# Halloween themed books for adults?



## creepyhomemaker (May 10, 2008)

I like reading books and stories that are Halloween themed. But I am almost finished with October Dreams (which I love) So I was looking for some suggestions for other books to read. They have to evoke the Halloween spirit and preferably contain something Halloween themed like jack o lanterns, trick or treaters, haunted houses, stuff like that. I've looked at reviews on Amazon but I figured who better to ask than hardcore Halloween fans.


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## Rikki (Aug 14, 2006)

I really enjoyed Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes". He's done a lot of books that are Halloweenish. I also own "The Halloween Tree", "The Homecoming", and "October Country", all good Halloween books but the first two were meant for kids.


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## Tish (Aug 5, 2008)

It's meant for kids, but I really liked Boris and Bella. I thought it was too mature for the preschoolers I taught, so I kept it. It's a picture book, but I like reading it a few times during the Halloween season.


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## MichaelMyers1 (Jan 12, 2008)

I am reading a book called the Trick Or Treat Murder....when I find it I will post the author...its a light, fun Halloween read!


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## Cadaverino (Dec 10, 2007)

I'll second Ray Bradbury's _Something Wicked This Way Comes_. Also his _From The Dust Returned_, especially if you get the audio book read by John Glover. I have mixed feelings about his book _The Halloween Tree_, written for "young adult" readers. The prose quality ranges from spare and evocative to purple and maudlin. Better is his mystery novel _A Graveyard for Lunatics_, which begins on Hallowe'en, and is set at a movie studio that shares a back wall with a cemetery.

If you haven't already read it, Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel _A Wrinkle in Time_ does begin with "It was a dark and stormy night", and has three witchy characters.

What else?

How about some individual short stories:
• Washington Irving's picturesque _The Legend of Sleepy Hollow_, which I love and re-read often. Hallowe'en is never mentioned (and was probably unknown to the Dutch-Americans in the story), but the climax does take place after a party on an autumn night.
• Nathaniel Hawthorne's _Young Goodman Brown_, set on an autumn night in Salem, Massachusetts around the time of the witchcraft trials.


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## creepyhomemaker (May 10, 2008)

I have never read any of Ray Bradbury's stories but I have heard that they are a little hard to read. Like maybe he is too descriptive and uses strange metaphors. Do those of you who have read him think this?


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## Cadaverino (Dec 10, 2007)

Hard to read? No. I started reading Bradbury when I was 14, and by 18 had finished most of his books. 

Uses a lot of metaphors? Yes. He's joked about his editor trimming down the number per page.

Read the first three pages of Dandelion Wine, with its description of the 12-year-old protagonist "waking" his town on the first day of summer:


> It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer.


And the first few pages of Something Wicked This Way Comes, for its ominous foreshadowing:


> The seller of lighting rods arrived just ahead of the storm. He came along the street of Green Town, Illinois, in the late cloudy October day, sneaking glances over his shoulder. Somewhere not so far back, vast lightnings stomped the earth. Somewhere a storm like a great beast with terrible teeth could not be denied.


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

I'm a big fan of Clive Barker and he wrote a book called "The Thief of Always". It's actually a fairly short novel and I need to read it again. But anyway the story is about a boy who goes to a strange house and falls into a world where each morning of every day is Springtime, each afternoon is Summer, and every evening is Fall--with Halloween and Trick-or-Treating. And of course nighttime is Winter. When he returns to the real world he finds that each day he lived there--a year had passed in real time.
It's a really good read and I think the book is about 14 years old.


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## Chalice (Aug 30, 2008)

I haven't read this, but it looks like it would be an excellent read:

Harvest Tales & Midnight Revels: Stories For The Waning Of The Year by Michael Mayhew

Here is the review from amazon.com:

"Harvest Tales & Midnight Revels is both a guide to giving storytelling parties at Halloween, and an anthology of original tales. Editor Michael Mayhew begins by describing how much he used to enjoy Halloween as a kid, especially for its affirmation in the face of death: "You may get me someday, but tonight I am alive!" As an adult, he missed the "magical shivers" of those eerie nights. So he started an annual gathering in which people would feast and tell stories.

The large middle part of the book is an anthology of the best read-aloud pieces that were shared with others at those parties: 16 stories and 3 poems. The only rule they had was that the story had to relate to Halloween in some way. So it's a mixed bag of creepy, quiet, corny, tacky, gory, and just plain silly tales--with such topics as late-night meetings with strangers, adventures in an urban underground, a pagan woman (i.e., witch) of the old times, and even "the gunk in the bottom of the refrigerator." None is longer than 2,500 words--a length that when read aloud comes to about 15 minutes.

