The Indie Eclective: The Halloween Collection

Sunwalker Saga #2.5

by M. Edward McNally, Indie Eclective, Heather Marie Adkins

The Indie Eclective: What is it, who are they, and why can they spell neither “eclectic” nor “collective” correctly? The Indie Eclective is an ensemble of authors operating under the assumption that Readers like Good Books. The Halloween Collection showcases spooky reads from nine very different authors. Whether you enjoy light or dark paranormal, YA or adult-themed genres, there’s bound to be a story to suit your tastes. Thanks for reading!

Genres: Horror, Halloween, Anthologies, Paranormal, Short Stories, Romance, Urban Fantasy

113 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 6, 2011

About the author

Yikes, this page gave me an option to enter my "date of death." That's disheartening. Anyway, North Carolina born Irish/Mexican, grew up Midwestern along I 35 Northbound (KS, IA, MN), now in AZ among the scorpions and javelinas. Studied English Lit and Russian/East European History in school, and at the place where the two bumped together, I wrote some Musket & Magic Fantasy books. Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories in this anthology were okay, but nothing impressive as I didn't find nothing scary here. The only story that was close to being spooky was OR 13, other than that the stories kind of dropped off for me. I went into the book thinking the stories were going to be scary and they weren't.

The only other interesting thing about the book is an introduction to authors that I have never heard of before reading this book. Some of the stories had characters that continue in other books, so if I want to read more about certain characters in these stories then I will have to check out the other books out there by these authors. Giving this book three stars.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed all the Halloween stories in this collection, which I read within a few weeks after it was published. I used to scare myself silly as a youngster with horror books, and some of these hit that same note. I definitely got shivers from many of them, partly from reading them during October and having the weather add that little extra touch to each story atmosphere. They all were great reads, and introduced me to a few new authors from whom I've since purchased other books.

[Zonell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunted House by Julia Crane 5/5
Magickal Vendetta by Heather Marie Adkins 4/5

[Nicole Storey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book for several reasons. I love the way a group of Indie authors came together to create this book! There are 9 Indie authors from different genres, so you are sure to like at least one of the stories in this collection, probably more! I love the cover, as well! As many of you know, Halloween is my favorite holiday, so of course, the artwork really catches my eye and it brings the spirit of the book to life. But, let’s talk about the stories inside…

I have to say that some of the stories were REALLY good, and others didn’t quite hit the mark for me. Two of my favorites were “The Village of Those Who Touch the Dead” by M. Edward McNally and “Haunting in OR 13″ by Alan Nayes. In my opinion, both of these tales captured that Halloween spirit. Not to give too much away, but “The Village of Those Who Touch the Dead” was awesome! There are two villages; one is called Tsheh and it is the village of the wealthy, a port city. The other village is smaller and is called the Village of Those Who Touch the Dead. In between these two villages is a wide, stone road built on arches and on both sides of it, a flooded graveyard. At night, the dead rise from this dismal swamp to attack the village people who use the road. If you are attacked, there are two possibilities for you; death, or become a shadow. Trust me, death is better.

“Haunting in OR13″ is a classic ghost story and I loved it! This tale takes place at California Medical College, where medical students learn the ropes in hopes of becoming future doctors and surgeons. The only thing is, at least one medical student cracks under the pressure in surgery rotation every year and ends up having to be institutionalized. Sara McCaffe is determined not to follow in their footsteps. But, there is one operating room, OR 13, that is never used. Fifteen years ago, a terrible accident occurred in there and 5 people were incinerated; burned to death. Sara is told that OR 13 has not been used since. That’s really strange, though, because that is the OR room she is assigned for her first surgical rotation, which takes place on Halloween!

All in all, there were only two stories out of the nine in this book that I didn’t care for. Although some of the other 5 that I did like did not embody the Halloween spirit, in my opinion, most of them were very good and I did enjoy reading them. I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5. It was edited very well and was a nice collection of stories to read. Right now, you can download this book for FREE on Smashwords, so grab your copy and settle in for some spooky reading this October! Don’t forget a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of wine, a blanket to keep the chill away, and of course, a crucifix for when you read, “The Revenge”!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection consists of nine (9) short stories of varying lengths with a paranormal theme that fits right into Halloween. My rating is based on the average rating of all the stories combined. All the stories were basically enjoyable but there were only a few that got me really involved. I kept reading because I was hoping that they would get better or at least more interesting as I went forward. The writing in each story was good though some was better than others, which is to be expected.

My favorite was The Rhyn Trilogy: Origins by Lizzy Ford because it gave me a chance to see Gabriel and Rhyn before they became the people they are in later books. Gabriel as a young man who finds that he is not as brave as he first thought but becomes a warrior later, one who has the capacity to have sympathy for others. It was a perfect introduction.

