Literally Dead: Tales of Halloween Hauntings
Are you searching for a Halloween-heavy read this spooky season? This collection is made for you! The ambiance and themes of the creepiest time of year has apparated in the form of this book, ready to be fully realized in your eager mind’s eye. Sometimes the contents are blatantly a trick, and other times a treat. Either way, it embodies the full Halloween experience.
For my experience, the stories I loved the most were:
When They Fall by Steve Rasnic Tem - A bite of this genius horror author’s cosmic treats.
How to Unmake a Ghost by Sara Tantlinger - This one was a trick in that it should have been called “How to Unmake a Reader” since I was basically left weeping from its powerful emotion.
A Halloween Visit by Dana Hammer - I was laughing out loud at the dialogue in this very entertaining story.
The Ghost Lake Mermaid by Alethea Kontis - Tragic and ghostly, this story will leave you wondering about those lost in unjust ways and how they might be trying to communicate with the living to still affect change.
No One Sings in the City of the Dead by Tim Waggoner - This was pure horror, showing how loss can fog the human mind into making blasphemous decisions.
A Scavenger Hunt When the Veil is Thin by Gwendolyn Kiste - A tale of perpetuating stereotypes of women, witches, and ghosts that sticks it to the man and unveils the humanity beyond the dark stories we weave as history.
When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead Across Your Dreams in Pale Battalions Go by Jonathan Maberry - What a tale on which to conclude the collection! It destroyed me with how much it hurt. It twisted Halloween on its head by showing the reader how it haunts some more than others, while simultaneously using Halloween as a conduit to convey that message. Perhaps a confusing statement, but it’ll make sense when you read it. And you WILL read it.
There are also pictures on the first page of each story that really add to the wicked quality of this book; just an extra treat that worked very well at bringing the whole thing together. I believe this book helped to develop a truly special haunted vibe I can carry with me this Halloween season.
I feel like I’d do myself a disservice by not mentioning that at the start of the book there is a typo quoting Stephen King’s Danse Macabre (but it’s incorrectly spelled “Dance Macabre”). I was a little irked by that being my first impression, but please, if you’re as anal about typos as me, do NOT let that deter you from diving into this book. It is just a ton of scary fun. It is undeniable that every contributor not only had a great time writing their pieces, but they also poured their dark little hearts into them.