The final section is a primer on how to give your own storytelling party, with suggestions for the number of guests, how to solicit stories, and how to plan the evening. Some of the ideas are awkwardly overstated for an adult book--surely everyone knows how to throw a potluck--but most of them, including suggested decor and music, seem well-founded.

"If I could share only one thing about what we did and learned over ten years of story parties," writes Mayhew, "it would be this: the Halloween that shrieked with glee when you were eight is still out there, only now it murmurs to itself in the dead of night..." --Fiona Webster "

Darn, that sounds really good, I may have to get a copy of this myself...


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## ChrisW (Sep 19, 2006)

Here is a bit of near worthless information. There is a paperback book out that has a collection of Halloween-related stories. Some stories were ok, a few were very good in evoking the Fall/Halloween spirit. The cover is printed in day-glo ink and has a warped photo of kids(?) in Halloween masks. Now here's the bad part - I don't know the title, editor, date of publication, publisher, etc. I sold it at a show a few years ago and have regretted it a number of times.
If anyone has any iinformation about the paperback I'm describing, please share!

Post Script: I did a search and came up with this compilation of horror-related books - there may be a few interesting choices there...
http://heightslibrary.org/wordpress/undeadrat/?p=27


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## Jacks Attic (Jul 17, 2008)

Ultimate Halloween is a book I picked up at the same time as October Dreams. Both are extremely good at setting the Halloween/fall tone. I'd recommend picking them both up.


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## fred25 (Sep 22, 2010)

Anything by Paul Melniczek is a great choice for a Halloween read. He has novellas, and short story collections. Frightful October and A Haunted Halloween are two collections of his.....fantastic fun, and he writes in such a way that he shows true enthusiasm and love for the holiday.


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## TheHalloweenGuru (Sep 17, 2015)

I like this book's dark symbolism and mature political commentary faded over it's Halloween theme. 9.5/10
View attachment 274093


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## NOWHINING (Jul 25, 2009)

I am always up for Halloween theme stories. Right now I can't even name a book that I would suggest you read.


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## disembodiedvoice (Sep 24, 2011)

fred25 said:


> Anything by Paul Melniczek is a great choice for a Halloween read. He has novellas, and short story collections. Frightful October and A Haunted Halloween are two collections of his.....fantastic fun, and he writes in such a way that he shows true enthusiasm and love for the holiday.


this is what I was going to suggest Paul has several Halloween themed books. You can get them on amazon. When the leaves fall, Mischief night are two others in addition to whats listed above. there is also one called The watching , not sure if its halloween but there are 'Jacks' on the cover


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## fred25 (Sep 22, 2010)

Other suggestions are

The End of Summer by J. Tonzelli ( story collection)
Pumpkinheads by Nigel Scott ( novella)
One Dark Halloween Night John Kohlbrenner ( novel )
Halloween Horrors by Alan Ryan ( anthology story collection )
Octoberland by Jack Fisher ( anthology story collection
October Dreams and October Dreams 2, by Richard Chizmar ( anthology story collections )
Come October by Edward May ( story and poems collection, mostly stories)
Halloween Tales of Terror by Anthony Giangregorio ( anthology story collection)
Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge ( novel )
Halloween by Curtis Richards ( movie novelization of the original Carpenter Halloween film)


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## Paul Melniczek (Jun 5, 2009)

Thanks for the mention. Here's a list of my Halloween titles. Most are available from Amazon, direct from publisher, B & N online, and some book stores.

A Haunted Halloween -- Dark Regions Press (short story collection)
When the Leaves Fall -- Bad Moon Books (novella)
Mischief Night, The Witching Hour, Children of the Night -- Bad Moon Books (connected series, YA suitable)
The Watching -- Bad Moon Books (sold out), reprinted by Dark Regions Press (novella)
Frightful October -- Double Dragon (short story collection)
Devoured -- Cemetery Dance and an Italian publisher also (digital short story download)
Bad Candy -- Bad Moon Books (limited edition chapbook with Al Sarrantonio)
A Halloween Harvest -- Flesh & Blood Press (chapbook long out of print and now rare)
Dark Harvest -- Undaunted Press (chapbook long out of print and now rare)


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## Spats (Sep 21, 2006)

It's not a work of fiction, but "Death Makes A Holiday" by David Skal is, in my demented opinion, required reading for any Halloween fan.

Sure, there are books on Halloween history, but this one explores the modern Halloween from unconsidered angles and viewpoints. It reads like a true crime novel, the events and trends of Halloween's recent past being described with a quirky, and sometimes creepy, in-the-moment feel.

I highly recommend it, and I don't do that often.


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