Hydra (Random House) is ringing in the Halloween season this year with a series of five short story anthologies. One ebook will be released each week in October, with the last coming out on Halloween, Oct 31st.

Each ebook contains five stories with a Halloween theme. These are not jump scare, spurting blood, serial killer chasing people down the street sort of stories. They are more literary horror.....the type you read with your imagination turned up to 11 to feel the atmosphere, hear the screams.....

Volume 4 features:

The Mannequin Challenge - Kealan Patrick Burke. Theo decides to attend his office Halloween party, despite his social awkwardness. But, unfortunately, he finds out he really doesn't fit in. This story is bizarre, yet satisfying. Haven't we all been in a social situation where we felt totally out of place and uncomfortable? However, Theo's way of dealing with his emotions is a bit strange.... Nice creepy opening for this anthology.

Across the Tracks - Ray Garton. Kenny and his friends know the rich side of town has the better Halloween candy, but unfortunately it also has the school bully and his cronies. The boys learn quickly that there are worse things than bullies.... An interesting story with a nice creepy Halloween atmosphere, but, for me, the ending could have been a bit better. It seemed too abrupt.

The Halloween Tree - Bev Vincent. It always beneficial to have good friends -- buddies who always have your back. Even when it comes to seriously scary things. This story has the Stranger Things/Goonies/ET feel to it for me -- the group of kids who are friends through thick, thin and deadly. Great story! My favorite in this anthology!

Pumpkin Eater - C.A. Suleiman. Peter loves Halloween and DIY projects just about as much as he hates his wife. So why not combine all that together? Halloween decorations definitely take on a sinister feel in this story. This was was just ok for me....a good story, but probably my least favorite of the bunch.

When the Leaves Fall - Paul Melniczek. The boys were warned to stay away from Graver's Farm. They should have listened. Great story! Nice creepy build up....great ending. As a teen, I probably would have been tempted to go down that dirt road too.....just to see if the stories were true. Unwise.

I like the more subtle atmosphere of literary horror. For me, it's more frightening to let my imagination grab ahold of the story and pull me into it....rather than having basic violence and more in-your-face frightening acts be the only scary features. I like horror to sneak up on me slowly....like the frog sitting in a pot of water not knowing the heat is turning up on the stove burner below it. These are well-written creepy stories that are bound to get readers in the mood for Halloween. :) And I definitely like the idea of a new volume releasing each week during the month of October.

Halloween Carnival Volume 4 will be available October 24th, 2017.

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Hydra-Random House via NetGalley. Opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

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It's that time of year again and my pile of books to read is towering! I had to choose which of the Halloween Carnival books I was going to request because I knew I wouldn't have time to read all 5.
The reason I chose Volume 4 was because of 2 authors-Kealan Patrick Burke and Ray Garton. They didn't disappoint! These and another story stood way out for me, and here's a bit on each of them:

The Mannequin Challenge by Kealan Patrick Burke is the first story and it's killer. Maybe it's because I love the kind of tales that are just plain weird and offer NO explanation-they just ARE. A quiet and reclusive man decides to attend the Halloween party at work, just this one time. What will he find? You'll have to read it to find out! This one made me laugh out loud with delight.

Across the Tracks by Ray Garton was a blast. For whatever reason, to me this tale had a distinct Ray Bradbury feel to it, but I think the ending might've even blown Bradbury himself away. What fun!

The Halloween Tree I've seen Bev Vincent's name around and I am friends with him on various social media, but I believe this is the first time I've read one of his stories. I enjoyed it! Any kid with an imagination can make something scary from an inanimate object. In this tale, it's a tree. But what made this story different was how the kids dealt with the problem. I found this to be the most surprising story in the bunch and it made me smile.

I did enjoy the other two stories in this anthology, but these three stood tall and they alone are worth the price of this book. The other two are just the gravy on top!

Recommended!

You can pre-order your copy here: Halloween Carnival Volume 4

*Thanks to NetGalley and to Hydra for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*
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A collection of five Halloween themed stories. I liked that they were short enough to read in one sitting. Just the right length. Some of these were very creepy. I enjoyed them all. My favorites were The Mannequin Challenge and When the Leaves Fall.

THE MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE by Kealan Patrick Burke
WTF did I just read? This one really messed with my mind. One of my favorites in the collection.

ACROSS THE TRACKS by Ray Garton
An uncomfortable story. The bullies are really mean. I did not like the ending.

THE HALLOWEEN TREE by Bev Vincent
Interesting story with an anticlimactic ending. I liked it but was disappointed at the very end.

PUMPKIN EATER by C. A. Suleiman
I liked this one. I thought I knew where it was going, until I didn't.

WHEN THE LEAVES FALL by Paul Melniczek
This was a really good story. The longest one in the collection. The secret surrounding Graver's Farm was really creepy. His father really disturbed me. I thought this was great.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. ( )

3 of 5 Stars Review copy

During the month of October 2017, Brian James Freeman and the folks at Hydra, have gotten together to present a total of twenty-five Halloween tales of horror from twenty-five of the best genre writers working today. Every Tuesday during October there will be a new volume in the Halloween Carnival anthology series.

Volume Four is my least favorite so far this series but it's still worth your time this Halloween reading season.

The Mannequin Challenge by Kealan Patrick Burke - A Twilight Zone kind of story about an office Halloween party and a rather bizarre mannequin challenge. "There were sixteen people in all, every one of them in costume, every one of them playing statues." All except Theo, late to the party, no costume, and his reaction is perfect.

Across the Tracks by Ray Garton - Sometimes you have to cross the tracks to find a better neighborhood for trick-or-treating. "That was another benefit of crossing the tracks on Halloween. There were frequent parties underway in the houses they visited, and a lot of hot moms wore slutty costumes. It was a great opportunity for eleven and twelve-year-old boys to catch a glimpse of some thighs and cleavage that were not on a screen." What Kenny, Sam, and JayJay stumble upon at one such house was certainly an eye-opener.

The Halloween Tree by Bev Vincent - My favorite story in this collection. Trick or treating with friends and a scary old tree. "On Halloween night they'd have to walk beneath it and that was freaking Luke out."

Pumpkin Eater by C. A. Suleman - An interesting story about how couples grow apart over the years.

When the Leaves Fall by Paul Melniczek - This collection's novella is about a terror which slowly consumes a town and the way one young man deals with it as a kid and then as an adult. There is some lovely prose in this story. "Leaves had begun their slow patient glide to death weeks ago and now September was just a recent memory, as October wrapped the landscape in its dusky arms and stole its life, peeling apart the summer flowers and snatching up the burnt orange and yellow leaves, pulling them to the ground where they dried into husks and shriveled away."

I may have been a bit disappointed in this set of Halloween tales, but I'm still looking forward to Volume Five to close out the series.

Halloween Carnival Volume Four is published by Hydra, a division of Random House, and is available as an ebook. ( )