The Halloween Carnival series is a set of five ebooks, each containing five short stories set on and around October 31st. One volume has been released every Tuesday beginning October 3rd, with the final volume due to be published on Halloween itself. The books all contain stories by different authors so there is a wide range of styles on display; however, I would have liked to see more female authors included (just six of the twenty-five stories are written by women).

The stories cover a range of story types, some involving supernatural forces at play while in others the evil comes from more human sources – between the two, it’s hard to decide which type was the most horrifying. There is a noticeable American bias to the collection, which is understandable, but a few stories do focus on Dia de Los Muertos as well. Oddly, for a Halloween collection, I didn’t find very many of the stories to be particularly scary. Tragedy seemed to be more present than fear, although that sadness was always laced with spooky undertones.

As with any collection, there are hits, and then there are misses. Thankfully, those real misses are few and far between here, with far more good quality stories to be found than their poorer cousins. Personally, I found volumes one and three to be the best of the bunch in terms of overall quality, and volume four the weakest, although there is little to separate them. “The Rage of Achilles” by Kevin Lucia, “La Hacienda De Los Muertos” by Lisa Morton, “Mr. Dark’s Carnival” by Glen Hirshberg, “The Way Lost” by Kelley Armstrong, “When The Leaves Fall” by Paul Melniczek, and, “Swing” by Kevin Quigley were my stand out stories of the bunch.

Each of the five volumes is available on Kindle for just $2.40, so if you’re looking for some cheap chills to read this Halloween you can’t really go wrong.

From half the mind of <em>Dark Screams</em> ... er ... from Brian James Freeman, co-editor of the Dark Screams series, comes <em>Halloween Carnival, Volume One</em>. This looks a lot like the <em>Dark Screams</em> series, but with a slightly more targeted focus or theme - Halloween.

The anthology starts out with Robert McCammon's "Strange Candy." I feel like I've read this one before, but I'm not 100% sure. Chris Parker eats some sparkly candy shaped like a human hand and he's on a little bit of a trip - visited by spirits who pass on messages from loved ones.

"The Rage of Achilles or When Mockingbirds Sing" by Kevin Lucia is a powerful story, well told. A Father is meditating in a confessional on Halloween night - the one night he doesn't usually listen to confessions, when he hears a tale of an autistic boy that will affect him - and the reader - quite profoundly.

"Demon Air" by John Little has the witching hour of Halloween occur in an airplane, mid-flight. This story didn't fit the book as well as I would have liked. The Halloween theme felt like something the author was trying too hard to work into a pre-existing story.

I quite enjoyed Lisa Morton's story, "La Hacienda de los Muertos." Here an old cowboy actor, who started in the silent films and never quite made it big, though he did have a long successful career, is booked by his agent to work in a Mexican horror film and the old actor becomes quite involved with the local legend of La Llorona. This story just felt so real to me and I felt like I was reading a biography of the old actor rather than a short dark fantasy story.

"#MakeHalloweenScaryAgain" by Mark Allan Gunnells is the longest of the stories included in the book, filling up half the pages of the slim volume - meaning this story is as long as the other four put together. Dustin Davis is a writer who is disappointed by the commercialization and apathy people have developed toward Halloween and he begins a campaign on social media to #MakeHalloweenScaryAgain. But the campaign backfires when someone<em> does</em> decide to make Halloween scary by killing people and using Davis' hashtag slogan as a calling card. I enjoyed this novelette quite a bit and I'd be delighted to read someone more of Mark Allan Gunnells.

Looking for a good book? <em>Halloween Carnival, Volume One</em> probably has limited appeal, but for anyone interested in short, dark fiction, this is a delightful read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Quietly written but horribly powerful. Robert McCammon is a master so I thought he would be the star but really Lisa Morton may jerk your brain enough to read it twice. Enjoy it; I did

With the exception of McCammon's story which was excellent, these stories were just your typical Halloween tales.

This book didn’t let me down in any way, Halloween Carnival 1 may be my favorite so far. It's great that all the stories revolve around Halloween and not just horror. It really reminded me of the fun of Tales from the Crypt. If you're looking for some Halloween stories to get you in the spirit, volume one of Halloween Carnival is a good read with more hits than misses.

