, quite nicely, the reason we read Straub's works.
"Pork Pie Hat" is a thinking person's tale of Halloween horror told by an old man remembering through his childhood eyes. Sometimes reality is far worse than any monster conjured by the imagination. (5 stars)
DEVIL’S NIGHT by Richard Chizmar
It is really quite amazing the way that a good horror story usually ends up sending the right message. Good and evil. Right and wrong. These are the ultimate battles the heroes of horror must face. (5 stars)
THE LAST DARE by Lisa Tuttle
Move over rough and tumble boys, grandmas and little girls have scary stories to tell too! Lisa Tuttle offers a modern take on the tried and true Hansel and Gretel tale. (5 stars)
THE HALLOWEEN BLEED by Norman Prentiss
Norman Prentiss is fast becoming one of my favorite authors, and not just his short stories either. (If you haven't read ODD ADVENTURES WITH YOUR OTHER FATHER, you're missing out on a truly great read.)
"Oh! What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" - from Marmion, by Sir Walter Scott… my first thought upon finishing the story. (5 stars)
SWING by Kevin Quigley
Never will you read a more haunting story of love and death than here. Death is a dance to be savored, and its music can be whatever it needs to be. (5 stars)
PORK PIE HAT by Peter Straub
"Pork Pie Hat" is not a new story; I recognized the title right away. In fact, I thought I might have even read it a time or two. As I read, I realized that I had not.
Peter Straub is an artist with words. He will often use a phrase that bears repeating once, twice, even three times in the course of reading a particular piece. In "Pork Pie Hat" I read these words several times "…most of what is called information is interpretation, and interpretation is always partial" - appreciating their profoundness not only in relation to the story, but in their timelessness and applicability to this particular time in history. These words seem to sum up, quite nicely, the reason we read Straub's works.
"Pork Pie Hat" is a thinking person's tale of Halloween horror told by an old man remembering through his childhood eyes. Sometimes reality is far worse than any monster conjured by the imagination. (5 stars)