Now that your summer reading list is complete, it’s time to add a little creep factor to your library. And what better way to enjoy the fall season than with an anthology of scary tales? These four titles are the perfect short story collections to read this Halloween. Just don’t feel bad if you have to sleep with the lights on.
Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural: A Treasury of Spellbinding Tales, Old and New (Editor: Marvin Kaye)
If you can get past the lengthy title, this anthology contains some of the most ghoulish stories ever set to print, ones that will haunt you for years to come–literally. At about age twelve, I discovered this book on my parents’ shelves. When other kids my age were reading age-appropriate chapter books, I was scaring myself silly with the likes of Richard Matheson and Robert Bloch. As an adult, I adore these tales even more.
Highlights: the sinister and surrealistic “The Professor’s Teddy Bear”, the imagined second-life of biblical figure “Lazarus”, and famed playwright Tennessee Williams’ first published work, “The Vengeance of Nitocris”
The October Country by Ray Bradbury
During his decades-long career, Ray Bradbury produced scores of unforgettable stories. Many of his very best are anthologized in the aptly named, The October Country. Featuring nineteen narratives that range from darkly comedic to outright terror, you get unusual vampires that decidedly don’t sparkle (“The Man Upstairs”) and a tome of a sickly student and his favorite teacher who might just be devoted even from beyond the grave (“The Emissary”). Add in Bradbury’s gloriously poetic prose, and this is one book you’ve got to read before the 31st.
Other Highlights: the hauntingly touching “The Lake”, the account of childbirth gone woefully wrong in “The Small Assassin”, and “Homecoming”, the basis for Bradbury’s only bestselling novel, From the Dust Returned
Hauntings: Tales of the Supernatural (Editor: Henry Mazzeo)
The Edward Gorey illustrations make this collection of eerie tales a must-have for fans of horror and the macabre at large. But it’s the stories within that will stay with you long after you close the beautifully-rendered cover and bury your face under the blankets.
Highlights: the arcane monster lurking in “The Lonesome Place”, the grim day at the carnival in “Levitation”, and what hides in H.P. Lovecraft’s “In the Vault”
Haunted America: Star-Spangled Supernatural Stories (Editor: Marvin Kaye)
As a travel blogger who focuses almost exclusively on weird and haunted sites in America, a horror anthology that breaks down ominous stories by U.S. region is truly after my heart. Editor Marvin Kaye strikes again with almost fifty otherworldly cross-country yarns. Plus, with an appendix that highlights real haunted locales by state, this book serves as much as a travelogue as an entertaining work of fiction.
Highlights: the darkly humorous “The Rider on the Pale House”, Robert Bloch’s “The Man Who Collected Poe”, and the spooky tale of “The Shot-Tower Ghost”
What would you recommend for short story collections to read this Halloween? Let me know in the comments below!
Happy haunting!