4 Stars!

No one can deny that Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman know their horror. Anyone who has read any of the books from the Dark Screams series can attest to this. It is a series that every horror fan should rush out to grab. I was excited when I heard the two were teaming up for another series of short books featuring stories about Halloween. I started Halloween Carnival: Volume 1 with high hopes and was not disappointed.

The book kicked off with “Strange Candy” by Robert R McCammon. I am not really sure that I would classify this story, which is a reprint, as a horror story but it is definitely a work of dark fiction. This is a very short story so it is hard to summarize without giving away the event of the tale. The story is told in McCammon’s unique style and keeps the reader off balance while presenting the poignant tale of the narrator. While this is not the best story in the anthology, it is a strong start to the book with a strange tale told in McCammon’s unique style and a three-star entry to kick things off.

Kevin Lucia follows with a powerful story in “The Rage of Achilles” aka “When Mockingbirds Sing.” This story blurs the boundary between the living and the dead in a way that will tug on the heartstrings of the reader. It is the story of an autistic child who suffers a horrible accident on Halloween that leaves his parents a shell of themselves as they deal with the accident and its terrible end. Lucia pulls no emotional punches and takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride that ends with a resounding thud at the surprising climax. It is not often that a writer can take me completely by surprise by Lucia manages that with the end of this story. This was the best story in the collection and a five-star entry that stuck with me long past the final word.

“Demon Air” by John R. Little brought a quick change of pace to the anthology with a more traditional take on horror. On Halloween, a diverse cast of characters takes a low budget flight that will give them much more of the holiday than they could have imagined. Little has been a strong if somewhat overlooked writer in the genre for a long time and this story is a good example of his talent. The story has a strong premise and a creepy ambience about it but it just never seemed to fully pay off in the end. Entertaining and yet capable of much more, this is a three-star entry in the collection.

Lisa Morton’s “La Haciencda de los Muertos” comes next and the reader is again taken off in a whole new direction. This story tells the tale of an American who travels to Mexico to assist in the making of a horror movie about the fabled La Llarona. As tragedy begins to follow the film crew, it soon becomes clear that the ghost is more than just a myth. This is a story that alternates between the subtlety of mythology and the action of a real-world threat in way that keeps the reader off balance. The story does seem a bit rushed at times and I would have liked to have some more time in setting up the legend come to life but maybe Morton can return to this story sometime in the future. As it stands, the story is still an entertaining read with plenty to scare the reader and a four-star entry in the anthology.

Mark Allan Gunnell closes out the anthology with a more classic tale of terror in “#MakeHalloweenscaryagain”. While I have an aversion to hashtags in general, I immediately got into this story. When an aspiring horror writer created the hashtag to draw attention to himself and the approaching holiday, he had no idea of the horror he would inspire. When a murderer begins to stalk the town and leave the hashtag as a calling card, he become the prime suspect for the local police. He finds an ally in an aspiring journalist who is hoping to ride the story to fame and fortune. As the holiday approaches, however, the suspect may soon become the victim. This story does not stray far from the well-beaten path of many stories that have come before it but it was still an enjoyable read. Gunnell gives the story just enough of a new twist to keep it interesting and fresh. The story is a great way to close out the anthology and a four-star addition to the book.

Halloween Carnival: Volume 1 provided all of the thrills and scares that I have come to expect from a book edited by Chizmar and Freeman. As with the Dark Screams series, the Halloween Carnival series seems primed to provide one quality volume after another that readers should not hesitate to pick up.

I would like to thank Random House Hydra and NetGalley for this review copy. Halloween Carnival: Volume 1 is available now.

Not sure I have much to say about this. Some of it was enjoyable. The story about the author and Halloween Murders was interesting, albeit a bit confusing in the end. I wanted the book to be more Halloweenish in it’s feel, but some of the stories were just downright sad. The first story was sad and the story about the father and his son was really sad.

I liked the last story in the book about the Mexican ghost. I thought it was creepy enough to be interesting. Even so, the story had a few problematic concepts.

