Dark Halloween: A Flash Fiction Anthology

by Eleanor Merry, Cassandra Angler, Melody E. McIntyre (Contributor)

Skeletons, ghosts and witches. All Hallows Eve is filled with the terrors that walk the thin line of our world and the other. From the twisted minds of some of todays best horror authors, Dark Halloween is a collection of Halloween themed stories sure to delight and terrify.

How will you celebrate the holidays?

Dark Halloween is book 5 in the holiday horror collection

Dark X-Mas
Dark Valentine
Dark Solstice
Dark Celebration
Dark Halloween

With stories from:
M. Ennenbach
N.M Brown
G.G Flavell
Vic Kerry
Lamont A. Turner
Radar DeBoard
L.T. Emery
Alyson Faye
Jay T. Levy
Gabriella Balcom
P.S. Traum
J.A. Skelton
V.J. Reed
Jason Myers
Gary McDonough
Todd Love
Sima Greenfield
Alanna Robertson-Webb
Scott McGregor
Randee Dawn
Leon Sluyter
Chris Miller
David Green
Morgan Griffith
Brianna Witte
Andrew Kurtz
Matthew Wilson
Wendy Cheairs
Nicole Sinclair
P.J. Blakey-Novis
Cassandra Angler
Scott McGregor
R.J. Roles
Jamie Zaccaria
John Cady
Charlotte O’Farrell
Patrick J. Wynn
Kim Plasket
Joshua Lupardus
Jim Towns
Meera Dandekar
Rex M. Graves
Nicole Henning
Natasha Sinclair
Lance Dale
Chisto Healy
Marina Schnierer
Angela Glover
Brianna Witte
John Kujawski
Rachael Boucker
Elford Alley
Pam Stebbins
David Watson
Micah Castle
Marc Sorondo
John Kujawski
Nerisha Kemraj
Dawn DeBraal
Shawn Chang
M. Betterelli
David Simms
Stephen Johnson
J. Edwin Buja
Wondra Vanian
Belinda Brady
Ruthann Jagge
Shannon Grant
Melody E. McIntyre
Jennifer Canaveral
Joshua E. Borgmann
Kieran Judge
Chris Bannor
A.B. Archambault
Jacek Wilkos

302 pages, Paperback

Published September 29, 2020

About the author

Eleanor Merry was born and raised in beautiful Vancouver, BC and still lives there with her tiny human and her fiance. The offspring of a fairy queen and an undead warlord, she was brought up with an appetite for terror and beauty.

When she isn’t writing, she is a voracious reader with eclectic tastes which tends to lean towards horror and the twisted, however is known to indulge in dirty romances on the side. In all genres, nothing is off limits and she looks forward to sharing more of her own twisted and strange thoughts with the world.

Reviews

[Jamie Zaccaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

My short story "The Jack-O-Lantern Face" is included in this massive anthology of Halloween themed flash fiction. Some are admittedly much better than others and some of my favorites include: "Grab Bag," "Jack-o-Lanterns," "The Women in the Window," "The Stone House," "Costume," "Hanging Up The Light," "No Treats Tonight," "The Blood Harvest," and "A Halloween of Old."

[Elyse T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's something addictive about delving into a flash fiction anthology. You start with one, and then you think, "oh what the heck, it's only 1-3 pages per story, one more couldn't hurt", and next thing you know it's 2am. I loved the premise of this collection, dark horror flash fiction with the theme of Halloween is right up my alley. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed by this anthology in particular, though many of the stories were fantastic, it could have been much better!
Firstly, many of the authors didn't seem to really get flash fiction as a medium, and were trying to cram concepts and ideas better suited for full short stories, or even novellas, into a prescribed word count. My favorite pieces were the ones who kept their scope narrow.
I realize most of these were written individually without collaboration, but many of the flashes had repetitive content. I read many a version of some sort of mad person turning human heads into jack-o-lanterns, of trick-or-treater sheet wearing ghosts being actually monsters, and of school bullies getting supernaturally punished. I really praise the authors who went for originality, they were few.
The multi-part flashes were weirdly placed, difficult to follow, and presented so many convoluted characters that I started to skip them entirely.
Lastly, the lack or poor editing for most of the pieces, there are many typos and grammatical errors which distract from the overall experience. I realize that for anthologies, editing is often left in the hands of authors, at the detriment of the whole. With horror especially, immersion is everything, and any reminder that what I am reading is just a book breaks the effect.
I bit of rework on many of these pieces would have counted for much; many authors seemed to use a tell don't show approach, a bit lazy in my opinion, to make up for short word count. This made many of the stories feel a bit empty, matter-a-fact, and cheesy.

I still recommend you skim through for these, which I did personally enjoy:
Pumpkin by David Green
Sonwin by M. Ennenbach
Divine Feast by Chisto Healy Cameron
Late to the Party by John Cady
Knives by Mark Cowling
The Stone House by Melody E. McIntyre
Home is Where the Heart Is by Todd Love
Heart of Darkness by Randee Dawn
Wandering Eyes by G.G. Flavell
Samhain Moon by J. A. Skelton
Halloween Forever by N. M. Brown
A Halloween of Old by Rachael Boucker
The Last Halloween by Lamont A. Turner
Last Night of October by P.S. Traum
Krampus Finds Halloween by Joshua E. Borgmann

[Brenda Archambault · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read all of the books this fantastic group puts out. I have not been a fan of horror type stories, it this is anthology of short stories, by many different authors, a hundred fifty words or less. So you know they are good. This one I was able to read at night, several of the others in the series for me are middle of the afternoon.
I do like the idea of Jack O Lanterns getting their revenge. Vampires and Zombies are such fun, Read them all can get on Kendal or hard copies on Amazon.

[Todd Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many great authors. Great for a dark Halloween Night.