Because I’d been covering some Halloween-themed movies in the lead-up to the best holiday of the year, I figured I’d get in some Halloween reading as well, just to balance things out. My Kindle Unlimited subscription had several free options available, including a handful of holiday-themed anthologies like the one I’m discussing today.
The Halloween Store and Other Tales of All Hallows’ Eve was published in 2020, and it’s not so much a classic anthology as a collection of Halloween-centered short stories by a single author, Ronald Kelly. It’s fairly short, clocking in at less than 150 pages, and contains seven tales, as well as an introduction, an essay about the author’s Halloween experiences as a kid, and a list of his favorite Halloween things from his childhood in the 60s and 70s.
Most of the stories are good to great, and though the essay and list portions gave me a slightly boomery, get off my lawn vibe, it was fun hearing about Halloweens past, the details of which I mostly remember too (having grown up in the 70s and 80s myself).
The first story, “The Halloween Store,” reads a bit like a Goosebumps–style YA tale, though that’s nothing against its quality, which is quite entertaining, though slightly predictable. It concerns a group of three kids who go to a mysterious Halloween store in a strip mall (kinda like a low-rent Spirit Halloween), which looks pretty standard except for its excellent “vintage” section. Guided by the equally enigmatic proprietor, the kids pick out special, old-school costumes that turn out to have a little something extra going on.
“Mister Mack is Back in Town,” the second story, is the one I remember the least, but it was still a fun read. It’s about a man named Kyle whose daughter Rebecca is found injured but alive after she went missing with her friend Hannah the day before. Hannah is still nowhere to be found, however, and as details about Rebecca’s disappearance begin to come out, Kyle realizes he may be dealing with a monster from his own past, that disguises itself as a person in a big camper full of horror memorabilia, the better to lure kids to their horrible fates.
The third story, “Blood Suede Shoes,” has an appealing urban legend vibe to it that I really dug. It’s about a chubby, somewhat wallflowery bobby soxer named Ruby who’s walking home after a big outdoor Halloween rock concert, presumably in the late 50s/early 60s. On the lonely road, she’s picked up by her idol, bad boy Rockabilly Reb, in his crimson Cadillac. She had just seen him perform at the festival and is jacked to meet him in person. He lays on the charm and she’s putty in his hands, but things get decidedly devilish when Ruby discovers the sacrifices her rock and roll hero has to make for fame.
“Clown Treats,” the brief fourth story, is gruesome and impactful, though once it’s set up you can pretty much tell where it’s going. A group of kids are trick or treating and make a stop at the home of their favorite teacher, Mrs. Abernathy. She doesn’t seem to be home, but her clown-costumed husband is, and it’s pretty clear that something dreadful occurred not long before the kids arrived.
The fifth tale is called “The Cistern,” and it’s another one that was pretty good, but didn’t leave much of a lasting impression. It’s about a man named Jud who feels compelled to return to the small town where he grew up: Jackson Ridge, Tennessee. It all looks mostly the same as he remembered, and it even appears that they’re still holding their annual Halloween Festival, which Jud recalls with fondness. While looking around, he meets a little boy who badly wants Jud to take him to the festival…but neither the little boy nor the town are what they appear.
The sixth story is the best by a long shot, and is easily the most gory and fucked up, which I absolutely adored. Titled “Pretty Little Lanterns,” the tale is set in 1928, and establishes immediately that there’s a serial killer in town who murders several people every Halloween, leaving the heads of townsfolk scattered about the place, carved up like jack o’lanterns. Sheriff Townshend is tired of the whole business, and local librarian and busybody Gladys Willoughby is certain she knows who the culprit is. As the story goes on, we discover a link to one of the most famous killers of all time, and encounter some very grisly scenarios, including the slaying and mutilation of children.
The last “fictional” story, “The Amazing and Totally Awesome Fright Creature!” is about two boys who find an ad for the titular critter in an old comic book and decide on a lark to order one. This goes about as well as you’d expect, though I will say that this would be the first time in history that any of those comic book ads were completely accurate in what they were selling you. This was also a good story, but a bit more on the YA end as the first tale was (though there’s still gore aplenty, so don’t worry on that account).
The essay and list sections are also a lot of fun, and really do conjure up some of that old-school Halloween magic that some of us remember from our youth. If you grew up in the 60s or 70s, this will hit you right in the nostalgic feels, for sure.
All in all, a solid collection, and very Halloween-focused from front to back, so it’s a great choice to get you into the mood of the season and feed your hankering for candy, pumpkins, costumes, and cardboard skeletons, as well as blood and guts.
Until next time, keep it creepy, my friends.
The Scare Salon 