If you're looking for some Halloween goodness to get you in the spirit, volume one of Halloween Carnival is a pretty good place to start. Edited by Brian James Freeman, this one's a strong anthology overall, with more hits than misses, and I enjoyed four out of the five stories within. Aside from McCammon, I hadn't read any of the other authors involved, and I'm planning on checking out more work from the bulk of them. On that score, too, this anthology is a pretty big win for me. Since there's only five stories collected here, let's break it down!

STRANGE CANDY by Robert McCammon
Our first stop in this Carnival and pretty a wonderful opening at that. Here, readers are confronted with the eternal dilemma: What do you do when you find a strange, unwrapped hand-shaped piece of sugar-coated candy at the bottom of your Halloween loot bag? EAT IT! Obviously. I was expecting something macabre and ghoulish, but McCammon travels another route entirely. The tenderness at the heart of this story surprised me. It's pretty rare that I come across a Halloween Feel Good story, and this one certainly worked well (although it felt a bit too repetitive given the shortness of the story, but I'm OK giving it a pass all things considered).
4/5 stars.

THE RAGE OF ACHILLES by Kevin Lucia
I haven’t read Kevin Lucia before, but after THE RAGE OF ACHILLES I’m gonna have to dive into his catalog of works. It's also another heavy emotional hitter, but one that's on the opposite end of the spectrum after McCammon's story. This was a wonderfully tragic story about a father’s loss and a priest's commitment to his church's worshipers. I gotta say, this one was really well done!
5/5 stars.

DEMON AIR by John R. Little
It's here that Halloween Carnival hits a jolting, disruptive bit of turbulence. This one was just flat-out lame, with too many coincidental things crammed into so brief a story. A demonic airplane ride (!) should not be this boring. Cool premise, but goddamnit, the author just didn't know what to do with it, how to execute it, how to end it, nothing. There's no cohesiveness, the pacing was crap, and it feels like the author figured out he had no clue what to do with the story and abruptly ended it. The only saving grace to DEMON AIR was its brevity.
1/5 stars.

LA HACIENDA DE LOS MUERTOS by Lisa Morton
Unlike DEMON AIR, Lisa Morton's LA HACIENDA DE LOS MUERTOS good and truly worked for me. A washed up American actor heads down to Mexico to co-star in a horror film and finds himself stuck in a real-life horror adventure. This one's set in the 1950s, and I could pretty easily imagine this as a classic black-and-white horror film with plenty of deep shadows. I dug it.
4/5 stars.

#MAKEHALLOWEENSCARYAGAIN by Mark Allan Gunnells
This one's a novella and comprises 50% of Halloween Carnival's page count. Thankfully it's time well spent! Like Morton's story, this one gave me a strong cinematic vibe with it's focus on a modern-day slasher story. After a fledgling horror writer makes a Facebook post with an off-the-cuff hashtag, #MakeHalloweenScaryAgain, he finds out his post has gone viral in a wholly unanticipated way. This was fun story, and although I had the killer pegged pretty early on this didn't dampen my enjoyment and I had a good time watching everything unravel.
4/5 stars.

Now on to Volume Two!

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]

Classic writers and new faces make this new series starter a perfect choice for October. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and think you will too. I can't wait to read the next one.

I enjoyed this collection of Halloween stories. They captured the essence of Halloween from many different angles. I was most touched by When Mockingbirds Sing. Just excellent!

I obtained a copy of this book through Net Galley and have left an honest review.

What a great way to get into the Halloween spirit. This collection is a must read for any Halloween enthusiast.

STRANGE CANDY
Great start to this collection!
'Beware the poisoned hand' (or not)

THE RAGE OF ACHILLES
Every small town has a story like this one! A heartbreaking tale from beyond the grave.

DEMON AIR
I felt like this could have been scarier, I like the concept but felt it didn't fully deliver.

LA HACIENDA DE LOS MUERTOS
'he thought he felt something cold brush past him as if a graveyard chill had become a breeze.'
Great story about a vengeful spirit.

#MAKE HALLOWEEN SCARY AGAIN
Feels good to create a trending topic online, not so great when it's taken seriously and turns deadly.

STRANGE CANDY by Robert McCammon
You are always warned never to eat candy that isn't wrapped, but something tempts this Dad to eat the strange candy that appeared on the bottom of his daughters candy bag. He's about to find out why you aren't suppose to do that.

