Waugh, Greenberg, Asimov - 13 Horrors Halloween

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Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh, Martin Greenberg & Isaac Asimov (eds.) - 13 Horrors For Halloween (Avon, October, 1983)

Introduction: The Forces Of Evil - Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov - Halloween
William Bankier - Unholy Hybrid
Anthony Boucher - Trick-Or-Treat
Ray Bradbury - The October Game
Robert Grant - Halloween Girl
Edward D. Hoch - Day Of The Vampire
Talmage Powell - Night Of The Goblin
Ellery Queen - The Adventure Of The Dead Cat
Al Sarrantonio - Pumpkin Head
Lewis Shiner - The Circle
Edith Wharton - All Souls
Gahan Wilson - Yesterday's Witch
Robert F. Young - Victim Of The Year

Blurb:

Skeleton's rattle, black cats howl.

A killing frost is on the pumpkin, a ghostly harvest moon hangs in the midnight sky on All Soul's Eve, and thirteen tales of murder and the macabre make 13 Horrors For Halloween a perfect witches' brew of short story suspense.

As the clock strikes the witching hour, Ellery Queen invites you to a mysterious masquerade to witness a bloody crime. Edith Wharton lures you to a remote and lonely spot to watch what happens on the night when the dead can walk. and Ray Bradbury shows you how a demented mind makes bobbing for apples a very grisly game.

Graveyards and haunted houses, vampires and ghouls, messages written in blood. and jack-o-lanterns alive with menace - they're all waiting to grip you with delightful chills of terror in this unforgettably frightening collection of Halloween tricks and treats.

A great little collection with excellent work by Shiner, Sarrantonio, Bradbury, Grant and Bankier - and those are just the stories I remember.

Robert Grant - Halloween Girl: Tommy and Marcie are inseparable after they discover a shared love of horror films, literature, models, etc, but, shortly prior to Halloween, Marcie grows sick and dies. Heartbroken, Tommy dons his werewolf costume and goes ahead with his trick-or-treating as planned, then visits the cemetery to share the nights spoils with the dead girl. Marcie gives him a sign that she's still very much with him. a very touching, gentle ghost story. Should be better known.

Edward D. Hoch - Day Of The Vampire: Kreen Falls. When the body of an exsanguinated tramp turns up in the middle of the run-up to the sheriff's election, the utterly clueless Frank Creasley, long-time holder of that office, persuades undertaker Quest to bury the body without a post mortem, unsolved homicides tending to undermine public confidence in their appointed lawman. Quest complies, but when his half-hearted attempt at blackmailing Creasley fails, he passes on the appetising tit-bit to the other candidate, Jack England, who publicly denounces his opponent. Unbeknown to Creasley, there have been several such murders among migrant workers in the surrounding region. The situation looks hopeless until Quest falls from the balcony during the rally. The electorate take this as a sign of God and vindication of Creasley who duly coasts to victory yet again. Which is good news for his chief supporter ...

Ray Bradbury - The October Game: Mich, the disgruntled and deeply disturbed husband, determines that wife Louis is going to pay for 'depriving' him of a son. He isn't going to shoot her, though - he wants her to really suffer, and he reckons the only way he can get back at her is through their one daughter, eight year old Marion. The Halloween party provides him with his opportunity. Horrible!

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Isaac Asimov - Halloween: Haley investigates the theft of a small quantity of plutonium from the nuclear plant. The thief is dead, but the box containing the chemical could be hidden in any one of hundreds of rooms in a large hotel. Haley effortlessly locates it in one of the most boring, to say nothing of unconvincing, mystery stories i've read in aeon's. A truly dismal choice as opening story, but don't worry, it gets miles better.

Lewis Shiner - The Circle: It was like a fog, but so thick you could almost feel it, squeeze it in your fingers .... everywhere it touched, the world ceased to exist." One of three stories in the collection I was in no rush to re-read, but only because I thought they were so great the first time and didn't wanna risk disappointment (the others being Halloween Girl and Pumpkin Head). It helps when you don't know what's coming, but The Circle is still a great story. For six years a group of friends have congregated at Walter's cabin on Halloween to scare each other silly with ghost stories. Leslie hasn't written anything for this year's caper, she just doesn't feel up to it since the break-up with Rob Tranchin. None of the others much cared for him, too argumentative, too serious about the occult, but when Walter announces that Rob has sent a letter from Mexico enclosing his new story, The Circle, Leslie volunteers to read it. It's about the group, their Halloween meeting's and what is going to happen to them tonight ....

Al Sarrantonio - Pumpkin Head: Raylee's first day at her new school and already the kids are picking on her and calling her names. Ms Grinley's heart goes out to this sad-faced, nervous, crushingly shy little girl but she can't get a word out of her. But once the class have started reading spooky tales, Raylee perks up and asks if she can tell a story she "made up". Ms Grinley is delighted ... until Raylee get's going. It's the story of a little boy with an out sized head on account of his father being involved in an accident at the atomic plant where he worked. Ms Grinley draws a halt when Raylee reaches the bit where Pumpkin Head pulls a knife on his classroom tormentors and is carted off to a mental hospital, but it seems to have endeared her to the other children. Cleo even invites her along to her Halloween party! So, that night, Raylee get's to finish her story ...

There's more than a touch of the Ray Bradbury's about Pumpkin Head and even more of Richard Matheson in Blood Son (Drink My Red Blood) mode, so if you like the sound of that, you can also find the story in Karl Wagner's Years Best Horror Stories XI.