“… and next week is Halloween.”

Halloween is just one week away. I’ve spent much of this spooky season promoting the release of Glowing in the Dark, my newest book, which collects 10+ years of my best nonfiction writing on horror films. But I am also still a fiction writer, my latest story appearing in the Fall/Winter issue of Spooky magazine.

As a horror writer and, particularly, a horror writer with my specific proclivities, I like to think that just about any one of my stories would make good reading for the week leading up to Halloween. But I’ve also written a few stories that were set specifically on and around the autumnal holiday, and I figure I should highlight some of those for your seasonal reading needs.

“How to See Ghosts (or Surely Bring Them To You” is the title story of my latest collection, How to See Ghosts & Other Figments. It’s also one of two stories that are original to that collection. It takes its title from an old Vincent Price audio recording, and its story concerns a group of friends who go to a haunt and then conduct a seance on Halloween night. It’s about the desire to see a ghost – even if maybe you shouldn’t.

“Old Haunts” is the other story that’s original to How to See Ghosts & Other Figments, and it also takes place at a Halloween haunt. In this case, it’s a home haunt that may be more than it appears, luring an inveterate haunt-goer into more than he bargained for…

“Screen Haunt” was originally published in It Came from the Multiplex and hasn’t been collected, but is one of the stories on this list that is currently available to read (or listen to) online thanks to Pseudopod. Like a lot of my stories, it’s a love letter to movies and, especially, to movie theaters, and the experience of seeing a scary movie up on the big screen.

“The All-Night Horror Show” is a story that I was still in the process of writing when I read it aloud at the Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird. It was published at The Dark, making it another story available to read online, and it also hasn’t ever been collected (yet). It’s about an aging horror film star who is spending his Halloween night in reverie in front of his TV set – and some home invaders who might have chosen the wrong house.

“Goblins” is a story dedicated to my good friend Reyna, who helped me to come up with the idea. It was originally included in the deluxe edition of my first collection, and has since been reprinted at Pseudopod, meaning that it is also available to read (or listen) online. It’s about some kids and their (possibly very justified) fear of the undertaker who works at the nearby cemetery.

As I said, I like to think that just about any of my stories would make for good Halloween reading, and if you’re reading any of my tales or collections this spooky season, I would love to hear about it. These five in particular, however, are set on that most auspicious of nights (or very close to it) and hopefully capture the spirit of the holiday even better than most.

Why not try one out this Halloween, and let me know if it’s more trick or treat?