With Strange Candy it was creepy at the beginning but overall it was a sad story, yes I cried.

THE RAGE OF ACHILLES by Kevin Lucia
Father Ward has returned home to stay after serving overseas in the military. He was told no one hears confessional on Halloween night but Father Ward feels the need to do so anyways and finds out exactly why the head priest stopped listening.

Overall, this one was too damn short just when I was getting into it it ended. It feels more like the beginning chapters to a book rather than just a short story.

DEMON AIR by John R. Little
Flying on the cheapest airline to Australia just maybe the biggest mistake these people ever made. When the flight crew start to turn into something else only the strong will survive this flight.

Well it was definitely weird. This one also felt like it was the beginning to a longer story specifically an urban fantasy with a asskicking heroine who just discovered her powers of asskicking-ness.

LA HACIENDA DE LOS MUERTOS by Lisa Morton
Trick McGraw is an aging Hollywood western star who lost his fame when his horse died. Desperate for money he agrees to do a horror movie down in Mexico.The horror movie is based on what is said to be a true story with some extra stuff like a mad scientist experimenting on a vampire added in for a bit more scare. The movie is taking place on location at an old Hacienda where the urban legend of La Llorona is more than just a legend.

Growing up in Texas especially next to the Rio Grande I heard La Llorona stories and I loved that she was the main focus in this story. I have read one other short by Lisa Morton it appeared in the Dark Screams anthology I reviewed a couple of years ago and I liked her then and even more so now. It was a great story.

#MAKEHALLOWEENSCARYAGAIN by Mark Allan Gunnells
Dustin Davis is an author in need of publicity and to help generate activity on social media creates the hashtag #MakeHalloweenScaryAgain. Unfortunately for Dustin it does more than that when someone takes the hashtag to the next level and starts a killing spree in order to make Halloween scary again.

Aside from this one being a little predictable it was a really good serial killer thriller, and I do love me a good serial killer story. And aside from my mind constantly thinking "The Hash Slinging Slasher" thank for that Spongebob, I loved the concept of the story.

Overall, the last two books are what really make this book worth reading for me.

Five short stories revolving around Halloween. I did not find any of the stories truly terrifying but it does take a lot for me. All five stories were very entertaining though, and I enjoyed each other for different reasons. Strange Candy touched me in an unexpected way. La Hacienda de Los Muertos had a good resolution while #MakeHalloweenScaryAgain left me kind of wondering. I recommend this book as it did keep me turning the pages.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley, and this is my unsolicited review.

This is an okay collection of five stories that relate to the Halloween season. I personally did not find most of them all that scary. I must admit that a couple of them were different. In Strange Candy, the main character eats some strange candy, received on Halloween, and experiences a weird after effect. Dead persons appear, asking that the person go to people who were close during life with messages, mostly about not worrying about them or not blaming themselves for the deaths. This story was weird, to say the least. In the Rage of Achilles, a man, with an autistic son, tries to help him, ending with the son’s death, for which he never forgives himself. One more weird one. Demon Air involves someone flying who experiences a strange occurrence, once passing the international date line, with the day suddenly becoming Halloween. Not sure how this one was intended to go over. Of all of them, this is my least favorite. The story seemed to be gaining steam and becoming interesting and suddenly it was over and done. In the next story, La Hacienda de los Meurtos, an actor’s racism is on display as he is in Mexico to film a Mexican horror story. Though very much a, part of the story, the racism really isn’t really resolved though, POOF! at the end it is gone. The last story which is entitled #MAKEHALLOEENSCARYAGAIN, an author is annoyed that Halloween is no longer scary, and tries to bring back the “scary”, though the only person who is interested is a killer who begins using the hashtag as a calling card at murder scenes. Not bad, and the one I enjoyed most. The ending came as no real surprise to me, but I enjoyed reading the tale to get there.