There was also Ralphie,the 'Special" Werewolf by P.J. Jones which was a cute kind of story that actually put a smile on my face. There was nothing even remotely scary about this one but the werewolves here were different enough that you could not help but enjoy this light tale of a werewolf who loved his cushion more than an actual girl.

You get a nice mix of creatures with vampires, demons, witches, elves, and assorted supernatural creatures. It's worth taking the time to read this for Halloween evening, unless you are going for scares.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Halloween Collection” contains 9 stories, all either set on Halloween or having an otherworldly flare to them. “Mind-Blower” has two youngsters up against demons. “The Village of Those Who Touch the Dead” - set in Eddie McNally’s Norothian Cycle world – has yakuza against a dreadful, murderous demon. My favorite, “Haunting of OR 13,” is about an intern who ends up facing OR 13 on Halloween. “To Taste of Shimmering Revenge” was another favorite – a vampire, who had been in a torpor for 400 years, finds himself in modern-day California and aghast at the modern perception of vampires. He must get his revenge. “Ralphie the Special Werewolf” has a sofa cushion fetish and must either find a real girl within 24 hours or be neutered. “Sunwalker’s Kiss” is hard to describe without spoiling it, but is a very good read. “Magickal Vendetta” is pretty much straight romance, by the formula, only with a witch and I didn’t much care for it, although it is well written. “The Rhyn Trilogy: Origins” gives the origin of Rhynn, who is to be found in Lizzy Ford’s other books.

Overall a great set of short stories in the paranormal genre, ranging from light-hearted and fun to horror. Recommended for this Halloween season, or anytime!

[Vannessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 9 short stories all taking place around Hallowe'en time - a quick light hearted read to showcase some up and coming authors. Overall the stories were good fun for the most part, but the intended audience seems to be a bit lost. Some were definitely geared more for adults, whilst others were for young adults/teens, but I enjoyed them all none the less.

I did really like the story To Taste of Shimmering Revenge by Jack Wallen, in which a vampire wakes up after a 400 year stupor to find the world has very much changed and decides to take his revenge out on Tyler from Twilight fame (no idea who this Tyler is but if Vlad Kurval wants to take out all the sparkling vampires I'll join him for the ride!)

Fun freebie perfect for some light Hallowe'en reading!

[Madelon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This collection of mostly bad short stories that just stop when the requisite word count is reached (or so it seems) has at least one redeeming tale. I enjoyed "Sunwalker's Kiss" enough to be on the lookout for more from its author Shea McLeod. In fact I may just get the novels in the Sunwalker's saga. I must also confess that I enjoyed the story that followed immediately after, "Magickal Vendetta." That makes Heather Adkins' THE TEMPLE another possible to-be- read. The obvious purpose of this collection is to tantalize the reader into buying longer works by the contributors. The final score -- two tantalized, the other seven were crap.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book for Halloween! A nice collection of short stories with the perfect touch of horror and suspense, for the Halloween season. Monsters with one red eye, will transform you if bitten. But an old magic might be able to fix your problem. I better stop now before I give away to much. This book was written by a good group of Indie Writers, a must read for Halloween.

[Alan Nayes]

I've read all nine stories and can say I really enjoyed eight of them. The one I wrote I'll defer my opinion to other readers. It was fun working with the other authors in putting this anthology together, though--especially since I didn't have to do the cover art or formatting.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the collection of short stories was good. Some were pretty funny, like "Ralphie,the 'Special' Werewolf" by P. J. Jones, my favorite story in the book. It's a good mix of ghosts, witches, fantasy, and zombies. Good Read!

[Carol Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wonderful collection of stories has something for everyone.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really neat short stories perfect for the Halloween season!!

[Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 star

Cute stories for Halloween... very light stories.

A couple of the stories were interesting, but there were a few that ended with, 'check out what happened by reading....'

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the right mix of stories, and perfect for this time of year. Really enjoyed all the stories.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really a mixed bag of tricks. Some of the stories I really didn’t care for, but then there were others, like Magickal Vendetta by Heather Marie Adkins, that I really enjoyed. This is why, I have rated the collection a 4/5.

[K. LaMar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good intro to many series & authors

Wwhile some of these stories are really scary & I just want to leave them alone, others tease me into checking out the longer story related to them.

[Denise Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short stories!

These stories leave you wanting more. So I wrote down the authors names, websites, and Facebook pages to stalk them. Got to have more!

[Ciayrra The Scorpion Flower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic!

I enjoyed this collection very much . Some of the stories were scary, but not enough to stay in my head and give me nightmares.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's really hard to just read excerpts from novels. Short stories are a unique type of writing. These excerpts are hard to appreciate as you have no way of knowing the characters.

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many of these were snippets of stories from other stories that didn't really make sense out of context. The others I just didn't like for the most part.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

No

Nope. I love short stories but this was just not at all appealing. Very disappointed in this collection. It does not mean you won't be thrilled but it's a nope from me.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall Review: 5/9 stories were actually Halloween related. Just because it has Witches, Vampires, Demons or Zombies does not make it a Halloween story in my opinion. It has to actually be about Halloween! The day, month and/or season. Rating this based on it being a "Halloween" book I'd give it a 2/5. But my rating based on the overall writing quality I'll give it a 3/5.

Mind Blower by Talia Jager - (OPINION) Not halloween related.
3/5 wont read the rest of the series.

The Village of Those Who Touch the Dead by M. Edward McNally: 1/5 too bored, skipped it.

Haunting in OR 13 by Alan Nayes - Halloween themed. 3.5/5 might read the rest of the series.

Haunted House by Julia Crane - Halloween themed. 3/5 probably won't read more of this series.

To Taste of Shimmering Revenge by Jack Wallen - Halloween themed. 3/5 I'm very indifferent about this one.

Ralphie, the 'Special' Werewolf by P.J. Jones - Halloween themed. 2.5/5 wth did I just read?

Sunwalker's Kiss by Shéa Macleod - Not Halloween related. But oh my god 4.5/5 did not expect to find anything better than a 3 in the book. I almost gave up all together on these stories but I'm glad I didn't. I will be looking more into this series for sure.

Magickal Vendetta by Heather Adkins - Halloween related. 3/5 eh.

The Rhyn Trilogy: Origins by Lizzy Ford - Not Halloween related. 3.5/5 will probably read more of this series.

[Sati Marie Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm kind of torn on how to rate this. I can't say I liked the book in general, although I did like a few of the stories. I thought The Village of Those Who Touch the Dead was spectacular, and immediately went and downloaded the first full novel in this series from Amazon. I thought Sunwalker's Kiss was a very sweet romance, and I might look for more books by the author. Magickal Vendetta was quite fun, although I felt it would have made a better novella than short story - it wasn't long enough for the characters to really develop enough personality for me to care about them, but I thought the story held a lot of potential. And Haunting in OR 13 was kind of horrible but brilliantly creepy, although there were a few occasions when it seemed like it was going to devolve into silliness.

The other stories either didn't do it for me or downright repulsed me.

So I found one author that I'll definitely read more of, a few that I might keep an eye out for - and a couple that I'll actively avoid. I guess that's a good thing, too - discovering what you don't like is as important, or almost as important, as discovering what you do.

So somewhere between 2 and 3 stars for this one. 4 - 5 for the McNally story, 3 - 4 for the others that I've mentioned, but the overall score was brought down for me by the other five.

[Jean ~ Kindle Queen]

I only read the "Sunwalker's Kiss" by Shea MacLeod from this collection. It's a story from Jack's past. I thought it would shed some light on why he is (spoiler for ) so reluctant to have "relations" with the one he is supposed to guard. It sort of did but faded out too soon. Perhaps the rest of the story is in ...

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

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I saw this book for free on Amazon and snatched it up. I figured it being a cover that has a pumpkin and it says Halloween it is going to have gory and scary stories. I was wrong. For me the only story that I really liked was Haunting in OR 13. I did finish the book but I just did not get into the stories like I hoped. I think it is because I was expecting more scariness when reading it and none of the stories popped out for me. It is a short read maybe something that others may enjoy but for me it just did not work out.

[Wendy Holcombe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of stories ranges from very adult to young adult, I've never experienced that in a collection before, and hope I don't again. It was not a cohesive read. In many collections there is just a subtle theme, like in this collection, Halloween; however, to go from somewhat graphic stories to very tame teen-lit was strange. Who is supposed to be reading this book?
Some of the stories were entertaining, some were just there...no real story.

Over all, not well thought out when put together.
Singularly, there are some good writers here who need a new outlet.

[Merissa (Archaeolibrarian) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of nine short stories by nine different authors so you will certainly find something to your taste, even if you don't like all of them. There are stories that are part of an ongoing story by the author as well as completely standalone stories. Some are chilling, some are written as tongue in cheek (or at least that's how they read to me!) and some are just plain disturbing. I won't say which is which but needless to say, I did enjoy reading this collection and will be adding it to my collection from The Indie Eclective.

[☆Angel☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best story collections I've read so far. It has everything from ghosts to witches to demons and even dragons (not to mention vampires, werewolves, and fairies {oh my!})Amazingly enough, my favorite story is Sunwalker's Kiss. And I say "amazingly enough" because I usually lean more toward the vampire or witchy stories, and although this one involved magic, it was of the dragon variety. That's some undiscovered territory for me and I liked it. If you enjoy short stories and the supernatural, try this one out.

[DAISY READS HORROR · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty fast read. Some stories were ok. ! In particular some didn't even seem to fit with the genre of Halloween so I am not sure why they put them in this book. As with most short stories some ended leaving you saying "??!!", which I am sure is so that you can purchase other books by the author. What a tease! But I didn't mind.

My favorite all of the few short stories was "The Haunting Of OR 13". The one about the horny werewolf Ralphie was cute & funny too. :)