I found the book okay, though not superb, in my opinion. It easily could get a reader into the spirit of the season. The writing is pretty good. Some of the plots are better than others. The book is not terribly long, so a reader can easily squeeze it in during this month, if he/she wants to read a seasonal book. Also, since the book contains five separate stories, picking it up and putting it down makes that even easier. Also, the book exposes the reader to five different authors and writing styles. I am sure it will appeal to readers who enjoy horror and/or scary stories or these authors, though, as I said, these are not really all that scary or horror filled. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

Review copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Calling all horror lovers! Pick this one up for this spooky season! It's a tasty treat!

A creepy collection of Halloween themed short stories. I enjoyed them so much that I hope that there's a second edition available. I highly recommend for all lovers of horror.

Reading the short stories in this volume was the best "treat" I've read so far for October. The stories are perfect for Halloween. The stories are all creepy though there was one that made me a little sad. Because these are short stories, I don't want to give any clues as they would tell you too much about the story -- you are given enough in the description given by the author to know what the theme is. I knew all the authors except Mark Allan Gunnells. He is now on my author list (as an author I know I want to read more of his work)! Enjoy!

3.5 Stars..
I kindly received this book from NetGalley / Random House - Hydra for review.. Thank You so Much

October is among us and time for SPOOKY reads so this book came at a great time for me.. Overall I would say I enjoyed the book..This book has five short stories in it.. below is a quick review of my thoughts on the stories..{No spoilers.. Just my opinions}

1. Strange Candy- By: Robert McCammon - This story I did like though I thought it was a bit short even for a short story.. It left me wanting to know more of the story line I felt like it just ended without giving me a complete ending.. I would like to read more from this author.. The writing was good and kept you interested..
2. The Rage of Achilles or When Mocking Birds Sing- By: Kevin Lucia- This story was a bit longer then the rest and I enjoyed it.. There was a twist to it that I did not see coming but I enjoyed it.
3. Demon Air- By: John R. Little- I did not like this story at all.. luckily the story was short.. It did however seem rushed and just overall not my favorite in this book
4. La Hacienda de los muertos- By: Lisa Morton - I liked this one mainly because it was about or centered around Day of the Dead.. This story was longer as well.. It was a good story line and the ending was finished so you left the story feeling like you got a total story not a tease or disappointed with a quick end. I would read more by this Author..
5. #MakeHalloweenScaryAgain - By: Mark Allan Gunnells - This was a interesting story it was on the longer side as well.. I think of the longer stories this was my favorite.. I do wish it had a little more background or a follow up to a part that was mentioned.. There were some jumpy parts throughout the story though you were able to follow the story..

Recommend? Yes if you like short stories..
~Happy Reading ~

I received a copy of Haloween Carnival from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's official, Halloween is officially upon us and Hydra has come to get us in the Halloween spirit with a new anthology series. I loved the cover, but let's go ahead and be honest here by admitting this isn't exactly what I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it, but I wasn't exactly sure how this was going to end, or even what it was trying to achieve. When you think of Halloween stories you expect scary, but none of these are. That's not a bad thing, and if anything, it sets up the series to be something different which it achieves nicely. Two of these stories have a nice Twilight Zone feel to them, and are powerful in their delivery. The theme here is Halloween, and that's pretty much it.

Demon Air, Strange Candy, and #makehalloweenscaryagain are the standout stories. Each offer a different take on the theme and are truly the gems in this collection. The other stories aren't bad at all, and whoever compiled this collection did a great job with such a short anthology. Bad news is if you came here for something scary, or even gory, you came to the wrong place. Halloween Carnival isn't about the scares, or even the gross out. It's a collection you can read around a bonfire, or aloud with a group of friends. It captures the spirit of Halloween and the fact that anything can happen on such a magical night. Hydra once again has a fine collection on their hands, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

As with all short story collections, there will be some you like and others that you don't. The same is true for me here, but out of the five offerings, I really enjoyed three and the other two were ok. The final story, #Makehalloweenscaryagain by Mark Allen Gunnells, is half of the book, so your enjoyment will hinge on whether or not this one appeals. Luckily for me, I quite liked the slasher film-like plot and although I knew who the bad guy was, it was still a fun read. My favourite story was La Hacienda de Los Muertos by Lisa Morton. The prose was the best for me, the dialogue was generally natural and believable and the plot was quite original. All in all, there was nothing in this collection that blew me away but no absolute stinkers either.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.